GameInformer

For those who did not read the article, let me sum it up for you.  Game designers pretty much want to hear what consumers such as ourselves would like to see in games, and what we like and dislike about games that are already out.  I'm pretty sure that these forums are full of useful resources, but I've been wrong plenty of times before, so I'll step out on a limb in an effort to help these poor, lost souls who bring us such great entertainment achievement by achievement, level by level, and boss by boss.

In starting I feel it necessary to tell you what consoles I currently own, and my favorite titles on each:

XBox 360: Fallout 3, Halo 3, Rock Band (Both) GTA 4, and more recently, Modern Warfare and Borderlands.

PSP: GTA: Chinatown Wars, God of War.

Being as how I don't spend too much time playing my PSP, most of the ongoing rant will be about console games, however much can be related to hand-held platforms as well.  One thing that seems to be a recurring issue is the fact that gamers complain that there aren't any mature games for the Wii (a problem I too have complained about).  This is true, when compared to the PS3, and the XBox 360, the Wii simply can't compete with the 18+ demographic.  The real problem lies in that nobody wants to invest two hundred dollars on a console that will only provide immature entertainment for a matter of weeks, possibly a couple of months, and then just be a store credit at the local GameStop, or Play-N-Trade.  Now, you would think the problem would be solved simply by introducing more mature games offered on the Wii platform correct?  Sure, that helps, but the real reason this problem exists is because when the Wii was released it had virtually no games that appealed to adult consumers.  I can honestly say that the only game I've ever played on the Wii is Resident Evil 4, and it was an enjoyable experience, don't get me wrong, however my Mario Bros. fix is easily remedied on my work computer simply by googling "platform game" or going to various free sites making the Wii completely unnecessary for entertainment purposes.  The only logical end to this is to have people make a game focusing on what the Wii has the XBox and PS3 do not, and that is obviously motion controls.  I like mindless games as much as anybody, and how mindless can you get than a quick twitch of the wrist every now and then, one joystick, and a point-and-shoot interface?  By no means am I a business major, or even involved in sales, but I am a consumer (if you don't believe me, I have credit card statements), and I know what would make me buy a Wii.

Unfortunately that is not the end of my rant, for anybody wondering when it ends, it's as soon as you hit the back button on the top left of your browser window.  Now that we lost the people who really aren't interested in the subject (I believe the pre-election poll read 97.3%) I shall continue with SPECIFIC likes and dislikes of games as requested in the aforementioned article.

Likes/Dislikes: Personally I favor more towards FPS, and a very small number of RPGs.  However I play Fallout 3 in 3rd person view.  For me, the feel of the game, and what you can do is what makes me want to play a game.  Honestly, if the character in the game can do something that most games won't let me do (i.e. Portal from "The Orange Box" allows the player to pick up absolutely anything, and sometimes something as simple as being able to throw a coffee cup across a room is the difference between me buying a $60.00 game, or waiting till the price drops, and buying a different game.).  I would probably sum that up to out and out innovation and originality.  I also want to look at something nice while I'm playing.  I was actually hesitant to buy Borderlands for this very reason, by the cover it looks like the graphics were rather slopped together in a jam-packed effort to compete with Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition.  I thought it was absurd.  After playing the game, I found out how much the graphics were actually really well done, and the animated image that it projected was exactly how they wanted to portray the world of Pandora.  The graphics went with the absolute lunacy of the humor in the game.  The humor in the game was somewhat intelligent, and the fact that it incorporated other games into it-even some older ones-gave it a sort of nostalgia to it that I simply can't get enough of.  What I really don't want to see are sloppy graphics played off like you didn't think I would be able to see it.  I think I can safely assume that a good amount of gamers have HiDef televisions at this point, and most people are using every bit of their wide screen 1080p to hack at every single flaw in graphics.  Personally speaking, if I wanted to see 16 bit graphics, I would by a CRT monitor for $10 at a yard sale and plug in the old Sega Genesis from the attic.  You must be insane if you think I want to pay $60 for a game that looks like a burn victim run over by a Mack truck (unless of course you are portraying said metaphor in a more literal sense).

