[CVG] Homebrewing For All - Overclock.net

ElMikeTheMike · 07-18-08

Quote:

Sony's great new mod-friendly game LittleBigPlanet is the most notable of a new breed of videogame about to sweep through the market. And we don't just mean games populated with girly looking sack creatures.

It has no discernible story, no bosses and, bucking the current trend, no cutscenes. In it, you will race through levels built from scratch by you. Or by your mates. Or by people you never met from the other side of the globe. It's your call. Quite exciting, no?

Designer genes
It will be the first game on PS3 in which you will spend as much, if not more time designing the experience you will play through. Sony hopes that it will capture some of the social networking buzz we've seen with sites like MySpace and Facebook, with gamers swapping ideas and levels and building an intricate online community around the game. It's social gaming, the logical next step from simply beating other players online.

Of course PC gamers have been doing something similar for years, but modding has rarely formed the crux of a game in the way LittleBigPlanet's level-building will. Up to now, it has generally taken place in the twilight of a game's lifespan, when a single-player campaign has been exhausted and the title needs a little jump-start to its life-support system through some sweet DLC.

With LittleBigPlanet, we will see the onus placed on those playing the game to come up with their own content. But is the community up for it? Will they be bothered to put down their rifles for five minutes and think of something original?

Does this mean traditional, story-led games are dying out? And what of the game designer - the person with the crazy ideas, the genius concepts - are they being forced to relinquish their fearsome power to gamers? To people like you and me?

The great debate
The videogames industry seems to be debating its future now more than ever. The new consoles aren't so new any more, and talk is turning to how games will evolve now that the next-gen evolution has bedded in. With the explosion of Nintendo's Wii together with PlayStation titles like EyeToy and SingStar, gaming is no longer the preserve of the hardcore, and thoughts are centred on how to balance the needs of that core audience with attracting as many new gamers as possible - the so-called casual market.

Some industry figureheads reckon that traditional narrative-led game formats are on the way out in the future, and that gamers need an in-built sense of community - the feeling of being plugged in - and to have a say in what they play.

Former Sony head-honcho Phil Harrison, the massive brainbox who oversaw development of the EyeToy and SingStar games, thinks that the era of single-player gaming has had it.

Now the president of Atari, Harrison considers that his company's Alone In The Dark, a staunchly single-player experience, will be one of the last games of its type for some time.

Don't fence us in
Harrison sees the future as lying with games that involve the player more, and pack some kind of social interactivity over and above puzzle solving, racing, fighting rabid zombies and blowing each other's heads off at long range. In short, 'fenced-in gaming' is going to be in the minority, according to Big Phil. He has got previous in the user-created content stakes as well.

Back in the days when he was head of Sony Worldwide studios, Harrison placed the concept at the centre of PS3's strategy going forward. He suggested we think of it not in terms "of maps, but in terms of behaviours, environments, physics, rules - all the tools that you could want, but in a very consumer-friendly way." Back then he was raving on about the game Second Life (see separate panel): "That's a very powerful metaphor for where we're going."

That's not to say that the end is nigh. For starters, broadband has yet to be widely available in some markets, and plenty of other developers disagree with his 'fenced-in' notion anyway. Ubisoft, itself on a mission to make some of its key games more accessible (see page 19 for more), has already come out and said the reverse.

Leave it to the dev team
Ben Mattes, producer of the delicious-looking new Prince Of Persia, says that there's plenty of life in the old dog yet. He believes that there isn't the demand for community-based gaming claimed by people like Harrison. Gamers still want to be wowed and immersed in worlds they could not have imagined. In short, he says, they still want to pay their hard-earned cash to be whisked away by a game thought up by somebody else.

In five years' time, you could feasibly be buying a set of tools on a disc which lets you build your own game. A bit like LittleBigPlanet, only less colourful or cool. But that's then. This is now.

At the moment we have a fascinating diversity of choice entering into our games. The user-generated content boom is just gearing up to explode, and some developers will whole-heartedly embrace it - possibly to the detriment of more traditional games - while others will stick to what they've done before. One things for sure, things will never be the same again and an avalanche of original user-generated content is on its way.

Others will take the idea of social gaming in entirely new directions. But it's safe to say that Killzone 2's single-player campaign isn't about to be ripped out any time soon and replaced with cut-out-and-keep Helghast characters.

