Searching for a story worth following in the myriad of titles that cram the shelves of my local GameStop sometimes makes me feel as if I’m in the midst of an Australian walkabout, staggering through the vast wasteland of the outback, hoping that the shimmer on the horizon is an oasis that will sustain me for the next long, parched trek. More often than not, it’s just another mirage, a hint at a story of substance that falls apart into dust as I take a closer look. For someone who hungers for that narrative as I do, it can be all too easy to despair. But just as I teeter on the verge of surrender, hope emerges.
2009 emerged as one of the best years for gaming in this already stellar decade. With dozens of titles clamoring for my attention, there was no shortage of delectable digital morsels. That being said, the games last year that truly amazed me were the ones that set aside storytelling for other goals. Beatles: Rock Band and Left 4 Dead 2 sucked me in and devoured entire chunks of my weekly routine. I enjoyed Sims 3 to an almost embarrassing extent. (There are few moments more humbling than realizing your level of excitement at the addition of a basement tool has exceeded any sense of proportion. Yes, I am ashamed of this.) Even games like Torchlight and Batman: Arkham Asylum drew me in not due to the storytelling, but because of the gameplay itself. In fact, I recently bemoaned the concern that storytelling in video games was doomed to find its own path.
As soon as the words finished leaving my mouth, Bioware and 2K Marin showed up, slapped me in the face, and ordered me to plop my skeptical tail down on the magic carpet. Ears open and mouth shut, children; shut up and pay attention. It’s storytime.
Mass Effect 2 and Bioshock 2 both had me worried. Both early 2010 entries, their conspicuous absence from the holiday 2009 lineup gave me a queasy feeling in my stomach. But instead of being unpolished entries that missed the overcrowded boat, these two games set a standard for excellence and narrative brilliance that will be phenomenally tough for other games this year to even match, let alone exceed. Both titles succeeded where so many others fail with one simple approach: they refused to bend.
While both ME2 and Bioshock 2 present the idea of an open world, this is a thinly veiled attempt. Each step you take in your own direction is gently but firmly nudged back onto the path that the developers want. Sure, you can wait to talk to the Illusive Man until you’re damned good and ready, but if you wait too long, he’ll pop up in front of you like the Martin Sheen of viagra ads. You take those Big Daddies on in any order you like, it’s completely your choice. That being said, you aren’t leaving until you do exactly what we say.
This is not a complaint. Far from it. The biggest obstacle that I feel games have to truly epic storytelling is the player’s ability to wrench the narrative off path. While it’s great for gameplay to do whatever the hell you want, it’s murder on a story of any level of complexity. By keeping you on the yellow brick road they’ve laid, 2k Marin and Bioware can ensure that you end up happy and singing in the Emerald City, not begging some hobo living under Munchkin Village for directions.
I know that stories like Mass Effect 2 are the exception, rather than fact. I know that it will be a long while before I’m drawn in as much as I was in the passageways and creaking rooms of Rapture. But that’s okay. I’m sitting at this oasis right now, drinking my fill. It may be a long trip to the next one, but this is worth the wait.
Shaz from Pixel Swish: "The ROG Xbox Ally is another step towards Team Xbox’s 'Play Anywhere' strategy, and perfectly embodies the company’s future and how we’re all going to be playing an 'Xbox' in the future."
The funny thing about Xbox going more PC-like is that I’ve been saying this for over a decade and finally seeing it come to fruition. People use to hate the idea, but now are embracing it, and all I want is to be put on the payroll lol.
On a serious note, I think this is the best route going forward for MS. They don’t have to get out of the hardware game altogether. They can make their home console $300 entry & $600 premium home consoles and from there partner with other hardware makers for anything beyond that. Focus on being a publisher and creating a strong OS / Cloud option for other devices like desktop, handheld PCs, streaming devices, etc…
I honestly think they should also look into NVIDIA as well, with NVIDIA starting to make their own CPUs. Their CPU is already on par with AMDs best laptop CPUs of the previous/current generation which is more than enough, and a RTX 5000 / 6000 laptop GPU hybrid (DLSS 4 / DLSS5) could do wonders for them, and bring some much needed diversity back to console hardware.
