BBC in dodgy videogame end of year review shocker

[Treble]

Looks like there's a need for a full edit of the article. Fair enough, i'll go into detail and try and show you why it's a poor piece of journalism...

[anephric]

It's not very 'professional' and certainly not vaguely objective... it reads as the work of someone who has very little regard for games and has read an issue of Edge and so can regurgitate words like 'sandbox' with authority.

Patronising.

[mezzanine]

I'm not the biggest fan of Half-Life 2 but surely anyone can see the innovation there as well as the good graphics?

[Papercut]

It reads like a kid trying work out how to express an opinion, and getting confused about what it is exactly that he likes about games.

[SharkAttack]

It reads like the BBC gaming department finally realising that games aren't all that hot right now due to lack of anything particulary new.

Boo Hoo.

[Treble]

There is no denying that 2004 has been a big year for games, with the release of some of the most eagerly awaited titles from some of the best known franchises.
But does that mean it has also been a significant year? Does it feel like gaming has markedly progressed?
Personally, despite the hours and hours of fun I have had from games this year, there is a sense that I have not really experienced anything especially new. The writer expresses his personal feelings here, yet the rest of the article has problems differentiating opinion from fact. See below
Sure, the graphics of Half-Life 2 are impressive, and the Halo 2 AI is remarkable, but where is the innovation in the play dynamics? HL2 has been commended everywhere for its structure and AI, and Halo 2 for its Multiplayer. If 16 player, console-based online play and advanced AI can?t be considered to be innovations, what can?
The key disappointing factor about playing Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, say, is that it feels like a game that took a very new approach to the franchise, but two years ago. Is the game disappointing though? No, it isn?t. he is referring to the lack of innovation here, but fails to clarify or qualify this point, rendering his criticism of MP2 meaningless. Highlight failings of a game in your criticisms, or you may as well just forget it.
Similarly, Halo 2 is an excellent game, but the single-player campaign mode does not really offer anything new beyond better textures.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is essentially the same but more so. And as for Doom 3, it looks great and is an example of games getting even more cinematic, but in terms of play it is the same old.
Future directions
All the while, something as novel and acclaimed as Katamari Damacy fails to even get a European release.

Fable offered games many life choices
And as for my old favourite PlanetSide, a truly innovative game, it has been poorly patched this year, which effectively compromised much of what made it so special.
What worries me is that PlanetSide may put off other developers from being similarly forward-thinking.
New thinking has been filtering into gaming, but it is often haphazard or on the periphery of the culture. As per any industry, innovation trickles-in from aspects of other games. Although GTA: SA is more evolution than revolution, it can hardly be thought of as a generic title, or on the periphery. Again, just one example.
Fable does highlight one area that commercial games are increasingly creeping into, offering more complete worlds with more choice, but it failed to really get beyond quest-based storytelling.
This was a problem, too, with San Andreas. The GTA games have long pointed towards a type of freedom, a sandbox play dynamic where you are not explicitly channelled.
It is ironic, then, that San Andreas is the most narrative-heavy so far.
And whether something at the opposite end of the commercial spectrum, like Second Life, a kind of uber-sim where there is no imposition of story, points to one potential future direction is moot. Why is it ?moot?? Shouldn?t he expand on this point? It?s a fairly critical one.
New machines
Another factor, of course, is the hardware cycle.

