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Urban-Themed Video Games 'Basically Dead'? 346

Posted by Zonk from the fewer-boyz-less-hoodz dept.
simoniker writes "Midway CMO Steve Allison has been talking about why he thinks the urban game genre isn't worth entering, suggesting of the cancelled Snoop Dogg/John Singleton collaboration Fear & Respect, which was in development at Midway: 'We killed Fear and Respect... because we have enough data-points to know the hood thing is basically dead. It would be dead before it came out. And you don't want to come out on a dead vibe.' Do people really not care about GTA-style urban shooters any more?"
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Urban-Themed Video Games 'Basically Dead'? More

Urban-Themed Video Games 'Basically Dead'?

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  • FP! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dosius ( 230542 ) <bridget@buric.co> on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @02:18PM (#15706972) Journal
    I think it's more a matter of every game genre can be cloned to death and the GTA-clone genre has reached that point.

    -uso.

    • Re:FP! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by andrewman327 ( 635952 )
      I think that there is such a glut of these games on the market and that they have such high replay value that the need has been satisfied.

      • Re:FP! (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Desco ( 46185 )
        Glut!? Sure, there've been a bunch in very recent history, most of them crap, but here's what I don't get-- every year, there's hundreds of new games based on tolkien-esque fantasy (dragons, elves, drawves, etc) and no one ever complains about that glut.

        I was amazed how many of these games got passed off as a "GTA clone" or a blatant rip-off or bandwagon... I don't see the hundreds of tolkien genre games all being called rip-offs of Rogue or Wizardry. I don't see every new racing game being dismissed as
        • I think that there is a lot of variety in the D&D esque games, where many of the "Urban" games are largely the same.
        • every year, there's hundreds of new games based on tolkien-esque fantasy (dragons, elves, drawves, etc) and no one ever complains about that glut.


          I do, at length. Seriously, I know Tolkein was great and everything, but can we get a decent non-starwars sci-fi or post-apocalypse MMOG please? Or just something without any goddamn ORCS?
          • Seriously, I know Tolkein was great and everything, but can we get a decent non-starwars sci-fi or post-apocalypse MMOG please? Or just something without any goddamn ORCS?

            City of Heroes is oodles of fun... in the sense that you can call any MMORPG "fun."
            • City of Heroes has trolls. Which are kind of like Orcs.

              Me have body by Superdyne!
              -- anonymous Troll in Skyway City

              Then again, maybe not. It IS fun, though.

          • I totally agree. Something having to do with starcraft would be nice.

            AO wasn't too bad if they hadn't killed the game with such a bad release.

        • Re:FP! (Score:3, Insightful)

          by admdrew ( 782761 )

          I don't see every damn FPS in space being subjected to the "Doom-Clone" treatment or WWII ones shot down as copying Wolfenstein. (although in this last case, many do)

          First, what WW2 games have copied Wolfenstein in gameplay? If you're referring to modern games, Call of Duty and Day of Defeat are both better and more original than the Q3 engine Wolfenstein.

          Second, every FPS was called a Doom-clone back in the day, until games existed that looked better or had better gameplay.

          Look at some modern GTA-clones

    • When everyone does it... (Score:4, Funny)

      by Dareth ( 47614 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @03:46PM (#15707750)
      ... when everyone is into it... well it just isn't cool anymore!

      Spoiled white kids don't want to be into "Hip Hop / Gangsta Hood" or even "Goth". It has been way too overdone.

      Unfortunately many of them are geting into "Emo/Screamo" bullshit.

      Here let me make an analogy for geeks and nerds: Having a Linux desktop today is not as cool as having one say 10 years ago. Too many people have one, hell almost anyone can burn a knoppix cd and boot one. If you want to be cool in the geekdom now you have to run exosteric shit like Hurd on an UltraSparc under an emulated virtual environment or some crazy shit like that. Oh, is that GNU/Hurd, *wink* my bad.
      • "Hurd on an UltraSparc under an emulated virtual enviornment" is pedestrian cool. I'm so super-hip, I have a straight-up, unpatched, first-release Windows 95 desktop. Talk about hardcore.
        • Cause if you use unpatched Win95 you must be suicidal.... xlaugh or more protected than anyone else since *fallacy* People only attack the market leaders *end fallacy*

      • "Here let me make an analogy for geeks and nerds: Having a Linux desktop today is not as cool as having one say 10 years ago."

