Jazz2K said:
1 - I'm sorry but things need time and todays people aren't ready to give any of it. No new innovation was super great when it was first released it got better with time and as it was refined. New gameplay mechanics often comes with new hardware and new controllers. From the Atari to Nes to SNES and then to Playstation' Dual Shock but since then it's like we stagnated. Whatever anyone can say about Nintendo, at least they tried to bring new types of gameplay with each of their new hardware. Sometimes it was for the better while other times it was for the worse but they tried. If you keep the same controller then come up with things you didn't/could do the gen before. Will every gamers jump in the new thing? No of course but at least try it.
2 - Great AI requires time of development too. It also requires ressources but I read somewhere that if AI was too intelligent in games it would ovverpower the gamer and the gamer wouldn't have any fun so he would stop playing. I think this is true to some extent. AI isn't only about ennemies and sometimes it would be great to feel how the new hardware could pull this foward. When I first played Halo, the AI was what I remember most about the game back in 01. I thought it would get only better from then on but ehh, some AAA games today can't even compte with it.
3 - I'll say it again, I don't think replacing button presses with camera movements work at all. I think cameras could do what buttons can't. There are things we can do with this but people decided that cameras were to be hated like AIDS. Buttons can't see you nor can they hear you. I think it's devs work to come up with ways to implement them properly. Last gen they tried to replace button commands with camera movements and it failed. Does this mean there is nothing we can do with them? I don't think you are agains't wheels for racing games. Now imagine if you had to play a shooter with a wheel when the controls aren't adapted for that kind of game. You would be agains't wheels immediately. That's what happened with last gen but you would be surprised how motion controlled games are nice when done properly.
4 - I'm talking about their usefulness in gameplay. Not only for esthetics. This is getting better and better but how many games offer destruction where you can use destroyed objects to deal with ennemies. Not many games offer you the option to use what's in background at your advantage and/or at your disadvantage. Enemies could interact with objects more than just hide behind them waiting for you to kill them. As for weather and environments I'm not talking about scripted set pieces.
5 - Better graphics in higher resolution and better lightning. These won't give you different gameplay.
Bolded: It's not that easy really. Gaming is mostly a matter of opinions and preferences. The fact that some people can't tell you exactly what new features they expect doesn't mean there isn't anything new to be done. There will be new things of course, wew are only one year with the new hardwares. But I hope devs put a little less ressources in graphics fidelity and push other features more. The possibilities are there.
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- same can be said about the automobile, after we got the combustion engine I guess we can say we stagnated for over a 100yrs. And are now only finally beginning to explore other types of powertrains. The simple answer to your staganation problem, is that meaningfulchange can only be made when the technology is there to support it. And by meaningful I mean things that are as long standing as analouge sticks on a controller and not motion controls.
- There are also some games with great AI. AI is just one part of a game development process, and every developer has a right to chose how much or how little of their time they want to invest in the game AI. Sometimes, what a game needs a stupid AI, next gen doesn't automatically mean that you should have alien isolation like AI in every game. Imagine playing Mario and that thing you are trying to hop on to kill decideds to take cover then flanks you.
- Ok, indulge me, give me one... just one meaningful usage case scenario where having a camera adds/expands the depth in gameplay found in any type of game.
Camera's didn't become AIDs overnight, they had years to prove their worth and even now people are still willing to give them a ahcance. There is still noting about using a camera to augment or bolster gaming as we know it that comes off making sense or being better than just using a controller to carry out that function.
People didn't just adopt analouge sticks, or vibrating controlers because someone had the sense to put them into a controller, people adopt things because it makes sense to have them and not just cause they are there. If analouge controls suck, no one would use them and they wouldn't be in every controller today. If motion controls suck, they would fade away too, if camera assisted gaming suck, they go away. If the wiiU gamepad ends up adding no real meaningful value to wiiU games, be rest assured that you won't see it in the next console. And its not about gamers not wanting to give things a chance, if the devs even knew what to do with these "next gen" control inputs that you seem to be referencing, they would have made great games on them that everybody will want to go and play. Thats kinda how the industry works you know?
- Now this is someting you have said that I can fully get behind. Then again, I think like you said in your first point here..these things take time. This gen has only just begun and we can already see traces of such things, like in DC.
- Thats one way to cherry pick my comment... what about the rest of things that encompass bigger and better instead of just resolution and lightning. What about bigger levels? More NPCs on screen, Better animations...etc. These things not only all affect gameplay but can determine what kinda game you even make.
I don't doubt the possibilities are there. Personally I think that the only major changes we will see as far as conventional games go are in the feilds of AI and even better more synced presentation. Anything outside that will be in the realm of VR. But what I don't get is, those that do complain about the current gen consoles especially by saying "next gen gameplay" have never been able to show, give an example of or refernece what to them qualifies as next gen gameplay in this day and age. We CANNOT have a Mario 64 moment again right now. Its almost like movies are praised for finally being in colour, then criticized for remaining in color, no matter how much betterthose colors are or how much better the stort teling methods are. Thats exactly what "no next gen gameplay" sounds like to me.
