Backhand of Justice

A wise man once said ‘3D is balls, 2D is the business.’ That man was Shigeru Miyamoto, and he was speaking in November’s Nintendo Power. As the godfather of gaming, Miyamoto knows how to swing his weight around, and although his proclamation might have something to do with Nintendo’s recent 2D game offerings, he has a point.

For too long have developers been obsessed with graphical wizardry, creating increasingly intricate lighting, particle and physics effects. Gameplay was an afterthought tacked on at the end of a development schedule.

While Miyamoto’s proclamation isn’t big news and gamers have been spouting ‘gameplay not graphics’ for years, it gives closure to an era that gamers might rather forget: the graphical arms race.

Bullet time? Yes, please!

Remember when The Matrix came out and bullet time was incredible and revolutionary? Then remember how film after film ripped it off in increasingly bland and hackneyed ways? How you couldn’t stand to see bullet time after a while when it was even included in animated films like Shrek? The graphics arms race feels about like that.

When Mario 64 took the leap into 3D, everything had to go 3D to keep up, even if it wasn’t going to be as good. Sure, there were some successes: the Metroid Prime series, for example. There were many more failures, however, where developers tried to force square game types into the round 3D hole despite its lack of effective translation.

Backlash

We have seen a move away from that fascination on graphics over the past few years, however. While in the 1990s, a game like Ocarina of Time could be universally heralded as ‘the greatest game ever made’ despite being a shot for shot remake of Link to the Past in 3D, games today that are only graphics fall flat.

Crysis: Melting VGUs since 2007

Crysis had disappointing sales. Doom III had disappointing sales relative to expectations. Even a game like Killzone 2 which was ‘the best example of the PS3’s power’ did not perform up to the hype. Conversely, the best selling games of this generation have not focused on graphical power.

The Wii is outselling both competing high definition consoles. Wii Sports sales figures are a bit unfair due to the bundling, but the strength of many of the Nintendo first party titles as well as the success of games like Braid show that at least with today’s broader demographics, graphics aren’t the be all end all anymore.

Not quite what Miyamoto had in mind, but it's a start

In addition, many games are going in a ‘stylized’ direction to the point that many would see it as a graphical regression. Not every game has to be the equivalent of ‘2012’ anymore. Consumers are bored. They want creativity, not the Unreal Engine 19: Unrealer!

Great graphics aren’t going anywhere, and it doesn’t hurt that there’s a strong correlation between high budget AAA games and a vast technological development team. It’s hard to pick out premiere releases in the past year that didn’t have impressive graphics whether you’re referring to Uncharted 2, Batman or Modern Warfare 2.

It won’t be too long, however, until you see high profile games changing their graphical style. New Super Mario Brothers Wii has gone in this direction. Borderlands went at least a little in this direction. When you see cel-shaded Halo coming out, you know the transition is complete.

Seriously? 'Photorealistic graphics?' Look at it! My watch plays games that look better

Developers want to go this way due to the reduced costs of a simpler appearance and gamers clearly want more frequent consumption of the franchises they like and can’t stand waiting ten years between iterations of Diablo, or 5 years for the next Half-Life.

I’m not arguing that we’re going to see a regression in graphics, or that somehow developers flirting with the cutting edge will be left behind. I’m merely saying that we don’t have to associate AAA with cutting edge visuals, and stylistic choices will be made across the spectrum instead of at the far extremes.

Miyamoto is on board. Are you?