The current state of computer games development --- tellin..

........... from a very interesting source.

( Article source... Gamesindustry.biz)
=========================================
EA Partners Takes a Shot at American Developers

"What exactly would compel a public figure to say something like this,
I don’t know; Nick Button-Brown, the director of business development
for EA Partners, has quite bluntly said that European developers are
more creative than their American counterparts who are only interested
in money.

There’s more creativity in Europe than there is in America, said
Button-Brown.The Americans are much more refined in their processes,
it’s all about the money. There are less chances taken and there is
more money being thrown at developers in the US.

Taking less chances means there’s less failures, but I can’t see the
US having ever come up with Grand Theft Auto. There are a lot of
really good European developers and they all bring slightly different
things and there are big cultural differences as well, that they are
willing to exploit,he added.

So many developers are multinational. Go to Crytek and they have 27
national languages there. And that’s interesting because they are
bringing in so many different areas and ideas to the studio,
particularly with the influx of Eastern Europe you’re getting such a
wide range of experiences to pick from.

We like that multiculturalism. What we’re getting now are more
worldwide titles. We used to have the German industry that produced
German titles, the UK would deliver tongue-in-cheek games, but now
it’s become much more globalised and what we are seeing is European
titles that can sell worldwide,he continued.

It’s difficult to know exactly what he was getting at, if anything,
but this seems like it’ll accomplish nothing more than irking a few
American developers."
=====================================

Yest another sign that the mantle of computer-gaming innovation is
passing out of the US. Certainly the US developers are still cashing
in big time on established franchises, HL2, UT3, Quake etc, but what
of the future? What about game-engine technology? What about
interesting story-lines? What about the fusion that is going on
between full 3D-action, adventure and rpg -- games such as STALKER.
Increasing graphics-realism automatically brings greater demands on
the immersive experience, needing better AI, more realistic physics
etc. Those still trying to milk as much $$ as possible out of current
game-technology with no parallel push towards bleeding-edge technology
development and deeper creativity may be mortgaging their future.

John Lewis
(West Coast, USA.....)

"John Lewis" <john.dsl.TakeThisOut@verizon.net> wrote in message news:475e0a67.43284592@news.verizon.net...
> .......... from a very interesting source.
>
> ( Article source... Gamesindustry.biz)
> =========================================
> EA Partners Takes a Shot at American Developers
>
> "What exactly would compel a public figure to say something like this,
> I don’t know; Nick Button-Brown, the director of business development
> for EA Partners, has quite bluntly said that European developers are
> more creative than their American counterparts who are only interested
> in money.
>
> There’s more creativity in Europe than there is in America, said
> Button-Brown.The Americans are much more refined in their processes,
> it’s all about the money. There are less chances taken and there is
> more money being thrown at developers in the US.
>
> Taking less chances means there’s less failures, but I can’t see the
> US having ever come up with Grand Theft Auto. There are a lot of
> really good European developers and they all bring slightly different
> things and there are big cultural differences as well, that they are
> willing to exploit,he added.
>
> So many developers are multinational. Go to Crytek and they have 27
> national languages there. And that’s interesting because they are
> bringing in so many different areas and ideas to the studio,
> particularly with the influx of Eastern Europe you’re getting such a
> wide range of experiences to pick from.
>
> We like that multiculturalism. What we’re getting now are more
> worldwide titles. We used to have the German industry that produced
> German titles, the UK would deliver tongue-in-cheek games, but now
> it’s become much more globalised and what we are seeing is European
> titles that can sell worldwide,he continued.
>
> It’s difficult to know exactly what he was getting at, if anything,
> but this seems like it’ll accomplish nothing more than irking a few
> American developers."
> =====================================
>
> Yest another sign that the mantle of computer-gaming innovation is
> passing out of the US. Certainly the US developers are still cashing
> in big time on established franchises, HL2, UT3, Quake etc, but what
> of the future? What about game-engine technology? What about
> interesting story-lines? What about the fusion that is going on
> between full 3D-action, adventure and rpg -- games such as STALKER.
> Increasing graphics-realism automatically brings greater demands on
> the immersive experience, needing better AI, more realistic physics
> etc. Those still trying to milk as much $$ as possible out of current
> game-technology with no parallel push towards bleeding-edge technology
> development and deeper creativity may be mortgaging their future.
>
> John Lewis
> (West Coast, USA.....)

We haven't seen any really novel game concepts (or even storylines)
from Europe or anywhere else in the last ten years. What makes
GTA so revolutionary in Nick's opinion? It's just a variation on a
very old theme.

The last title to really break the mold (arguably) was "Myst", 15
YEARS ago. Ever since, it's been nothing but heroes and villains,
save <someone or something> from <someone or something>,
and bang bang, you're dead. Yawn.