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Graphics do not make a AAA game.
Nykyrian
Member Posts: 6
Look at WoW and Maplestory Top P2P and Top F2P both have dated graphics but what makes people stay is the gameplay... the features... gaming companies should stop spending so much money on this new gfx engine and that and actually think about the game they are creating and what it does diffrent/better.
/agree or /disagree.?
Comments
Graphics do make a AAA game.
The definition of a AAA game is that its a blockbuster production with visible production values.
Thats why Minecraft isn't a AAA game.
Its not how much the game sells or how popular it is.
Else Angry Birds would be a AAA title.
Sadly they *do* make a triple-A game...
If you like innovation more than dick-waving, as a consumer, step outside the box.
/myadvice
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
"AAA game" is not the same as "good game".
Polished, meaning fit and finish blending of textures to terrain etc
Highly detailed
HIghly optimzed
Pick any two. You must have two out of those three to be considered a AAA title in my opinion. So many games have one. Wow has two for example. Skyrim has three for example. Rift has three. GW 2 has one MAYBE two (in my opinion)
I see AAA as high production values and polish, not necessarily graphics but those most of the time as a result of high production values tend to be really good but there are many exceptions like you mentioned wow which is definitely a AAA game.
*Was*
Standards have changed. The only high-point it has, these days, is not being broken at the core.
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
Ask 50 people to define AAA and you will get 50 different answers. Graphics don't make AAA for me, but it is clearly a factor for other people. /shrug
Enter a whole new realm of challenge and adventure.
Ditto. Large budget production. Sort of like movies. Spending a lot of money can still produce a flop, and small budget films can be hits also.
For some players, yes. I personally fit into this category. I find it easy to overlook low poly graphics if gameplay is good, especially if it runs and moves well.
Perfection is both at once, but this rarely happens.
agree.
wow was dated the day it came out.
LFD tools are great for cramming people into content, but quality > quantity.
I am, usually on the sandbox .. more "hardcore" side of things, but I also do just want to have fun. So lighten up already
The thing is 10 million people are not buying new graphics cards or building new machines every few months either. Not even going to get into display devices.
Many subscribers to the so called AAA games are just average people with average lives using average computers. They do not see the difference. Their definition of a AAA game might include amazing graphics, but that does not mean that they know the difference.
AAA means that the developer can throw man-months of work into a single day due to the shear number of people on their team.
Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent.
"At one point technology meant making tech that could get to the moon, now it means making tech that could get you a taxi."
I always find this arguement a bit silly, time moves on, technology moves on. Besides, the last MMO that tried to push the graphic envelope was AoC and it was hardly cutting edge. Graphics aren't to blame for people being jaded or disappointed with MMO's of late and even if developers decided to start making all their MMO's 8-bit it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference. The ideas are running dry and fatcats are directing creativity.
Of course.
Game can have huge budgets and can still be horrible game.
Don't think anyone sane would use AAA=automatically good game.
I already played 2 AAA games this year that were preety bad
Of course this also does not mean that indie or small budget will be good or bad as well.
I wouldn't call Maplestory a AAA game even if it is very popular. Wow is 8 years old.
Graphics are of course not the only thing that makes a AAA game but there is a minimum standard a game have to keep to be a AAA game.
If Wow released today with the graphics it had it would not become as popular as it became, not even close.
Gameplay > Graphics
A beautiful game with no substance might as well just be a movie.
We should be progressing in both areas as the MMORPG genre matures. Instead we get less substance and better graphics. But, to top it off, those graphics are coming at the cost of performance. No one wants to play a slide show. Also, in the current economy, most people can not afford to keep up with the disposable nature/full replacement every few months nature of the computer industry.
This is the one thing that makes the console market as big as it is. Games are designed for a single platform or at most two to three. There is no passing the buck to the players on why the game plays horribly. There is no minimum requirements listed that will not let you play the game at a decent level or with more than a couple of people on the screen.
I love innovation and technology. That said, it doesn't take a genius to see how the computer industry is milking customers on a planned out timeline. And, it doesn't take a genius to see how gaming companies are using high end system requirements to try to hide their flaws and lack of optimization.
As to the main topic, AAA to me just means reputation of a major company backing it and their larger budget.
AAA game is not a measurement of quality, gameplay, graphics, or anything.
It's just a measurement of budget, basically. People associate big budget games with big production values, but... well, all that money has to go SOMEWHERE, and usually a good portion of that is graphics.
In 2004, WOW was the hottest. It had great grpahics for its time. Their were a few other non-aaa titles that came out, but they didnt hold a candle.
However, graphics "alone" do not make a AAA title. It's the money that is invested in. It's the production that makes the title. Their are some AAA titles with horrible graphics in this world. That's not what makes it AAA, it's that they are putting a lot of money into producing it, even if they waste it.
No single things makes an AAA game. However there are a few things that more or less are accociated with it.
Good Graphics
Good Studio
Lots of Money
And I'm sure a few other things. Don't necessarily make a good AAA game, but are usualy associated with an AAA game. All the feel good stuff is pie in the sky.
I self identify as a monkey.
After trying a few recent "AAA" titles it certainly proved to me that you can in fact "polish a turd". Mythbusters confirmed it
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.
-- Herman Melville
You forgot to add in Community, your game can be out of this world but if you log in and find your all alone you soon get bored.
Which MMO company spends money on graphics? None of them.
They are all using the same dated engines (though heavily modified) which make all of their games look like they come from 2006.
Graphics DO make a AAA game. It's the most apparent feature that makes a game "next gen".
Lack of focus on graphical and otherwise technological advancement is what is making the genre fail so hard.
Considering the number of players who clamour to be able to solo from start to finish, I don't see why that would be a problem for most.
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.
-- Herman Melville
Thanks for all the replys guys but as sumbody said its all about your opinion in my eyes a AAA mmo is a mmo that makes alot of money, has a huge community, and good game play. What i'm seeing from new mmo's is just graphics... shiny shiny shiny shiny ok i like something good to look at but if i'm going to pay for this new game with better graphics why am i doing the same thing i was doing on wow? just my opinion they need to innovate... innovate... innovate