Making games more like DVDs

[Gamerforlife]

An interesting idea occurred to me while reading this:

http://www.gamecritics.com/on-the-inclu ... videogames

If games started incorporating more and more DVD style features like commentaries, featurettes, etc, would it finally become acceptable for games to be shorter in length? I have never been a fan of non-gameplay related rewards for games, but that is because they tend to be stupid crap like unlockable outfits and simple art galleries. What if we had interviews with developers, the art department, programmers, debuggers, commentaries, etc. What if we could really get deep inside the game making process? Why are things like this ONLY included in limited edition pre-orders? Why isn't it a standard feature?

I would view this as a boon. Less filler in our games, less development time and costs, and one more step towards making games truly mainstream. Not to mention it would put a real face on the people who make these games. Think about it. Outside of the hardcore gaming community, does anybody know or give a damn about Shigeru Miyamoto or Hideo Kojima? Wouldn't it be nice for casual gamers to see and get to know the people making these games. There's no celeb status to game makers like directors, actors and singers get.

Just food for thought.

[aaron]

Just food for thought.

nom nom nom.

good point.

[executioner]

Highly agree with you. This should have been a common standard by now just like dvd movies. Its so sad when you come up with a movie dvd or a music dvd with just the minimum in there. They should make use of that space and fill it with any interesting stuff the fans would appreciate. Who doesns't like a "making of" extra.

Reminded me of watching some extras on Star Wars Republic Commando for PC on how they made the sounds on the game and the voices and other cool stuff that actually made it quite an enjoyable complete experience.

[RadarScope1]

The Orange Box has this. You can play through Portal and HL2 as you normally would, but there are little dialog bubbles floating around at various points. When you active them, you hear Valve devs talking about the design process throughout the game. It's an awesome feature, and I wish more games had it.

Thanks for the link.

EDIT: Just clicked the link and realized that's what the article is about!

[Doctor Fugue]

Please allow me to be the friendly voice of opposition.

For me personally, I almost never watch the DVD extras. I only want to see the movie or TV show and it seems to lose a little bit of "magic" if I see all the interviews and making-of featurettes. For example, the Predator in the first movie was portrayed extremely well with how much suspense and mystery they put into the character; he's frightening, brutal and 300 pounds of awesome. I don't particularly want to see Stan Winston in his workshop making the Predator head and describing every little detail of how he thought of the design; the next time I see the movie it will be more difficult to suspend my disbelief.

Again, I realize many people want to see all the workings behind a movie.

I am more interested in games than movies and sometimes I would like to see interviews and such with the designers. But I don't think it should be part of the game. Seeing interviews on TV or reading articles on a developer's website is fine. I don't think space should be wasted on a disc for stuff like that...in fact I prefer the "stupid crap" of unlockable outfits and other stuff.

And to be completely honest, I don't want games to get more mainstream. They are already way too mainstream! I would prefer it if they remained a smaller, quality business where every game counts.

Sorry to be the guy who disagrees...but this is a good topic to discuss!

[aaron]

i think the point is that it would be an optional feature, or "unlockable." no one encodes a dvd with a mandatory commentary track playing throughout.

[Gamerforlife]

Please allow me to be the friendly voice of opposition.

For me personally, I almost never watch the DVD extras. I only want to see the movie or TV show and it seems to lose a little bit of "magic" if I see all the interviews and making-of featurettes. For example, the Predator in the first movie was portrayed extremely well with how much suspense and mystery they put into the character; he's frightening, brutal and 300 pounds of awesome. I don't particularly want to see Stan Winston in his workshop making the Predator head and describing every little detail of how he thought of the design; the next time I see the movie it will be more difficult to suspend my disbelief.

Again, I realize many people want to see all the workings behind a movie.

I am more interested in games than movies and sometimes I would like to see interviews and such with the designers. But I don't think it should be part of the game. Seeing interviews on TV or reading articles on a developer's website is fine. I don't think space should be wasted on a disc for stuff like that...in fact I prefer the "stupid crap" of unlockable outfits and other stuff.

And to be completely honest, I don't want games to get more mainstream. They are already way too mainstream! I would prefer it if they remained a smaller, quality business where every game counts.

Sorry to be the guy who disagrees...but this is a good topic to discuss!

Losing the magic isn't a problem for me, because the magic has already affected me on my first viewing of the movie. I've learned that the more I have learned about what goes into making movies, the more appreciation I've developed for them. Seeing the featurettes and stuff only makes me love a movie more. Also, once you gain an understanding of how special effects, costumes, etc work, you start appreciating the movies that do it well while laughing at the ones that don't. That's just me though

Personally, I think video games and people like us who play them can only benefit from games getting more and more mainstream. It's so nice that being a gamer isn't quite the weird, loser activity now that it was once considered to be. Plus, the more mainstream gaming gets, the more avenues it opens, which means MORE quality. It would be nice to get more and more games with mature content beyond sex and violence for example, and more games with artistic merit. This will only happen with games reaching beyond their typical demographic. We're still struggling to have games accepted as art and that is because the hobby is still not taken as seriously(at least in this country)as other, more mainstream accepted forms of entertainment. This is actually why I believe that DVD like extras are not a standard part of video games yet.

Looking at movies, music, tv, etc. it's inevitable that gaming will get more and more mainstream as time goes on if it is to survive and stay relevent in our culture. At least I hope so. I'm watching the Oscars right now and I don't think we have anything with that kind of status in the world of gaming. Video games are the baby of the entertainment industry right now. We've got catching up to do(though this hobby is growing VERY rapidly it seems)

[Doctor Fugue]

If we look at independent films, I think they generally have more artistic merit (really general statement). But the Hollywood movies are by-and-large made only to make money. Yes, several Hollywood films manage to make money and actually be of good quality, but the independents don't have that pressure or expectation to make money. They also realize their audience is smaller, less forgiving and more knowledgeable than the general public. So they generally produce films that might only have a cult following. That is fine with me...I'd rather be a part of something unique that only a select few enjoy rather than something that has been so watered down that it is pleasurable to everyone.

It is the same as classical music (or almost anything else). Only a small percentage of people actually understand it because it requires years of dedicated study. When it is dumbed-down for consumption by the general public, the quality suffers because they have no basis for evaluation.

Games should also remain an elite pursuit. If they became as popular as movies there would be more money available to make new games, but that does not mean quality would rise. How many great, original games has EA made since its early days? They publish way more games now but the percentage of crap has risen. Games made for a small, dedicated audience are almost guaranteed to be great. I think that since 2D shooters fell out of the mainstream, almost every game made in that genre is awesome simply because the makers know they are creating something for a very particular kind of gamer.

If games reached the level of cultural relevance found in movies and pop music, I would be very sad. But, there would probably still be an underground of dedicated designers who don't care about mass appeal, making extremely difficult curtain-fire shooters...and I will be there playing them. And all the grandmas and celebrities can go play their shovelware and waggle-games.

[Funk, E]

So you're saying that your main argument is that you're an elitist?

[PharmaceuticalCowboy]

So you're saying that your main argument is that you're an elitist?

Yeah... that's what I was thinking. I believe that if you really want to be a gaming "elitist" you need to pick out all of those little artsy gems that no one knows about instead of buying games that end with the letter 'z' (wtf is next Crabz!?), that way gaming is still mainstream but there are those cult games and developers which have games that are hotly anticipated by a small portion of the population, that's when quality will [begin to] rule.