Not to take a jab at our Xbox 360-loving brethren, but if we are going to point to any game, in recent memory, that sold well and had an absolutely, amazingly-horrible script, it would be that game. Seriously, we know that Capcom isn't the best when it comes to crafting game stories or dialogue (Jill, here's a lockpick. It might be handy if you, the master of unlocking, take it with you.), but that game's story and dialogue was just absurd. Still though, Free Radical co-founder Karl Hilton thinks the Wii, not the Xbox 360, is the system that will encourage more games that don't need good writing in the market.Hilton says "The success of the Wii has showed how unimportant writing is to a huge chunk of the games market – and that market sector is growing." Of course, taken out of context, the quote can be horribly mistaken for meaning something else, but we're sure Hilton meant to say the success of the Wii console has opened the door for games that focus more on gameplay than, say, delivering a large, epic story to the market to be more successful.
So, how do you interpret Hilton's statement?
[via Joystiq]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-02-2007 @ 11:26PM
dukemeiser said...
Well, THE most popular game on the Wii right now is Wii Sports. No story. Second in popularity (In Japan, not sure about US)? Wii Play. No story. Think of the best selling game of all time Super Mario Bros. Hell, think of EVERY Mario game. Princess is captured, go save her. That's basically the whole story. Good story lines don't make good games. Good story lines can help enhance good games or make them more memorable. Take Zelda, some good story lines with twists that make the game unique. But basically Zelda games all have the same plot too: something bad has happened to Hyrule, go save it. Bad story lines don't make a game bad.
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4-03-2007 @ 1:08AM
Jeff said...
Games don't need large, epic stories, they need to be entertaining. This CAN be acheived with a large, epic story, but it doesn't have to be. It's the same way in the movie industry, some movies entertain with deep, thought-provoking plots and complex dynamic characters, and some movies entertain with SPLOSIONS. It all depends on what the consumer wants, because God knows they can find both.
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4-03-2007 @ 9:00AM
acefondu said...
I disagree #1. A bad plot can make a game bad. I use Star Ocean 3 as my example. The plot/dialouge was so terrible, so ridiculously bad I refused to go on. It's the only game I stopped playing because of how atrocious the plot was, not to mention the characters. Suffice to say, plot does matter, at least in RPG's.
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4-03-2007 @ 10:48AM
hvnlysoldr said...
It's like on TV. Soap operas are very cliche, over dramatic, and usually poorly written or acted. Then there's sitcoms and reality shows where the focus is on gut busting entertainment. There are documentaries exploring the world or philosophy. There are blockbuster movies with sheer production values. There a dime a dozen knockoffs. There are dramas which seek to enlighten or illuminate the audience. Each needs their own style of writing, dialogue, story, characters, and overall design and presentation. Plus video games need game play. Thus a beat-em-up doesn't really need more story than their girlfriend got kidnapped, time to save the day. And ridiculous shoehorned plot makes it funnier and memorable. Then it can cross the line of just let me bash things. An epic RPG needs a story that lends itself that you want to progress through and save the world or otherwise it can fail.
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4-06-2007 @ 6:20AM
atsui said...
"Bad story lines don't make a game bad."
haha, that sounds idiotic. It most certainly can. Certain games with a bad pointless story has and all ways will make them bad, in a lot of peoples eyes.
And the zelda analogy isn't a good one. Besides the first few zeldas, other zelda games get praised for great story lines. Every hero story has to do with saving some crap. Zelda, each game that had a story, had it done differently and had it done well.
If gears of war had no story at all, I don't think it would of sold as well. RPGs? Come on! You can't have an RPG without at least some sort of good story. For simple games like sports games and racing games, stories have never mattered, but in other type of games it can matter a lot.
Campaign modes in FPS can suck for certain games without an at least interesting story. If halo didn't do much for story wise, it wouldn't have been nearly as interesting. Saying it simply doesn't matter is a bit silly. "hey, for the next god of war.. lets not have any story at all! It works on the wii!!"
It sounds like a bunch of excuses to be lazy. Destroying all stories in video games in the future is degrading.
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