Another thing that could be improved is realism in games.  Now, fortunately for some, I am not speaking about shooters, this goes to a specific genre.  Racing games are terrible for making up modifications (and prices for said modifications) that simply don't exist on the market.  Now since it does not exist it would cost more than the listed price (don't believe me? try to price a twin turbo for a VW Bug... just don't tell the guy behind the counter at Summit Racing that I told you to do it).  And they don't account for the popularity of vehicles dropping or raising prices for cars (and their after market parts), or the way that certain parts integrate with others of the same brand.  I understand that it would take a bit of research to accomplish this, however I would bank on it being worth it.  Racing games have fooled me for years, the closest any game has come to changing my mind is Juiced (the first) and Forza Motorsports 2.  Simply due to the fantasy physics introduced with the plethora of Need for Speed series I don't buy racing games anymore.  While on the fantasy physics topic, I might as well make a well timed subject-change.  I will fully admit that Need for Speed is the main culprit of this, but there are others as well.  When you make a racing game that is supposed to take place on Earth, it would be nice if you duplicated ALL of the laws of physics, and ONLY the laws of physics that apply here on Earth.  I can't count the amount of times that I could max my tires out to "level 10" and with that I could make a hairpin turn at 130 MPH without touching a wall.  I honestly don't care how good your tires are, something gives with that amount of G's pulling in the side-to-side direction, whether the car rolls over, the back end goes into a drift, or the front tires refuse to grip and you simply don't turn, the fact remains that making the turn is not something that Sir Isaac Newton would agree with.

In closing, I do hope that the 2 or 3 people that actually find this interesting enough to read will follow suit and specifically put their likes and dislikes in an effort to make it easier for game designers to hear what we want, and hopefully, just maybe, bring us titles that are a little more successful in entertainment than some that were mentioned earlier in this 20 page thesis.  Hope this helps, if only a little.

Now that is some dedication man. Its good to see that people are actually giving their viewpoints.

I would like to see more:1) Tactics and teamwork in online fps's. Im really excited for bfbc2 becuase of this.

2) More community involved in games. Like stat tracking which is great and things like community challenges.

Maybe I'll write some more if we can get some others in here. I need some time to think about what I want in RPG's

I would like to see snipers in games to actually be kinda realistic instead of point and shoot.

tl;dr

dont know why im posting.

+1?

The fact that you would just put a post in like that is extremely disrespectful.  Of all the writing that was posted above, you can't find anything better to do than mindlessly tap on a keyboard? And then you give yourself points? Get a life, or go play WOW, either way, give the people having serious conversation a break from your existence forever.

I don't want realistic physics in a racing game that equals boring I want realism in turns of choice and consequence not this simple good evil decision...as for FPS' I just want one with a decent cover mechanic that doesn't require me to know the ins and outs of every weapon...rpgs especially console rpgs I want a save anywhere feature, and can I just get rid of fan boys

Shiddy, tl;dr stands for too long didn't read. It wasn't mindless typing, but it wasn't respectful either.

That was a really long post...that is what a blog is for, after all.

How about more guns in multiplayer across the board. I want to be able to get some random third-world country gun(not the AK, technically, that's Russian) or be able to place an IED roadside bomb for the TANKS THAT SHOULD BE IN ALL MULTIPLAYER. Vehicles, that's a seller, look at BFBC2. We want vehicles, at least a lot of us do. I'm sure people would agree.

I would also like to have RPGs with a huge map like FO3, but then be able to go to a whole new city to do more quests there. I realize this is asking a lot of time from devs, but that would be awesome. Plus, if you cant fit it on one disk, there is always something called Blu-Ray on PS3....no, I'm not a fanboy, I have all three consoles.

I always like a system that incorporates your choices, like Mass Effect 2. Another good thing in that game that I would like to have in more games is the character development. I felt like I knew the characters and felt like I knew Shepard. Makes it more real.

I think you contradicted yourself there when you said your favorites games were Halo and Call of Dudes, and you want innovation and originality in games.

Besides that I have to agree with proper physics in driving games. I think it makes the driving so much more enjoyable. Like in GTA IV, you can powerslide around every turn. Because thye driving was pretty realistic, I actually enjoyed just cruising around the city, maybe not even hitting top speed. But I just liked the feel of driving.

Something else I want in video games is choices and customization. I love it when I can make my own choices or my own character and I'll never get enough. Sports games have it right with their create a pro mode orwhatever, and you get to make one player and follow his career. Saints Row 2s options were pretty and I'll expect even more in the third. Even games like Call of Dudes benefit from all the stat tracking and the ways you can make your own class.

