🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1993May2.0...@freenet.carleton.ca> ad...@Freenet.carleton.ca (William Lachance) writes:
>
>       In a summer issue of Interaction, an author wrote that most experts
>believe that computer games are going in the direction that Roberta William's
>decides to take it. Why, isn't that the most ridiculous thing you've every 
>heard? Are there any "experts" who share that idea?

Definitely ridiculous, particularly since 

(1)  Sierra hasn't done anything innovative in years, as far as I can
tell [but I'm not a big Sierra fan... feel free to correct me!].

(2)  If you had to pick a _single_ company that was leading the way in 
the past couple of years it would have to be Origin.  And there are plenty
of innovative things coming from other companies as well.

Having said that, it's not clear from what you described, William, precisely
what the author meant.  Would you care to elaborate?  Did he give any 
examples?

[Invitation:  anyone want to fire off a prediction or two on what new
developments / trends we're likely to see in computer gaming over the next
year or two?  Mine:

--SVGA becomes relatively frequent on "hot" games by Christmas '94.
--CD-ROM does NOT take over, but by middle of next year enhanced CD-ROM
  versions of floppy games become common.  Primarily speech-enhanced.
--Science-fiction adventure and role-playing games become much more frequent.
--Role-playing games with detailed, formatted worlds, a la Darklands or
  Pirates!, become more common.
--Someone makes a big hit with a graphic adventure game that has genuine
  sophistication in its text and puzzles.  [hmm, maybe wishful thinking]
--3DO, meanwhile, flops due to insufficient software.  (It would be neat
  to be wrong about this one, though.)

Your turn!]

-- 
this is not a .sig virus do not copy me into your .sig file  this is not 
* Daniel Starr                   *   Ta twn thewn erga                 * 
* starr-...@yale.edu          *   Hoi psukhwn twn anthrwpwn logoi.  *
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In article <1rvhjr...@MINERVA.CIS.YALE.EDU> starr-...@yale.edu (Daniel Starr) writes:
>
>--SVGA becomes relatively frequent on "hot" games by Christmas '94.

	I don't know.  I think that the hardware just isn't going to pick
up enough steam to allow fast access for SVGA in most games that require
real-time stuff.  For non-real time (adventure, strategy), I agree.

>--CD-ROM does NOT take over, but by middle of next year enhanced CD-ROM
>  versions of floppy games become common.  Primarily speech-enhanced.

	Sadly, you may be right.  But, look out, becuase if 7th Guest manages
to catch on, CD-ROM is about to be the hot item (I know if I could afford it
I'd be there, especially after seeing 7th Guest).

>--Science-fiction adventure and role-playing games become much more frequent.

	I would say that that is already the case.....

>--Someone makes a big hit with a graphic adventure game that has genuine
>  sophistication in its text and puzzles.  [hmm, maybe wishful thinking]

	Nope.  The designers know that if it's pretty it doesn't have to 
be terribly complex to sell.  A few will come out here and there, but 
I think the adventure market will stay the way it is.

>--3DO, meanwhile, flops due to insufficient software.  (It would be neat
>  to be wrong about this one, though.)
>

	Would someone mind telling me what 3DO is?

|  If you've got a hot lead on a new  |       *--Joe--*
|  PC game, call the announce line at |       js...@polaris.async.vt.edu
|  csi...@polaris.async.vt.edu        |

js...@polaris.async.vt.edu (Joseph Cochran) writes:
>>--3DO, meanwhile, flops due to insufficient software.  (It would be neat
>>  to be wrong about this one, though.)
>	Would someone mind telling me what 3DO is?

Well, I have only heard a little about 3DO. It seems to be a video
game system with terrific hardware (Silicon Graphics-like) and fairly
low prices. The company was apparently founded by Trip Hawking who
once was the head-honcho of Electronic Arts. There have been similar
attempts in the past to make such top-notch video game systems
popular, but all these systems flopped. Does anyone still remember the
Konix system? They had payed thousands of dollars for the development
of that machine. As far as I know, it was a chair with a little monitor
and a hydraulic mechanism a la Out Run. The problem was that the motor
that controlled the hydraulic wasn't very well built, so the system
broke down after a few minutes if someone with more than 50 Kg weight
sat on the chair. ;-) Konix promissed that the system would use disks
with a "chemical copy protection". The Neo Geo also wasn't a great
success. Great games come out for that system regularly, but not many
people can afford them.
	Lukas.

