04-09-2003, 09:08 AM
I'm not sure I agree that PC games are on the decline because Console games are becoming superior.
There are many advantages for a computer game development shop to develop console games over PC games. For example, hardware and control consistency leads to easier programming and testing: you don't have to worry about how the program performs under 2^20 possible set-ups. Another inherent advantage is that often games have complete control over the system hardware. Thus, no consideration needs to be given towards operations such as minimizing, suspending, busy devices, other processes interfering, et cetera. Finally, piracy is not as much of a concern because the console systems have hardware and architectural controls to curb piracy. These advantages mean that game shops can cut costs and speed up the development process and their profits from game sales will not be severely impacted by inevitable copyright infringement.
I think in many ways, console games are not being innovative but rather are merely catching up to PC game standards. Goldeneye was a reinvention of Duke3D and even that was hardly revolutionary -- that honor goes to id for its masterful Doom and precursor Wolfenstein 3D. Halo isn't anything special, just a fine polish on the same old formula, as was Half-life and a hundred other Quake-clones. Even the weapon-limit has been done before, in Rise of the Triad. Doom had co-operative play, as did Duke3D. Half of the Halo weapons are the same old weapons, except for a handful that seem to come from an Unreal-style design, and the plethora of grenade types can be seen as far back as Team Fortress for Quakeworld.
I don't think the PC crowd is very innovative either, to tell you the truth. Diablo is simply an Ultima interface laid on top of nethack. Civ2 was polish on Civ1, and virtually every "nation builder" game has stolen elements from either Civ or Simcity or Populus. Adventure games like Monkey Island * are simply the combination of the ever-forward march of computer technology with the old text adventure styles of Zork et al. WoW looks to be your standard EQ/DAoC/etc, Starcraft:Ghost a blend between MGS and a first person sneaker - all tried and true paths, just not one taken by Blizzard before.
If anything, I think the industry is slowing down as it is rapidly maturing. Gone are the heady days of 1999; now, people are trying to create stable businesses developing entertainment software rather than making games out of a garage. This means inevitably less risks and more decidedly mediocre games. I think part of the "less risks" implication is a general shift to console development, but I don't expet that to be permanent; given success of console gaming, I'd bet we'll see more add-on hardware being sold for consoles and consoles themselves gravitating towards more general media-centre usage, which takes us back to the same place we were when IBM-compatible machines first started to come out and the PC industry moved from monolithic to modular.
Just for kicks, here are a few games I do think were truly landmark:
Dune 2, The Sims, Simcity, Civilization, Wolfenstein/Doom, King's Quest, Mortal Combat, Tetris, F-Zero, Super Mario Brothers/Contra/Metroid, Zelda, Final Fantasy, Thief
I'm sure if I sat here for a while I could come up with a dozen more.
There are many advantages for a computer game development shop to develop console games over PC games. For example, hardware and control consistency leads to easier programming and testing: you don't have to worry about how the program performs under 2^20 possible set-ups. Another inherent advantage is that often games have complete control over the system hardware. Thus, no consideration needs to be given towards operations such as minimizing, suspending, busy devices, other processes interfering, et cetera. Finally, piracy is not as much of a concern because the console systems have hardware and architectural controls to curb piracy. These advantages mean that game shops can cut costs and speed up the development process and their profits from game sales will not be severely impacted by inevitable copyright infringement.
I think in many ways, console games are not being innovative but rather are merely catching up to PC game standards. Goldeneye was a reinvention of Duke3D and even that was hardly revolutionary -- that honor goes to id for its masterful Doom and precursor Wolfenstein 3D. Halo isn't anything special, just a fine polish on the same old formula, as was Half-life and a hundred other Quake-clones. Even the weapon-limit has been done before, in Rise of the Triad. Doom had co-operative play, as did Duke3D. Half of the Halo weapons are the same old weapons, except for a handful that seem to come from an Unreal-style design, and the plethora of grenade types can be seen as far back as Team Fortress for Quakeworld.
I don't think the PC crowd is very innovative either, to tell you the truth. Diablo is simply an Ultima interface laid on top of nethack. Civ2 was polish on Civ1, and virtually every "nation builder" game has stolen elements from either Civ or Simcity or Populus. Adventure games like Monkey Island * are simply the combination of the ever-forward march of computer technology with the old text adventure styles of Zork et al. WoW looks to be your standard EQ/DAoC/etc, Starcraft:Ghost a blend between MGS and a first person sneaker - all tried and true paths, just not one taken by Blizzard before.
If anything, I think the industry is slowing down as it is rapidly maturing. Gone are the heady days of 1999; now, people are trying to create stable businesses developing entertainment software rather than making games out of a garage. This means inevitably less risks and more decidedly mediocre games. I think part of the "less risks" implication is a general shift to console development, but I don't expet that to be permanent; given success of console gaming, I'd bet we'll see more add-on hardware being sold for consoles and consoles themselves gravitating towards more general media-centre usage, which takes us back to the same place we were when IBM-compatible machines first started to come out and the PC industry moved from monolithic to modular.
Just for kicks, here are a few games I do think were truly landmark:
Dune 2, The Sims, Simcity, Civilization, Wolfenstein/Doom, King's Quest, Mortal Combat, Tetris, F-Zero, Super Mario Brothers/Contra/Metroid, Zelda, Final Fantasy, Thief
I'm sure if I sat here for a while I could come up with a dozen more.