What exactly is a next generation game?

[Digital-Nitrate]

It's an excellent question, and to get things started, here is the article that got me thinking about just that very same question:


What Exactly is a Next Generation Game?
Published on Aug 9, 2007, 08:21 GMT By Darren Waters, Technology Editor, BBC News

The term next-generation is used a lot in the video games industry but what does it actually mean? How are developers taking advantage of new gaming hardware and what are the challenges and next steps for the industry?
With each new iteration of games console hardware comes the promise of revolutionary game experiences.

When the Xbox 360 launched in November 2005, the then boss Peter Moore said: "Xbox 360 will deliver mind-blowing experiences."

Ahead of the launch of the PlayStation 3 (PS3) Sony gushed: "Gamers will literally be able to dive into the realistic world seen in large screen movies and experience the excitement in real-time."

The reality of course is quite different.

"Each time we have a step forward in games, it feels phenomenal. But when we look back we realise it was just another step," says David Braben, the veteran developer who co-created Elite in the 1980s, and whose studio is now working on a so-called next-gen title, The Outsider.

He says video games are entering their fifth generation of hardware (starting with home computers in the early 1980s) and that developers need to be more ambitious and aim higher with the kinds of stories they want to tell.

(click HERE to watch "The production ethos of Killzone 2")

"The tools we need are still under development, but the technique of story-telling also needs to be mastered. "

"We need the Alfred Hitchcock and the Orson Welles of gaming to step forward and lead the industry into a new era. At the moment we have plenty of Buster Keaton's and Harold Lloyd's."

Braben believes that the industry needs artistic figures who can employ the next-generation of tools to tell stories in new ways and cross the Uncanny Valley.

The Uncanny Valley is a term coined in 1970 by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori. He pointed out that as robots, and computer animations of people, get closer to replicating the movements and expressions of humans, the bigger the gulf between them and us seems to be.

Human Challenge

Frontier has been working on tools to help cross the Uncanny Valley for more than five years and The Outsider is still more than two years away from completion.

"It will be a game where you genuinely can do different things; you can come at a problem in different ways because you thought of a way."

The Outsider's ambitions are to put thousands of characters inside a game, each one unique and displaying "subtle human behaviour".

The company has also been working on an animation system which gives a greater feeling of realism and is more adaptive and less scripted.

These challenges are among the biggest issues all developers are grappling with, along with non-linear story-telling, artificial intelligence, photo-realism, connected experiences and user-generated content.

A new wave of titles for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 hoping to confront these issues are due for release in the coming months, among them Bioshock, Crysis, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Fable 2, Metal Gear Solid 4, Halo 3 and Killzone 2.

Nintendo has stepped away from this debate somewhat, focusing on games which highlight participation.

Power Pack

Halo 3, for the Xbox 360, is hoping to be the very definition of next generation when it launches next month.

(click HERE to watch "The hopes and hype for Halo 3")

"We're expanding our ability to empower our fans to really take the game and make it their own," says Brian Jarrard, director of franchise and community affairs at the game's developers Bungie.

Halo 3 will include tools to let gamers edit their own game movies and share them among friends, swap photographs from games, as well as re-build many of the maps the makers have provided, through a feature called Forge.

Jarrard adds: "We want to let our fans do great things. These fans are making really great Halo movies and we're giving them really powerful tools and we're excited to see where they go with that."

The increasing amount of raw power available to developers has made the job of creating immersive, detailed worlds more achievable.

David Braben estimates that today's machines are 20 million times more powerful than the first mass-market games machines of the early 1980s.

Game Ambition

One title aiming for "Hollywood realism" is Killzone 2, for the PlayStation 3. A recent demo of the game at E3 in Los Angeles impressed many observers.

Steven Ter Heide, one of the producers on the project at Guerilla, says: "The PS3 allows us to deal with a tremendous amount of data on screen, the amount of polygons on screens, animation, the hit responses."

One level of the game equates to about two gigabytes of data, he says.

