| billsalias said: I do not think it is that simple. The problem is the market is fractured between PS360 and Wii and neither market is easy for third parties to make money in. The HD market has high risk due to development expenses as you mentioned. On the other hand the Wii market is just as risky because it is so new and different that the devs need to spend a lot of money trying out new ideas to see what works, both in terms of the new controls and the new gamers. For example if the Wii had not been such a success or had used a traditional controller then developers could have used a single content/code base to target the entire market so risk would have been reduced. Or if the HD consoles had included motion controls comparable to the Wii from the start devs could try new ideas that evolved from traditional ones that had a better chance of resonating with some demographic in the larger combined market. I am glad not to be in the game industry right now, because I just do not see a clear way forward for a lot of the developers. |
I've been wondering where to jump in as I sit here seething at the usual assumptions.
High resolution makes a game "better", and more "important" and that's why there are so many "GREAT" games for the PS360 and so much "crap" on the Wii. The developers that can't succeed on the "real" consoles should find that "toy" one a piece of cake. - No they won't. Learning to use an entirely new control concept is at least as hard as learning how to increase polygons and shading.
As far as I am personally concerned most of those "great" games are just an endless procession of almost interchangeable, beautifully detailed but drab and dismal violence fests powered by equal amounts of blood and testosterone. They all are peopled by grimacing, sometimes vaguely pre-Homo sapien hulks clad in either an unlikely mix of half medieval half future-tech body armor or alternatively elaborate body pinstripes. They tote various and sundry killing apparatus always designed by someone who is very good at increasing lethality but bad at miniaturizing weapons. And off they stomp to visit a violent end on mutants/zombies/criminals/anyone or each other. (LBP is, of course, a delightful exception.)
This is originality? I drew these guys on my desk at school almost before video, let alone video games were invented. If this is the art of HD video games, then Mario Karts, World of Goo , the Blob and hell, even Carnival Games don't seem like that bad a deal to me. Even Wii Music is starting to seem appealing. If this is what HD has to offer, please, keep it all.