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I don't know why you'd expect them to still develop new consoles at this point. Ditching all exclusives and putting the Xbox logo on a ROG Windows device is a pretty clear message.
This isn't a good thing for Xbox. It's a long winded goodbye.
For the same reason they still have a laptop hardware lineup even though they have Windows.
Having some kind of retail presence for visibility and marketing won’t really affect them in any way.
I still expect them to have 1 or 2 SKUs that they won’t sell at a loss but will continue the trend of selling way less than the competition (though its still selling millions), just like they have their Surface laptops even though they could happily coast knowing practically every third party out there (or the end consumer) will pay them for the Windows license
You realise thos indicates that their next xbox will be an xbox branded pc right? And will cost pc prices as a result. So look forwards to a 600 dollar and 1000 dollar version with vast performance differences, with the upper range having similar performance to the ps6 that will be like half its price. The 800 dollar rog ally x makes this abundantly clear.
I saw this years ago. I don't see how it took this long for people actually close to the industry.
I said this years ago, mind you I know nothing about computers, but I always thought Xbox would go more PC-like.
As I said, and always said, I know squat about PCs, so I thought Xbox would become modular. I don’t know if that’s the right word, but I thought they would build a basic frame/shell and gamers would be able to configure their Xbox how they wish, similar to PC and buy motherboards, sound cards and graphic cards. I don’t know if that’s practical or even possible though.
This was when they first entered the gaming space.
I think consoles are so cheap and punch above their weight is because everything is so tightly designed around each component. Opening up to multiple permutations with modules would probably make it more expensive to build, develop for, and manage. It's not impossible, but probably gets in that gray area where it's not much different than a garden variety PC.
Well to clear up my thought process on the matter, I figured they would every so often within a gen like a pro model system, give gamers the proprietary parts.
Let’s say the original Xbox they built it modular in mind, so certain parts they would manufacture newer slightly more powerful components. That way you can either stay with the original configuration, or swap out the parts you choose, building your own pro. Then when the next gen comes around a new even more powerful components that would put the system in the Xbox360 range. Then another half step to tweak your system to a pro of that gen.
I guess similar to how I see people here talking about new 4080 cards, I’m just making up an example, and every so often people mention nother with a number larger than the last indicating it’s more powerful.
I understand what you’re saying about how it’s much easier to just have a closed system, and much cheaper. It was just something I thought might happen when Microsoft introduced the first Xbox.
"First-person roguelikes like Gunfire Reborn and Roboquest can be quite fun when done well. Another such game is MythForce, which comes from Beamdog, the developer that brought Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 to modern platforms (while mostly ditching the co-op). MythForce features cartoon-like visuals and a fantasy theme, making it quite different from most of its peers. It will soon reach its "final form" via the upcoming Version 1.2 update," says Co-Optimus.
Today, SCS Software officially announced Project Coaches, the next evolution for Euro Truck Simulator 2, adding buses to the game.
Great read man. For me story is what draws me into a game, I love story and having a true experience, not like these mindless shooters. I never played bioshock but ME1 and ME2 were amazing. In terms of story I can't wait for the next phase of storytelling, heavy rain. So yeah story is a great thing and really tugs at my heart strings so again a great read.
Personally I thought Mass Effect was a great story but I was hoping for something else in the ending, not saying it was bad. Bioshock was like a Scorcese or Tarentino movie, absolutely amazing. Heres a couple of my other favorites.
-Metal Gear Solid 3 another crazy ending 4 was insane as well.
-Beyond Good and Evil, just a classic adventure story but very well done
-The first couple Resident Evils, Then things just got dumb
-knights of the old republic
-god of war