130°

Default Hero: Your Protagonist is Boring

It’s a long running joke that just hasn’t hit a lot of developers yet. In some focus group somewhere somebody decided that controlling the world around you isn’t enough immersion, we need to relate to these gamers. So what they decided was to make the character you play as a blank slate...

Read Full Story >>
wethenerdy.com
Nyxus3418d ago

A character's gender or skin color doesn't mean anything in terms of how interesting they are as a character.

frosty923418d ago

Agreed, but when Video Game character are homogenized in terms of development and overall look it starts to get boring. a different skin color or gender wont help that but thinking outside of what a default character is, is a good start.

Nyxus3418d ago

Nothing against having different kinds of characters, but it shouldn't be necessary in order to make the character interesting. I think Drake and Ezio are very different characters, and both are interesting, it doesn't matter what their gender or skin color is.

Somebody3417d ago

"The Developers are making their vision and their story and a large portion of Developers are White guys."

I don't see anything wrong with sticking to things that they are familiar with. White men make games for white people. Japanese game devs made games with Japanese characters. There have been some weird interpretation of the Westerners in Japanese games and just recently the writer for GTA V was called out for being just another white guy writing about black people.

A lot of people have been hounding game devs to change their ways but into what, exactly? Conform and change or stay the same - either way game devs are caught in a sticky situation.

Sly-Lupin3417d ago

The protagonist of a game is usually meant to personify the audience of the game. The player character is, essentially, an audience surrogate.

A disproportionate number of game characters are white men because a disproportionate number of game developers are white men--and in the infancy of gaming, so, too, was the majority of the audience.

But that is no longer the case, and hasn't been the case for some time. Each new day brings a more diverse gaming community, and the games industry is largely ignoring that diversity.

Is this a problem? Yes. Of course it is. But its one of many big problems facing the medium these days that many people don't even want to recognize, along with preservation and basic consumer rights for digital products.

Somebody3417d ago

I don't think the industry is deliberately ignoring this rise of diversity out of malice. A big, "disproportionate" chunk of the demographic is white men so the market caters to them first and diversity second. Once diversity found it's place on the top then the market would undoubtedly cater to them first and white men second. At the end of the day money is still money no matter how they get it.

We've seen this among games themselves. No matter how many advanced features games like Battlefield or Rainbow Siege have or realism like the Arma series has, they will always have a hard time toppling the CoD series from the top position simply because they don't the same amount of "disproportionate number" of established CoD fans. As long as there are millions of fans pumping money into CoD, Activision don't have any reasons to make major changes.

I'm not against diversity, far from it. It's that I prefer it's inclusion to be a much more natural process instead being forced upon. Show the devs that it can bring money and safe from them to try(when no one will question why a white guy is telling the story of an Indonesian rice paddy farmer). When we demonized them in order to have them to comply to our wishes, then there will be push back.

Let diversity grow, not artificially accelerate it.

Yehshuah3417d ago

always typical white guy that looks hot

Bigpappy3417d ago (Edited 3417d ago )

Not getting into this fight over diversity. I like RPG's as my favorite genre, and those that allow me the freedom to customize the look of my character, e.g. Elder Scrolls; Mass Effect, add that extra layer of emersion for me. Sometime the default does match my mental image of who I would expect in that role. If the game is good though, I usually still enjoy it, and the look becomes a very small issue.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 3417d ago
frosty923418d ago

thank you for reading first off :) and i think your right I really like Drake and Ezio and they are very different. they both have great personality. weather they are black or purple doesn't matter.

InMyOpinion3417d ago

Ezio? You mean Token Italian Guy, who speak-a like-a this-eh? lol.

KryptoniteTail3417d ago

Is this one of those "we need more half black half Mexican bisexual transgender transvestite militant Atheist liberal misandrist main characters" topics?

