Hey Feedbackers, the time has come for you to rise up from the ordinary, to dare to be different, to ask us questions! Yes, you too could be a fearless question-asking warrior. Simply post your concise, well-written and topical question in the comment section. I'll pick which questions to use on Monday.
Did I mention brave question-asking warriors might win a radical prize? It's going to be radical.
Fight on, warriors!
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Alpha_Meerkat
Dear Feedback,
Space Marines are Katherine Heigl of the video game world!
Is the shooter genre becoming the romantic comedy of the video game world? Same clich�d characters (gravelly voiced vets), in the same clich�d settings (World War 2, Alien besieged city, or Alien besieged world war two city) with the same clich�d villains (Nazis, Aliens, and Zombies). Is there innovation to be done or is it that FPS players do not want innovation to be done? They have been raised since childhood watching Call of Duty, HALO, and Gears of War flicker on the wall. Does the fear of leaving the cave trap FPS gamers into merely playing the same game series forever?
(That s right Katherine Heigl, Zombies, and Socrates all in the same question! FTW)
JamesFinn1
What's the best video game based off of a book? And I don't mean something like Harry Potter that was a book and then a movie, I mean a book that has no movie adaptation.
sonicdeathmonkey
So in one of the last few feedbacks (I forget which one) someone mentioned that they weren't entirely sure about some plot points of the Modern Warfare series, that it seemed drowned out by the Michael Bay style set pieces. I'm a bit of a story nerd and I quite liked it.
The concept of Zakhaev from MW1 and Makarov from 2 (and 3 from the trailers) as Russian ultranationalists seemed strong if not brilliant until today when I read a news story about a march of Russian far-right nationalists and neo-nazis marching on Moscow in protest of spending in impoverished regions with largely muslim populations. Some people much smarter than myself have said this in no small way was galvanized by the rise of Vladimir Putin who is both developing some degree of cult of personality (constantly photographed doing manly things shirtless, releasing an instruction video on judo, and doing a staged discovery/recovery of underwater artifacts) and rebuilding a stronger Russian state. While certainly we seem a long way off from the events of the World War 3 in MW3, this still points to it being well researched and topical, rather than it just being a lazy use of the old fallback of fighting Russia.
My question is why does this narrative seem to get lost? Is it that gamers aren't looking for the potential depth that games may be providing for them in their story and research? Is there another way that the narrative could be presented that would let this kind of depth be more evident, and it isn't the gamers who aren't looking for it, but the developers who can't seem to show it? If it is a difficult narrative to present, how can game makers show it differently to give gamers the deeper experience of the game? While games like Homefront used the newspapers to flesh out their backstory, that seems incongruous to something as fast paced as Modern Warfare plays. Could a dossier before each mission with further information be presented for those who wanted it, or even make the dossier mission critical by providing intelligence that will assist gameplay, or even be contradicted to actively demonstrate the divergence between intelligence provided to soldiers and the ultimate reality on the ground?
kylerosa
ok i have to see saints row GTA all compeared to APB reloaded in my opanion is apb wins
silentanathema
With saints row 3 coming out soon and the release of the trailer for grand theft auto 5 i have been thinking a lot of games that shoot themselfs in the foot by comparing themselfs to other titles. I think saints row is an example of what to do correctly, It is similar to GTA in what the main point (open world and dealing with crime) is but they nothing alike and saints row never says better than GTA. I don't think anybody even puts them in the same boat. I think of fails like Killzone being a Halo killer or Battle field or Medal of honor trying to take out Call of duty. All of these games are diffrent and good in their own right and are hurting themselfs by making a statment like that. I don't know if you guys can think of any other games that have hurt themselfs more than helped by this type of compairison or does it help stir up the pot and get people talking about them.
Thanks guys for making a great show every week.
Mystyr_E
Recently, footage was leaked online about Modern Warfare 3's "No Russian equivalent" involving a family, including a little girl. This will no doubt create controversy among media outlets and certain journalists for saying it's "ruining" the youth of today and call it tasteless. While the "videogames as art" debate is a separate thing onto itself, is the more provocative sequences like this trying to generate discussion and debate about storytelling in games? Or is it that developers are going about this the wrong way, trying to do more shock tactics and envelope-pushing scenes which won't have the desired effect?
stonehenge
Last weeks show had Adam compare numerical game scores to game length as empty signifiers and Jessica noted that game length had nothing to do with game quality. My gaming dollar is really short because of school and bills and I miss a lot of AAA titles every year because I cant afford them. I mostly get RPGs, sports games, and FPSs with good multiplayer not because I don't love other games but for the main purpose that those games can last me for months at a time. Do you guys lose some perspective on game value because of the turnaround to new games demanded by your jobs and the sheer volume of games that you have both access to and give full play throughs to? This also pertains to two weeks ago when you talked about digital downloads because as a consumer when I buy a product I want not only a full game for my original purchase, not find that there is already twenty dollars worth of DLC that I need for the full experience or that I need to buy some kind of pass to play online, but I want to sell the good that I own on the other end, even for just a fraction of the original price, so that I can get the next thing with that ten or fifteen dollars. I understand your frustration with these complaints that are inundated on you as the authorities in game review but I ask you to understand why we as the consumer bring these issues up so consistently and overwhelmingly. I love video games. I'm only going to get between four and five a year. They need to be good, long, and hopefully still hold a value I can redeem when I'm done with them. In this market I need to be a beggar and a chooser. Again my question is : Do you guys lose some perspective on game value because of the turnaround to new games demanded by your jobs and the sheer volume of games that you have both access to and give full play throughs to or is there another factor playing in to the disconnect between the consumer and the professional reviewer? please don't cop out with a "everyone has there own opinions" line, you guys are better then that, it's why i watch every week.
