For the first time in my life...

[Gahars]

The Last of Us, how many post apocalyptic games are there?

Because setting is the only possible factor in a game, right? Just because the trappings are familiar doesn't mean what's done with them can't be fresh.

Naughty Dog went from their success with Uncharted, a light, action packed franchise, and dived headfirst into crafting an entirely new IP unlike anything they've ever done before - a dark, entirely character-driven survival experience. Not only that, they felt so strongly about the game and its central characters that they demanded Ellie be included on the game's cover (at a time when many publishers try their hardest to keep women off of game covers for fears they'll scare away the male demographic).

Going big on a brand new IP and defying the industry's conventional wisdom like that is pretty risky and demands a hell of a lot of passion. That's hard to argue against.

Like I said I've seen this over and over again. Spec Ops: The Line, another CoD/Battlefield rip off that I don't care to miss.

"I'm avoiding Saving Private Ryan. It's just a dumb Hogan's Heroes rip off."

Evidently, someone has never played Spec Ops: The Line. But hey, assumptions, right?

I didn't say every single dev isn't passionate about gaming anymore

...

This is 100% true, games are not the same as they use to be. There is very little passion put into todays current games and no developer or publisher take any risks.

You can spin technicalities all you want, but really, come on.

...but these games you named off I just don't see it. But, like I said before its an opinion.

If you don't see it, that might be because you're closing your eyes. All of the titles I posted took great risks (Be they in terms of gameplay, genre, narrative, setting, and/or marketing) and are all clearly labors of love (whether it's from big name studios spending years and 100s of millions of dollars to perfect the final product or just the work of two guys). They wouldn't exist without the passion you seem to think is gone from game development. And they were just a few examples to boot! The list could go on and on.

If you willfully ignore and avoid all the great developments in gaming right now, then of course the situation is going to look dire. You can retreat behind the "opinion" line all you want, but you're seriously depriving yourself of some great experiences, and I'm sorry you're doing that to yourself.

 

[Sakitoshi]

...watched my GF play the entire game...

that's why you care less about gaming

I definitely disagree there. Most current-gen titles on my 70" FHD TV look absolutely horrible. I never used to be able to see it because I played on a 32" CRT, but now... wow. A lot of games don't even run in full HD, and the textures are all poop. Poop. All of them. The graphical boost is sorely needed - especially seeing as for whatever reason the majority of games that are coming out nowadays have a "gritty and realistic" art style.

Also, the UI on the Xbox 360 and PS3 is slow and clunky as all hell.

pixelated textures will always exist, they try to put their efforts on polygons, shaders, lighting effecs and post-processing and after all of these are applied then they run out of graphic memory, but not all is lost, look at Modnation Racers and MetalGear Rising on PS3(X360 version has smaller textures) they look gorgeous, maybe the screen resolution is still 1280x720 but a equivalent PC can't do better than that either, and you can't even talk about bad visuals on Wipeout HD and Gran Turismo 5(and let's see Gran Turismo 6 when come out), Rayman Origins on PS3 also has big textures and sprites and a native resolution of 1920x1080, but is a 2D game after all(looking forward to Rayman Legends but I think will run at 720p).
on X360 I don't know many titles with stunning visuals but Alan Wake and Bayonetta come to my mind.

 

[emigre]

Because setting is the only possible factor in a game, right? Just because the trappings are familiar doesn't mean what's done with them can't be fresh.

Naughty Dog went from their success with Uncharted, a light, action packed franchise, and dived headfirst into crafting an entirely new IP unlike anything they've ever done before - a dark, entirely character-driven survival experience. Not only that, they felt so strongly about the game and its central characters that they demanded Ellie be included on the game's cover (at a time when many publishers try their hardest to keep women off of game covers for fears they'll scare away the male demographic).

Going big on a brand new IP and defying the industry's conventional wisdom like that is pretty risky and demands a hell of a lot of passion. That's hard to argue against.

From what I've played so far of TLOU, I've got to say few publishers would have had the balls to publish the game as it is. It refuses to go down the path of most games now in being purely action orientated. The game does force you to think in how you manage your scarce resources. When Joel gets shot, he gets pushed back rather than just take non nonchalantly. The imagery, atmosphere, music and scenery are fantastic and reaffirm a sobering feeling of doom and uncertainty. It is dark and depressing.

It is clear passion and love was put into this.