Tonykid3417d ago

Here we go again with these "We need more diversity in games". Changing a character's skin color or sexual preference doesn't make the character any better. You people trash character's like Aiden but if he was black or gay then people would be praising this game for being diverse.

urwifeminder3417d ago

Yes we need more Junkies or wino action toothless becoming something great, burying their demons being tempted by their vices physical and mental transformations .

InMyOpinion3417d ago (Edited 3417d ago )

Trevor in GTA 5 is one of the most interesting playable characters since I can remember.

Would be nice to have more anti-hero type of characters, with questionable morals etc.

Show all comments (16)
120°

Mad Max Remains Criminally Underrated 9 Years Later

The Mad Max game, released in 2015 by Avalance Studio has turned 9 years old; is one of the most underrated games of recent times.

Read Full Story >>
tech4gamers.com
thorstein20d ago

Yes it is. My only complaint with the game was one of the trophies tied to the time trials. I just thought it was tedious to try to go after it.

Other than that it was worth every penny.

SDuck20d ago

There's an unobtainable achievement tied to server gimmicks since the servers were shut down (for pc players, you can just get all other achievements and grab the save file with that achievement from nexusmod), but man do I love this game.
After Furiosa, I decided to go back and rewatch the original 3 movies and recognizing so many things on Mad Max 2 from the game made me appreciate the game even more!

RhinoGamer8820d ago

Agreed, so is Days Gone... shame.

ChasterMies20d ago

Oof no. It’s appropriately if not overrated.

ZeekQuattro19d ago

I still play it from time to time. Sucks it never took off as I remember looking forward to a possible sequel. Silly me.

Demetrius19d ago

On my 2nd playthrough and I still adore the vibe it gives

AAWELLS0919d ago

It def has a vibe to it and I agree its perfect for the game. Its such a shame it didnt get a sequel as I think it would've been their magnum opus.

Show all comments (9)
250°

Sorry George Miller, but you’re wrong about the Mad Max game

George Miller expressed dismay toward the 2015 Mad Max game recently, but Avalanche Studios' take on the lore is still so good to this day.

Read Full Story >>
theloadout.com
lelo2play120d ago

Mad Max is a good game... George Miller should STFU.

Old_Scout119d ago

He didn't say it wasn't good. Maybe you should take your own advice and look past the articles misleading headline. Here's the actual quote. “wasn’t as good as we wanted it to, it wasn’t in our hands.” That is all he said about it.

S2Killinit118d ago (Edited 118d ago )

In my opinion the guy himself Is pretty mediocre, so I dont like how he talks as if he’s something special. I dont think he would know a good game if it hit him in the face.

StormSnooper118d ago (Edited 118d ago )

If George Miller had good taste he wouldn’t be wearing those ridiculous glasses.

-Foxtrot119d ago

I think the funny thing is if Kojima made a Mad Max game it would be so trippy and "out there" I don't think it would feel like Mad Max by the time he's done with it. This is why he's better off with original new IPs.

Kojima seems like a buzz word these film directors use because he's probably the only big name they've heard from the gaming industry.

Wretchedstain119d ago

Article is correct in my opinion, Miller is wrong. That Death Stranding II trailer is bonkers, looking forward to that in itself.

And I agree, unless Mr Kojima wants to change his tune, or laughably, be told what to do, you're right, it wouldn't be Mad Max or close.

porkChop119d ago

Yup, Kojima really doesn't suit Mad Max. Avalanche did a great job though. It looked, felt, and played like what I'd expect from a Mad Max game. I really enjoyed my time with it, and the sand storms were handled incredibly well.

jznrpg118d ago

I think Kojima could definitely make a great Mad Max game.

SubtilizZer118d ago

I disagree… I don’t want to see Kojima do Mad Max or whatever… But I disagree with your take. Kojima is first a huge fan of film. I think saying he wouldn’t be able to stick to the lore of the world that was built is kinda crazy.

I’m sure he would be able to stick to the creative confines of the source material fairly well. Chances are he’s a huge fan.