Doom 3 brought horror to PC screens
Innovation often accompanies new kit, Not immediately. Quite the opposite, in most cases: Eyetoy comes out years after PS2 is released; Marawu comes out years after GBA is released, Katamari comes out years after PS2 release as does MGS3, Rez was late in the DC's life, performance analyser comes out?etc. etc. etc. and that?s just a handful of examples. so there is the reassurance that the upcoming next generation of handhelds, and subsequent consoles, will offer something new.
Even though developers of the Tapwave Zodiac failed to capitalize on its touchscreen, it is assured that Nintendo and its third-party associates will not do the same with the new Nintendo DS.
Already, Wario Ware Touched!, Yoshi's Touch & Go, Mr Driller: Drill Spirits, Metroid Prime: Hunters and Pac Pix are offering some new means of play, even if it is the same old menagerie of characters.
It seems there is only so much freshness we can be dealt in one go. Another sentence with a complete lack of qualification that?s entirely subjective and trite.
There has been tons of innovation this year: the DS and most of its release titles, the L!VE versions of PES4 and Halo 2, Katamari, MGS3 and its camo/terrain/feeding system, GTA?s huge and open playing area, the Wario titles, HL2 and Doom 3?s graphical advances?none of these things can be so easily discounted. There has been more significant progress in this single year than in the last 3 or 4 combined. The journalist?s desire to split graphical and technical innovation from gameplay innovation is also extremely unwise: you cannot separate the two, and therefore damning with faint praise the likes of HL2 and Halo 2 is myopic.

The article is far too basic, lacking in fact and detail, and skims too lightly and easily over the facts, hoping the name-dropping of a couple of obscure (to the mainstream, at least) titles will convince us of his credentials. Not an impressive read.

[JibberX]

It does read like a crap forum post, and as Treble has meticulously highlighted, the guy is just hoping no one notices his distinct lack of commitment to any one point.

The guy is obsessed with Planetside, which is, well, ok.

[Darwock]

Ehhh? Treble there is absolutely nothing innovative about 16 player online console play. Or does it become innovative because it's *HALO 2*!!

[rjpageuk]

There has been tons of innovation this year: the DS and most of its release titles, the L!VE versions of PES4 and Halo 2, Katamari, MGS3 and its camo/terrain/feeding system, GTA?s huge and open playing area, the Wario titles, HL2 and Doom 3?s graphical advances?none of these things can be so easily discounted

I am not going to get into a massive quoting match because I do agree with a lot of what you have to say here, but I have to pick up on a point related to the above.

Most of this list of innovative titles are not out here and the article is obviously written from a UK point of view. Almost all of the titles in your list which are out here are specifically mentioned throughout the article (including KD).

[Treble]

Ehhh? Treble there is absolutely nothing innovative about 16 player online console play. Or does it become innovative because it's *HALO 2*!!

Because it's stable. Because of the ranking system. Because of the design of the levels. Because of the lack of lag....come on, nothing else touches it in terms of a console-based online experience.

[Treble]

I am not going to get into a massive quoting match because I do agree with a lot of what you have to say here, but I have to pick up on a couple of points related to the above.

Most of this list of innovative titles are not out here and the article is obviously written from a UK point of view. Almost all of the titles in your list which are out here are specifically mentioned throughout the article (including KD).

Point is, he mentions these games, then argues the year lacks innovation. That's the point I was making - it's self-explanatory.

[SharkAttack]

Yep it's important not to forget this is a UK article and not an importers article.

[SharkAttack]

Point is, he mentions these games, then argues the year lacks innovation. That's the point I was making - it's self-explanatory.

He says that although are all excellent games - They aren't very innovative IN HIS OPINION and that he wants something different - With some examples of upcoming DS titles. What's wrong with that?

You can argue bad journalism - But I'd argue that a fair wedge of forum posts are better than 99% of journalists articles anyway.

[Treble]

Yep it's important not to forget this is a UK article and not an importers article.

You can't have it both ways: you either exclude your knowledge of overseas games, or acknowledge and include them. Can't have it both ways.

[Ady]

I agree the article could've been presented better (damn Treble, you're getting as bad as Campbell! j/k ), but the writer did have something of a point.

What's surprised me a lot this year is that most of the major/most anticipated games have been sequels. Halo 2, Doom 3, Metroid 2, Half Life 2 MGS 3 GTA 4. Every time I've browsed a list of up and coming big hitters this year, I've winced.

Excluding Half Life 2 (and maybe MGS to some extent), there appears to be an undercurrent of "X game did really well - lets make another one! Whoopee!" in many of this year's killer apps.