• 20Feb 13

  High End is a Dead End. The Industry's Bizarre Obsession with Graphics

  Asking why is a fundamental part of my being.  I certainly found it a healthy habit to form in my teenage years.  To me, there is no greater foundation for progress and change than that one simple word.  Many a mistake has been made from never questioning.   Today I ask of you dear readers something which has been bothering me for quite some time.  Why should anyone care about graphics?   Or rather, why should anyone still want graphical improvement at this juncture?

  There is something to be said about the distinct difference between change and forced change.  With each new generation of consoles improvements have been made across the gambit.  Many are hopeful and believe the future of gaming is a bright one.  The possibilities are endless and the potential has such a glare that one can't help but put on sunglasses.  Or so it seems.   I beg to differ.  Do people even want to invest in a new console at this point?  Sometimes I wonder.   There are those in the industry who believe the lack of any new hardware on the market is stagnating gaming.  Preposterous!  The mere idea that hardware could be limiting ingenuity or creativity is staggeringly insane.  But what of time?  It certainly has been many, many years since the PS3 and Xbox 360 were introduced.  Surely by now it's been long enough?   To that I would like to quote a line from The Fifth Element: "Time is of no importance.  Only life is important."

  With all the latest buzz surrounding Durango and the PlayStation 4, I'm sitting here in my chair wondering why everyone is so eager to stamp out the still blossoming life of this generation in favor of the next?  It is of my conviction that this generation has not been fully utilized!  As long as there are men and women who are willing to use their noggins to continually produce better games, hardware should hardly be of any consequence!  What has graphical enhancement done for anyone this generation?  I can count on both hands the number of established series which have bitten the proverbial dust in this generation alone!  Want confirmation?  Look no further than Square-Enix and its gloriously foul handling of Final Fantasy. 

  To be sure, graphics were a huge part of games such as Final Fantasy 7. But then how has it come to this ladies and gentlemen?  We have gone from gems like Final Fantasy IX to what is arguably unmitigated rubbish (FFXIII) in a matter of years.   Gone are the days of exploring towns such as Nibelheim and Midgar.  Now we're stuck running down long-winding corridors for the first 20 hours of the game.  Yoichi Wada himself has even made a statement alluding to Square-Enix's inability to develop games that would simply cost too much.  They have also admitted a Final Fantasy 7 remake would not be feasible due to it costing too much to produce a single town or city.  Instead of focusing on making Final Fantasy XIII rife with content and depth Square Enix put all their resources into the presentation and graphics.  And it shows.  Oh lord does it show.   

  Indeed, by focusing all our attention on performance and specs, we are doing ourselves and the industry a huge disservice.  I can still remember EGM's official review of Tenchu 2.  They lambasted its graphical presentation and went on to quote a letter they had receieved concerning complaints about the game.  "The graphics made me want to gouge my eyes out with a fork!"  What a travesty.  Instead of actually citing the game's many strengths they blasted it for having poor character models.   Let me tell you right now that I loved that game.  To this day Tenchu 2 remains in my top ten most memorable gaming experiences of all time.  But according to journalists the game wasn't worth it all because the graphics weren't up to snuff. 

  How are developers going to keep up with the ever-growing rise of production cost without continuing to dilute the game or interactive experience at its core?  Well, that's the million dollar question isn't it?

  • Posted Feb 20, 2013 12:00 pm GMT
  • Category: Editorial
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