"Unoriginality Engine 3 and the console curse"

[thilanliyan]

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/19153

He has the same sentiments about Bioshock 2. I was excited and bought Bioshock 1 on launch day...but I won't even get the sequel from the Steam sale for $15.

 

[shortylickens]

Well, I basically agree with him. But I have already complained about these issues a thousand times before and I am tired of it. Easier to move on than to keep whining.

 

[VashHT]

I agree with this, I've started playing a lot more games from other genres since shooters are so damn boring nowadays. The only ones I really play anymore are MP ones my friends pick up, and I usually lose interest after a few weeks with those.

 

[Homerboy]

This really does hit the nail on the head.
I dont play ANY single player FPS anymore and the only multi-FPS I do play is TF2 (I just love the humor and light heartedness of it).
FPS games are dead to me. Boring as hell. Same thing over and over, and he's dead on with the gfx changes too. But that could have been foreseen too... there will always been monumental leaps early on, then the subsequent leaps get smaller and smaller until they are barely distinguishable.

I'll stick to RTS games and once Civ5 comes out... the entire world, not just FPS games, will be dead to me.

 

[darkewaffle]

Completely unimpressed with that article. Basically its a big long whine that he needs better graphics to stay interested and he's bored of FPS because he insists on thrusting each one upon himself. You don't have to buy or play every fucking game. And if you do, well then of course you're going to notice some similarities.

Then he namedrops Trine and Braid at the end to make it seem like he's actually trying, when really this is just the kind of crap a writer puts out there so that a year or two from now he can sound cool when he says "Back in 2010 when I heralded the end of FPS gaming etc etc etc"

 

[crownjules]

A big factor is that this generation of consoles has a much longer life cycle than those in previous years. And with the shifting of developers primarily focusing on consoles and porting to PC, that doesn't bode especially well for those of us with PCs that greatly outperform the aging console hardware.

Still it doesn't address the lack of originality at all, but this is more a symptom of big business. They tend to stick with the tried and true formula and are much less likely to take the big gamble of trying to reinvent the wheel.

Edit to address:

Completely unimpressed with that article. Basically its a big long whine that he needs better graphics to stay interested and he's bored of FPS because he insists on thrusting each one upon himself. You don't have to buy or play every fucking game. And if you do, well then of course you're going to notice some similarities.

Then he namedrops Trine and Braid at the end to make it seem like he's actually trying, when really this is just the kind of crap a writer puts out there so that a year or two from now he can sound cool when he says "Back in 2010 when I heralded the end of FPS gaming etc etc etc"

He's not saying that he needs graphics to be interested. He's saying that the lack of gameplay changes in past years was largely covered up by the leaps forward in graphic technology keeping you interested. Not everyone is like that obviously, but by and large most people were willing to play through the newest COD, even if the actual gameplay was more of the same, because the graphics were much more improved over its predecessor.

Now the game developers don't even have improvements in graphics to fall back on and the gaping hole that is stagnant gameplay is revealed. His mentioning of Trine and Braid are just examples of great games that focus on game play over graphics (though both look very nice still).

 

[TridenT]

I think when he bought BFBC2 that's when he got it wrong. Game sucks bad. I feel the same way. I'll play it sometimes to get an FPS fix, but it sucks horribly. Lots of glitching and lag (I really hate this to no end. I'm like FPS Doug when lag and glitches happen). Just blows...

blargh?

 

[Eugene86]

I think when he bought BFBC2 that's when he got it wrong. Game sucks bad. I feel the same way. I'll play it sometimes to get an FPS fix, but it sucks horribly. Lots of glitching and lag (I really hate this to no end. I'm like FPS Doug when lag and glitches happen). Just blows...

blargh?

I've had maybe one game of BC2 when I actually had a little bit of lag. Otherwise, it's one of the most lag-free games I've played. Maybe you have a shit internet connection?

 

[TridenT]

I've had maybe one game of BC2 when I actually had a little bit of lag. Otherwise, it's one of the most lag-free games I've played. Maybe you have a shit internet connection?

No.. I have a good internet connection. It's laggy and glitchy.

 

[aclim]

No.. I have a good internet connection. It's laggy and glitchy.

I havent played BC2 in a while but when I did it was laggy and glitchy as hell. That's why I stopped playing lol.

I know it has been patched a few times since I last played so it may be better. But it seemed like it took me forever to find a decent server that had people in it

 

[Aikouka]

I've always been a bit disappointed at the lack of AA in games that use the Unreal Engine 3, which is a decent amount these days . It's not hard to notice the jaggies and I have plenty of graphical horsepower to handle smoothing them out.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

No.. I have a good internet connection. It's laggy and glitchy.

When you're in the minority, its more likely its something on your end or the servers you were choosing than it being something wrong with the game.

I havent played BC2 in a while but when I did it was laggy and glitchy as hell. That's why I stopped playing lol.

I know it has been patched a few times since I last played so it may be better. But it seemed like it took me forever to find a decent server that had people in it

well that's a pretty big problem. Patch it up and learn how to filter search for servers. Select your region (eg, mine is North America) and make sure you check (yes) or x (no) the options you want to search. You can tell the search not to include servers that are empty (no point playing) or full (can't join a full server). Other options include passworded servers, hardcore mode, ranked, etc...as well as map and gametype preferences (rush/conquest, etc)

BC2 is easily one of the best games I've ever played when it comes to searching for good servers to play in.