        Mod parent down for using non-car related analogy....

  • New Ideas (Score:5, Funny)

    by mrxak ( 727974 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @02:19PM (#15706976)
    Gee, are they saying that they're actually going to try a new game genre? Here's an idea for a new one, WWII shooters!
    • Gee, are they saying that they're actually going to try a new game genre? Here's an idea for a new one, WWII shooters!
      Most likely they'll just combine the two. GTA: Berlin 1944.

  • Let me be the first to say: (Score:5, Funny)

    by Cadallin ( 863437 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @02:19PM (#15706984)
    Thank fucking god! "Urban Culture" is pathetic bullshit to begin with. Games based on it are just sad beyond belief. They're blatant attempts to cash in on "hip." Let's get back to the proper business of killing orcs and zombies.

  • Urban-themed? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dolly_Llama ( 267016 ) * on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @02:22PM (#15707008) Homepage
    This is a bit of a pet peeve, but "urban"? Are they talking about SimCity, or GTA?

    It's a BS marketing term that dances around race.

    also, FTFA

    "We've spent almost a million bucks testing concepts. We're only making games that are in the upper core tile."


    Quartile maybe?
    • when dealing with corprate types 'urban' = 'black'.
    • This is a bit of a pet peeve, but "urban"? Are they talking about SimCity, or GTA?

      It's a BS marketing term that dances around race.

      What would you prefer? Are they making a black game? A hispanic game? A minority game?

      GTA is a collection of extreme parodies of pretty much every racial stereotype, including the white trailer trash and fibbies. "Urban/gangsta" is pretty much the best tag you can put on it.
    • I especially like the Netflix "Urban" genres. It's just movies with black people in them. http://www.netflix.com/SubGenre?sgid=1129&pgid=296 &hnjr=3 [netflix.com]

  • Um... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by p0tat03 ( 985078 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @02:24PM (#15707017)

    How about the notion that they're just out of touch with their demographic? Every time I see an "urban" game (Need for Speed: Most Wanted, I'm looking at yoooooou~) it's always come off as being poser and totally fake. What can you expect? You're getting a bunch of 35 year-old, predominantly-white, middle-class geeks to develop your "hip" urban game!

    And NFS:MW wasn't even the worst offender... I can think of many worse...

    • You're getting a bunch of 35 year-old, predominantly-white, middle-class geeks to develop your "hip" urban game!

      I am a 35 year-old, predominantly-white, middle-class geek, and I like my urban combat set to the preconceived sounds and images pumped out by Hollywood.

      Werd. :)

  • Maybe as a gimmick (Score:4, Insightful)

    by brassmoknets ( 933133 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @02:24PM (#15707023)
    I'm sure 'Urban' as a sell-any-old-crap gimmick may be nearing its demise, but there is no such thing as a dead genre. A well-made innovative game can be in any genre at all and will sell well. Who'd have thought 'puppies' was a genre that would effectively carry a market launch of a handheld?
    • I'd like to introduce you to my good friends: disco, adventure games, and traditional cell animation.
    • Who'd have thought 'puppies' was a genre that would effectively carry a market launch of a handheld?

      Not suprising when you look at the appeal of puppies. Go to any mall that has a pet store and note the demographic that pause to look at the puppies in the front display - the only people who don't stop are the ones that weren't going to notice the store anyway (mostly focused on getting to their destination). The puppies don't even have to do anything! Other stores can only hope for a small fraction of th
  • The next big theme should be westerns, Red Dead Revolver was a great title, but it needed more horse riding. Gun (playing now) has plenty of horse riding but not enough moseying.

