Molyneux “shocked” by Microsoft’s lack of PC focus, Xbox “obsessively” watches Sony

[richardhutnik]

Jay520 said:

richardhutnik said:

Jay520 said:
I disagree with him about innovation. Before we start innovating into new heights, we have to first master & deepen current experience. This is not the case today. Most game's have a lot of features, gimmicks, & other cool stuff but the core gameplay is incredibly shallow. We need to first deepen the core gameplay & not focus on making them cool. There are some games out there today that follow this pattern. But the majority are just dumbed down experiences with a coat of polish & flair. /rant

The interface for videogame consoles today is NOT sufficient to fully do what gamers need.  There is a reason, for example, you don't really get RTS titles on consoles.  The current dual-stick analog console controlers just aren't suited for everything.  Motion control does add more, but it isn't there.  Innovation has to take place in interface area of gamers.  Also, costs need to be kept down, so new play experiences can be added.  Costs are so high, that the industry plays it safe on the top end.  It is why you see a glut of FPS titles.

Gameplay has been dumbed down, as the idea is to get people play through stories.  It all needs to be accessible, and easy.  Thing is that a game need not be that expensive to produce.  What ends up being an issue though is to add a ton of production value on top, and then drive the costs through the roof.

Don't blame stories for dumbed down gameplay. Stories has been in games for years. It's just lazy / stupid / scary / powerless developers who dumbs down gameplay. There are plenty of games without stories that have shallow gameplay. And there are plenty with stories, that have deep gameplay. There may be some correlation between stories and shallow gameplay, but don't make it seem like story causes shallow gameplay.

Anyway, about innovation and interface. It's pretty clear that Molyneux is referring to software, not hardware. This is made evident when he says PC has seen a recent surge in innovation. He doesn't mean hardware innovation; PC still uses the standard keyboard & mouse. He's talking about games.

Yes, current controllers restrict certain genres, but that doesn't explain why so many games in the action, fps, etc genre have shallow gameplay. These genres have proved to work well with duel-analog sticks in the past (and often, with stories).

Reason why I say the focus on trying to bring about a Hollywood like cinematic experience has causes the dumbing down of gameplay is that the money that causes the game budgets to bloat is not on the gameplay side, but is on the attempt to tell a story with a game.  It isn't the story itself that is the problem, but the production values that attempt to make it more like a movie.  Because of the costs involved, there is pressure to make the game accessible so that people will buy it and play it, and rated it higher, so that they get sales.  

The correlation is between production costs and shallowness.  Bigger the budget, the greater the chance at shallowness.  By the way, it isn't just games either that have this.  The Hollywood blockbusters are usually shallow for a reason, in order to be accessible to people.  You can get some exceptions, if the people doing the movie have a track record of doing box office.  But, it is usually the same.  

Count this post as a bit of a clarification on what I was trying to say.