Devs hope for more freedom, openness on next-gen consoles

Gamasutra- One advantage that games on PCs, social networks such as Facebook, and even mobile phones have over those on traditional video game consoles is the ability for their creators to change and manipulate their worlds on the fly. Thanks to the relative freedom these platforms provide, games can be constantly updated to improve performance, fix bugs, balance mechanics, and keep players playing longer.

On traditional consoles, not so much. Game developers have been traditionally hampered by the bureaucracy, endless forms, and prohibitive cost that come with updating a console game once it's available to purchase, often at the expense of the game's quality.

[Stinky_Fish]

how will dev costs lead to more freedom?

[solar]

The video game.industry is the most butt hurt industry out there. What's lost today in mainstream gaming is the artistic side. Its all about money now. With dlc and the lemmings who buy it and.the hype machine.

[decrypt]

Well the reason why there is so much red tape involved in making changes to a games content is because MS and Sony must certify updates before they take place.

Now obviously these sort of procedures cost money. However as long as console gamers are willing to put up with such costs, i think things are fine just the way they are.

[snipes101]

Yea, they want all the freedom and then want to lock down used game sales with DRM and the like. Oh, the irony.

[HeartDisease]

devs want more freedom and more open platforms next gen, yet want restrictions in them to fight used games? lawl

[Dark_Overlord]

I believe you'll find its mainly the publishers who want the restrictions on used games, not the devs :)

[ziggurcat]

i had a discussion with someone who claimed to be a game developer and he likened trading in your games to illegally distributing copyrighted material - to which i laughed in his face and called him delusional.

so it's not just the publishers.

[Dark_Overlord]

I didn't say it was just the publishers, I said it was 'mainly' them :)

[lzim]

apples and oranges.

Open as in less BS from Microsoft about what they can do with their games, like host online servers, support keyboard and mouse, how much memory they can use on the marketplace etc.

Fighting used games has been on the developer agenda for years because they only make money the first time a game is sold. After that any lending or rentals.. they don't get paid. People don't seem to care that they should be paying for a right to play not just have a disc to pass around as they please.

[ilikestuff]

yea and i just paid for the right to drive my car and not let someone else drive it, or i have the right to live in my house but i can't let anyone live with me and this shirt I'm wearing, i just got the rights to wear it i can't let some skank that i banged wear it the next day

[lzim]

unless you insure them.. yeah it is a similar thing.

You're licensed and insured to drive, you can't just lend you car to other people. Furthermore you're responsible for what they do.

For gaming I don't want to even consider each gamer having to pay for insurance but that could happen too (requirements to have a SEN, Origin or Gamertag). I don't think STEAM is going to do that but I hope they don't.

[lzim]

Its nice for them to want things.

But as long as they have enough ram and processing power to make games that are marginally better than they were last generation, they should be fine.

It isn't like the industry will implode just because devs aren't going to get an adequate platform for another 8 years. As if they are planning to support higher framerates, better AI, particle effects better physics, etc. The more features they'd add the buggier and more expensive the games would be to make, test and support with patches after the publishers abort their projects.

[Dms2012]

You seem to have figured out what so many have overlooked, increased assets=higher dev costs=$70 games. I believe this is the main cause of having to wait so long for the next generation.

[lzim]

Well.. no MS lost billions. They had to make the most of Xbox 360 before dumping even more money into consoles.

Then they for whatever reason started dumping more billions into Kinect and not into games for Kinect... and Windows.. and Windows phone...

Sony is a similar is only slightly less tragic story.

Notice Nintendo is the only announced new console? They don't have billions to waste but are playing catchup when people start getting bored of 360 and PS3.

[StoneAgeWarfare]

only Sony allows more freedom

[StayStatic]

While Sony has made a good attempt to be more developer friendly , it does not compare to PC which will always cause problems for some developers wanting to get out updates promptly.

For example Valve(2012) had to remove cross platform multiplayer with CS:GO:

"Valve has decided to strip the functionality in favor of offering constant updates for players on the PC and Mac."

http://www.joystiq.com/2012...

This can prove problematic in such a case and i'm sure their are other restrictions which need to go or change as well.

[StoneAgeWarfare]

of course bro its PC

[_Aarix_]

Excuse me while I point and laugh at the people who think sony is the only saint in the gaming industry. Lol fanboys.

[StoneAgeWarfare]

you have one bubble I'm the one laughing

[fullmetal297]

Really... then maybe Sony can drop the online passes because it is becoming annoying for gamers.

[A LIVING LEGEND]

creative freedom,time and resources to pursue new ideas.
^ Studio closed.Billions spent opening 10 new studios that will concentrate on perfecting the next big shooters of 2012

[Somebody]

I thought the article was about opening up the console for more user-generated content. But it simply about getting patches and extra content out much more easier and faster for the consoles.

When talking about the PC's freedom and openness the first thing that comes to mind is mods and user-made content. From what I understand from the article it talks about an open console would allow faster content to be released which would then allow more DLCs to churned out.

So they are currently making next-gen consoles to inherently kill used game sales and allow the publishers/developers to release more DLCs at a faster rate.

[gypsygib]

Won't happen, Sony and MS want a piece of every dollar made on their consoles. So everything will be tightly controlled.

[Game3s]

Devs want more freedom to rob gamers.

[Dms2012]

I am perplexed as to the disagrees, what I stated is absolute fact.

[zypher]

Carl Jones: "You can be very successful with a game by giving a game away for free, and then giving players the content they want. And if they really want it, and are really enjoying it, that's when they'll pay for it. That's appropriate. Why shouldn't we do it like that?"

isn't Sony doing the very thing Jones suggest with CCP's Dust 514?

[givemeshelter]

"Devs hope for more freedom, openness on next-gen consoles..."

Good luck with that...