Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 11:48 pm
definatly. the only argument against it is rather stupid, that people wouldn't buy the latest installment of a game because the graphics would improve themselves.
that's just stupid
asside from that, eventually a game will just max out. Think of it this way: Design a SNES game with that idea in mind. just how much can you improve a sprite whout having to re-design the game itself? eventually new ideas will come around that make the older ones obsolete. That's the nature of the industry. Designing games this way will only delay that process somewhat and give a game more replay value. i don't see the harm in that. most people i know that buy the latest installment of a series do it because it's different, not because the graphics are better. this is especially true with sports games where new athletes join and old ones retire every year.
I think a better argument would be will it give some gamers an edge over others? This is already a problem with some people. For example: will playing halo out of a top of the line widescreen plasma TV with the highest res possible and surround sound speakers give me an edge over the poor sap that has to run his xbox through a madcatz adapter so it will work on his coaxael cable imput and one mono speaker on his 15 inch TV? I think so, and in games like this, if they do support online multiplayer, will the guy with the newer PC suddenly gain a staggering edge over the competition simply because he can afford to upgrade his equipment every 6 months? That would certainly piss me off, and would discourage me from buying the game if i couldn't afford to dump a shitload of money into new equipment all the time.
Will every company adopt it? probaby not. and some games even now are designed with that philosophy (ie: i can play games like Oblivion and F.E.A.R with the graphic turned way down, then when i get better equipement, turn up the res and activate all the shiny bells and whistles) Especially when games are moving more toward console and farther from PC. Basicly, i think it's good for some games, and not for others, and designers will use it as they see fit. Just another new toy to play with if it works