He adds: "In this one sequence at the start of the level we are drawing well over one million polygons. There's a lot of processing power needed to pull off these effects, such as motion blur, full-screen anti-aliasing, volumetric smoke."

But throwing more polygons and higher definition textures on to a screen are not going to be enough on their own to create truly interactive experiences, argues Braben.

In 1982 he and Ian Bell created a whole galaxy for Elite on the humble BBC Micro, and all inside just 22K of RAM.

"We have textures on a single rivet in The Outsider that are bigger than 22K," he says.

Braben says the firm is also working on tools that allow for more realistic conversations between the player-controlled character and AI characters in the game world.

And that world will be huge. The ambition for The Outsider is to render a 49 sq km city

But Braben is pragmatic about what can be achieved this generation.

"There is no silver bullet that will solve our problems of tools and storytelling."

"I don't think any of the games we have made have ever matched the ambition we had for them. But that's true of the whole industry."

"The important thing is to have the ambition."

 

[Earth]

imo in order for a game to be 'next-gen' it must fall under game 3.0

Game 1.0 was static consoles and static discs

Game 2.0 was connected pcs, consoles that offered static content

Game 3.0 encourages online collaboration between users and offers user created content

Of all the games mentioned in that article only Halo 3 fell under Game 3.0. Other Game 3.0 titles I can think of:

GT5: Prologue - myspace meets GT
Unreal Tournament 3 (PS3)- supports user created mods
Warhawk - deep clan features
HOME - s
Little Big Planet -
Spore (PC) - (the game most deserving of being called 'nextgen')

These games encourage a connected community and some user created content

Games like Killzone 2 may offer Hollywood realism but that's all games have been doing for a while, just making the graphcis better. How much better would Killzone 2 be if it had an online clan editior like Warhawk and a level editor like Halo 3? maybe

Even RPGs can benefit from some sort of online mode. Look at WoW

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

Interesting article relating to this topic:

15 Graphics Techniques that are Revolutionising Gameplay
Not Gameplay or Graphics, But Gameplay and Graphics
Posted on 18/10/2007 by Clint McCreadie

The X360 and PS3 have the most advanced and sophisticated graphics of any games consoles ever released, and by a long way, too. Bump mapping, bloom, motion blur – you name it, these machines can do it. But what does all that hi-tech graphics jargon mean and what impact does it have on real-world gameplay? In this comprehensive guide to next-gen graphics, we uncover the key technologies and visual effects, and investigate how they are transforming the way we play games.



1. Depth of Field and Motion Blur:

Effects such as depth of field and motion blur used to be the preserve of high-budget animated movies. Huge networks of graphics processing computers known as render farms were used to crunch through the complicated mathematics required. Incredibly, the next-gen graphics chips are powerful enough to deliver these cinematic effects in real time. The result is a more immersive and polished image that simulates the blurring of fast objects, and shifts in focus as the camera is trained upon close or distant objects.



2. HDR Lighting:

High dynamic range or HDR lighting delivers a massive increase in the range and intensity of lighting and colour a game engine can produce. The result is a big boost in realism and more vibrant graphics. Contrast is improved, allowing game engines to accurately handle both bright daytime scenes and maintain high detail when rendering dingy dungeons. HDR lighting also enables the realistic simulation of lighting transitions, such as the glare experienced when passing from a dark building into broad daylight.



3. Anisotropic Filtering:

Just about everything in a 3D game engine is cloaked in textures that provide the basic colour and detail of object surfaces. To prevent these textures from appearing blocky when not viewed head on, textures must be smoothed or ‘filtered’. Problem is, traditional filtering techniques result in a major loss of detail when viewing textures at oblique angles. Not so with anisotropic filtering. It delivers razor-sharp textures even viewed almost side on, and therefore staggering detail as far as the virtual eye can see.



4. Bloom:

Bloom lighting simulates the imaging artefacts produced to some extent by all cameras in the real world. The detailed explanation involves the fact that even perfect lenses suffer from slight diffraction patterns. The problem is most obvious when imaging really bright objects, and takes the form of a glowing halo around its circumference. While it might seem strange to choose to simulate the shortcomings of cameras, there’s no doubting bloom can add an extremely satisfying cinematic or dreamy visual vibe.



