This past week, GameSpot published a video, written and performed by analyst Danny O'Dwyer,
entitled 'Destiny, Reviews, and Aging Gamers' discussing what was described as 'age bias'
among gamers - by way of juxtaposing the mediocre critical reception of Destiny... against the
earth-shattering commercial success of the very same title.
In the aftermath, a slew of YouTube commentators concurrently tripped over themselves agreeing
with his fairly mundane opinionatin', without exposing it to the requisite scrutiny they
were all to eager, ironically, to apply to fuckin' Destiny!
I... felt like his argument was about as authentic as a piece of complete and utter bullshit
can possibly be.
And, like most bullshit...
there was a grain of truth embedded at its core for ease of digestion.
His stance is fairly straightforward, and he's neither the first - nor the most articulate
- spokesman of it, either: 'Gamers - like myself - raised in the Roaring '90s, witnessed
massive qualitative leaps between console generations.'
In all of five years, we went from 2D... to 3D Zelda, Metal Gear Solid, and Mario, while
a veritable deluge of piping-fresh new IPs like Half-Life, Deus Ex and Thief threw off
the bounds of what the medium was conceivably capable of.
And we witnessed this same engine of innovation shattering genre boundaries as recently as
2007.
As 'older' gamers... we have been conditioned to believe that we are entitled to a ceaseless
procession of innovation.
We anticipate the complete reinvention of the industry with each successive iteration.
And in all of these things...?
He's absolutely correct.
It's the suppositions he makes after this... where you remember that he works for GameSpot.
'For the first time in gaming history,' he says, 'The industry has come face to face
with the sobering realities of the law of diminishing returns.'
Quite literally suggesting the modern industry is outright incapable of pushing forward,
that the technology itself - technology which I would hasten to add that HIS OWN WEBSITE
depicted as the second coming at the PS4 Reveal Event in early 2013 - has, in fact, fallen
prey to the technical exigencies that visual fidelity and interactivity...
can only be pushed so far.
That younger gamers are more locked into this fact, because they are either freshly initiated
into the art form and lack context, or have been conditioned to expect less by the cavalcade
of cliché that has comprised the last six years of game design.
This, he claims, explains the disparity between how tepidly Destiny was received... and the
mountain of filthy cash Bobby Kotick is sobbing himself to sleep into each night while perched
atop of because this game is selling like a fuckin' AIDS cure.
Why Danny O'Dwyer believes we should, in fact, be surprised by a generic first-person-shooter
published by Activision and developed by Bungie selling like Thriller - in 2014, a year where
even the least distinctive annual iterations of Call of Duty and Battlefield routinely
print fucking money - is a mystery he strategically never deigns to address.
But let's put this 'law of diminishing returns' horseshit definitively the fuck to bed, shall
we?
The industry apologentsia have been flappin' their five chins about the possibility of
diminishing visual returns since the launch of the Sega fuckin' Dreamcast, people.
And that is a fact.
We had a long way to go then - and you only need to take one fleeting glance at even the
shittiest CGI in a Hollywood film to confirm that the industry still has a long way to
go now.
The 'returns' of the PS4 and Xbox One have diminished... by design.
Because after Sony dropped a shitload of money making the exotic, lumbering seabeast that
was the PS3, with all the needless bells, whistles and nippleclamps their fanbase were
clamoring for?
They spent too much, and made too little.
Even the Xbox 360, which was comparatively less expensive, was sold at a loss, unit-for-unit.
Sony and Microsoft had an unspoken gentlemen's agreement that, simply put, they were not
about to spend a shitload of money making these next-gen consoles.
And the PS4, as a result, is the first Sony console to turn a profit - albeit a very modest
one - on each actual hardware unit sold.
These systems are out of date because they were engineered, not to be powerful... but
to be cheap.
Forbes published an article just last week discussing just how intentionally out-of-date
the PS4 and Xbox One actually are.
See, in case you haven't walked into an electronics retailer in the past several months, 4K televisions
are already dipping down to below $500 in price.
Meaning, by the end of 2016, it's entirely likely 4K will be the new standard.
And yet two consoles released not THREE YEARS PREVIOUSLY... will be technically incapable
of rendering a video game at 4K resolution!
In fact, while Microsoft are flat-out fucking lying and claiming the Xbox One can render
at 4K, Sony - in a rare spasm of honesty - have confided to at least one journalist that the
PS4 may not even be technically capable of... upscaling a game to 4K resolution!
How's that for a long-term console investment?
Now, taken cosmetically, this would appear to bolster Danny O'Dwyer's contention about
diminishing returns.
After all, who cares if the consoles were organically or artificially hobbled, the point
is, Kathy Bates took a sledghammer to their ankles.
The Xbox One's a cripple.
Fuckin' deal with it!
Well, here's the thing: There is perhaps no more inexpensive component
to enhance on a console or on a PC... than RAM.
Prior to the launch of PS4/Xbox One I argued - and on an article on my website even correctly
predicted - that in an effort to cut down on cost and amplify the possibility of large,
detailed next-gen game levels - Sony and Microsoft would focus, not on graphics... but on Memory.
And, with 12 GB apiece, I tend to believe I was vindicated in that assumption.
It's the largest leap in memory in home console history, and I don't believe that was an accident.
RAM is cheap, and RAM means designers can craft larger levels with more objects with
heavier scripting and more unique properties...
while retaining that next-gen graphical fidelity.
You know... like the exact kind of levels we haven't fucking seen on PS4 and Xbox One!
These are the first consoles in history where it was technically possible - without loading
zones or other game design sleight of hand - to craft levels the size, detail and scope
of those found in System Shock 2 or Thief: The Dark Project... while retaining the visual
detail of the next-gen!
A fact that, for me, makes Eidos Montréal's abject abortion by the name of Thief 4 all
the more disappointing!
Console Developers in 2014 are now uniquely capable of crafting titanic, immersive levels
without skimping on visual detail... and what we get instead...?
Is Halo with Hoods.
Steampunk Gears of War.
I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Forza.
That isn't the law of diminishing returns.
That's purposeful neutering of new IPs to preserve their commercial viability.
That's an industry cowering in crippling fear of the future.
That's an industry playing it safe... and training its consumer base to be grateful
for it.
What I find personally objectionable about Danny O'Dwyer of GameSpot's facile pseudo-argument...?
Is that it excuses an entire industry... for behavior that even people within said industry
believe is utterly inexcusable.
If it were? Major names - from Hideo Kojima to Warren Spector - wouldn't be calling the
entire industry out for failing to innovate...
with superior technology at their disposal!
These are people familiar with the toolset, and making relevant video games with it!
Diminishing visual returns?
We've long since come to expect.
But Destiny isn't shit because it's not visually impressive.
It's shit because it comes out thirteen years after Halo... and its shooting is about half
as fucking functional!
Festering shit selling like hotcakes is nothing new.
The new TMNT film was about the most ripe turd I've ever had the misfortune to behold,
and it sold a fuckload of movie tickets.
The public is an ass.
Look at the people they elect - and re-elect - for confirmation.
If holding a video game to a standard it sets for itself means I'm old?
Then get off my fuckin' porch.
Razör.
OUT.