I really like feally invested in a game. So RPG elements and stat tracking are very important to me. I like it when everything I do matters.

I want to see an online RPG. Borderlands is moving in the right direction away from WOW.. (or WOE as some call it,since it can inflict such feelings,) but when the Elder Scrolls goes online, I'll be a happy man.

I am completely unable to control my anger when people COMPLAIN that there are no M-rated games on the Wii. First of all, um, yeah there are- MadWorld, House of the Dead, Resident Evil, Silent Hill Shattered Memories, Call of Duty, etc. Second of all, a game doesn't HAVE to be adult-oriented to be good!

Yes, there are a lot of childish games on Wii, BUT THEY'RE F*CKING BRILLIANT! Sit down with Super Mario Galaxy for an hour or two, then you'll see ho much fun it is. Same with Super Smash Bros., Zelda (which i pretty mature if you ask me), Pokemon- all are excellent games, and would you look at that- not a splash of virtual blood in sight!

Nintendo doesn't give a sh*t about the tone of its games, it cares about how fun they are to play, and that's why they make good games. If your definition of a good game is one that has lots of gore, brainless violence, no substance, and generic faceless characters, then I honestly feel sorry for you.

First of all, thanks for the translation there Demon... I'm a console gamer and honestly don't have time to keep up with leet speech or whatever anybody calls it.  Secondly, I feel that I must say something in response to Luke who says "I think you contradicted yourself there when you said your favorites games were Halo and Call of Dudes, and you want innovation and originality in games."  I hate to point this out to you, but is there a more realistic, or innovative series than Call of Duty?  And as for Halo, I have never seen a game, let alone a series with a plot like Halo, but then again, I haven't played every game, so maybe there is something I am missing.  

In response to Sergeant Luke, I have no doubt that Nintendo makes really fun games, don't get me wrong every now and then I still plug in the Super NES and play some Super Mario Bros, but in all reality that is what I would entitle mindless fun.  There are plenty of games that I have mentioned before that you labeled as games that have "...lots of gore, brainless violence, no substance, and generic faceless characters..." which is completely wrong if you ever took the time to do anything other than play XBox or PS3 at a friends house.  I just picked up ME2, and that is possibly the greatest counterexample of what you say these games personify.  I think that you read into my dislikes as complete disses.  I am simply trying to relay to people who feel we (as gamers) don't relay to the developers.  It is a common conception that the Wii simply doesn't carry games that are huge into multi-player apps, and, in my opinion, don't have a campaign that makes me want to play as soon as it comes out.  If I had a Wii, I might have a lot of fun with these games, however they would not make me want to drop $60 and put in a reserve for it.  I would more likely wait until I could pick up a used copy from GameStop.

All-in-all, I think this has sparked a great conversation.  For those who took the time to read the original post and respond, I thank you for your input, and your time (after all it was as long as some magazine articles), and feel free to keep up to date with the forum.

Along read but an educated one , and for that I thank you .

Personally I am a huge fan of rpg's ( western , not jrpg ) , followed by shooters , then everything else with the exception of sports games ( if I wanted to play sports I wouldnt be sitting in front of my HD ) .

As far as innovation , I love the direction Lionhead is taking things these days .  I love having new ways to interact with the game world thrown at me . Games like E.S. Morrowind amazed me with the number of things you could interact with , and the ways to do it .Don't believe me ?  I can show you numerous murals made out of everyday items , that can only be fully enjoyed from the highest building in Balmora . Why did I do this ?  Because I was bored . But guess what , the level of interactivity kept me bored in game . Instead of turning off the console , I spent a ridiculous amount of time creating messages in the streets .  No other game since has caught my attention in this manner .  I would like to be able to interact with ANY object I see in game , I don't care if it's a bug running across the floor I want to be able to step on it . If there is a window , I should be able to open it and jump out , even if it's on the tenth floor . My game should equal my choice .

As far as racing games go , too much realism turns me off . Need for Speed  is my favorite series when it doesn't get too far into the tuning . Gran Turismo , while I have to agree is a great sim , is just too punishing for someone like me who just wants a break from a different game style .  I'm a fan of the arcade style of racing that doesn't take itself too seriously . Remember NFS Hot Pursuit ? Still one of my favorite all time racing games .

And Portal rocks the house man . Seriously LOVE that game .