I’m sure he’s a bit of a”buzzword” sure but I’m willing to bet it’s mutual respect for his work as well.

TheGamingHounds119d ago

I never played it but the recent buzz around Mad Max has piqued my interest. Will check it out this year for sure

maelstromb119d ago (Edited 119d ago )

MM is not a perfect game by any means as it was held back by lots of repetitious, standard open-world copy and paste missions, but the devs SO perfectly captured the world, atmosphere, lore and brutality. It also just so happens to boast one of THE best photo modes out there and some of the most impressive explosions I've ever seen in a game to date. The car combat is of course another impressive standout, both vicious and fun. MM is a game which I have revisited multiple times since its release, and now having just seen Furiosa, I can feel it calling me back again.

There's a ton to love there, but I think you'll pickup on the areas where the devs struggled likely due to reigning in the scope, budget and time constraints, leading to an incredibly fun, albeit uneven experience. Though, as mentioned, it's absolutely a game worth experiencing once, and I truly hope you enjoy it. The game really does deserve a sequel.

victorMaje119d ago

Word for word. Exactly this. A lot of fun to be had in there. A true Mad Max game. Sequel can’t come soon enough.

gigoran8119d ago

and the fact that they originally had an American voice actor until everyone kicked up a big stink about it?

maelstromb119d ago

Honestly, Kojima would do the game justice, but given his studio's current workload, it's a bit far flung. I could much rather see Bend Studios (Days Gone dev) doing a Mad Max follow-up. I'm playing through DG right now for the first time and I see lots of similarities between the games to where imo Bend could develop an impressive MM sequel.

jznrpg118d ago

Bend does makes sense. But I’d rather they made Days Gone 2 (no multiplayer of course) as I really like the motorcycle and the hordes of zombies was a lot of fun.

VersusDMC119d ago

While i like the Mad Max game and think it's underrated...i don't know why people are mad at George Miller for not liking the game based on the IP he created. Especially since a lot of people hated it at release as well looking at that 69% metacritic.

-Foxtrot119d ago

I think the issue is the studio was told by higher ups and most likely himself to make something linear yet when they got a first look at it they didn’t like it and wanted something open world

The head guy was basically like “you’ve just hired an open world dev and forced them to do a linear game yet now you want open world which has just wasted a year of development which we could have done from the start”

I think that’s why people are p****** because of the context the lead dev at Avalanche has given us.

Show all comments (30)
120°

6 Games That Genuinely Deserve A Current-Gen Upgrade

Games such as Mad Max, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Batman: Arkham Knight desperately deserve a modern-day revisit.

thorstein158d ago

Mad Max is underrated. Such a fun game.

Cacabunga157d ago (Edited 157d ago )

RDR2 still looks astounding on PS4 Pro. i cannot imagine how it could look with a next gen upgrade.

JonTheGod157d ago (Edited 157d ago )

Probably not very different.

No idea why this article is highlighting recent beautiful graphically-advanced games and saying they need current gen makeovers. They already look better than most new releases; just compare Arkham Knight and Suicide Squad!

exputers157d ago

I see what you did there.

Yi-Long157d ago

It's obviously never gonna happen since Sony killed the game and studio, but Driveclub. Even in its current state, 10 years after release, it still puts many competitors to shame ...

Demetrius156d ago

I'm not into racing games but yeah I even looked at gameplay of that sometimes

redrum06129d ago

It's a shame they cancelled the game. Definitely the best racing game I've ever played on Playstation. Just got GT7, but it feels so slow and less arcade-y, which is to be expected of a sim racer of course, that I just enjoy it less.
Driveclub also graphically looked insanely good for its time. I wonder what a Driveclub 2 would look like for the PS5.

Demetrius156d ago

Mad max ikr! Far cry primal, it amuses me how ubisoft just left ac unity hanging, sadly most of the good staff left from rocksteady while being forced to make that abomination smh