 

[zerocool84]

There hasn't been really any games that introduce anything new at all. It's pretty much all the same with a few tweaks.

 

[simonizor]

There hasn't been really any games that introduce anything new at all. It's pretty much all the same with a few tweaks.

Yeah, that's why I'm still playing CS:S. There's nothing new that really draws my attention. It's all the same thing over and over again with a different story and some new graphics engine.

 

[soccerballtux]

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/19153

He has the same sentiments about Bioshock 2. I was excited and bought Bioshock 1 on launch day...but I won't even get the sequel from the Steam sale for $15.

yawn, journalist needs to get attention so slanders wildly successful engine.

They must have done something right. Kudos to them. They made money. Isn't that the point?

 

[Firsttime]

The Unreal Engine 3 was used in Borderlands. It can be used in original looking games. The gaming community as a whole wants CoD style games. The developers give it to them. If it bothers you make sure you support the original games that do come out.

 

[EarthwormJim]

I'm not quite sure I totally agree with the article. I don't think Unreal Engine 3 has lead to more unoriginal games. I think what Unreal Engine 3 has done is given unoriginal game developers an easy to use and gorgeous looking engine.

Think about just 5 years ago how crappy non AAA titles looked compared to real AAA titles. Now everything looks pretty damn good. Sugar coated crap is still sugar coated .

There definitely has been a sort of stagnation though, however I do feel gaming as a whole is getting closer and closer to a point of diminishing returns graphically.

 

[coloumb]

Sony/MS are to blame for this - make a console at a price that's lower than what you could equally build as a PC without the nagging issues = win for the customer.

Hell..wasn't Rage scaled down because of the limitations of the xbox360? Perhaps this is why FPS games aren't as "epic" as they use to be - publishers concentrate on the style while putting substance on the back burner.

Or perhaps we just need the next evolution in gaming - I'd say the last time that happen was with 3dfx and quake.

 

[zerocool84]

Sony/MS are to blame for this - make a console at a price that's lower than what you could equally build as a PC without the nagging issues = win for the customer.

Umm where have you been in ALL of video gaming history??? Every console that's been out has been cheaper than building your own computer. That's how it's always been.

 

[magomago]

iono for those saying you need the next leap in gaming...as things get more complex, it takes more time to achieve. I know tool sets and new dev tools should help and speed things up so you aren't doing mundane tasks all day long, but as someone correctly pointed out - so a long as CoD style games with incremental (relative to the past) improvements in graphics work, the games will sell.

Truth be told it is basically what happened to sports games many many many many years earlier. Same game every year, but incremental improvements each time in gameplay, physics, graphics, etc.

 

[shortylickens]

iono for those saying you need the next leap in gaming...as things get more complex, it takes more time to achieve. I know tool sets and new dev tools should help and speed things up so you aren't doing mundane tasks all day long, but as someone correctly pointed out - so a long as CoD style games with incremental (relative to the past) improvements in graphics work, the games will sell.

Truth be told it is basically what happened to sports games many many many many years earlier. Same game every year, but incremental improvements each time in gameplay, physics, graphics, etc.

Yeah the biggest obstacle to ANY gaming isnt the developers or the publishers, its the customers. So long as they are willing to spend 40-60 dollars for the same old crap over and over again, thats what gaming companies will continue to push out. The whole supply/demand concept is never more obvious than with video games.

Thats why I miss PC gaming in the 90's. There was constant pressure to come up with not only markedly better games within a genre, but also to come up with completely new genres and experiment with oddball ideas. Thats where most of the real innovation came. Most everything we've seen in the new millennium has just been a long stream of small evolutionary steps since then.

 

[HeXploiT]

Have to agree a great deal with the article. Left4Dead2 and Borderlands seem to be the only shooters keeping me going. Bad company 2 is ok but has failed to inspire in the same way that the previous BF games did and all the COD games have been so linear. Even the new CRysis fails to inspire me as none of the crysis games have ever lived up to the standards of Valve or ID games as far as the mechanics go and all have had that kiddie consolish feel that can never satisfy someone accustomed to the precision of CS:S or UT4. Yeah the graphics will be amazing but that is just not enough.

 

[Gothgar]

The Unreal Engine 3 was used in Borderlands. It can be used in original looking games. The gaming community as a whole wants CoD style games. The developers give it to them. If it bothers you make sure you support the original games that do come out.

borderlands was great as fuck

 

[n7]

As much as Epic basically has a said a big "Fuck You!" to us PC gamers, it's not their fault gaming is rather stagnant these days for certain genres, etc.

I'd say the real issues is that devs aren't looking to make the next great game.

They're looking to make the next big $$$-making hit, which is why the gaming world is starting to feel a lot like Hollywood to me, which is a horrible, horrible thing.

As for shooters than have "kept me going", i honestly had lost a lot of hope in my future in PC gaming after UT3 came out & disappointed me.
I still played it a lot initially, but it was not like 2k4, which was my favorite game of all time.

I never even had much interest in L4D initally, but it turned out i enjoyed it immensely.
L4D2 didn't have the same feel for me, so i've not played it much.

Borderlands was another one i never expected to to like so much, i mean shit, it's actually a port.

After de-consolizing the .ini files as much as i could, i quite like it, & got addicted to it, particularly the gun-collecting.

But i don't know what it'll be next, if there is anything...

 

[coloumb]

Umm where have you been in ALL of video gaming history??? Every console that's been out has been cheaper than building your own computer. That's how it's always been.

Cheaper yes... but not graphically equivalent or better.