I was thinking about this earlier while standing around with nothing to do. I was thinking about Halo, and how I read a discussion the other day that pointed out that, despite what the press said at the time, that the game wasn't really innovative.. that it didn't really do anything that hadn't already been done. It put it all into one package, and it did it well, certainly. But innovative?
Then I got to thinking.. well, what IS innovative in a FPS? Something that truly changes the way the game is played, something separate from simply a "new feature". Dual-wielding, for example. Cool? Sure. Innovative? No, just a new feature. Changes an aspect of the game, but not the game overall.
As I thought about it, I realized that there haven't really been any innovations in FPS at all. Ever. In fact, the only thing innovative was the original creation of the FPS itself. Wolfenstein, Doom, etc. The only thing that comes close, since the creation of FPS, is the use of full-bore 3D, with up/down controls and the like, what I would refer to as a "dual-stick" control scheme (since I've always been a console gamer rather than a PC gamer). If you think about it, they haven't really made anything new since then. All they've done is tweak it, add new features and options, and perfect what's already there.
It got me thinking about innovation overall. Have we really seen anything new these last few years? Racing games are pretty much all alike. Car, track, drive. Damage? Just a feature. Online? Just a feature. The racing is still the same. Again, the closest I can think of someone doing something "new" was Test Drive: Unlimited, and even that was more of a combination of racing games with sandbox and MMO games.
I'm starting to think that innovation has to be something totally new, something never seen before, a new type of game, and not simply a new version of something that already exists. That any time there's a new FPS, racing game, platformer, action/adventure, etc, that it's never "new".. it's just "better", no matter how well it sells or how good the reviews are.
Interstingly enough, some of the most highly acclaimed original games recently have, in fact, not been all that innovative. Take Team ICO's games, for example. Ico, Shadow of the Colossus. Original, to be sure, and fantastic games in every way. But innovative? Action/adventure/puzzle games. A new take on an old genre, yes.. but it's still an old genre.
So what's innovative? Katamari Damacy. LittleBigPlanet. flOw. Not even sure about that last one. That's just stuff that I've played (or, in the case of LBP, followed closely since it's announcement), I'm sure there's more out there (and feel free to jump in with your own examples).
Which brings up another point, something very important to gamers as a whole, I think. Publishers are afraid of innovation. Not the little indie developers, mind you.. they're the ones that are pushing the bounds. But the big-name publishers like EA and Ubisoft and the like. They're in it for the money, and truly innovative games are highly risky. They'd rather sit back and create things that they know will work, rather than risking money on something that may fail. It reminds me of an article I read in EGM a couple years ago. They actually ran the numbers of.. 2005, I think it was. New IPs versus sequels and remakes. Nearly everything released was a rehash or remake. The few new IPs and original titles didn't do very well, all of the top-sellers were completely unoriginal in every respect.
I think we, as gamers, should go looking for these little original, innovative titles, and support them. Show the big companies that they CAN support the independant developers who make them, and that people will buy them. Especially in this day and age of downloadable games, which significantly reduces the overhead required to publish and distribute them. I encourage everybody to go find one of these games and play it. Who knows? You might even like it.
Now I'm gonna go downstairs and play some flOw.
Then I got to thinking.. well, what IS innovative in a FPS? Something that truly changes the way the game is played, something separate from simply a "new feature". Dual-wielding, for example. Cool? Sure. Innovative? No, just a new feature. Changes an aspect of the game, but not the game overall.
As I thought about it, I realized that there haven't really been any innovations in FPS at all. Ever. In fact, the only thing innovative was the original creation of the FPS itself. Wolfenstein, Doom, etc. The only thing that comes close, since the creation of FPS, is the use of full-bore 3D, with up/down controls and the like, what I would refer to as a "dual-stick" control scheme (since I've always been a console gamer rather than a PC gamer). If you think about it, they haven't really made anything new since then. All they've done is tweak it, add new features and options, and perfect what's already there.
It got me thinking about innovation overall. Have we really seen anything new these last few years? Racing games are pretty much all alike. Car, track, drive. Damage? Just a feature. Online? Just a feature. The racing is still the same. Again, the closest I can think of someone doing something "new" was Test Drive: Unlimited, and even that was more of a combination of racing games with sandbox and MMO games.
I'm starting to think that innovation has to be something totally new, something never seen before, a new type of game, and not simply a new version of something that already exists. That any time there's a new FPS, racing game, platformer, action/adventure, etc, that it's never "new".. it's just "better", no matter how well it sells or how good the reviews are.
Interstingly enough, some of the most highly acclaimed original games recently have, in fact, not been all that innovative. Take Team ICO's games, for example. Ico, Shadow of the Colossus. Original, to be sure, and fantastic games in every way. But innovative? Action/adventure/puzzle games. A new take on an old genre, yes.. but it's still an old genre.
So what's innovative? Katamari Damacy. LittleBigPlanet. flOw. Not even sure about that last one. That's just stuff that I've played (or, in the case of LBP, followed closely since it's announcement), I'm sure there's more out there (and feel free to jump in with your own examples).
Which brings up another point, something very important to gamers as a whole, I think. Publishers are afraid of innovation. Not the little indie developers, mind you.. they're the ones that are pushing the bounds. But the big-name publishers like EA and Ubisoft and the like. They're in it for the money, and truly innovative games are highly risky. They'd rather sit back and create things that they know will work, rather than risking money on something that may fail. It reminds me of an article I read in EGM a couple years ago. They actually ran the numbers of.. 2005, I think it was. New IPs versus sequels and remakes. Nearly everything released was a rehash or remake. The few new IPs and original titles didn't do very well, all of the top-sellers were completely unoriginal in every respect.
I think we, as gamers, should go looking for these little original, innovative titles, and support them. Show the big companies that they CAN support the independant developers who make them, and that people will buy them. Especially in this day and age of downloadable games, which significantly reduces the overhead required to publish and distribute them. I encourage everybody to go find one of these games and play it. Who knows? You might even like it.
Now I'm gonna go downstairs and play some flOw.
