Damn, we need to find ourselves a copy.

*sings theme* XD;;

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My instructors would like to kiss you about now, I think. ;)

Thank god for Katamari. Suddenly it's okay again for people to try new things aside from the same old. As my game design 101 teacher pointed out, "everything out there now is a sequel. Doom 3, Warcraft 17, Final Fantasy 5912. The gaming world NEEDS new innovative ideas like Katamari."

Hopefully my fellow grads and I can be the ones to spark some of that innovation. :P

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You guys need to revive the video game industry badly.

It went to hell ever since it became all mainstream.
You know, I didn't know you were studying to be a game designer! :)
(how come you don't comment more often in my LJ? I love to read about you!)

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Heh heh, well, I talk about it a lot in my journal. ;) I figure if anyone wants to know about me, they'll go there. :3

Yeah, the industry did go to hell. Since the first consoles, the only changes have been improvements/modifications on the same games: different characters, slight variations, etc. That's fine, sure (nothing wrong with revisiting a favourite style, like rereading a favourite book over and over or following a TV series), but we need some fresh ideas out there, too. That's where the industry is sorely lacking at the moment.

My theory is that the biggest problems stem from the improvement in graphics. Videogames no longer have to rely as much on good gamplay and plot, because it's all about the eye candy. (Case in point: Final Fantasy X.) I think they had the right idea around the time of the SNES, when graphics were good enough to get the point across, but it was still about storyline and gameplay. ...and even then, things were already starting to get stale.

I think Katamari will start a slow revolution, though, because it took everyone by surprise. Simple graphics, simple game play, unique game play, SHORT game play (~4 hours for the game, when developers seem to think a game needs to be 100+ hours to keep the public entertained). Videogame companies are going to give "whacky" game ideas a second glance now, because Katamari broke all the standards.

We hope.

The movie industry could use a good kick in the ass, too. :\

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I personally think that the day will come when everyone will get sick of the eyecandy. I eagerly anticipate the day when we return to the old ways of graphics, even if for just a while. Like I said in a reply to someone else, when the eye candy no longer brings in the bucks, THEN people will consider abandoning it in favor of innovation.

Personally, I look forward to the day when we see brand new games produced in the NES style of graphics and sound, and professionally released again. The problem has to do with people's rising expectations; the present generation is all about its demands. We have a whole buncha mean jerks out there that bully around everyone else and demand their own way all the time, and let's face it, they're stupid. And yet they pretty much comprise the public eye. Yeah, I know I'm grasping at stereotypes at this point, but I've seen it happen firsthand.

It's a sad era we live in when people can set up complex webpages, program viruses and use supercomputers without knowing a lick of proper grammar (or even courtesy, for that matter). We're gonna see things get worse long before we see a return to decency. I know I'm right, and it's one time I wish I wasn't.

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You guys don't seem to understand...the problem isn't the industry: it's the customers. The dumbasses...I mean...mainstream gamers are like mainstream moviegoers or book readers: they like CRAP. Poor gameplay, they don't mind. They want they're freakin' hockey players and black killers and sports cars to look GOOD. Nobody wants 2d anymore because they think it's ugly. They don't want fresh and new ideas because they don't LIKE them. It's like movies: they prefer crap like Armaggedon over the Godfather. So the industry listens to them. They're there to make a buck. Let's face it: everything revolves around money. If it wasn't for money, games wouldn't even exist. They don't make'em for fun, or for art's sake, it's for MONEY. So no matter how much we whine, the industry will always listen to the majority. Just appreciate the fact that we're smarter than these people. As for Katamari, I don't know about the global sales, but we sold like, 2, at work. So NHL anf Need for Speed are the Virginie of our generation.



johann_fortin@hotmail.com

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You said a mouthful, whoever you are, and you said it well. That's exactly what I was starting to think...I wondered if I was the only one.

The gaming industry is about profit. Innovation is only welcome once people stop buying the retreads. They're gonna milk it as long as it can until it no longer sells; THEN, and ONLY THEN, will they ask for innovation. In a way it's shameful, but I don't suppose I can blame them for wanting to survive...

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And for the record...I personally think the day will come when we'll see fanfics go legal. Just wait. XP I don't know why, but I wanted to say that.

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This was my buddy Johann. (I mention him from time to time.)
He's also working at EBGames, so he kinda knows what he's talking about! ^^;

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Yes, I know perfectly well the companies are giving the mainstream market what they want.

And I'm pretty sure this is going to be the industry's downfall. The mainstream morons will eventually get tired of games when games won't be cool anymore, I'm pretty sure of it, and the real gamers will just shrug and keep playing their old games.

I fact, my beef isn't even against the mainstream gamers and the games released for them. It's against the Japanese companies that won't release their niche games over here in fear they won't sell.

Heck, they could make them available on an order basis, I don't know. Leaving them in Japanese... Or just get rid of the stupid territory lockout once and for all.

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You're right about Katamari. The gameplay isn't anything complex but somehow it hooks you to the game.

Now to wait for the sequel, We Love Katamari.

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We played the sequel over the last week and it was absolutely fantastic. They've added a great deal of improvements to make the game last a bit longer (levels can be played a second time with a new objective) and the levels where you roll up beyond 500m now have enough stuff in them so you're not rolling around in the ether with nothing to collect. It's fantastic fun.

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That's the sad part, and probably part of the reason why many gamers wish they were in Japan. "Anything original and fresh is doomed to be born in Japan, and never get out." That's because North America is convinced that whatever it is won't survive here, and that it must be "Americanized" for the public to accept it. Look at dubbed anime and games of all shapes and sizes. (Look especially at dubbed DBZ.)

The sad part is, they're usually right.

Case in point, Sakura Wars/Sakura Taisen. I understand it was a big hit in Japan. American shores never saw the game. A PSX remake was released in Japan in 1997, for goodness sake, and America never bothered bringing it over.

Another case in point: Thousand Arms. Now, I don't know how well it did in Japan, but it was released here despite the odds. People barely touched it and it soon became all but forgotten due to sheer lack of popularity.

And do I honestly need to mention the "Americanized" covers of Japanese games that were translated here? Megaman, anyone?

Mainstream America is very leery of things that don't fit in with their vision of "cool". We're a very greedy and selfish country, we are. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to fix that.

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