LordTheNightKnight said: "So the lesson here is....if you can't achieve 100% of your vision, then don't bother trying and just sell out for the masses?"
No, the lesson is stop thinking of games as a vision, and even if you had one, stop thinking of it in terms of specs over your own talent and creativity.
"I really don't think you can fault developers for wanting to make the best games they can"
They aren't trying to do that. They're trying to make the flashiest games they can, and focusing less and less on the actual game part. If they simply wanted the biggest, baddest games possible, that would be cool. |
And developing for a lesser powered system would make this better how? And why shouldn't you have a vision for your game exactly? And why should your vision be simplified for a lack of hardware power? And also pointing at games like Batman, or Assassin's creed 2, or any of the great games that came out last year and saying "They only cared about making the flashiest game possible" is really a gross disservice and insult to all of the people that put their passion and souls into making those games. Making venice seem less alive, reducing the activity in the streets, simplifying the ai routines of all the people living their lives, greatly reducing the draw distances from vistas would severely hamper the artistic integrity of that game.
Every generation of developers who under different circumstances you would call creative, sat around thinking "I want to do this, but can't because of the limitations of the hardware, I guess I will do this instead." Super Mario World wasn't just flashier than Super Mario Bros 3, Ocarina of Time wasn't just flashier than Link to the Past, Pikmin wasn't something that would come to life in the same way on the N64, and games like Dead Space or Fallout 3 aren't just "flashier" games that should be scaled back for wii, or be sacrificed all together so they can focus on making more Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2. How exactly was the original Modern Warfare focusing less on the actual game part? With an incredibly balanced intricate multiplayer that has influenced pretty much all online multiplayer games since? How is demon souls not an incrediblely creative unique game? How is Kamiya different from Suda other than having a bit more money to spend?
I love my wii, but trying to say that the games on HD systems are all flash and no substance, all tech and no creativity is insanity. Telling developers that they are dumb for not scaling things back a bit for wii because there are things they want to do but can't on the wii is an absurdity. If you really believe that it is wrong or stupid for a developer to want more horsepower, then you need to go back in time and slap Miyamoto and all your heroes in the face for at one point or another wishing they had a bit more processor power, or a bit of extra ram to achieve the game they really wanted to make.