5. Real-Time Shadows:

Nothing destroys the illusion of reality in a 3D game engine like the omission of realistic shadows. Without them lighting is flat, perspectives can be difficult to judge and the overall scene lacks depth and solidity. Yup, what you need are detailed real-time shadows. The world springs to life when shadows dance across foliage in a forest scene or a swinging light bulb sends shadows arcing around a dark room. Similarly, character models and vehicles hug the ground rather than seeming to hover just above it.



6. Anti-Aliasing:

All computer games are displayed using a grid of individual picture elements or pixels. Consequently, the edges of rendered objects suffer from a jagged or ‘aliased’ appearance. And that’s where an enhancing technique known as full-screen anti-aliasing comes in. Advanced image-sampling algorithms are used to smooth object edges and deliver significantly more natural and realistic in-game scenes.



7. Widescreen HD Imagery:

Let’s start with the most obvious and perhaps most important ability of next-gen console graphics subsystem: high-definition, widescreen image output. They’re capable of pumping out as many as two million individual picture elements or pixels per frame. And that, folks, translates into truly eye-popping detail on even the latest and most enormous HD displays. The wide aspect ratio, meanwhile, makes gameplay more realistic and immersive than old-fashioned nearly-square ratios. After all, human stereoscopic vision is essentially widescreen!



8. Skidmarks:

Car games have featured onscreen ‘best racing lines’ for years, but modern technology allows more realistic trackside indicators, the most important of which is skidmarks. Previously, memory limitations meant that skidmarks and the like disappeared from the track as you lapped it, as the console simply didn’t retain that information. Now, with the console’s increased processing power and flexible memory, a game like Forza 2’s tracks are overlaid again and again, meaning you can see the best racing line taken by your compadres. Sega Rally goes a step further and actually carves the track up, especially in muddy conditions, affecting the handling of your cars as well as drawing attention to the racing line. At which point, you can choose to ignore all of these indicators and just ram them off the track like usual.



9. Implicit HUDs:

COD2 did the first really effective non-HUD (Head-Up Display) based health system, alongside King Kong. Using screen overlays, the game turns your screen increasingly red as you take more damage. Old-fashioned medikits and healing stations are removed from the game, so healing takes place once you’re in cover. This mechanic is meant to demonstrate the feeling of being pinned by enemy fire; while you’re not necessarily injured by shooting, you’ll be spattered and disorientated by shrapnel exploding about you. Taking cover gives you a chance to settle and readjust, reflecting the realities of combat. Additionally, like older games, there are damage indicators on the screen which flash the direction enemy fire is coming from, as well as impacts shaking the screens and blurred visuals.



10. Dynamic, Realistic Weather:

Nothing has ever come close to Test Drive Unlimited’s real-time weather systems, modelled on current satellite pictures over Hawaii. Except that is, PGR4’s, which matches the weather systems over each of their tracks at the time you’re playing – as long as you’re connected to Xbox Live. What really distinguishes these is the next step the game takes. If it’s been raining and the temperature drops, the water that’s puddled on the ground can freeze. Likewise, any of the ten weather systems can change to any other during the course of the race. This then alters how the track behaves and how your cars skid about the track. Visual indicators will crop up as well, such as dust trails, spattered water on the windscreen altering your perception of the track, drops on the cars and so on. It’s like the real world, but in a game!



11. Vision Modes:

Call of Duty 4’s ‘rim lighting’ effect will certainly make your enemies jump out from the darkness. The Infinity Ward chaps were annoyed that in all their games they’d go to all the trouble of creating stealthy night levels, only for everyone to turn up the gamma so they could see everything. They have carefully tested night vision goggles, with film cameras and the human eye, and have observed how the human eye detects motion and adjusts to low light. What they’ve determined is that we see edges best when things move, so they’ve created an utterly convincing night-sight mode. As well as that, there’s the old traditional vision modes, such as Infra-red and Night Vision, which featured most prominently in the original Splinter Cell but they’re not unique to it.



