Coffee Talk: Have Games Lost Originality?
Terribly sorry for the tardiness, guys and gals. Now, on with this week’s topic. USA Today’s Game Hunters recently spoke with Tomohiro Nishikado, creator of the Space Invaders series, about the newly released Space Invaders Extreme for Xbox Live Arcade, what inspired his original creation and (most importantly) the current state of video games.
Mr. Nishikado thinks, “the focus on unique concepts and gameplay has waned with the evolution of technology.” “It seems there is an increase of replicated gameplay formats and concepts, and people are growing tired of playing the same thing,” Nishikado elaborates. Let’s finish our discussion after the break.
Purely speaking for myself, games that truly bring something new to the art form seem hard to come by these days. Though, developers on the indie scene have made some critically acclaimed progress with titles like Johnathan Blow’s Braid, 2D Boy’s World of Goo and Polytron’s Fez, which is scheduled to release this year.
Now, this isn’t to say that the majors haven’t created some intriguing titles recently. Some that come to mind include Media Molecule’s LittleBIGPlanet and Valve’s Portal of 2007 and its expansion, Portal: Still Alive, of last year.
How do Nishikdao-san’s words make you feel, Geekadelphians? Are games really losing their originality? Are developers hard pressed for ideas these days? Let us know what recent titles you think have brought something new to the table. As always, give us a piece of your mind in the comment box.
(Images Via Joystiq and Pixel Nation)
Bah! I think there is still plenty of originality left in games these days.
EA took some crazy chances last year by giving us two brand new franchises. Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge, both of which brought fresh, original ideas to the tired FPS genre.
You know, I was thinking about this and you’re right, Eric. There are many original games if you look for them or least titles that do something different.
Maybe we shouldn’t be so concerned it with as it might cause another problem to arise in video game development, haha. You know, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
I’m going to say I have to agree. I’m almost to the point where I’ve stopped buying games now. Last two I’ve bought have been Little Big Planet and Razor’s Edge.
I have to say that LBP has been by far the most well received game by my wife, and all my neighbors, who regularly stop by to pay me a visit and play the game. A big hit at parties too. It puts the social back into gaming.
Let’s hope to see some major innovation soon.