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All forms of entertainment have narrative, and certainly they’re lighter on the Wii. We’ve stated before that, though we love Nintendo, but they went deep in that direction and it really doesn’t support the kind of things that we want to do.
I disagree with that. One of the most popular types of video gaming - sports games - have ZERO narrative outside of some overpaid, over the hill announcer that says in words what you just saw happen on the field.
There are MANY MANY forms of entertainment that do NOT require a 200 page script to be fun and engaging.
There’s certainly room for all types of entertainment, but those are sort of party social things and there’s always going to be room for those types of experiences.
Just because a game doesn't have 45 minutes of cut scenes doesn't make it soley a party game. Grrr...
In the end, though, if you’re going to ask what I think is going to dominate the industry, I think it’s going to be storytelling. Just like if you look at movies in general, not all movies are narrative driven, there are a few that aren’t, or if you look at books there are some that aren’t, but by and large, those are narrative driven, and I think that’s where this industry is going to go.
That's too bad. When I want to watch a movie, I'll go see one. When I want to read a book, I'll crack one open.
Do you REALLY need a story to tell you WHY to shoot that other space marine in the head? Not really.
A lot of people really feel that gameplay is the only significant factor in video games, and I feel that is absolutely wrong.
That's why Nintendo is making money hand over fist producing an "inferior machine" that people are having a GREAT time playing.
Ever stop to think that people LEFT gaming partially because companies removed gameplay in favor of narrative? Long stories?
We believe that video games are the eighth art form and that gameplay is the glue that helps cement all the previous types of entertainment that the game industry helped merge and combine.
Who the hell asked you to merge and combine squat? The 20 million gamers that stopped playing games until Wii and DS came along?
You’ll notice yesterday I said, “We want to speak the language of film.”
Then go make movies.
The language of film is something that’s been learned through osmosis by the entire world through Hollywood; what an upshot means, what a downshot means, everyone gets that and you don’t need to rewrite that language – that’s just part of our societal function now when we watch drama.
Right ... and some people PLAY (you know .. PLAY) games to ESCAPE our societal function, get away from "life drama" and lose themselves in something light and fun.
So gameplay allows us to do more interesting things with that than we did before but it makes it interactive and those are key components but if you think it’s the only component, it’d be the same thing as saying that film, when it was called the seventh art form, that the only thing that matters is that the pictures are moving and that’s not true. In the beginning, cinema was called the cinema of attraction. You’d go into the theater and there would be no start and end, and it would show firefighters rescuing people out of burning buildings; you’d come in at any time and it would just spin the whole time since there’d be no narrative. That lasted 10 or 15 years and then we started moving towards story – people wanted more and that’s going to start to happen in our industry.
Not true. Cinema is a ONE WAY transmittal medium. It was created as such, it is STILL as such. Cinema provides escapism through a narrative - for 90 minutes, we can forget about our OWN lives, and watch someone else's unfold (normally BETTER than our own).
People really aren't into movies for story. This can be attested by looking at some of our biggest blockbuster films that often have little story (aka "the popcorn movie"). Sure, the same ol' "real life dramas" win Academy Awards, but when it comes to People's Choice, you don't see the Oscar winners make the sweeps.
Is there room in the "video gaming business" for "story driven" games? Absolutely. But Nintendo has proven with the DS and Wii that the majority of the people that WANT to video game at home don't appear to care about the "story driven" aspects. Super Smash Brothers ... Story? No. Super Mario Galaxy ... story? Not really ... Twilight Princess ... story? Kinda.
Not limited to Nintendo either. How about Call of Duty 4? Burnout Paradise? Story? Not really. Barebones narrative to justify wasting the enemy.
Facts are - story driven "masterpieces" like Mass Effect are actually the more limited audience out there. GTA IV? Story? Uh, not really - no. Again, barebones narratives to justify your actions.
How often does the story contribute SIGNIFICANTLY to a Top 10 game? Worth checking out.
I think half the time, game designers are more interested in making movies than games and it IS a convenient wool to pull over the eyes of the consumer that might like the story - but doesn't realize that the gameplay lacks or suffers from horrible lack of innovation.
If you can't blind them with brilliance - baffle them with bullsh*t.
Thank GOD for Nintendo.
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Originally Posted by Shane R. Monroe
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