| clandecyon said: I'm sure that is also a big influence on why they do spend so much time on graphics and aren't "as" concerned with gameplay at least on those systems. They know that the PS3/360 audience (moreso PS3 and online for 360) is more concerned about visuals as they put the money out for it, so regardless if they put more effort in the controls or not, they still risk alienating the audience that the system has and they are developing for if they don't concentrate on graphics to the point that it is better than the last million seller. And regardless of how much they make on these first gen titles, they are going to feel that all future games will have to be based heavily on graphics for those systems and be better than their last effort or they will lose the attention of their audience. It is much easier for these companies to just copy/paste gameplay code and get to work on the real selling points, graphics. I'm willing to bet as well that they have AWESOME ideas to make the graphics even better, but they hold off, partly to get the product out the door, but to also leave something to add on for the next project. Some companies I'm sure are almost afraid to make a game perfect, because they think they will run out of ideas and that that perfect game will hinder sales for their future potentially mediocre games; plus they have to get the game finished so they can eat to live to make the next project. There is a lot of pressure on the 360/PS3 developers to concentrate on the graphics, one mistake could cost them millions, which even further widens the gap in the debate. |
I largely concur with what you just said, but I think they worry about having gameplay, too. I really believe that a lot of developers this generation have been caught by surprise with the technical dev difficulties to the point their board ends up saying, "forget about doing playtest studies with people off the street, just ship the !@#$@# game when most of the bugs are ironed out... we're spending too much money!" The problem is that reviews can crush a game... it isn't enough to get a high score in graphics and sound but bomb in playability. Of course the reverse is true to some extent as well on the PS3/360.
Bungie/MS realized that flashy graphics alone in Halo 3 weren't going to get the kind of mega sells they were looking for, so they had a beta period where they brought in a lot of playtesters and then spent months refining the maps, etc. But it took someone with pockets as deep as MS to pull it off.
I think the Wii has a big advantage concerning dev costs. But so many publishers looked at this before launch and said, "no way this platform is going to succeed without high-def graphics, movie playback, big CPU/GPU, etc.". Now many of them are scrambling to get a ticket on the Wii rocket.
