| rocketpig said: I think the problem with video games is that they refuse to grow up. The same developers who found anime fun and exciting as children grew up physically but remained loyal to the often bad and terribly cliched stories they loved as children. Given the geek nature of the business, very little is done to expand upon the simple "shoot 'em up/spout terrible one-liners" story arcs that games have been subject to since their inception. Gameplay has matured a great deal, as has music, but plot lines and dialogue are still almost as bad as they were 15 years ago. |
This is definitely part of the problem. What we're starting to see, and what you'll continue to see, is that more specialization comes in to control aspects of the games that the very geeky people have to business doing. It is beginning with voice acting, but voice acting is still very new to games. The bar isn't yet very high.
I think art is one of the first strong examples -- right now, top quality artists are being used for games that can afford them. And they specialize in various types of art.
Writing is decidedly improving, but there is some misunderstanding of the average gamer right now. Gaming is becoming mainstream insomuch that it is beginning to replace television and movies for a generation of users. However, there are still more TV viewers who demand high end writing than gamers, so we continue to see writers in more and get paid more money for TV work.
Another part of the problem is that the art costs and other development costs are getting so high for gaming that developers and publishers aren't willing to foot a huge bill for story/voice acting and other talent areas. Whereas voice acting may be a major cost for Pixar films, for example, they may have to be a minor cost for a game since so many games struggle to break even these days, buried under high costs in other areas.
Sorry, seen that one too many times. For example, half the anime made in the past 25 years.
You forgot to add the best part: a geeky high-school-esque 'soldier' in the middle of a love triangle with two women. Ever see an anime about that?