DecusQ7
My question pertains to the RPG genre in general. The RPG genre has been popular as a singular genre when it comes to specific games in the past. However as the years have gone on especially in America we have seen the genre be a sub genre to other categories. Action RPG, Shooter RPG, and Strategy RPG are perfect examples of RPG having to fit into another genre in order to be noticed. Do you think that with games like Skyrim the RPG genre can stand on it's own, or will RPG have to remain a sub genre in order to have a future with gamers?
Beepbeepsaysthejeep
With over 300 hours of gameplay, plus many more in menus and character customization in skyrim. How do you review a game like skyrim? With a game like skyrim how can a numerical value be attached to it? There are so many paths, items, quests and options it seems impossible to sum it up in a single number.
Warden626
Is anyone else concerned with the growing prevalence of "Game of the Year," "Ultimate," or "Complete Edition," re-releases with this console generation? With so many big name games coming out in the recent weeks I find myself experiencing a lot of hesitation in picking up new titles from certain developers. For example as much as I am anticipating Skyrim I know that much like Fallout 3 & Fallout New Vegas there will be a "collected" edition with all the DLC somewhere down the line.
Worse than that there seems to be a growing trend in releasing games as "incomplete" only to fill in missing plot points or faults in gameplay with DLC later. This seems to be the case with the rather abrupt ending in Rage or the fixed boss battle in the Deus Ex Missing Link DLC.
My question to the panel is do you feel certain publishers who are trying to make the most out of their IP's through this practice are doing more harm than good? Are video game players better off waiting for the package deal even if that means hurting day one sales?
b4k4
I love music, but aside from Nobuo Uematsu's work in the Final Fantasy series, I find myself almost forgetting about it in games until the credits roll, or when I'm taking a bit more time on my second playthrough.
When you're playing a single-player game, how important is the musical score to your experience? Do you find it helping your immersion in the same way it does in films, or does the interaction cause you to not notice the music or even find it distracting?
jungan
Hey chumps, what do you think Bioware has up it's sleeve?
G4Punisher1
Why do you think Rockstar chose to skip Vice City and go for San Andreas? Do you think its there way of saying we are not going to make over the top GTA games based in the past anymore?
Jazzerman
With this holiday gaming season coming at us with so many trilogies, how essential is innovation from one game to the next in a series? Many triple A titles we've seen lately improve a great deal in their sequel, but then aren't able (or choose not to) change their formula in their concluding chapter. Should we expect more innovation from studios that have multiple years between games? Even though their last title was given ratings that were near perfect.
balto85
As someone who loves the idea of COD multiplayer but had to give it up because I couldn't play for two seconds without getting slaughtered, I wonder why the developers don't put in some sort of attempt at an option for matchmaking for similarly skilled players? People who have similar k/d ratios, or who are similar in their rank, anything. It's like really wanting to play a little basketball, but every court is filled with NBA and college players. There's just an inherent unfairness to anything that's competitive if you don't separate people of differing skill levels. Is there a reason that even after all these years, COD hasn't even made an effort?
SpinalCafe
I see product placement in games as an inevitable future; as games grow more mainstream, the appeal of advertising in them increases. However, it seems that the current adds in games are aimed specifically towards the gamer audience, like the Mountain Dew affiliation with Modern Warfare 3. Do you think that games will ever use product placement on the items used in their games, like putting specific cars in Need for Speed or specific guns in Call of Duty? Do you think that this is done already?
thE_OrioN
One big problem shooters have had in telling good stories in single player is that there is always this huge disconnect between the gameplay and cut-scenes. Even with the flawless cut-scene to gameplay transitions in Uncharted 3, there were a few times where it felt like I am just killing some random people to get to the next cut-scene and, more often than not, this removed me from the pace and the intensity of story that was being told.
Do you think that developers will ever work to try and get around this issue or will the fear of critcism from the gaming community for 'shorter gameplay hours' keep them from experimenting with better story telling techniques?
JAM4art
Should game developers work more on advertising before the release of their product? If so through what means of advertising would reach their audience?
blairherterisadolphin
What's your guys' opinion on all the releases of different "editions" of the games being released? Like Assassins Creed: Revelations as about 6 different editions, which is a bit over kill. I understand they want to make money, and give an opportunity to provide extra content to hardcore fans, but when they flood the market with so many choices, it feels like by buying one, you're missing out on all the content of the others. What do you guys think?
denial19
With games seemingly following the trend of releasing and then *VERY* shortly after putting out a DLC (Gears, Uncharted, etc), my question is: How does a trend like this come to an end? Will this be a permanent foundation for gaming now?
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