12. Oil and Water:

Though oil and water in BioShock don’t flow as such (unlike the liquids and bodily fluids in the notorious Postal 2), they do behave as you’d expect. If you shoot electricity at water, as it’s conductive it’ll earth the current and fry anyone who unfortunately happens to be standing in it. If you shoot fire at oil, it’ll burst into flame, as will anyone passing through it. If you just hit it with a wrench, it won’t ignite. It’s not complicated scientifically this stuff, but it’s satisfying that everything reacts as it should. The two liquids are also visually different and movement through them has different viscosity, meaning it’s a struggle to run through water. Moreover, anyone who’s subjected to raw electricity is frozen in place until they’re removed from the current – normally by you clobbering or shooting them.



13. Morphing:

Crackdown’s super-agents don’t merely improve their abilities when they upgrade; there’s a subtle morphing effect as well, best seen if you’ve downloaded the Keys To The City expansion, or if you’ve played in Co-op with a maxed-out friend. As the super-agents get stronger or faster, they swell and become more muscled. However, this effect is much easier to see if you’ve maxed out your driving skill and hop in one of the vehicles. The vehicles actually start to look different – immediately morphing up through the levels as you climb into them, changing from svelte runabouts into massive trucks, SUVs and racing cars. They also alter how they display and take damage at the higher levels, providing an indication of exactly what abilities are available.



14. Innovative Cameras:

Rendering and displaying the same scene from many different angles is not easy. Hence the innovative cameras seen in many of Ubisoft’s recent titles, including Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, Rainbow Six: Vegas and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Double Agent. GRAW2 is the showy-camera game par excellence, featuring video from your superiors or from news channels, streaming footage from your fellow troopers, and 3D maps and footage supplied by remote-controlled drones – all of which give you a tremendous tactical advantage. Meanwhile, Double Agent and Rainbow Six: Vegas feature handy snake-cams to let you look under doors – an essential piece of kit for scouting a room before you slip in.



15. Real-Time Films:

The western world’s copyright laws mean that money can only be extracted from movies for a set amount of time. Kudos, then, to Starbreeze Studios, developer of The Darkness, who realised that a fraction of the next-gen console’s enormous potential power could be redirected to streaming real-time, in-game films. Yes, you can sit on the in-game sofa in your in-game girlfriend’s flat, snuggle up to her and watch a selection of films, including classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Man with the Golden Arm, The Street Fighter, an episode of Flash Gordon, and Popeye cartoons. So what are the gameplay benefits? Well, none really, except that the world becomes that much richer and more realistic. The real benefit is you get to see classic movies you’d never have seen otherwise.

 

[Tornado]

I have to say that a number of those things aren't really next-generation at all.

 

[DuckRacer]

I have to say that a number of those things aren't really next-generation at all.

Agreed. Most of those thing were in last-gen games already.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

Ok... if I ever run into the author I'll let them know you don't agree with their opinion.

Although I suspect you are interpreting what they said as suggesting these are new features. I suspect he is referring to them as being far improved features that due to the technological advancements they are not only used more, but in a much more instrumental and effective way. Just something to think about.

On the other hand, if you disagree with that as well, why and what then do you consider next-gen gaming technology used today... not in some future hardware design?

 

[Tornado]

Ok... if I ever run into the author I'll let them know you don't agree with their opinion.

I am merely saying that, for example, numbers 1 (partially, at least), 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 14 (also partially, at least) have all been done before the XBox 360 touched store shelves. A couple of them (#5, 8 and if I'm not mistaken, 6 as well) had been done multiple generations ago, in fact. I realize that most of them have been improved dramatically or become more widespread, but at the same time some are no more advanced than they were when they were first introduced.

