Video Games Links
… And the winner is : Cyberpunk 2077.
I don’t have much to say about this year’s Gamescom.
Gamescom is, along with E3, a huge annual event dedicated to video games – and new releases of course.
I must admit that I was a bit disappointed overall: the headline titles that are coming up are mostly repeat titles. Such so well-known titles. But repeated.
So…
You see, that fact doesn’t necessarily mean to me that these titles are not extraordinary.
I’m going to stop talking about my favorite series license, but I know that you can be extraordinarily creative with a license. Just (!) leave it in the hands of ultra-talented people, and all is fine & exciting, and even surprising – and that’s the best of the best.
Let’s just say that what I’ve seen from the game licenses that are being picked up didn’t seem to be amazingly creative.
In any case, I wasn’t stunned.
And by the way, I’m at least shooting myself in the foot, playing my pretentious blasé.
Too bad – but in the end : I didn’t like it too much. At the same time, I have been upset these last few days. So I’m not terribly objective.
At least the game that was over-honored this year deserves it : it’s Cyberpunk 2077
I didn’t discover it – no one interested in video games will have ‘discovered’ that title.
It’s even one of the games I’ve had an interested eye on since the beginning of the adventure.
I had used it to explain how relevant it seemed to me to offer a product like motion capture to game companies.
Indeed, on last year’s long trailer, the developers showed a boxing fight – taken in motion capture – in the background.
And this boxing fight (very short), appeared 3 times over 15 minutes of trailer.
You can tell me all you want about the intellectual and narrative reasons why this fight had to be used three times.
But I won’t believe it at all – I can tell anything to justify anything.
But at the price it costs them, yes, as much as it costs them, it’s worth overexploiting their extract.
I know that huge companies have studios on purpose. EA games, Ubisoft… okay.
But they use them for their major animations first – and they have a whole bunch of games on the fire.
Cyberpunk 2077 is the “baby” of a Polish company: CD Projekt (Poles don’t just write works to send everyone to commit suicide.)
I like this game – not at all because of its origin – but because of its ultra-elaborated search for atmospheric details. They tried to think of everything.
You are in a city: yes, you really will be there.
You will enter everywhere.
You will see all the wildlife you can meet when you drag your gaiters through the streets at all hours of the day and night.
You will take your feet and your vehicles like everyone else.
So you’ll have dedicated game phases – from car racing to “kill them all”.
And it’s in this search for the most realistic details – which have nothing to do with the heart of the game – that I know that proposals like Altair’s can work.
And I also know that they’ll appreciate secondary proposals on character animations: since they’ve been putting off the release of the game, having new external reinforcements for details is always useful.
What makes me happy is that Gamescom has just dedicated exactly the kind of game Altair can come and play, in complete sync with the purpose and desires of the game’s creators.
For the rest …
I’m not exaggerating: look at this year’s titles :
Gamescom Awards
(from gamesindustry.biz)
- Best of Gamescom – Cyberpunk 2077 (CD Projekt Red)
- Best PC game – Cyberpunk 2077 (CD Projekt Red)
- Best RPG – Cyberpunk 2077 (CD Projekt Red)
- Best Family Game – KeyWe (Stonewheat & Sons)
- Best Ongoing Game – Borderlands 3 (2K)
- Best Racing Game – Dirt 5 (Codemasters)
- Best Remaster – Mafia: Definitive Edition (2K)
- Best Simulation – Project Cars 3 (Bandai Namco)
- Best Sports Game – Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 (Activision)
- Best Strategy Game – Humankind (Amplitude Studios and Sega Europe)
- Most Original Game – Voidtrain (Hypetrain Digital)
- Most Wanted Hardware/Technology – Xbox Series X (Microsoft)
- Best Announcement – Unknown 9: Awakening (Reflector Entertainment)
- Best Lineup – Bandai Namco Entertainment
- Best Presentation/Trailer – Little Nightmares 2 (Tarsier Studios)
- Best Show – World of Tanks Blitz Gamescom Stream (Wargaming)
- Best Streamer – Erik “Gronkh” Range
- “Most Wanted” Consumer Award – Cyberpunk 2077 (CD Projekt Red)
- Heart of Gaming Award – Indie Arena Booth (Super Crowd Entertainment)
- Best Action-Adventure Game – Watch Dogs: Legion (Ubisoft)
- Best Action Game – Star Wars: Squadrons (Electronic Arts)
- Best Indie Game – Curious Expedition 2 (Maschinen-Mensch)
- Best Xbox Game – Tell Me Why (Microsoft)
- Best Nintendo Switch Game – Little Nightmares 2 (Bandai Namco)
- Best PlayStation Game – Cyberpunk 2077 (CD Projekt Red)
- Best Multiplayer Game – Operation: Tango (Clever Plays)
The pretty fresh & very good things we could find in this edition were the “smaller” titles from independent publishers. They don’t have too much money. … no Motion Capture studio.
Ok, that’s right, there have been some great times during this Gamescom.
For example, this game is not bad – because you have to play two for one and that breaks the isolation of the game. And I like the title : Operation : Tango
I’m not completely dishonest and in bad faith – so here are the different trailers of the games presented. On the movie side – they took lessons from the best.
It’s on the game side that I grumble a bit. But the game side is personal –
Note, if you are not familiar with this environment, how detailed the trend is. To realism. To the trailer that will stand out from the others.
That’s it – that’s what makes me think Altair Twin is a really good idea.
Featured Image : Gamescom 2020.
ALTAIR - Concepts 