A story on NPR yesterday talks about the next generation of video games where story is of the utmost importance and gamers get to take the reins. This isn’t really a new concept, especially to game companies like BioWare who have been doing this already for decades, however, it’s nice to see mainstream media bringing attention to the matter.
Like most media pieces written by non-gamers, this article had some flaws, but nevertheless it was an informative piece that brings attention to the fact that games are just child’s play. There is a serious market for good games and video game developers know this which is why companies like BioWare are putting out great story-based games like the highly anticipated SWTOR.
Speaking of TOR and BioWare, the article makes a reference to it:
“Daniel Erickson, the lead writer of the “Star Wars” game, said the amount of storytelling content was unprecedented. The studio behind it, BioWare, created more than 10,000 characters to talk to and used voices from more than 1,000 actors.”
We wrote previously here on the site about the voice actors that make up the cast of TOR and it’s a pretty star-studded list. It really makes a game when the developers go to this level to produce a better-than-average game.
The article compares the game to 60 novels worth of writing and how this would measure up to a TV show/sitcom. When compared to the popular HBO hit, “The Sopranos”, TOR would be longer than the entire 86-episode series. That’s pretty intense when you think about the amount of writing involved.
We think BioWare is leading the next generation of story-based video games. What do you think?