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New Genres For The Revolution
Posted by
Zonk
on Wed Feb 15, 2006 06:56 PM
from the making-waves dept.
from the making-waves dept.
Last week's Gamasutra question of the week dealt with the possibility of new genres for Nintendo's Revolution system. Some interesting answers from the industry, as always. From the article: "I would say the interesting part is not what new genres will come about, but how most existing genres will be transformed by this. For example, fighting games will no longer have to be about special moves and combos when you can simply put one controller in each hand and start punching and blocking like in real life (maybe strap one on a leg to kick). "
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Nothing new... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Nothing new... (Score:4, Insightful)
For instance, Electroplankton was preceded by over 20 years, by things like this [llamasoft.co.uk], and this [llamasoft.co.uk], and this [llamasoft.co.uk], and this [llamasoft.co.uk] - and those are just by one guy, and those are just the ones I know about. Jeff Minter can't have been the only guy making this sort of thing, there's probably been a pile of them in academia too.
As for the virtual pets, ignoring Tamagotchi and whatnot there have been virtual dogs and more imaginative [wikipedia.org] or more prosaic [wikipedia.org] electronic companions for a while too - Little Computer People came out over 20 years ago as well.
Nintendo may popularise many things, but don't make the mistake of thinking they come up with them all...
Parent
Oh Joy! (Score:3, Funny)
So what's next? I think Simpson's nailed it!
Bart: I want to go to the Yard Work Simulator.
Marge: But when I ask you to do yard work... *sigh*
Will I have to argue with my co-worker to get them away from their "Work Simulator"?
Combos with the body (warning: may cause nausea) (Score:4, Funny)
With our luck, we'll have the kids doing the Mighty Morphin' power rangers coreographic routines to activate the combos..
Huh (move) hah (move) hah (move) hoh!
(eew)
Permission to Think Freely (Score:5, Insightful)
If conventional wisdom is correct, creativity in large game development studios is hampered by publishers' requirements: bring about a return on their investments by recreating past successes. (This means sequels and titles that stick closely to existing genres.) The smallest developers often follow a similar path: they want to start turning a profit so that they can actually eat lunch once in a while. So, they (the ones who are supposed to be doing all the innovating!) tend to stick to tried-and-true themes as well. Just look at all the Match 3 games out there.
Perhaps the Revolution's controller, simply by being completely nutty [google.com], is going to give larger development studios the impetus to ask what crazy things they can do with it? Publishers will not only allow this approach, but demand it. Their press releases will be filled with all the newfangled things a particular title will do with the controller.
Maybe.
I do lament the fact that, out of the Big Three [wikipedia.org], the platform that seems to court indies the most [xbox.com] is the one that has received such a lukewarm reception [xbox.com]. If Nintendo opened things up similarly, I'd love to be able to develop games for use with the Revolution controller.
But maybe that's just the lazy me talking. When I think about it, there's probably plenty of innovation we can pull out of the keyboard and the mouse.
Interactive Exercise Videos and Dancing (Score:3, Insightful)
-Anonymous
This was what I was thinking, in addition to the other standards (light sabers, wands, avatars):
Karate games (with pads on elbows, gloves on hands) - controller in dominant hand;
Dance games (similar);
Rave games - at first, like dance games, later it will interact with external lighting pods and change the music itself (feedback loops), and multiple players will make it behave differently - in advanced forms it will be used for online parties, dance competitions, and mini-raves for teens;
Karaoke games - the controller will have a voice mike expansion for this, and as you move it and press buttons, different karaoke effects will kick in - again, will borrow concepts from Rave games above - really annoying if you have bad singers, of course, and likely to show up on Police Blotters;
Inevitable FPS variants - Be The Cop, Be The Grunt, Be The Spy, Be The Warrior, Be The Gerbil, whatever. But more fun than the ones they crank out now
Online games like Sims 3: The Revolution where people literally interact with the game - also at home versions.
