How this generation changed Video Game Development – Part 1
Gamers everywhere would agree that this generation developers have been taking a different route while making games and this has had a great impact on the overall quality of the games and not necessarily for the better.
If one thing is for certain, it’s that last generation the cost of game development was substantially lower than it is today, which meant that developers and publishers had a bit of leeway to take risks with new ideas which lead to major innovation in the
industry.
The main focus of developers was bringing out a complete standalone game for the fans and the success of the intellectual property (IP) would determine whether or not it would get a sequel. This meant that developers would try different formulas and in most
cases come out with brilliant masterpieces which would amaze the gaming world. Some fine examples of unique and extraordinary games are ICO and Shadow of the Colossus on the PlayStation 2.
Both ICO and Shadow of the Colossus were created by Fumito Ueda of Team ICO, which is a first party exclusive developer for Sony and are considered as must play games from majority of the reviewers. Both the games got the high definition (HD) treatment by
Sony when they were re-released for the PlayStation 3 on September 22, 2011 in a bundle called the ‘ICO Collection’.
One of the major reasons why innovative single player only games were successful in the last generation was the lack of online multiplayer on consoles. In the beginning of the last generation, Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo GameCube and the Sony PlayStation 2
did not have any multiplayer components and gamers had to look towards the PC for their multiplayer fix. This meant that console gamers were more open to trying different genres which in turn motivated developers to take more risks with new ideas.
The launch of Microsoft’s Xbox in 2001 changed all that. The original Xbox featured an online multiplayer service called Xbox Live which took American gamers by storm. The fact that the new console was boasting Halo: Combat Evolved as the flagship title
also added a boost to the sales. The success of the Xbox and Halo caused a major change in console gaming. It proved to developers that first person shooters (FPS) games could work on console and that there was a future for online multiplayer for console games
as well.
The original Xbox laid the foundation for the online multiplayer enabled current generation consoles. The successor to the Xbox, the Xbox 360 is regarded by gamers to have the best online multiplayer service on consoles even if it’s subscription based and
not free like that of the PlayStation 3’s PlayStation Network (PSN).
Another change that Halo brought about the gaming industry was that it popularised FPS on consoles. There were many FPS games on the PlayStation 2 before Halo came out but none of them were system seller and had a very small fan base. Halo started an arms
race between the companies to develop their own counterparts to Halo. Sony created the Killzone franchise, as Nintendo developed first person Metroid games for the GameCube.
Continued in Part 2
DISCLAIMER: The views and the opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the editorial policy of bettor.com.
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