    • Re:The next big theme should be (Score:5, Funny)

      by bunions ( 970377 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @02:29PM (#15707069)
      I'm still amazed there's not a Pirates v Ninjas v Zombies v Robots MMOG.

      • Re:The next big theme should be (Score:4, Funny)

        by slaker ( 53818 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @03:05PM (#15707397)
        I would so totally buy that if it were
        Pirates v Ninjas v Zombies v Robots v Monkeys

        and I'd pre-order it if it were
        Pirates v Ninjas v Zombies v Robots v Monkeys v Pimps, since that would be proof of the vibrant "Urban Theme"

      • Actually a good idea (Score:4, Insightful)

        by edremy ( 36408 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @03:59PM (#15707860) Journal
        I've been playing demos for a bunch of MMORPGs lately for fun (My WoW trial supscription runs out tomorrow) One thing i've noticed is that in all of them rarely are the races really all that differentiated. Yeah, my Undead Warlock can hold his breath a long time, but it's just not that different from any other race. Yeah, your skillset might look different, but overall you basically have the same classes for each race/group. I think back to AvP, where playing an Alien and a Human are so different as to be totally seperate games.

        Imagine yours

        • Ninjas: Totally skill based. No magic equipment- everything depends on reaction time and stealth
        • Zombies: Magic users. Spells, curses and cannibalism.
        • Robots: Crafting class. Build yourself
        • Pirates: Always win, since they can call on the FSM at any time. (Ok, maybe not)

        You could have four totally different play experiences. Set up the quests so that some that are trivial for one group are impossible for others since the tactics simply don't transfer between them. Forget the fake "Alliance v. Horde" setup where you make the races fight: ninjas and robots simply can't team up since a stealthy assassin isn't going to be any more effective teamed with something out of an anime nightmare. It would be hell to balance, but could be done.

        Frankly, after looking over a bunch of MMORPGs (WoW, CoV, Planetside, AO, EVE, Auto Assault) I'm not impressed. The only truly different one is EVE and I don't have the time to have a second career which seems to be about the only way to really get into that game.

  • Yes, And Here's Why (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Just look at the 360's array of crappy GTA ripoffs. It's like when your parents start using some word or phrase it quickly loses its cool. When the lamest console of the lot in the Xbox starts flooding the market with a genre it is clear the party's over.

  • grumpy old man (Score:5, Insightful)

    by acvh ( 120205 ) <geek.mscigars@com> on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @02:27PM (#15707055) Homepage
    I remember way back when, thinking that when the technology arrived to make games look "real" it would be pretty cool. WRONG. When games look "real" and are modeling real physics, they are limited in what they can do. All we get in the way of innovation is new environments for running around shooting stuff.

    Sprite based 2D games could violate physical laws and we didn't care. Better yet, games didn't have to exist in an analog of the known universe at all.

    We got what we asked for, and damn it, it's boring.

    • Re:grumpy old man (Score:4, Insightful)

      by gEvil (beta) ( 945888 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @02:43PM (#15707187)
      We got what we asked for, and damn it, it's boring.

      Seriously. Before you know it, someone's gonna come out with a game where you get to walk around and do chores and simulate interactions between people via little virtual people. And I bet people would buy it. Oh wait...
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • I remember way back when, thinking that when the technology arrived to make games look "real" it would be pretty cool. WRONG. When games look "real" and are modeling real physics, they are limited in what they can do. All we get in the way of innovation is new environments for running around shooting stuff.

      Sprite based 2D games could violate physical laws and we didn't care. Better yet, games didn't have to exist in an analog of the known universe at all.

      We got what we asked for, and damn it, it's boring.

      So
    • +10,000 Insightful. Well said, sir.

    • All we get in the way of innovation is new environments for running around shooting stuff.

      Running around shooting stuff indeed. It's the video game equivalent of Tom Cruise movies. The formula works! Stick with the formula! Long live the formula!

