Why There are No New Ideas in Video Games

[Professor S]

http://pc.ign.com/articles/114/1142050p1.html

VG journalists often lament the lack of innovation and new ideas in video games, but looking at the article above, even they do not truly want new ideas. They just want their old favorites to continue.

If the critics cannot be consistent about this, how can the industry trust that we will be eager to hop on board when they take risks?

[Dyne]

Yeah, that's about right. Derivatives.

New ideas have a lot more trouble because they need to break ice like arctic icebreakers. If the ice isn't broken then there's a better chance it won't be explored by because the publisher doesn't think it's worth the time or that the team just doesn't have any examples to go off of to make it appeal to the current market. Pirates of the Caribbean AOTD's awesome ship-to-ship combat was an example of both, even though the rest of the game was pretty much a Fable/God of War/Mass Effect derivative. Surprisingly though, AOTD used Gears of War's Active Reload system for cannon reloading pretty well - and I was sure it was going to be a hit.

Also, Editor Audrey is a dumb bitch who has no idea what she's talking about. Zelda: Four Swords Adventures for the Gamecube was an awesome 2D multiplayer Link to the Past. It even reused LTTP sprites and map tiles like she requested.

[BreakABone]

Its not just journalists, its gamers and sales.

I mean how many new IP games did you buy last year? How many do you know of this year?

We all get excited for the 2nd or 3rd or 13th of our favorite game series, and its sometimes hard to get a read on new ideas/franchises/game play type.

Some games just don't have the look to get noticed or some of them just got slaughtered when released between big games. Like really most new IPs flounder if they are out between like Sept-Dec of any year.

[KillerGremlin]

There's no credibility for any of the writers in that list or IGN. Seriously, fuck all those people. This is why I only give time to reviewers like Yahtzee or the rare few who actually give honest reviews instead of taking semen kickbacks from the cocks of the developers who bitch and moan when a site like IGN actually gives their game a negative review.

There are a few reviewers who actually stick to their guns....but nostalgia is a powerful thing. So asking for yet another Zelda epic and innovation is like having your cake and eating it too.

But yeah, fuck IGN. You get a better consensus for a game if you read a few Amazon reviews. At least there you can read a distribution of reviews across the board and weigh the pros and cons.

[TheSlyMoogle]

I've actually played a lot of IP games this year. It's just highly unfortunate they don't get a lot of coverage.

Only the big ones get coverage, but there are a lot out there that are still super fun.

[BreakABone]

Originally Posted by TheSlyMoogle

I've actually played a lot of IP games this year. It's just highly unfortunate they don't get a lot of coverage.

Only the big ones get coverage, but there are a lot out there that are still super fun.

There are a ton of new IPs, but as you said they get the shaft.

And then there are others that are new in name only like Dante's Inferno which was pretty much just EA aping God of War 3.

That said there were a few interesting and semi-successful IP launches this year, but sequels/brands will generally always win the day

[Angrist]

Is anyone else as surprised and disappointed as me that there isn't a new IP for the 3DS coming? I'm sure Miyamoto can do a lot of cool stuff on that.

That suddenly reminds me: we never got the promised Pikmin 3 for Wii.

[BreakABone]

Originally Posted by Angrist

Is anyone else as surprised and disappointed as me that there isn't a new IP for the 3DS coming? I'm sure Miyamoto can do a lot of cool stuff on that.

That suddenly reminds me: we never got the promised Pikmin 3 for Wii.

I swore Nintendo has announced at least one new IP for the 3DS, didn't they demo that submarine game at e3?

Anyhow, that's the other thing about new IPs, its sometimes hard to gain interest in them. I mean even if Nintendo had shown like 10 new IPs with the 3Ds people would have gravitated towards the known quantities to see how they are enhanced by the new device.

[Angrist]

I'm shocked that a submarine game is the best they can come up with. I hope they're holding something back...

[KillerGremlin]

Nintendo missed the boat with online gaming. And the Pokemon MMORPG. Now it's all motion controls and 3D crap.