This next year is going to be a brilliant one for sheer diversity; for you deciding how you play your games - enjoy it before it starts to polarise.

I haven't seen this posted yet, seems interesting.

Deathsnapper · 07-18-08

LittleBigPlanet is going to win so hard. Definitely the game I'm looking forward to most, and it's been that way for over a year.

OmegaNemesis28 · 07-18-08

Homebrewing is definatly a Sony high point. Eventually there will be a massive flow of homebrew through the PS3. But, the only reason Sony does not support homebrew is because it can be used for piracy which is bad for their sales. Hell, that is the only reason why the PSP doesn't sell too well.

Little Big Planet can be the breakthrough.

CrazyHeaven · 07-21-08

I wish they would make homebrewing for the ps3. I would try my hand at creating a few games. Should be hard to private games to the ps3 seeing as to how it uses blue ray disc.

In the ps3 civ game they even took away the editor.

Chopes · 07-21-08

I never caught on to the whole little big planet idea. Your a little dude, and you run a course...
Whats so exciting?

CrazyHeaven · 07-21-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chopes

I never caught on to the whole little big planet idea. Your a little dude, and you run a course...
Whats so exciting?

No clue. But I liked Super Mario 3 level 4 big world. I think it was level 4...

ElMikeTheMike · 07-21-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chopes

I never caught on to the whole little big planet idea. Your a little dude, and you run a course...
Whats so exciting?

User created content.

Moynesy · 07-21-08

Awww.... I thought this had something to do with homebrewing beer

False Advertising!

Anyways I love the idea of games of Little Big Planet but at same time Im afraid that alot of hardcore gaming will disappear. I mean when you turn on news and hear "In gaming world today..." but then all it talks about is the Wii and its controllers and a new brain or physical exercise game.

Its good for the casual players but it seems to me too much being put on it. I personally feel that the general hardcore gaming industry has run dry over last few years. Ofcourse there has been the big hitters including dooms, half-life but I dont see as much diversity anymore.

I really hate the fact that flight-sim games have died off. Apart from Microsofts flight-sim the PC has lost all its sim genre i believe. I dont just wanna rely on mods only. Like F1 racing games, Geoff Cramond series died cause SONY bought all rights to it and from that made one hell of a **** racing game, Arcade.

Lock-on, IL-2 and older flight games are great but with modern tech these games just dont cut it. Anyways back on track

Its good for the gaming industry to have these new sort of games but at same time i think its hurting certain genres and loosing part of the gaming hardcore. Little Big Planet is a special game, its new but has the old hardcore feel to it. I dont play my Wii cause i dislike the entire thing, i still prefer my N64.

p0isonapple · 07-21-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElMikeTheMike

User created content.

Right on the money Mike.

UCC (User Created Content) is one of the biggest basepoints you could build on when making a game, a great example was TES IV: Oblivion. The modding community there was MASSIVE!

CrazyHeaven · 07-21-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moynesy

Anyways I love the idea of games of Little Big Planet but at same time Im afraid that alot of hardcore gaming will disappear. I mean when you turn on news and hear "In gaming world today..." but then all it talks about is the Wii and its controllers and a new brain or physical exercise game.

Its good for the casual players but it seems to me too much being put on it. I personally feel that the general hardcore gaming industry has run dry over last few years. Ofcourse there has been the big hitters including dooms, half-life but I dont see as much diversity anymore.

I want some old style type of RPG's. Is it to much to ask for nothing in the future? It doesn't need 1,000 plot twist either. I miss how things use to be. Dragon Warrior, the back in the day Final Fantasy's, Chrono Cross type of stuff. What ever happen to more games being like Zelda? The legend of Gaia, Azsura(sp). Did the change from 2d to 3d destroy some of these games?

What about the back in the day beat them ups for no reason? River City Ransom, Double Dragon, Rampage? Most of these games were two players and could easily have been made to support 4 at once. The latest Golden Axe is now single player...Could someone please explain to me why that is? Is it just me or are games leaning more towards internet play instead of invite friend over to play with you? What I wouldn't do for a ps3 4 player support Battle Toads.

For me graphic is a far second when compared to gameplay. Which is why I would love homebrewing for the ps3. I think if we were allowed to make games for the ps3 we would be able to make some pretty good games game play wise with graphics close or on par with maybe the Super Nintendo.

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[CVG] Homebrewing For All

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