  • GTA - no - lame knock-offs? Yes stick a fork in them.

    GTA was never exclusively about hip-hop culture and was about various gangland activities. It wasn't until the same jokers who brought you material of the same level of sillyness in True Crime that the increasingly out of date hip-hop culture tied it's marketing wagon to the scene. I can't even fathom why people find such dated 90's material entertaining myself, and wonder when the next culture trend will finally emerge away from the overstaurated MTV-bli

  • Meh. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Rob T Firefly ( 844560 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @02:29PM (#15707071) Homepage Journal
    Do people really not care about GTA-style urban shooters any more?
    Like most gamers, I care about most styles and genres of games if they're done right. The problem is when a genre or even a particular game (especially something like GTA which nobody had seen before) is popular, everyone wants to cash in with their own "me-too" knockoff. These of course aren't as impressive as the original, the market gets flooded with low-quality xeroxes, and the genre loses momentum. It's happened many times before with countless games. In the 8-bit era everyone wanted to make a Mario-esque platformer or a Zelda-like fantasy game. On PS1 there was the glut of forgettable 3D platformers and vectorized fighters, among others. How many Tetris clones can you name for game boy or cell phone?

    Also, sorry Snoop, but gamers are savvy these days. Not since "Cool Spot" or "Yo, Noid!" for NES has a catchy license ever been enough to sell a game. In fact, it tends to raise a red flag for most gamers nowadays. "Why do they need to CGI-scan Joe Blow Rapper into the game, or have Billy Bob Actor do a voiceover? What crappy gameplay are they trying to distract us from? Is this another "Bruce Willis in Apocalypse?"
  • How about because these types of games are just money-grabs. They're typically absolutely awful games other than the amazingly high-profile superstar gracing the cover.

  • GTA Clones (Score:2, Insightful)

    by sesshomaru ( 173381 )
    Frankly, the best GTA clones I've played, Hulk: Ultimate Destruction and Simpsons: Hit and Run did well because they offered a certain amount of novelty which allowed me to not say, "You know, I'd much rather be playing Vice City than this game."

    However, the "urban" genre isn't dead. The problem with a lot of these games is that "urban" is considered a marketing tool, and the games released with the "urban" theme haven't been very good.

    I'd argue that there has to be a certain amount of enthusiasm when

  • Fear not, D-O-double-G fans, for Snoop has found an even better videogame to crash. [ytmnd.com]

    ....sorry.

  • Aren't we talking about tailfins here? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by hey! ( 33014 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @02:41PM (#15707173) Homepage Journal
    "Urban theme" doesn't tell me anything meaningful about a game's mechanics or strategy.

    So, what we're talking about is superficial stuff -- decoration. And if it's decoration, it's subjection to fashion. And if it's fashion, it's subject to going-out-of-fashion.

    It's like cars. In the immediate post WW2 years, there was a melted, "jelly bean" look to car body styles. Shortly thereafter, in the era of the nuclear strategic bomber, cars started to get taller and taller tail fins, culminating in a Caddie my father in law had which I swear must have had tail fins 18 inches (45cm) high. Since this was well beyond the ridiculous, the styles swiftly changed so that the tail fins were cut off, leaving a vestigal ridge about an inch high and several inches wide. The result was angular and gave cars a massive and muscular look. My father in law had one of these too (do a google image search on 1972 Plymouth Fury [google.com]. Then the energy crisis came, and cars got smaller, and aerodynamics started to chip away a the broad shouldered look, and finally we had the original Ford Taurus, which was back to the "jelly bean" look.

    So, maybe "gangsta" is out until we've churned over a couple generations of gamers.

    • "Urban theme" doesn't tell me anything meaningful about a game's mechanics or strategy.