A little bit of imagination is needed... (Score:5, Interesting)
Multiple Controllers per player the REAL revolutio (Score:5, Insightful)
However, this also illustrates the biggest challenge to be faced by Revo developers, IMHO. In all current games, your characters have canned animations to represent your moves. You press the A-button or whatever, and the sword swipe animation playes. It's pre-rendered, beginning to end. Revo games will have to do realtime skeletal animation, so that you can begin swiping your sword, check it mid-stroke, and block with your shield. If you use physical movement to trigger canned animations, it will feel surreal, and you'll quickly give it up because it won't be responsive. You'll start to swipe your sword, and the game won't respond for
In my opinion, this is a good thing. For *years* what we've needed is better physical modelling, not better graphics. Better physics and better AI are really the key to better gaming. Graphics have been mostly "good enough" for 5 years, while physics and AI have only changed marginally since 3D games became ubiquitous. AI's a tougher nut to crack, but we have to have physics to make our virtual worlds interactive. So hopefully developers will target the older demographic that Nintendo is after. They don't really give a rip about better graphics (to a point), but make the controlls unresponsive, the physical simulation overly simplistic, or otherwise make the experience jarring, and you'll lose them in 5 minutes flat, never to return. Win them over, though, and I think you'll have a license to print money.
If anybody has the guts to try something really radical, there are interesting times ahead. We shall see...
Controller changed (Score:3, Informative)
- original: http://things.wordherders.net/archives/revolution
- article: http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060215/rev-co
This leads me to believe that Nintendo is still tweaking the controller and that we may see some more changes in the final version.
Break away from "genre's" (Score:3, Insightful)
Moreso than trying to apply old stale bystanders to a radically new device, try thinking outside the box and go in new paths. We've all played enough Fighters, Sports, RPG's, etc. Let's actually move in new directions and get back to the single genre: FUN.
Re:Combos (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Brainwaves... (Score:4, Funny)
OTOH, i could see the warning on the packages:
Parent
Re:Combos (Score:4, Interesting)
Agreed. And if you're allowed to match it up so that one person "moves" to execute their moves, while the other just pushes buttons....the one who's just pushing buttons will have a HUGE advantage because of the speed with which they can push them. That's why I've always preferred the PS2's joystick for Gran Turismo as opposed to the racing wheel....I can simply execute my moves quicker with the buttons than having to turn the whole wheel, etc.
Parent
*rolls eyes* (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
Re:*rolls eyes* (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:*rolls eyes* (Score:3, Informative)
Re:*rolls eyes* (Score:3, Interesting)
I just wish they would remake it with better graphics.
Re:Combos (Score:5, Funny)
Please don't tell me what appenges you are thinking about, I just don't want to know
Parent
Re:Combos (Score:5, Funny)
Even if they're mutant turtles?
Parent
Re:How does this work? (Score:4, Informative)
1. The controller is supposed to contain a gyroscopic sensor, like the one found in WarioWare Twisted. It may control more than one, since it's supposed to be able to detect pitch and yaw as well.
2. The console is supposed to come with sensors to place on the TV, so those can be used to not only figure out how large the screen is (useful in figuring out where on the screen the controller is pointed) but also distance through triangulation. That may be done with infrared or RF.
Parent
Re:How does this work? (Score:5, Interesting)
This page [ign.com] specifically says "[The controller] interacts with a sensor bar placed above, below, or near televisions. The bar contains two sensors that communicate with the controller using Bluetooth technology."
Parent
Re:Fighting games? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Fighting games? (Score:3, Interesting)
NES was second to the Sega Master System, this is true.
The SNES was the most powerful system durring the 16 bit era. Excluding exotic choices like the Neo-Geo. It's rivals were the Genesis which has a higher clock speed, but was nowhere near as capable, and the Turbo Grafix 16, which IIRC was an 8 Bit system with a 16 bit graphics coprocessor (or some such trickery).
The 32 Bit era, Nin
Re:Fighting games (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Fighting games (Score:4, Funny)
Parent