 

[Pebb]

imo in order for a game to be 'next-gen' it must fall under game 3.0

Game 1.0 was static consoles and static discs

Game 2.0 was connected pcs, consoles that offered static content

Game 3.0 encourages online collaboration between users and offers user created content

Of all the games mentioned in that article only Halo 3 fell under Game 3.0. Other Game 3.0 titles I can think of:

GT5: Prologue - myspace meets GT
Unreal Tournament 3 (PS3)- supports user created mods
Warhawk - deep clan features
HOME - s
Little Big Planet -
Spore (PC) - (the game most deserving of being called 'nextgen')

These games encourage a connected community and some user created content

Games like Killzone 2 may offer Hollywood realism but that's all games have been doing for a while, just making the graphcis better. How much better would Killzone 2 be if it had an online clan editior like Warhawk and a level editor like Halo 3? maybe

Even RPGs can benefit from some sort of online mode. Look at WoW

User Created mods for video games on console is something new, but the past UT video games and many other video games on the PC have had mods for many years.

 

[Legendary]

imo in order for a game to be 'next-gen' it must fall under game 3.0

Game 1.0 was static consoles and static discs

Game 2.0 was connected pcs, consoles that offered static content

Game 3.0 encourages online collaboration between users and offers user created content

Of all the games mentioned in that article only Halo 3 fell under Game 3.0. Other Game 3.0 titles I can think of:

GT5: Prologue - myspace meets GT
Unreal Tournament 3 (PS3)- supports user created mods
Warhawk - deep clan features
HOME - s
Little Big Planet -
Spore (PC) - (the game most deserving of being called 'nextgen')

These games encourage a connected community and some user created content

Games like Killzone 2 may offer Hollywood realism but that's all games have been doing for a while, just making the graphcis better. How much better would Killzone 2 be if it had an online clan editior like Warhawk and a level editor like Halo 3? maybe

Even RPGs can benefit from some sort of online mode. Look at WoW

I have to agree with your definition...you pretty much sum it all up in one wrapping.

 

[Solid Fro]

15. Real-Time Films:

The western world’s copyright laws mean that money can only be extracted from movies for a set amount of time. Kudos, then, to Starbreeze Studios, developer of The Darkness, who realised that a fraction of the next-gen console’s enormous potential power could be redirected to streaming real-time, in-game films. Yes, you can sit on the in-game sofa in your in-game girlfriend’s flat, snuggle up to her and watch a selection of films, including classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Man with the Golden Arm, The Street Fighter, an episode of Flash Gordon, and Popeye cartoons. So what are the gameplay benefits? Well, none really, except that the world becomes that much richer and more realistic. The real benefit is you get to see classic movies you’d never have seen otherwise.

That is next generation gaming to me. When that moment happened when I was playing The Darkness, I was blown away. I have never seen that in any other game and it's legit! You can literally sit there in the game and watch To Kill a Mockingbird. Dude!

I think games like Heavy Rain that cross the Uncanny Valley will be the first games to be truly next gen.

 

[Skid Mark 33]

I think Driver: Parallel Lines is a good example of what could possibly be a next generations game. Instead of just having loads of different citys, it has a game engine that changes era's. 1976 and 2006. And the good thing is, is that the changes are noticable. Also, it changes from day to night, but the era changes are more intresting no doubt. I think it would be good if all games were like this!

 

[BayConRong]

if you think about it wouldn't you be willing to even play an 8-bit game if it actually had excellent game play? sure the character's look like crap but they could fix that in some random expansion or sequel. i mean if a game could actually entertain your for hours and you actually wanted to play again without wanting to also commit suicide.

if you play halo for example: you think halo 3 is hella cool, what about halo 1? it was also pretty cool. why? because it had a semi understandable and human plot line, and it was kind of challenging even when you knew how to beat the game.

