Gears of War Visual Exploration 43
Shacknews has images from a small product information piece about Gears of War. The scans show off a booklet full of beautiful imagery and some interesting insights into the game. From the booklet: "Since Emergence Day, the residents of Sera have been paying the price. Crumbled buildings and ruined monuments loom over the battlefield as somber reminders of what the Gears fight for. The glory of Sera and everything that mankind has struggled to achieve collapses in upon itself, yielding to an unstoppable force. A brutal and protracted war has dashed this planet's veneer to pieces, and left the shattered bits to be picked up by the most unlikely few. The Gears of War continue to turn."
Slashdot... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Slashdot... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Slashdot... (Score:2)
Re:Slashdot... (Score:1)
Plus now they don't have to ship a manual we've all read it.
How about a date? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:How about a date? (Score:2)
Re:How about a date? (Score:1)
Re:How about a date? (Score:2)
Call it what you will... (Score:5, Insightful)
Am I the only one who believes this sort of thing is going to be the future of video gaming?
Games are just the next level of interactivity. It was books, then radio, then movies, now video games. It's just the next level, and I for one am looking forward to getting some "good literature" out there in the form of video games. Classic storylines that are powerful and mean something and stir something from within us.
The concept of "destroyed beauty" in the article's pictoral essay is quite good imho, and if you like the storylines of games like Half Life, Myst, FFX, or other games with rich, involved storylines, you may find Gears interesting.
Here's hoping they don't b0rk it up and turn it into a cheesy shoot-em-up, but remain true to the concept and retain some of the good storyline.
The only part that I'm worried about is the cheesy cliche'ness of the protagonist, but perhaps they can pull it off.
I'll be watching this one with interest.
Re:Call it what you will... (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually just about anything titled "noun Of War" is off to a bad start, cliche-wise.
Re:Call it what you will... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Call it what you will... (Score:2)
There are very few video games that aren't full of frightfully hokey writing, if you start judging them by the same standards as movies or novels. Generally, the audience for video games doesn't have very refined taste in writing and doesn't value originality or sophistication very much.
This for the very good reason that the cheesiest, silliest video game stories are often attached to the most fun games. So, most companies put minimal effort into storytelling, or intentionally go for the high school melod
Re:Call it what you will... (Score:3, Interesting)
If you think about it though, there are very few books and movies that also aren't frightfully full of hokey writing. The ratio of "great" literature to the amount of "okay" literature is very small. For every really good
Re:Call it what you will... (Score:2)
Oh, certainly, there are more trashy books than good ones. The problem video games have as a storytelling medium right now is that a good video game story is more likely to resemble a trashy book, in terms of writing quality, than a good one.
This doesn't reflect on the possibility of telling great stories in video games, more on the likelihood. There's no reason to presume telling a good story in video game form is impossible, but also no reason - yet - to presume that doing so is a necessary or desirable
Re:Call it what you will... (Score:2)
Certainly it's not any more necessary than it is for movies to achieve a higher excellence, but that seems to be the way culture is headed. I personally think a good imagination beats special effects any day (hence why the LotR books will always be better than a movie effort), but people aren't turning to books for their entertainment as
Re:Call it what you will... (Score:2)
My point is more that you can make an excellent game with little to no story at all, or a story that would simply not be workable in a medium like film. Pac-Man, Tetris, Katamari Damacy, even the archetypal FPS multiplayer... these aren't gameplay styles that are compelling because of storytelling. They're compelling because they're fun experiences. Similarly, a lot of fun and compelling new games - Lumines, Meteos, Electroplankton, Nintendogs (arguably) - are fun and compelling precisely because they embod
Re:Call it what you will... (Score:2)
In the same way, Tetris, and the million or so clones, will never have a grand, thought provoking story
Re:Call it what you will... (Score:2)
Dickens is considered great more for historical influence than quality. A lot of books have been critted and duly acknowledged as really quite dreadful, but very popular. This is why you don't read too much Dickens in secondary school, but then get buried in it in English courses (or so I'm told, anyway).
he Pratchett comparison is a bit more on the mark, though I'd argue that Pratchett is considered a very great writer in a lot of quarters and just doesn't get much attention because of his genre. I imagin
Re:Call it what you will... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Call it what you will... (Score:1, Redundant)
Re:Call it what you will... (Score:3, Interesting)
Me - "Look at Gears of War."
He - "It's just another Doom."
Me - "It's supposed to be about story and 'cover'"
He - "Is it a single-player FPS?"
Me - "Yes"
He - "It's Doom."
It'll take a whole lot to make something other than a Doom clone. When you try, you mostly end up with a 'boring Doom clone.'
Best of luck.
Re:Call it what you will... (Score:2)
Me - "Yes"
It's actually a 3rd person game: Link [blogsome.com]
Re:Call it what you will... (Score:2)
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I would like to point out... (Score:2)
...that I do not have "destroyed beauty".
Sera
originality (Score:1)
but seriously, screenshot 10 talks about how they were looking for something unique and original to go for the lead characters look, but doesnt he look eerily reminiscent of the models for the upcoming unreal and UT? maybe its just me. or maybe they are just using the same engine. who knows... but ive definitely seen this episode before.
Re:originality (Score:1)
Re:originality (Score:2)
stunning but... (Score:1)
Re:stunning but... (Score:1)
An odd paradox (Score:3, Interesting)
I may just becoming old and cynical but it seems to me that there are (almost) no companies that can merge interesting gameplay with impressive graphics. For the most part the interesting game ideas are usually less impressive visually.
Not to divert attention from this game but
It seems to me that ever since Iwata has become president of Nintendo there is a far greater focus on inovation in videogames. Games like Warioware, Nintendogs, and Kirby Canvas Curse are great examples of unconventional game ideas that are interesting. The thing that actually has me interested in the Revolution more than anything else is probably the Nintendo DS (although I don't own one yet). Even with it's small game list, and limited upcomming supply of games, it has far more unconventional (and interesting) games than any platform at this point in its lifespan. I think regardless of whether you will own an XBox 360, PS3 or High-End PC Nintendo may give you reason enough (through inovative games) to buy a Revolution.
Re:An odd paradox (Score:2)
I have been predicting that the Revolution will actually be the real "winner" of the next-gen. As someone who has a bit more mature outloo
Re:An odd paradox (Score:2)
Re:An odd paradox (Score:2)
Knowing full well the mass-produced junk that is out there by the hundreds, they strive to be different. Sometimes it is just too much and puts people off
Re:An odd paradox (Score:2)
I do agree, though, that both Sony and MS are pushing way to hard for this "media center" idea. What I want is a console to play games, not a stripped down PC to do a bunch of stuff half-assed. I'm not sure if I am alone in this, but I tend to li
Um ok how is this a visual exploration? (Score:2)