Commercial games - Have they really stooped so low?!

[Wilbefast]

Hey guys,

I stumbled across this new project from Electronic Arts a while ago: apparently they are turning part 1 of the Divine Comedy, which is to say Dante's Inferno (that masterpiece of Italian verse), into a game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykU-ogIGKjQ

I'm really suprised that the red, weepy eyed marketing rep was able to keep a straight face while talking about "our reimagining of Dante" - in case you're curious, the poet is remplaced with your typical surly veteran with an axe to grind and a troubled past: you know, the generic holiwood fare. The story is likewise being modified - rather than a guided tour of hell, Dante's is going to be killing everyone: no suprises there. Oh, and the dialogue and poetry are going to be cut down a bit - Dante will of course be showing his sentimental side in between butchering various odd looking critters - he's on a quest to save his wife or something: again, about as generic as it gets.

I can't help thinking that the whole thing is utterly ridiculous - and that guy is either a chain weed smoker or spends FAR too much time looking at computer screens.



Another equally ridiculous project is "Stalin vs Martians" - not sure where the fits into the indie/commercial spectrums, but it's about as stupîd as it gets - if the name doesn't say it all then I think this video will. Somehow it's so bad that it almost comes full circle back into good:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAfsSA6_GrE



Finally, on a more serious note, the news this week is Amazon refusing to sell a new game from Japan called "Rapelay" - again, the name says it all. I wonder if this says more about the lows that the commerical game's industry has fallen to, human nature or simply how fucked up the Japanese are (my apologies to anyone Japanese reading this but... I mean wtf?!) - probably a combination of the three:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandte ... mazon.html



So, is this a sign that Western civillisation is past it's peak and, like Ancient Rome has fallen to debauchery and will soon collapse, or do I think too much? Anyway, if you have any thoughts, please share them!



William

[invertin]

Yes.

[Renegade_Turner]

Somehow I doubt you actually read all of Dante's Inferno. A lot of the people who talk about how great it is these days have only read a summary.

Also, I think you're taking a game, which doesn't even take ITSELF seriously, waaay too seriously. The guys making Stalin Vs. Martians are making fun of all the other strategy games. They are taking the piss. Jesus.

[Dudeman]

Awww... Niggle waggle... They stole my idea for a forgotten realms nine circles of hell mod for NWN2... Without Dante of course... I already started work on it, it is called The Nine Gates of Hell.
Or tNGoH...

[Starrz]

Yes.

Ditto.

[Renegade_Turner]

Here are examples of games you should be questioning instead of the Dante's Inferno-inspired one and the Stalin Vs. Martians one.

Conan The Barbarian rescuing captured...err...strippers? Not safe for minors. If under 18, don't watch. I'm aware that's going to have the opposite effect.
http://www.destructoid.com/nudity-is-th ... 0951.phtml

X-Blades. A sorry excuse for an action game where the logic seems to be "if we show off her tits and ass, people won't care that the game sucks". Read the article.
http://www.theaveragegamer.com/2008/04/ ... most-porn/

[Blorx]

DUDE.
Amazing game = MadWorld for Wii. It's pretty deep for the brawler it is.

[ecyor0]

meh.

At the same time, the game Flower is being developed for the PS3. (Youtube it if you haven't come across it before). And obviously I haven't actually played it, and it's going to be a small game, focusing more on unwinding and going with the flow than completing objectives, but still - it looks to be a Very Good Game. As extremes are reached in one direction, you get extremes at the other as well. It's just that nowadays, it's a bit easier for a sub-quality game to raise it's head, and a really amazing game is just that bit harder to make. Gotta take the good with the bad, and sift out the muck.

*puts on future-predicting cap*

Of course, my personal feeling is that gaming in general is verging on the edge of a recession similar to that experienced in the late 80's. Obviously not quite as severe, since we don't have Sony making four times the number of PS3 consoles they'll end up selling, but still a recession of sorts. And it won't be a bad thing either.

