The Official Spike TV VGAs thread

[Doobie_wop]

Bong Lover said:

Not in the least. My argument is that when you design a game, the focus should be on making a game not on how it looks. Spending time on creating a beautiful presentation is fine, as long as the game is the starting point. My issue is with the trend in videogames to push for graphics as the main point of creating a game. This leads to the same game being created over and over with updated presentation. And yes, in my opinion the games you have mentioned are all guilty of this to some degree.

As a side point, kudos for at least touching on the actual argument I made instead of making irrelavant digs at my user name.

The problem with the points your trying to make is that you sound like someone who's arguing from an outsiders point of view. Judging by your game collection and console of choice, I doubt you have a heavy investment in HD gaming and so I also doubt you've fully experienced all these games your trying to criticize. 

Just because a game looks fantastic, it doesn't mean it's fallen in the gameplay department. Uncharted 2 is a perfect example, it's the best looking gaming on consoles and yet it's plat forming and shooting mechanics are so refined that they near perfection and it also adds new elements into the gameplay that differentiates it from it's competitors. If you had played the game, you could probably provide me a list of new and refined gameplay elements that other Third Person Shooters are missing.

Assassins Creed 2 is another example, it's a beautiful game that masterfully recreates 15th century Italy. So basically it looks great, but it also offers the player unique and refined gameplay elements that cannot be found in any other games. It plays better than it looks, but it also looks phenomenal.

Your blanket statement that games are merely becoming the same content but repacked with a visual upgrade is false. You can probably find a few examples, but you won't find many and they also won't be among the top tier games that is usually brought up in these debates. Uncharted 2 isn't just a prettier Uncharted 1, Assassins Creed 2 isn't just a prettier Assassins Creed, God of War 3 isn't just a prettier God of War 2, MW2 isn't just a prettier MW1, Little Big Planet 2 isn't just a prettier Little Big Planet, Mass Effect 2 isn't just a prettier Mass Effect, Bayonetta isn't just a prettier DMC4 and I can go and on but hopefully you get my point. 

It also helps that every year, these developers your trying to criticize, put effort into creating new IPs and gaming experiences. Just this year we've had Bayonetta, Alan Wake, Heavy Rain, Vanquish, Super Meat Boy, Joe Danger, Limbo, Split/Second, 3D Dot Game Heroes and heaps other great new experiences and they all look fantastic.

What your doing is going along with the standard Wii fan argument that they give out when ever graphics is ever brought up in a discussion, but it's a disgusting statement to make and it's incredibly stupid. Just because a developer puts an effort into their artistic direction and overall visual presentation, it doesn't mean that they don't put that same amount of love and effort into the gameplay.