           *** "Fer sell cheep:  IBM spel chekker.  Wurks grate." ***
        *** Lukas Wunner, Hustadtring 143, 4630 Bochum, West-Germany ***
      *** lu...@phoenix.tp1.ruhr-uni-bochum.de / lu...@134.147.160.39 ***

>>       In a summer issue of Interaction, an author wrote that most experts
>>believe that computer games are going in the direction that Roberta William's
>>decides to take it. Why, isn't that the most ridiculous thing you've every 
>>heard? Are there any "experts" who share that idea?
>
>Definitely ridiculous, particularly since 
>
>(1)  Sierra hasn't done anything innovative in years, as far as I can
>tell [but I'm not a big Sierra fan... feel free to correct me!].

Hey, Dynamix puts out some good stuff.  Aces of the Pacific, and Front
Page Sports Football, were pretty cool games.  I'd place them second to
Origin in terms of 'innovation'. 

>
>(2)  If you had to pick a _single_ company that was leading the way in 
>the past couple of years it would have to be Origin.  And there are plenty
>of innovative things coming from other companies as well.
>
>Having said that, it's not clear from what you described, William, precisely
>what the author meant.  Would you care to elaborate?  Did he give any 
>examples?
>
>[Invitation:  anyone want to fire off a prediction or two on what new
>developments / trends we're likely to see in computer gaming over the next
>year or two?  Mine:
>
>--SVGA becomes relatively frequent on "hot" games by Christmas '94.

Naw, SVGA won't take off as long as ISA is standard.  Maybe for some static
images, like what Legend is doing. 

>--Science-fiction adventure and role-playing games become much more frequent.

Why's that?  I certainly haven't seen increased intrest in those type of games,
in fact, I would say it's been decreasing.  That's only my opinion.  Though,
I did like Serpent Isle. 

>--Role-playing games with detailed, formatted worlds, a la Darklands or
>  Pirates!, become more common.
>--Someone makes a big hit with a graphic adventure game that has genuine
>  sophistication in its text and puzzles.  [hmm, maybe wishful thinking]

Awe, haven't played Monkey Island 1 & 2, or Indy have ya? :)  Actually, I 
think LucasArts is the leader in this category, now that Sierra seems to
of lost its luster. 

>--3DO, meanwhile, flops due to insufficient software.  (It would be neat
>  to be wrong about this one, though.

-- Pentium + PCI/VESA Local Buses bring the ability to do some GOOD texture
mapped polygons to the PC arena.  (I've heard Strike Commander does this, but
I haven't seen it.)

-- Sid Miers, Westwood Associates, Origin, and LucasArts rule the industry. :)

-- Unless Sierra gets its act together, it'll fall into the same pit as 
Infocom.

-- GUS becomes standard! :)


)

starr-...@yale.edu (Daniel Starr) writes:

>Your turn!]

Add this to the prediction list:
Fifteen more games with 'Dark' in the title will come out in the next year.

--
Eu-Ming Lee (aka CyberGeek)                   eum...@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu
Friends don't let friends use Windows.

In a previous article, ad...@Freenet.carleton.ca (William Lachance) says:

>
>       In a summer issue of Interaction, an author wrote that most experts
>believe that computer games are going in the direction that Roberta William's
>decides to take it. Why, isn't that the most ridiculous thing you've every 
>heard? Are there any "experts" who share that idea?


  Uh 'scuse me, but am I the only person around who thinks that sierra
games are kinda cool?

-- 
  From: The Illustrious SirDenim, whose views are not CWRU's
    "Remember, when all else fails, yell `Banzai!' and charge!"
  E-mai...@po.cwru.edu | "Exams? Me? Really? Oh, no!"
  Case Western Comp. Eng. Student, and I have the NoDoze to prove it!