      Exactly. GTA's cool was not about the "Urban theme" (does Italian Mafia even qualify as "Urban"?? Maybe literaly, but thats not what that they mean when they say that.) It was about introducing a new style of game play - a level of interactivity and freedom that was not widely available before. It is widely available now, so if you want to catch interest of people you need to introduce something new. Be that "new" in "urb

  • The New Hotness (Score:3, Funny)

    by Sketch ( 2817 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @02:47PM (#15707226) Homepage
    Old and busted: "urban" games
    New hotness: ping pong games

  • Publishers Don't Understand GTA (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ArmyOfFun ( 652320 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @02:49PM (#15707254)
    Sure, part of the appeal of GTA is being an urban sociopath. The real draw of the GTA series though is its open world. GTA 3 was one of the most open 3D games that had come out in a while. You can get fares in a taxi-cab, drive sick people to the hospital in an ambulance, or totally ignore the missions and just cause mayhem.

    Instead of publishers trying to copy GTA by focusing on its gameplay, they instead focused on the hip hop vibe. What they don't seem to realize is that GTA was popular despite its urban flavor, not becaues of it. GTA is more similar to Oblivion than it is to Def Jam: Fight for NY. You want to have a GTA or Oblivion style hit? Create an unquie world and make it open and give the player a lot of different stuff to do. It's a little puzzling that the open world genre is really lacking in quantity right now despite the huge success of the few games that have done it right.

    Remember all the side scrollers that came out after Super Mario Bros? What if instead of side scrollers, publishers figured Mario was popular because it featured a fat plumber and all games of the NES era all featured plumbers or fat blue collar workers, but totally ignored the side-scrolling action that made Mario fun. That's exactly what's happening with the companies that tried to ape GTA by putting focusing on MTV style hip hop rather than on open gameplay.

  • I want more urban games (Score:3, Insightful)

    by PuppiesOnAcid ( 792320 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @02:56PM (#15707311) Homepage Journal
    Honestly, when I sit down to play video games, I want to escape reality. However, that does not mean I want to slash up dragons or shoot down space ships with lasers. Sometimes I want to play a game in a GTA or "urban" setting just because it's the closest thing to doing something you couldn't in the real world and getting away with it.

  • Urban MMORPG (Score:3, Interesting)

    by linvir ( 970218 ) * on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @03:07PM (#15707416)

    Ignoring the intended meaning of 'urban' as in 'all cities are violent and rap plays in the background 24/7 and people shoot each other', I'd quite like a MMORPG in an urban setting.

    By that I mean modern to futuristic, since technically Ironforge in WoW counts as an urban setting. Basically, I'm sick to death of witches and wizards and magic spells. I'm also discounting the Anarchy Online style of city: a bunch of simple blocks of texture rationalising a collection of shops.

    What I want is a proper interactive city environment. A properly scaled big city would be easily big enough for a MMORPG, and wouldn't require the player to consciously suspend their disbelief because of the distorted geography like all MMORPGs so far. Graphically, you could have more detail up close where it counts, because you wouldn't need to render miles and miles of landscape.

    Example: Midgar [wikipedia.org] would make a good environment for a MMORPG
    And no, this [toprpgames.com] doesn't count

    • Midgar would be cool, but I always wanted to see a Zozo [wikipedia.org] environment. That would be so cool.
    • For a long time, I've thought it would be great to see a Deus Ex MMORPFPS.

      You could have different servers represent different cities and areas of cities, and to change servers, you find a "train station", an "airport", or something else of that nature. All it would do is transfer your account to a different server and load you up in your new environment, ready for more action in the World of Conspiracies.

  • who would of guessed this? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Traiklin ( 901982 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @03:23PM (#15707546) Homepage
    With games like

    50 cent: Bulletproof
    True Crime: Streets of New York (or as it SHOULD of been called, True Crime: Glitches of new york)
    True Crime: Streets of LA
    Driv3r
    Shadow the hedgehog (come on, you can't deny that's what they were going for with this one)

    the only ones that were even remotly worth playing in the "urban genre" were Def Jam: Fight for New York, GTA San Andreas that's all I can think of actually.

    Maybe if they had gotten people who wanted to make a GOOD game instead of making a Cash grab game the genre wouldn't be a sinking ship with endless clones of two games.