It's a little hard to believe now, but back when Atari went under, and took the console market with it, people thought "right, this is it - computer and video games have reached the end of their life and gone out in a whimper of mediocre game products." And yet, the 90's gave us games such as Spyro the Dragon, Final Fantasy VII, Gran Turismo II, Age of Empires, Starcraft, Half-Life, Quake, Doom, Pokemon, X-Wing, Silent Hill, and many other games which have gone on to become definitive titles, exemplars of their genres and the impassable yardstick to which all sub-standard games are compared.

To put it into more colourful language... this is not the death throes of an belaguered and dead industry, with all the creativity sucked out and replaced with money, but rather the ragged wheezings of an industry which is about to get the phlegm out of its lungs and take a deep breath of air.

*takes off future-predicting cap*

I need to be more careful with that thing...

[Renegade_Turner]

What a load of codswallop.

[Glabbit]

Yes.

Ditto.

*nod*

[invertin]

I think the only way the gaming companies are going to get the idea is when everyone stops buying mainstream games and goes indi.

Shame that no-one has ever heard of the indi games. And that no gamer has the kind of willpower to avoid buying any mainstream game.

[Glabbit]

I think the only way the gaming companies are going to get the idea is when everyone stops buying mainstream games and goes indi.

Shame that no-one has ever heard of the indi games. And that no gamer has the kind of willpower to avoid buying any mainstream game.

Hah. Indeed.
Another part is that there are plenty of people out there who don't like the indie games, shun them!
A good friend of mine is all into things like Ninja Gaiden II, Guitar hero, SSBB, Halo, etc, but when I showed him Lugaru he just went 'Oh... ninja rabbits killing each other... huh...' and never looked at it again.
Ah, sometimes I am ashamed of humanity...

[Count Roland]

good, tried showing it to my brother, he's just like, "you should be ashamed to be even playing such low quality games like this, can't believe you ordered a sequel, who would make a sequel to **** anyway?"

[Glabbit]

Ugh.
Some people just need to be slapped some sense into.

[Wilbefast]

The problem is that I have no internet at home, and my uni has been blocked by the local Karl Marx appreciation society Let me see...

Somehow I doubt you actually read all of Dante's Inferno. A lot of the people who talk about how great it is these days have only read a summary.

I've read it in Italian actually
I was brainstorming a game set in the Christian Mythology, so I had a look at the Divine Comedy as well as Paradise Lost. I've kept a couple of the ideas I had in Abomination's concept. I only read Dante's inferno though - should prolly read the others too: hell is more interesting than heaven I guess.

Just watched the trailer again, and couldn't avoid putting finger in throat when he did that whole "eat crucifix evil daemons!" thing (yeah that's right, I put the "a" before the "e" because I'm awesome).

Also, I think you're taking a game, which doesn't even take ITSELF seriously, waaay too seriously. The guys making Stalin Vs. Martians are making fun of all the other strategy games. They are taking the piss. Jesus.

Yeah, because I was being serious when when I said that Stalin Vs. Martians was too silly

At the same time, the game Flower is being developed for the PS3.

Flower is the gaming world's try-hard - seriously, games that try to be art tend to fall flatter than games that try to be pornography. At least the latter suceed occaisionally.

good, tried showing it to my brother, he's just like, "you should be ashamed to be even playing such low quality games like this, can't believe you ordered a sequel, who would make a sequel to **** anyway?"

Lol - we geeks value function over appearance - that's why we dress like flood victims and only shave once a month. Or is that just me? I haven't had a hair cut since I left home at 17: oooooh yeaaaaah

I have a friend who only plays JRPGs - in my opinion these aren't even games, just really and long low quality animated movies. That being said, I played Final Fantasy 7 years ago and love it to this day - I'm just saying it would make a far better movie than game.
Games need to emphasise their interactivity - having a game with a linear story is like filming a movie with one camera fixed in place, or performing a play without acting, reading lines and stage directions out load: what's the point? A book or a movie will always tell your story better, so either:

A - Your story is a good one, in which case you should write a book instead, save yourself a whole load of time and effort programming and making assets.

OR

B - your story is not good enough to sell any books, in which case you're trying to sell a crap story via a game, and so should be buried in soft peat until you turn blue.



Hope I've insulted all present