In article <1s121nINNghc@news.u.washington.edu>, robs@u.washington.edu
(Robert Suh) wrote:
 
> >[Invitation:  anyone want to fire off a prediction or two on what new
> >developments / trends we're likely to see in computer gaming over the next
> >year or two?  Mine:
> >

Ok here are mine:

Intel keeps its lock on the home computer market with the Pentium because
of backwards compatability.

Origin releases some killer games for 486's only and begin to release games
that use the power of new machines.  As a result 486's rule the gaming
world until mid '94 (and net traffic sky rockets with Origin flames about
not running on a 386 :).  By the start of '94 486's are beginning to become
obsolete for high end games as many gamers upgrade to more powerful
machines.

> >--Science-fiction adventure and role-playing games become much more frequent.
> 
> Why's that?  I certainly haven't seen increased intrest in those type of games,
> in fact, I would say it's been decreasing.  That's only my opinion.  Though,
> I did like Serpent Isle. 

I think we will see a big decrease in fantasy games.  Buyers will become
tired of all the hack'n slash and gravitate to more adventure like games or
the role-playing games that don't emphasize combat.  I also think we will
see the death of the CRPG in the format of Might & Magic and Wizadry 7.
 
> >--3DO, meanwhile, flops due to insufficient software.  (It would be neat
> >  to be wrong about this one, though.
> 

Many companies try to push clones of Ultima Underworld's 3-d style dungeon.
 They are failures.
 
> -- Sid Miers, Westwood Associates, Origin, and LucasArts rule the industry. :)
>

My prediction is that Sid Miers has his first unsuccessful game with his
civil war game (that is if it ends up being along the lines of a
traditional war game), but bounces back with Civilization II.  I base this
on the fact that there has never been a really blockbuster war game. 
Though if anyone could do it Sid could (and I would love to be wrong :).
 
> -- Unless Sierra gets its act together, it'll fall into the same pit as 
> Infocom.

Either Sierra or Origin will release a new game that has full speech.

Sierra goes hog wild with graphics and sound and releases CD-ROM only
titles.  The graphics are great but gameplay isn't, as a result they lose
more and more market share.

*************************************************
* David Ingham  *  "D'oh!" -- H. Simpson        *
*************************************************

In article <1993May4.1...@lmpsbbs.comm.mot.com> (David Ingham) writes:
> 
>> -- Unless Sierra gets its act together, it'll fall into the same pit as 
>> Infocom.
>
>Either Sierra or Origin will release a new game that has full speech.
>
>Sierra goes hog wild with graphics and sound and releases CD-ROM only
>

	I think Virgin and Trilobyte garner the award for this.  The 7th
Guest is a masterful work of art on the computer, leagues above anything
put out by Sierra and Origin with respect to look and feel.  Full speech,
full score, SVGA, and works the CD-ROM to death getting it all out at a 
respectable transfer rate.  I think Origin still wins in the gameplay
division, but 7th Guest is only a little ahead of Sierra in the thin
play area (t7g has a good plot, it's just the handling that leaves a little
to be desired).  

|  If you've got a hot lead on a new  |       *--Joe--*
|  PC game, call the announce line at |       js...@polaris.async.vt.edu
|  csi...@polaris.async.vt.edu        |

In article <1993May2.0...@freenet.carleton.ca>  writes:
> 
>        In a summer issue of Interaction, an author wrote that most  
experts
> believe that computer games are going in the direction that Roberta  
William's
> decides to take it. Why, isn't that the most ridiculous thing you've  
every 
> heard? Are there any "experts" who share that idea?
> -- 
> /--___       William Lachance ad904 freenet.carleton.ca
> |0 | o )
> \ /   )
>  ---- )

Considering she's been winning Awards consistently for BEST ADVENTURE GAME  
of the year quite consistently along with all of the other people at  
sierra, I don't think you can say otherwise.  I would prefer the original  
type interface but I do really enjoy sierra games.