Miyamoto: Violence Narrow Industry's Potential

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jabliese

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Example: Dante's Inferno. Was hoping they would do something more than just a hack and slash. That was a great opportunity lost.
 

gilbertfh

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Since history was new the act of survival has been violent. In the world today we have the technology necessary to elimate most violence from our lives but in order to be happy healthy human beings we crave that lifegiving stress whether we realize it or not. Some might argue video games begat violent tendancies. I would argue that video games are an outlet for the normal violent tendancies we have as living breathing sentient creatures with the compelling need for survival.
 

Hilarion

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What he's actually saying is that all of his "goofy" games can't compete and make him money against all of the "violent" games out there....
 

7hemy7h

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Violence doesn't make a good game, gameplay does. There are plenty of violent games out there with great gameplay as well, but gameplay comes first.
 

Gin Fushicho

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I agree with Miyamoto, almost all the games I see made today are nearly 100% violence, what happened to the puzzle games? The adventure games, the racing games (okay they are still there but few), the good old RPG's where you had tons of mini-games? I want all of that to come back.
 

jellico

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I hate it when those in the enterainment industry start talking about their products within the context of serving a higher purpose. Give it a rest already! Look, I'm sure we all agree that Mother Teresa was a great humanitarian. She won the Nobel Peace Prize, is known the world over... she was a great human being; but nobody dreams of being Mother Teresa.

When you played Mass Effect 2, did you find yourself saying, "Wow, I wish I could play as the mediocre dock worker who fell alseep behind the crates." Or when you were playing Dragon Age Origins, were you thinking, "I wish I could play the role of Dagna, the little Dwarf girl who wants to study at the Mage Circle even though she can never cast magic herself." Of course you didn't. In all probability, THAT is what your life is already like. You want to play as the hero (or the villain). You want to be the person that kicks ass and takes names. You want to be the person that saves the universe, or that is the MVP of the game, or you want to be Kaiser Soze or Tony Montana.

The point being, games (and movies and TV shows) shouldn't try to be anything other than entertaining. A successful game is one that leaves you feeling like, "Wow, that was awesome game! I can't wait for the sequel!" It is NOT one that leave you saying, "Well, that game really taught me a lot about social injustice and the plight of the down-trodden. It was really worth the $60 that I shelled out for it."
 

cscott_it

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I agree with the essence of Miyamoto, however, most game designers really don't have that option, it's always nice when a game like Little Big Planet does well, because it was that rare sort of "Feel Good" fun.

Designers with ideas that are too far outside of the box either have to side with Indie Developers (and as such see much less Market Share - Hot Head Games, for example), their ideas get swept under the table (ignored), or they have to make such huge concessions to make it a game selling formula (But is it enough like MW2 to push X sales).

It's hard to convince execs and the like to stray from the game winning formula, even if they had an idea that would turn out to be a huge hit.
 

jellico

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And before anyone says it... yes I realize that is not exactly what he was saying. However, that's where those dialogues usually end up going.
 

nottheking

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I think many people miss Miyamoto's point... A shame, since most developers could take a page.

He's NOT saying "make kiddie games." Rather, he's cautioning against everyone making Modern Warfare and Halo clones. Because while sure, the frat-boy crowd may love 'em, the point of the fact is... There's only ONE Halo, and ONE Modern Warfare. If you make a clone, you're instantly resigning yourself to be in their shadow; you'll never out-sell them, you'll never be remembered.

Miyamoto's success in games has come from, as it appears, thinking not from the "winning formula" like the bulk of others' titles are, but starting with the gameplay itself; basically, he appears to decide on what sort of gameplay would be "fun," then thinks of a pretext to put it in later. So while dozens of companies are going, "I wanna make a futuristic Sci-fi shooter starring a grizzled ex-space-marine," he starts with something more like "I wanna try this cool new gameplay idea/mechanic."

All told, I'd say it's paid off for him. IIRC, Nintendo has an utter monopoly on the "top 10 best-selling games ever;" one has to go to #14 or so to reach the first non-Nintendo game. Coincidentally, while it contains violence and an M-rating, the theme is FAR less serious than a "gritty war," the graphics are downright colorful, and the game's main draw was its huge, open sandbox environment. (the game being GTA: San Andreas) In other words, Miyamoto's own ideas applied.
[citation][nom]jellico[/nom]A successful game is one that leaves you feeling like, "Wow, that was awesome game! I can't wait for the sequel!"[/citation]
No, that's a "successful game" according to the big-wig school of thought, which DOESN'T really pan out well. It results in the same cookie-cutter games that are forgotten 4 years after release.

Rather, a good game does NOT leave someone waiting for a sequel; they keep playing it, for years, even. In this respect, I'd say it goes beyond mere "entertainment," as that word has way too many connotations with themes like "shallow" and "empty." A good game is NOT something that'd be fit for renting over the weekend and never playing again, but rather, one that draws you back, be it with loads of content, modability, or simply new challenges.
 
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