The lights are on
[story by Andy Reiner, who is covering the D.I.C.E. convention for Game Informer]
David Cage, the writer and director of Quantic Dreams' upcoming PlayStation 3 game Beyond: Two Souls, spoke at D.I.C.E. today about the video game industry refusing to grow up. His speech, titled "The Peter Pan Syndrome," passionately pointed out the mistakes he feels the industry is making."We make the same games over and over," Cage said. "The lack of innovation is an issue for any industry. We need to find ways to reach a wider audience. We need to move beyond our tradition market which is usually kids and teens. Think about your friends and parents who don't play games."He pointed out that people can talk to their parents and grandparents about movies, but there's rarely a common understanding between the groups for games. Cage believes the industry is ready for change. He wants to see developers make games without guns and focus on the journey the game offers more than its challenge. Cage said the first steps to getting to this future are to make games for everyone, and change game paradigms. He stressed the need to move away from violence and making the same game over and over again. "Can we create games that have something to say? Can we create games with meaning?" He outlined a number of topics that games could potentially tackle, such as politics and human emotion."All real world themes should be used," he said, pointing out how many games are set in separate dimensions and are not mirror reflections of who the gamer is. He wants games to deliver an experience that "by the time you turn off the console, it leaves an impression."Cage also said developers should embrace talent outside of the video game industry, whether it's authors helping with stories or actors bringing characters to life. He wants developers to establish new relationships with Hollywood. "It's time for meaningful and constructive and balanced relationships. We can work together to create a new form of entertainment."Cage ended his speech by saying press can help improve games by giving meaningful analysis and opinions, not just scores about game components. Gamers play a large role, too. "Buying or not buying a game is almost like a political vote," he said. "You decide what direction the industry goes in with your vote. Buying a game is also a matter of responsibility. You vote where you want the industry to go."
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Politics, yeah. Now there's something I want to get absorbed in as entertainment - would be a sarcastic and false thing of me to say.
Emotions, yes. Politics? Certainly not. They're an unnecessary evil, but the corrupt refuse to relinquish their manipulation over people, and thus politics remain.
Anyway, the games industry is returning to growing up, as it was doing before the 360/PS3 generation dumbed everything down to a 10-14 year old level, as they were trying to initiate the lowest-common-denominator people into gaming. But now, with crowd funding and the ability for devs to be their own publisher/marketer, we're seeing control returning to the individuals, and more intelligent and worthy games being developed.
I would love to see more variety in the mainstream gaming scene but it is a little silly to see this coming from the maker of Heavy Rain which not only contained plenty of shooting and fighting common to many games but which also had many scenes of women, sometimes in very revealing clothing, threatened with sexual violence which thankfully is not a component of most games. His next game judging by the trailer which was released a few months ago is also very violent but replaces the normal action mechanics of most games with one where enemies can be possessed and made to kill themselves or each other without the player character killing them directly.
I have to think that this is just a sales tactic to make players think that by buying his games they are showing how mature and grown up they are. Other developers are busy making untraditional games David Cage is just busy talking about it.
this guy doesn't know what hes talking about. he seems to have forgotten its just a game. And while yes video games do need to change slightly but that doesn't mean bring in silly political debates and democracy issues to our titles that we as gamer's will likely not want to play. If he wants to make other games for that audience that by all means but im not touching it.. gamers are all different and want different things... for instance me...
I think what they should be doing with the game industry is making it more incline to i guess naturally helping problem solving skills and logic puzzles. i hardly see any of that in todays game industry. Most of it is mindless shooting and oh press the A at a timed sequence. Or what they call logic is just pushing in a box like 2 feet.
ohhh such accomplishment... please. just stop babying gamers yes. but please do not make *** games that make us want to sleep.. thats all.
So... He wants the industry to do exactly what it's doing. Okay, your call, Davey.
