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Inafune: Gaming technology has "become too advanced"

Dafuq is this guy on?

Specs and technology in gaming has 'become too advanced', according to former Capcom legend Keiji Inafune

Inafune was talking to Play magazine about Soul Sacrifice, a third-person action title for Vita with a concept he created. Play asked what it was about Soul Sacrifice than energised Inafune as a games designer.

"In the 25 years of gaming history that I have witnessed, there have been many technological revolutions and evolutions in the creation of games," Inafune replied. "However, recently the specs and technology have become too advanced, and I feel that the element of surprise is lost.

"When thinking about the next level of creativity, I thought that I could implement emotion in to the game system, such as 'emotional conflict', 'doubts' and 'the suffering of having to make the ultimate decisions' therefore taking a challenge with Soul Sacrifice that no-one has taken before."

It's an interesting time to make those comments, given the Wii U has just launched and the rumbling from Xbox 720 and PlayStation4 is growing louder by the day. But is Inafune right?

Source
 
Maybe he means the production costs have gotten too high so it's harder to take risks these days, to surprise the gamer. People want a hallway simulator that pops achievements/trophies every step.
 

i-Lo

Member
The Wii U will save us from the terrible affliction called progress.

In all seriousness however, a problem is that most games are too explicit in their narrative regardless of the tech.
 

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
Whole lotta shit comes out of Inafunes mouth, hoping some actual quality comes from his pleasingly quieter hands at work with Soul Sacrifice.
 

Ashes

Banned
Maybe there is something lost in translation but his follow up remark doesn't correlate directly with what he said before.

Perhaps he meant we have arrived at a point, where the next leap, is too difficult to cross into. e.g. ai intellience.

That leap is too advanced.
 

Tizoc

Member
Well at least that explains why the Penguin Pirate CGI cutscene from last looked like PSX-era cutscenes...
 
I think he's talking about how overexposure of popular elements have caused dev costs to increase while risk decreases, which somehow causes players to not be surprised anymore. Maybe he's dissing RE6? I dunno.
 

C-Jo

Member
grandpa_simpson_yelling_at_cloud.jpg
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
I think he's talking about how overexposure of popular elements have caused dev costs to increase while risk decreases, which somehow causes players to not be surprised anymore. Maybe he's dissing RE6? I dunno.

This is what it sounds like to me. High dev costs = super safe design and even stylistic and story choices. Too dangerous to experiment and make odd games.

Translation sounds like a mess.
 
The Wii U will save us from the terrible affliction called progress.

In all seriousness however, a problem is that most games are too explicit in their narrative regardless of the tech.

No, the problem is that video games cost way too much to make and thus they're taking fewer risks and are becoming more generic. Which in a large part has to do with technological progress enabling extreme levels of production values and market competition basically *forcing* these production values and thus costs on developers. It does not have to be this way in an ideal world, but the way the economy is organised now, it's unavoidable.

This is not rocket science ffs. It's been obvious since way before the HD twins launched and a lot of things that happened (mid range games destroyed, developer consolidation, narrowing of genres etc) happened exactly as it had to because of this.
 

pargonta

Member
that's a confusing statement, but this is all i could think about:

there shouldn't be talking in movies! that's preposterous! that technology is too advanced!
 

iceatcs

Junior Member
To me I have suspect Japanese devs seem they lack on high-level intelligence programming for game.
Language barrier in programming? Or lack of courses in Japan Uni?
 

Hedja

Member
I agree. Games nowadays just cost too much to make. Hardly anyone's willing to take any risks and instead pander to the majority to guarantee profit. Also the popularity of video games has made shareholders more vocal about their generic tastes and demands.

Though, I wouldn't say he's helping...
 

Durante

Member
This argument I will never understand. PCs are infinitely more advanced than those shoeboxes people connect to their TVs, yet most innovation and experimentation happens there.

If your game is innovative and your ideas are good you don't need to compete with "AAA" titles on production values, and can still benefit from modern technology. There are tons of examples for this, for a recent high-profile one see Minecraft.
 

pswii60

Member
Just because gaming technology is more powerful doesn't mean you have to create games that use all that power. After all, plenty of developers have found success on XBLA and PSN.
 

King_Moc

Banned
This argument I will never understand. PCs are infinitely more advanced than those shoeboxes people connect to their TVs, yet most innovation and experimentation happens there.

If your game is innovative and your ideas are good you don't need to compete with "AAA" titles on production values, and can still benefit from modern technology. There are tons of examples for this, for a recent high-profile one see Minecraft.

Unfortunately, the larger publishers aren't interested in profit unless it's hundreds of millions of dollars.
 

ghst

thanks for the laugh
When thinking about the next level of creativity, I thought that I could implement emotion in to the game system, such as 'emotional conflict', 'doubts' and 'the suffering of having to make the ultimate decisions' therefore taking a challenge with Soul Sacrifice that no-one has taken before.

sounds like inafune should spend more time playing crusader kings 2 and other games actually driven by consequences and less time playing action games driven by kinetic physical interaction achieving a linear pre-defined goal.
 
This argument I will never understand. PCs are infinitely more advanced than those shoeboxes people connect to their TVs, yet most innovation and experimentation happens there.

If your game is innovative and your ideas are good you don't need to compete with "AAA" titles on production values, and can still benefit from modern technology. There are tons of examples for this, for a recent high-profile one see Minecraft.