I finished assassin's creed here a little while ago would i play it again? maybe after i finish with halo 1 and 3 skipping #2 because it had a mildly stupid plot. you kill 10 guys each being increasingly harder to kill. after that you get to kill your boss because he betrays you. it is a plot shown agian and again and agian. also the weaponry sucked. if they came out with a assassin's creed two they would probably show you killing 10 or 20 guys who want to dig up the garden apple thingyand take over the world.

if you actually had a good plot line that you would think "hmm if i was drunk enough i would think that" then ok it is average but if you have a game that makes you think "go left? i don't want to go left screw this i'm taking the right and see what happens" and it lets you do that without blowing up then it's something that might deserve yoru attention.

ok so that's what i think is a next gen game. one that makes you think and not just play. and i'm not talking about retarded puzzle games.. those can burn for all i care.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

Here is a promising quote from Jenova Chen, developer of Flower and co-founder of thatgamecompany on how downloadable games have impacted the video game industry:

I feel it’s a time where a lot of people who study games start to graduate and come into this field. It’s a really good time for all these people to really push the boundaries of what games can be. With digital distribution — PSN, Xbox Live, WiiWare, Steam — all those [avenues]…Before, everything sold through retail. You can’t even make a game that’s below a million dollar budget. I think right now — in the future, when people look back, I think it’s the renaissance of video games.

UPDATE:

Here is another interview of Jenova Chen by Mary Jane Irwin from Game Industry Biz

The Beautiful Game

Jenova Chen is on a crusade to mature videogames, but he is not cribbing from The Sopranos. The creative director of thatgamecompany - the indie game studio incubated within Sony Santa Monica - wants to expand the popular definition of videogame by infusing games with emotionally and intellectually charged content.

Last week thatgamecompany unleashed its first assault on our emotions with the PlayStation Network game Flower. In the aftermath of launch, Chen discusses why the games industry needs to expand its emotional range, the rise of independent developers, and why he doesn't want to create big budget blockbuster.


Q: Why don't you play games anymore?

Jenova Chen: I still occasionally play games, but I don't play a lot of new games because I feel that games have to be - for adults like me - more relevant to my life. When you go out to an art gallery or go to see a movie, you're expecting the film [or art] to either inform you on an intellectual level about certain aspects of life or entertain you on a deep emotional level.

I think a lot of games fail to educate you on an intellectual level, and the emotions they evoke are relatively primal. They are too shallow. Games are very good at making you feel excited, feel thrilled, and feel addicted, but these are the feelings that are very primal - that younger kids or teenagers will respond very well to. As adults we expect to feel something more complex and more sophisticated.


Q: Why has the industry been so hesitant to explore emotional range in videogames?

Jenova Chen: It is really just the vicious cycle of business. The people who embraced games early were kid, so companies focused on this secure market of teenagers and 20-year-olds.

But all these companies are designing these games particularly to these groups; they never really focus on the old. But as more companies make games for this audience, they are overlapping in terms of emotional content. They are really competing with each other on production values.

You have two space marine games. Which are you going to choose? Gears of War 2 or Resistance 2? The decision is based on who has the better-looking character, more levels, or a longer play time.

It is kind of sad because the similarly-themed films can evoke a very different feel. I think a lot of people in the industry have ignored that. They are focusing on who has the best tech rather than who has the more emotional or intellectual experience.


Q: Which emotional range are you most interested in exploring?

Jenova Chen: I'm not against the traditional type of feeling that gaming evokes. Empowerment is a great experience. Even Hollywood has the equivalent in those super hero movies. But what I feel [games] are lacking is the complexity of feeling and the other hues of feeling. If nobody tries to evoke these other types of feelings, then the game market will be very limited.

My goal is to make a game that is this complex flavour. It's like cooking. The best food is not just with one flavour, you have a lot of secret ingredients that, when mixed together, create something very unique that you cannot forget. For me, if you play Flower from beginning to end, it is not all just peaceful. It has peace, it has wonder, it has twists, it has despair, and it has a catharsis.


Q: Although flOw did phenomenally well on the PlayStation Network as the vanguard of these peaceful games, are you worried about the public acceptance of Flower that is the antithetical videogame?

