OT: The Future of Computer Strategy Games

[Randallw]

BudgetMessiah said:
Sudoku is kind of third grade math homework mixed with elements of a crossword puzzle. It's not exciting, but like most pasttimes, it passes time. Not really my thing, but I see people doing it on the subway, probably because it's easy to get into or put down, and requires very little overhead.

Well I'm glad to hear someone is less than impressed by its intellectual investment. I worried I was being elitist. I can understand people might see it as a way to pass the time, but I lose interest in anything once I understand the method, after that it's just mundane work applying the method. Personally I pass time when I have nothing else to do by considering philosophy, oh and the other week I considered in my mind a rubiks cube with the colours replaced by numerals, sort of like Sudoku I guess but in 3D with 6 faces, and if you'll believe it determining the base for the force of gravity to be exactly 10 (Boy did I laugh when I suddenly realised the intrinsic simplicity , well I would of if it hadn't be in church). When I used to deliver papers I'd pass the time by calculating binary progression.

[capnq]

Randallw said: the other week I considered in my mind a rubiks cube with the colours replaced by numerals, sort of like Sudoku I guess but in 3D with 6 faces

I've seen these in the toys section of my local pharmacy.

I'm not sure how feasible this theoretical monster hybrid game would be. What happens when you can't find enough players interested in a particular subsystem to run that aspect effectively? You're back to letting AI ministers handle those things, with all the problems that brings.

[Atrocities]

I discovered today one thing that is going to seriously hamper the PC gaming industry. Bio-shock. Have you seen the system requirements for this game? Trust me if your not sporting the latest 500.00 video card with a top of the line system your not going to be able to play this game.

As games become more heavily focused on higher end technology most folks are going to be priced right out of contention. I would have to invest 1500 into a new system just to play some of the new games coming out. In a year or two I would have to dump another 400 to 800 dollars into upgrades just to keep semi current. I think that is what is going to really hurt the market as the attrition rate to more affordable console systems increases.

[Suicide Junkie]

As games become more heavily focussed on higher end technology...
they tend to lose focus on what actually makes games fun.

I think outfits like Shrapnel, where the game seems to take precedence over excessive fluff should do well.

[BudgetMessiah]

Suicide Junkie said:
As games become more heavily focussed on higher end technology...
they tend to lose focus on what actually makes games fun.

I think outfits like Shrapnel, where the game seems to take precedence over excessive fluff should do well.

I assure you, that isn't the case with BioShock. It's actually quite a bit of fun, and also worth noting a friend of mine has reported that it's quite playable on a 3 ghz P3 with a Radeon 1950 (which would be about as expensive as an Xbox 360, and can outperform it graphically).

[Fyron]

Bioshock appears to just be the latest mass-market fluff game, kind of like Oblivion...

[Suicide Junkie]

Compare with say, Star Control on a 4-8Mhz PC4i, or SE3/4 on 40-75 Mhz 486es. Starcraft on 400Mhz Pentiums.
3Ghz...nothing yet...

Three orders of CPU magnitude, with no obvious trend in Fun Factor (IMO)...
My conclusion is that Fun is in the hearts of the programmers, and hardware just adds fluff.

[Atrocities]

Fyron said:
Bioshock appears to just be the latest mass-market fluff game, kind of like Oblivion...

Actually its not. Any one remember system shock II? This game is a lot like that made by the same guys who made System Shock II. The game bucks the trend of low brow story lines in favor of a more in depth story with environmental appeal much like a good horror movie.

Far Cry was the last great fun to play, good FPS in my opinion and I hope Crisis will be just as fun. Its story kicked the crap out of HL2 and its open ended maps made the scripted corridor feel of HL2 feel very old and claustrophobic.

[Fyron]

Atrocities said:
I would have to invest 1500 into a new system just to play some of the new games coming out. In a year or two I would have to dump another 400 to 800 dollars into upgrades just to keep semi current.

That has always been the case, though. There have always been a few titles pushing the bleeding edge... Of course, in modern times games tend to be a lot better with running on lower-spec PCs than they used to be in the past. Much work has gone into making very scalable rendering engines. Sure you can't play Bioschock on a PC from 1995, but it doesn't require $2000 of PC to play it. The only reason to spend so much money on hardware is if you just have to run games with every setting turned up to the max. Very few, if any, games ever actually require such expensive PCs to play. Its just bad business on the part of the developers to restrict their target market so much...

Consoles have almost always been a pseudo "low cost alternative." They always start out near the cutting edge of PC technology (though generally a bit behind the curve), then fall quickly behind. The modern industry is hardly any different than it was 10, 15 years ago. Hopefully the Wii will shake things up and bring the game industry out of the graphics-fetish slump it has been stuck in for a while...

[Renegade 13]

Heh imagine the controversy that'd cause. You think critics who claim video games cause violent crime now are bad...wait till you can accurately simulate holding a weapon, reloading, etc. Then you'll *really* see moronic politicians trying to ban video games