Except Minecraft's development (and innovation in general) benefited from the open development and publishing environment the PC provides much more than its technology. It was made possible by the openness of the PC and that you can share freely your work with no money involved, no guarantees on quality, can give direct feedback to the developer etc. It's not technology in itself, it's technology put in a concrete environment, used for concrete purposes. And "tons" of examples is a bit too much :-/ So imo the argument is pretty good when you're talking about game development as a business, considering that not all innovation becomes financially successful, and it's usually not the original innovators who reap the rewards.

Just because gaming technology is more powerful doesn't mean you have to create games that use all that power. After all, plenty of developers have found success on XBLA and PSN.

But it still happens anyway *all the time*. New low-end markets did emerge, but mid-tier games basically disappeared on consoles. It's not some philosophical necessity, it's just an effect of the coercive power of competition. It happened in every generation, regardless of the fact that it wasn't a logical necessity, because it's an economic necessity.
 

sleepykyo

Member
When thinking about the next level of creativity, I thought that I could implement emotion in to the game system, such as 'emotional conflict', 'doubts' and 'the suffering of having to make the ultimate decisions' therefore taking a challenge with Soul Sacrifice that no-one has taken before.

Inafune is turning into (well has been) a Molydeux knockoff.
 

Dyno

Member
Hey, no disrespect to the man but when your industry is pulling away from you then that is the time to plan for your retirement.
 

Persona86

Banned
There's no such thing as too advanced, if we have powerful hardware then your imagination is the only limit. But we do have developers who have run out of imagination to make good unique games.

Also I hope new things like Oculus etc will evolve and help bring in new ideas and experiences to gaming.
 

aeolist

Banned
The audience available on a platform is more important than the specs of that platform. PC being a generation ahead of consoles in power but playing host to more low-fi and interesting games proves this.

Console makers need to open up their markets and let developers do what they want without artificial limitations. Nintendo is taking steps in this direction supposedly, MS and Sony need to follow.
 

Lambtron

Unconfirmed Member
As the generation has worn on, I've felt more and more like I was not who was targeted by most games. As the dev costs increase, games need to sell a crapload of copies in order to recoup the investment in development. Will this get any better next gen? I somehow doubt it.

The most fun I've had this gen has largely been on XBLA/PSN type games, and indie PC games. I would've gladly paid $60 for Super Meat Boy or Trials HD/Evolution, but they would fail spectacularly at retail. I think with the limitations of size, price, etc. that come with developing these types of games, the developers come up with more interesting/unique ideas so they stand out. I have serious concerns that if budgets balloon next gen, all we will get are "AAA" big budget titles that are sterilized for public consumption.

I don't know. I'm a bit of a cynic, but I think we are at the point of diminishing returns with additional system power, at least for the shit that interests me.
 

gatti-man

Member
This. The baseline required to compete in the HD console environment is a daunting task for a small Japanese studio.

Nope. Then make indy games or non $60 games. The idea that you can not be creative in this gaming environment is total bs. Inafune is inching towards has been status and he knows it so its excuse time.


As the generation has worn on, I've felt more and more like I was not who was targeted by most games. As the dev costs increase, games need to sell a crapload of copies in order to recoup the investment in development. Will this get any better next gen? I somehow doubt it.

The most fun I've had this gen has largely been on XBLA/PSN type games, and indie PC games. I would've gladly paid $60 for Super Meat Boy or Trials HD/Evolution, but they would fail spectacularly at retail. I think with the limitations of size, price, etc. that come with developing these types of games, the developers come up with more interesting/unique ideas so they stand out. I have serious concerns that if budgets balloon next gen, all we will get are "AAA" big budget titles that are sterilized for public consumption.

I don't know. I'm a bit of a cynic, but I think we are at the point of diminishing returns with additional system power, at least for the shit that interests me.
And Super Meat Boy was made by two people and a huge success without using cutting edge tech or engine. Inafune is wrong.
 
Nope. Then make indy games or non $60 games. The idea that you can not be creative in this gaming environment is total bs. Inafune is inching towards has been status and he knows it so its excuse time.



And Super Meat Boy was made by two people and a huge success without using cutting edge tech or engine. Inafune is wrong.

He's doing what most Japanese developers do...switching to handheld development.
 

Mugaaz

Member
Nope. Then make indy games or non $60 games. The idea that you can not be creative in this gaming environment is total bs. Inafune is inching towards has been status and he knows it so its excuse time.



And Super Meat Boy was made by two people and a huge success without using cutting edge tech or engine. Inafune is wrong.

I agree that you can be creative still, but you can't make creative AAA games anymore, period. Theres plenty of super creative and interesting titles in the downloadable ream for $5-20, but there is diddly squat for creativity in you $60 AAA titles. What's the most "creative" AAA game in the past couple years? Batman?
 

prwxv3

Member
Nope. Then make indy games or non $60 games. The idea that you can not be creative in this gaming environment is total bs. Inafune is inching towards has been status and he knows it so its excuse time.



And Super Meat Boy was made by two people and a huge success without using cutting edge tech or engine. Inafune is wrong.

This
 

Codeblue

Member
Nope. Then make indy games or non $60 games. The idea that you can not be creative in this gaming environment is total bs. Inafune is inching towards has been status and he knows it so its excuse time.



And Super Meat Boy was made by two people and a huge success without using cutting edge tech or engine. Inafune is wrong.

How well is the indie scene doing in Japan?
 

Yopis

Member
Love how we are being stealth conditioned to hate graphics. He should just go back in time and make ios games.
 
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