Doesn't Beyond: Two Souls have guns? Besides, today's gamers will be tomorrow's parents and grandparents. There's your wide audience.
"All real world themes should be used," he said, pointing out how many games are set in separate dimensions and are not mirror reflections of who the gamer is.
You had me until that last bit dude. People don't need to see someone exactly like "themselves" up on screen. The gaming industry also doesn't need to work with Hollywood. Then it will get even more homogenized. Look at Hollywood. It thinks everyone that watches movies is a straight white male. Thus they get a mirror image of that. What good does that do them or anybody else? If you can't sympathize or understand people who are different than you, then you are not a full person, and you don't have a full understanding of life.
And why should games use..whatever "real world themes" are? Terrorism? Global Warming? These are important, but the industry doesn't handle them very well so far. Focusing on universal human themes like friendship and loyalty in the midst of conflict would maybe be a better suggestion? Also, games have to be set in a seperate diminsion. Even the supposidley "realistic" Call of Duties take place in a very very warped version of our world. Video game events and character traits (taking multiple gunshots and stabs in the chest and still fighting while magically regaining health) can't happen in the real world.
sounds like a nice plan but dont force good games to end it upsets us.
I don't WANT the real world in my games. I LIVE in the real world, and it's boring (or depressing... or both).
Well now. Hmm... Cheery eh?
Reminds me of people buying military shooters one after the next, Battlefield, COD, MOH, getting boring. I am breaking with the crowd and not buying anymore of those titles, time for some change on my end.
Blah... what companies are willing to break the mold and try vastly new script ideas or game mechanics? Not many.. Heavy Rain was fantastic despite the 'lack' of interaction. I simply don't think Sony or Microsoft have the guts to act riskier, and it shows in what their newest tech is supported in the games on Kinnect and Move, etc. Even Nintendo sticks to what sells, because the market does seem fractured to what sells and garbage that doesn't sell but fools gamers or sub-par garbage that just clods the market with movie tie-ins. And what is truly revolutionary and sells well is never marketed correctly, whether on tv or in print. A tremendous amount of bs floods the gaming marketing, and message is dang important outside of 'review' magazines, like GI. Proof to me you are telling the truth. Market bs may be ubiquitous, but I don't have to pay for it. Loyalty is earned over time, and it is very complex for each individual gamer.
The Bigs need to spread it around even more and support smaller, riskier start ups.. and they need to take responsibility for the online landscape they pretend to care about so much. EA might have a unique delivery model for releasing game content over time, but so much of what's connected to it can ending up costing the consumer more or superfluous. Don't even get me started on bugs related to releasing a beta as a finished product. Respect us more for what we pay.
I don't trust EA, Sony, Activision, nor Microsoft to stick to their word, and provide what they claim they are providing online, and barely offline single player. Many times their dev makes a great product, but the pub does nothing to ensure a quality product over time. I won't buy your riskier add-ons if your company won't ensure those game packs are free of hacking, modding, unstable gameplay, well into all of your offerings.. Cheating has dictated many playing habits of losers, er gamers, and it has far reaching effects to how the buying public shows their loyalty. Look at COD- if you cheat, you play all of the time. If you don't- rarely, even if you have extreme skills and patience.
Battlefield 3 for great example. Lot's of innovation over BF2BC2, and a hugely more rewarding system, and other meaningful changes. None of the extra game add-ons are free from compromised gameplay, and many bugs can be found in this and games like Skyrim as dlc is progressively released over their cycles.
I think to myself about my 20+ good, online adult friends and lifetime gamers and what they play, and they follow a sense of mistrust on a variety of games from a variety of manufacturers. Many don't play certain manufacturers' or series' games because of a lack of trust, and their complaints over time are well-founded. The gaming industry's lack of transparency and lack of ownership has a very real effect in the marketplace.
Totally agree with this. I've become sick of the same old crap in games and would love to see something new. Heavy Rain was amazing, hopefully Beyond will be good as well.