  • GTR:Princeton IAS (Score:3, Funny)

    by monopole ( 44023 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @03:32PM (#15707616)
    With the recent release of Einstein's private letters indicating that he was a Mack Daddy http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/ne ws/2006/07/11/weins11.xml [telegraph.co.uk] suggests a new series of gritty urban videogame: the GTR series.
    You start as a small time patent clerk named Al working your way up the ladder of Organized Physics. Busting up dice games run by God, setting up a convention for tense-hos, projects that are the Bomb, and so forth.
    • With the recent release of Einstein's private letters indicating that he was a Mack Daddy

      I'm no expert, but I don't think anyone in the "urban culture" uses the term "Mack Daddy" anymore. Probably not for about 15 years. Hint: if you see it used on /. or your friends say it, it's probably not hip anymore. Sorry. It's like my uncle who thinks that he's hip because he says "man" a lot when talking to blacks (which is about once every five years). You know, like, "hey Ken, it's good to meet you man!"

  • Not that entertaining (Score:4, Interesting)

    by thepacketmaster ( 574632 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @03:39PM (#15707675) Homepage Journal
    <sarcasm>Can I please play a game built on an overused template to make some rapper a bit mo' money?</sarcasm>

    I think for most, playing video games is a brief escape from everyday life. Why both escaping into an environment that's identical to real life? I'd rather be slaying epic dragons or bugs, etc. (Is there such a thing as an epic hoodie?)

  • It's not the genre (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Nijika ( 525558 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @03:47PM (#15707754) Homepage Journal
    It's not the genre that's dead, if it can even be classified as a genre, it's the lame knock-offs that are very dead dead dead. Thus far, frankly, every time I've heard a game industry insider declare a genre "dead" it's because they can't figure out how to release a game that isn't completely ripped off from a more popular version. True Crime: New York City was a great example of this. A wonderfully rendered New York, like, stellar. But... bad cars, a fake CJ is the protagonist, "big star" voice acting that is uninspired, and some of the degrading hoops you have to jump through to get through the story give me a headache just thinking about them. Contrast this with San Andreas, which is BIG, but by no means an amazing rendering of any city (although it's still very cool). The storyline is all over the place, but that adds to the charm. The voice acting is really fun, even CJ is a blast to listen to, the missions are batass crazy and the replay value is endless. By all technical merits, True Crime New York City is the better game, but it's really not at all, because the "play" part of the game isn't all there.

  • Duh... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by crhylove ( 205956 ) <rhy@leperkhanz.com> on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @03:50PM (#15707785) Homepage Journal
    After "San Andreas" is there a purpose of building a competing title? That game is a be-all-end-all for the genre solely for the fact that it is one of the greatest user experiences ever created.

    Don't predict the decline of a genre because somebody got it all exactly right and nobody has caught up just yet.

    rhY

    • [San Andreas] is one of the greatest user experiences ever created.

      Are you serious? San Andreas had...
      + sub-par graphics
      + awkward control when walking
      + mentally handicapped AI
      + extreme consolitis on the PC
      + awkward menu system
      + no multiplayer (when it would've been wildly popular and very possible)
      + odd and annoying camera movement (heaven-forbid I'd like to keep the camera view *slightly* higher when driving without it automatically snapping back every few seconds)
      + lame mini-games claimin

  • Well, (Score:2)

    by ardor ( 673957 )
    OF COURSE it is a bad idea. This is the result when marketing is the only decision maker. GTA sold well because its FUN to play. Is it fun to play a game that feels like a marketing product and is filled to the top with cliche gansta-hiphop crap? No.
    Maybe by putting someone in charge with a REAL game development background (most likely game design) the CEOs/CMOs/ would give games that are actually fun a chance. Til then, expect cold, heartless products designed for making money ONLY. (Kinda like Eisner's Di

  • He is absolutely correct. I'm a video game artist. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Jackie_Chan_Fan ( 730745 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @04:18PM (#15708015)
    I work in games and he is absolutely correct. The "ghetto hood" thing is up. Its done, its over.

