Two Big Releases Reveal Trends in Gaming
 

Have you been wondering why games just don't seem to be innovating any more? Chris Sanner's latest article talks about why two of the bigger releases in 2008 might be giving hints at the current trends of gaming developers. Check out his article, Two Big Releases Reveal Trends in Gaming.

Hopefully your right. Its the little details that EA has completely ignored for years, and it makes games like GTA IV and The Show seem miles ahead. They should NEVER stop focusing on gameplay, but they need to start focusing on the immersion level of their games, because right now they are seriously lacking.

agreed

Re: Two Big Releases Reveal Trends in Gaming
 

Nice article but disagree. Now that EA is paying attention to the little things - four years into next gen - it's now a "trend"? Part of what made GTA popular last gen was it's attention to little details. And there have been many sports development houses outside of EA that have long placed focus on "little details" - even when many Madden fans were arguing it wasn't necessary. I wouldn't even say what EA's doing with Madden now is paying attention to detail. Madden's so-so reviews so far next gen are well deserved - if anything it deserved worse because it was a noticeable step down from what the last gen game was. And is. The jury's still out on whether this year's game will play better than it's last gen counterpart - that's ridiculous.

Outside of the graphics - which look great - the game is receiving kudos for simply being competent. While I agree we're unlikely to see the huge gameplay advancements of the PS1-era games to PS2-era, there's innovation to be had. I'm sure the sandbox genre will evolve, and likely evolve at a faster clip simply because competition will dictate that it occur. Madden will continue to evolve, but likely at a much slower pace because it has no such competition.

Re: Two Big Releases Reveal Trends in Gaming
 

This article is kind of common sense, which gets lost in all the BS that we get fed. For some reason, the "mainstream" wants all the fluff and gimmicks while the "hardcore" gamers want smart AI and useful features. How this ever became the norm is beyond me, but that's what we've always been told.

I don't know if I'm in the minority here, but I'd be absolutely stoked to play a game that played like the sports we see on TV. AI that had any type of brains and wasn't programmed to do the same thing, over and over.

If I'm not mistaken, Madden 09 claims to be the "first game that reacts to you" or something along those lines. That's a step in the right direction, but we need to see results and not just a tagline. If I'm doing the same thing over and over, I want to see the AI adjust to that. And same for them... if they keep doing the same thing over and over, I adjust to them and I want to see them adjust to my adjustments.

These next generation consoles haven't given us crap except for more and more fluff. We still have piss poor AI because we got all the goodies that the "mainstream" wants. Hopefully, as we get past the oooh'ing and ahhh'ing at the cool new graphics we can get down into the meat and potatoes and get some serious sports games to come out. But only if we as the consumers demand it by not buying into these roster update sports games we get yearly.

I believe you're correct about the first part - that this generation games will focus much more on details than revolutionary new gameplay. However, the days of sports games adding nothing new to gameplay are definitely not over, unless you only consider Xbox360/PS3 generation games.

By the 720/PS4 generation, I think we will see significant improvements in the core gameplays. Lets not forget about the innovation of the Wii. Sure, playing something like NCAA on the Wii is a joke now, but down the line more serious systems will improve on what the Wii started.

I can imagine Madden 2030 - it's basically a virtual world where u feel like you are actually on the field, where you literally hear and feel the roar of the crowd, where your brain associates certain motions in the controls with what will feel like running on a field. You will have Brady's arm strength when you control him (classic teams of course), or the strength of The Bus - in fact you will look at your arm and it will look like the Jerome Bettis' arm. Obviously, the possibilities are endless if you look that far down the line.

Re: Two Big Releases Reveal Trends in Gaming
 

NHL 08 did that pretty well so even if Madden has this their tag line of being the first game to adapt to you wouldn't hold true. It would still be a big step in the right direction though.

Re: Two Big Releases Reveal Trends in Gaming
 

Yeah, that tagline from Madden (I saw it it one of the earliest trailers for Madden 09) definitely was false because other games have claimed to have the same thing, like NHL 08. The problem is, did it really work? One constant complaint I've heard is passive defensive AI. Consistently. The AI might adjust to how you play defense, but their defense continues to allow you to walk right into the zone and set up your offense. It's in there, it's just not correct.

Which is why I think we're going in the right direction, and now is the perfect time to see great improvements. We're what, 3 or 4 years into this generation of systems. The first couple were to get all the old stuff into these versions. Now that that's out of the way, what else is there? Roster updates and... gameplay. They have to bear down and make some serious improvements and innovations to the gameplay. It might not be sexy and consumer friendly, but damn it, if you have a good game chances are people are going to be attracted to that! Even the casual gamers want a good playing game, even though they aren't as hardcore with everything as the serious gamers are. Yes, casual gamers are more likely to be attracted to sexy graphics, but all these games are pretty close in their visuals. The first game that finally "gets it" will be the next NFL 2k5, MVP 05... those types of games that people still play today because they were so revolutionary (not for all, obviously, but for a majority of people that was the benchmark of the old generation).

And speaking of those games, check out their year. Right near the end of the PS2/XBOX generation. The developers finally pieced it all together and came out with something that was just right. We might be 2-3 years away from that game coming out, but it'll come and you'll know it it when you play it.