Jenova Chen: Certainly I'm very concerned by the public response, but that is exactly why I want to make these kinds of games - so the public will know that the videogame is capable of evoking these feelings. If we can make an emotional game that evokes a different, unique feel, it will educate the players, the critics, and other game developers that games don't have to be violent, they don't have to be these simulations, and you can do a lot more with games.


Q: How far out do you think the industry is from creating the elusive "game that can make you cry?"

Jenova Chen: I'm very sick of this "will games make you cry" thing. First of all, I cried at a game when I was 13. I cried hard and I cried deep for a game that is totally crass by today's standards. I never doubted that videogames can make you cry; I'm trying to recapture that feeling.

We have already had a few fans mail us about Flower to tell us they had tears in their eyes, or they cried after they played the first level because it reminds them of their dead mother, or it reminds them of the town they used to live in forty years ago. So why are we even asking if [games] can make people cry? Games have already accomplished that.

But maybe ten or thirty years ago, games could only make kids cry because they had not yet experienced anything deep. In my case, in the 1990s, my parents felt a lot of fictional novels were very bad for kids so they never let me read books, and they wouldn't let me watch anything on TV that related to adults. So all I could watch were very stupid cartoons. It was videogames that my parents were not familiar with, so they never guarded against the content.

So I played these games with crappy plots that mimicked Shakespeare - these Romeo & Juliet plots - but I had never seen Romeo & Juliet before. I had never seen a love movie before. So that role-playing game where the female character died was my first experience of losing someone who I really liked.

That very first experience was so strong that it allowed me to reach catharsis. But most other adults would not be able to because they've read Romeo & Juliet and they have a much higher tolerance. So maybe what you're talking about is how to create a very, very strong emotional experience so even adults who have seen the greatest movies will still be touched. That's all about creating a unique and strong emotional experience. If it's unique then people wouldn't be able to expect it, and it would be possible to be touched.


Q: So is your current mission to fully explore gaming's emotional range? Or are you interested in tackling something that is intellectually engaging?

Jenova Chen: Totally. My goal is to make videogames as a media mature. We want to push the boundary of what games can communicate - either on an emotional level or an intellectual level. I think even Flower has some intellectual content in it, although it's not that deep. I think we just increased the maturity of what is in the game on all sides: Intellectual, emotional and social.


Q: So would your next project be more allegorical in nature or would you still want to be deeply seated in emotions?

Jenova Chen: I would try to have all of them, but eventually because of budget and the reality, we might settle on one. But it's too early to tell right now. Certainly if you can achieve both intellectual and emotional content, it would be awesome.


Q: Do you have any interest in creating big budget blockbuster games?

Jenova Chen: We don't. If you have a blockbuster, it means you have a lot of pressure on profits. If you're creating a new experience, that automatically equals risk. When you have USD 30 million or USD 100 million invested in your project, you can't afford any risk. If you make a mistake then hundreds of people will lose their jobs. The priority of that kind of production is to make sure the project is safe rather than to say we want to do everything differently.

As a company, we want to push the boundary of the medium. If we can reduce the business risk by making downloadable games then we can afford a lot more creativity. Maybe, in the future, once we've created this huge market and it's not risky anymore we can do a blockbuster. But I'm not seeing the industry needing another blockbuster. What they need is a lot of studios to go out and explore what games can be. That's what I want to see for the industry. Blockbusters are more about making money. What does that give you to improve the industry?


Q: Speaking of money: Is the games industry about to see the rise of the creative underclass?

Jenova Chen: It's the era for independence. It is the equivalent of the indie film movement. Movies used to be very expensive to make because cameras and film were very expensive. But when film and cameras became cheap enough, small groups could afford to make films. When the first generation film students come out of school - these are kids who grew up with film - were not satisfied with the market. With the technology to make independent films cheaply, they started to open the market, create new genres, and reach more of a mature audience.

It's almost like that time [in the games industry]. A lot of videogame students are just graduating from college or graduate school. And now games are cheap enough to be published on downloadable digital distribution platforms, and there all these very eager game creators that want to see something new, something different, and something better.