    Thats not to say that rap isnt done, but the old NWA gansta shit we grew up with... is.

    Its become a farce. Its now a cartoon of what was always stupid and ridiculous no matter how cool we thought it was to rebel along side with it.

    GTA games are exhausting. Thats not to say that a new GTA wont be a big hit because GTA is far more than just "ghetto hood style" Its only recently they've taken it deeper into that bullshit genre and have cartooned it in many respects.

    GTA San Andreas, was of no interest to me, and as my friends play it... we mock it. "We got Respect!" Yeah... great... now what.

    GTA San Andreas has some great environment modelling and the idea of a virtual city and free reign will never get old as long as your ability to "live" in that city becomes more real. In other words, the goal is a virtual city without much scripted behavior. More of a do as you please, close to life experience as possible... Thats the goal of the GTA virtual city phenomenon.

    The ghetto aspects of it is a farce. Its a marketing tool. The run around and kill things wont get old... well it does, but it has to be changed and given new life through new game play ideas within the virtual city.

    The ghetto games are pathetic. Infact i was working on a game concept for a major hip hop persona. The game to this date has not gone through. They were just interested in the marketing aspects... not the game. They didnt care much about the game as long as they could use their hip hop image to sell it.... as if thats all it took to make a game popular.

    The ghetto hood thing is dead. We're adults now and the kids are different. Sure theres still good hip hop music, and the teens enjoy it, but its not the same as it was. The whole gangsta thing is a joke now and i'm thankful for that. There are much better things in life to promote... even if i was a fan of much of a lot of the music.... It's nice to see people growing up, including myself.

    There are better things out there.

    That does not mean for a second that the genre wont still be around in some small form. Did mafia films die out completely? No. But the mass marketing appeal, the sure hit, the bullshit used by marketers... can no longer work using the ghetto slant... Because its become a joke.

    And on a side note.. Hayao Miyazaki rules.

  • Just another brick in the wall (Score:3, Insightful)

    by dswensen ( 252552 ) * on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @04:29PM (#15708104) Homepage
    Do people really not care about GTA-style urban shooters any more?

    You know, I've asked myself the same question, many times... about war games, space strategy games, adventure games, just about anything single-player. The market has changed so much. Even Star Wars Galaxies, itself an MMORPG, was reinvented so that Sony could attract a more casual (or, if you like, dumber) fan base. The last time I set foot in a game store, it was all MMORPG, MMORPG, World War II sim, MMORPG... oh, and Sims 2.

    A decade or so ago, a lot of games were still crap, but there was at least more variety of crap. It does seem like the games market now is becoming ever more monolithic -- especially since most PC games seem to be console ports anymore. It's kind of depressing. I'm barely out of my 20s, and already I feel like some wheezy old man when it comes to video games -- "Whatever happened to Descent, Wing Commander, Sim City? Get the hell out of my bushes..." etc.

  • Who needs a new GTA or GTA ripoff... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Ingolfke ( 515826 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @05:00PM (#15708358) Journal
    because I just read that old games' graphics will never age!

  • Duh! GTA was taking the piss! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by payndz ( 589033 ) on Wednesday July 12, 2006 @05:20PM (#15708533)
    What all the wannabes apparently failed to spot was that the GTA series mocked first the mobster, and then the gangsta genres. Anyone who listened to the radio stations (never mind playing some of the missions) in Vice City and thought the game was in any way taking itself seriously needed their head examining. The same applied to San Andreas once CJ escaped from the oddly humourless Los Santos missions in the first part of the game. As soon as he met up with The Truth, all bets were off.

    Part of the fun of the GTA series is seeing how a bunch of weirdoes in Scotland will take the piss out of American pop-trash culture in the next mission - but the (US-developed) imitators all missed the point and played the whole thing straight. No wonder people got bored very quickly - if you're not taking the piss, there's literally nothing to hold your attention.

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