Developer Panel Asks Whether AAA Games Are Too Long 342
Gamespot reports on a discussion at the Develop 2011 conference in which a panel of game designers debated whether recent big-budget releases like Heavy Rain and L.A. Noire were too long for a typical gamer's taste. Quoting:
"'Gamers are losing patience,' said [Alexis Kennedy of Failbetter Games], when asked about his own experiences with Heavy Rain, 'so many people don't reach the end and lose the full impact of the story.' He wasn't complimentary of its narrative either, questioning the benefit of basing a game on long-form narrative such as film, resulting in a 'bastardized' storyline that doesn't quite work. ... The likes of social and casual games, particularly the cheap games available on mobile, have changed the expectations of gamers, the panel concluded. Since gamers are paying less money, there's less need to create 10-hour-plus gaming experiences, because consumers no longer feel shortchanged."
Re:AAA games? (Score:3, Informative)
Anti Aircraft Artillery?
American Automobile Association
LR03 1.5v batteries ?
Amateur Athletics Association ?
Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm ?
I first heard the term while working in the games industry about 10 years ago. I don't think there's any formal definition anywhere, but it's basically the idea that we could waste our time making a grade B game everyone will ignore, or make something decent that's grade A. But we're so hot that we're going beyond that and making a grade triple-A game! I kind of remember there was a brief time when they used AA, before realizing that the third A made all the difference.
In practical terms, I think AAA just means a big budget and console support, because I've seen some otherwise really shitty "AAA" titles.