Pixar: Games quality is catching cinema

[Bodhesatva]

Furthermore, it's quite clear that games driven by narration are not the future of our medium. This can be seen from all avenues. The Wii and DS are the most obvious; they are driven by social, pick up and play games that focus on community and interactivity, and often are completely lacking in any story whatsoever (Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Fit, Brain Age, Nintendogs all have zero storyline, and Nintendo's other major hits like Super Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros, and Super Mario Kart have only the briefest attempt at character development).

But this is also true for the PS3 and 360, too. What games are selling on those platforms? The major hits, thus far, are GTA IV, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, and Gears of War. Of these games, Halo 3, CoD4 and Gears are all driven heavily by their multiplayer components; that is, the portions of the game that are completely lacking in narrative structure. Only GTA IV has any significant draw in terms of story, and even that game has begun to add on multiplayer, social, competitive experiences.

There was a time when single player, story driven games ruled the industry; the SNES and PS1 era. Final Fantasy VII (Final Fantasy's sales have declined consistently in recent years, with FF XII selling approximately half what FF VII did). MGS1 (Again, MGS4 is likely to sell approximately half of its original predecessor). Resident Evil was once on of the world's biggest franchises -- both RE1 and RE2 rank in the top 10 best selling PS1 games of all time -- but now struggle to break the top 50. In the meantime, Halo has risen. Call of Duty has risen. Mario Party has risen. Wii Sports has risen.

The future of our industry is not single player, story driven gaming -- it is social, generative gaming, in all forms. World of Warcraft. Halo 3. Call of Duty 4. Wii Sports. Wii Play. Wii Fit. The Sims. Nintendogs. Brain Age. Animal Crossing.

These are the major franchises of the day, the ones exploding in popularity. Virtually none of these have any semblance of a story, and the few that do clearly aren't driven by them (CoD4, as an example, is clearly selling for its multiplayer experience first and foremost).