Bayonetta's tutorial-during-loading is a great solution to two of the problems you mentioned! Yes, I'll shut up about Bayonetta at some point. Currently aiming for 2011.

The Bayonetta loading screen are definitely worth mention though. Not only does it serve as a tutorial, but it also is a great way to ease the "immersion break" of a load screen. I hope more developers take similar approaches to make a load screen part of the game, rather a boot that kicks you out of it.

I agree - I wish Namco hadn't patented minigames during loading screens, and then stopped doing it. Though I guess D3 got to do it somehow with Onechanbara. hmm.

Long load times or texture popping... Take your pick, but you can't fix both. Consoles may have 8x more memory and 10x more CPU than the last generation, but we are still looking at games that consume 16x to 100x the resources of that previous generation. The advent of normal and specular maps has easily tripled required textures, while the resolution of each has quadrupled, and the polygon counts have increased 10x alone. Sounds have increased from 12k mono to full 44k 5.1; a 20x increase is system resources alone. Do the math =(.

If we used all this awesome power to make last gen games run fast then we'd be sitting pretty right now.

One problem I have with some tutorials is their poor placement in the game. My example comes from pretty much any Final Fantasy game. Yes they had tutorials, but in many of the game the tutorials were only accessible after you had already played the game for a number of hours. Most often you had already learned through trial and error most of the information the tutorials covered. This can be seen in both Final Fantasy 6 and 7.

In my opinion, tutorials should be accessible either from the main menu or immediately from the beginning of starting up a new game. But if you go the second route, it should be skip able.

One other thing that bugs me is how in some games you are supposed to be a war worn soldier and the tutorial treats you like a new recruit. It would be more inline with the setting to have your character teaching someone else the ropes.

A good example of this is Dragonball Z Budokai 2. This game had a tutorial accessible from the main menu and in the tutorial you had Goku and others teaching his son to fight.

Funny, here I am talking about tutorials and I visit Kotaku to read an article about the bad tutorials in Red Steel 2:

http://kotaku.com/5477343/red-steel-2-has-live-action-but-not-how-youd-think

It’s strange, but I actually feel a little *better* about modern gaming now than I did before reading this opinion piece... because most of the criticisms seem to be specific to consoles, and I play exclusively on a PC.

I should add that while there might be a little schadenfreude operating here, the point is not some self-indulgent “PC > consoles” chestthumping. My view is that the whole game industry, of which the PC games I prefer are a part, does better when console games are designed to be as much fun to play as possible.

And I believe the reverse of that is true as well. So it’s nice to be able to comment positively on something -- in this case, that recent PC games in my experience haven’t been suffering from most of the problems that Brandon describes.

Stereo downmixing hasn’t been a problem in any PC games I’ve played lately, although I did have to twiddle Dragon Age: Origins a bit to properly orient dialogue on my quad-speaker system. Maybe needing to fuss with audio options before jumping into the game is a problem for gearhead PC gamers as well, and we’re just used to dealing with it?

Contextually-Different UI Buttons -- I have long despised modal controls since the days of vi and emacs, so I agree in principle with this complaint. But it’s usually not a problem on a PC with a keyboard and mouse; one-to-one mapping of actions to individual keys/buttons is almost always possible. On the other hand, PC controls can be a problem in incomplete ports of console games. Mass Effect 2, for example, refused to display remapped key values in on-screen text, which made early gameplay unnecessarily confusing. And Dead Space failed to allow some keys and mouse buttons to be remapped at all, which is inexcusable for a PC game. So this criticism might be a wash.

Poor Texture Streaming -- generally not a problem for the PC. The only time I see texture pop in BioShock 2, for example, is for a few seconds after restarting the game and loading a save. Even a fast-moving outdoors game like Crysis Warhead didn’t suffer much from this at all. My PC is probably a little burlier than the current average machine, however, so it’s possible that this could be more of a problem for the PC than I’m personally seeing.

No Tutorials -- because this is a question of game design, rather than technology, it’s something from which both PC and console games suffer equally. But I suppose I don’t want to complain too loudly on this one, as it’s starting to become a minor miracle to find a game that’s deep enough to *need* a tutorial....

Long Load Times On Consoles -- enough said.

On balance, Brandon’s concerns leave me feeling that maybe the worst problem for PC games -- other than the ongoing attempts to starve the platform to death -- is not technology, but design.

And on that score, there are still some old problems that continue to afflict both console and PC games.

Grist for another opinion piece, maybe? ;)

Good comments as always, Bart, and indeed, most of these problems are console-oriented, though some of them exist on less than amazing PCs, as you surmise. I had plenty more of these but ran out of space. I've tried to push them out of my head until I'm ready for part II. hah!

And Benjamin - Personally I'd choose longer (clever) load times over texture pop. It's certainly a complex issue!

LOL @ Christian's goal of 2011. Nice article. Tex Streaming/Popping: I'm of the opinion that if pushing the technology with texture quality or the scope of content ends up impacting the experience, then ignoring the problem and letting it suffer for those with less than optimal hardware, instead of pulling back some to accommodate closer to the median, is a misstep in the polish phase. Not doing so for consoles releases is worse.

Great read. I would contend this isn't the small stuff, at least not some of it. Games that have audio mixes that aren't set up for the majority of people are just silly. Why?

@Benjamin: I'll pass on doing the math, I basically see what you are saying. We are creating games that are way too demanding of even the increased technology like what is in the PS3. The solution then is to scale back the tech requirements. Can the game be made without normal maps? Go for it then! This will also alleviate many business-related issues like over-working employees, understaffed companies, difficulty with management. I'm playing a lot of my older PS2 games again and thinking, was it really released so long ago, this stuff still looks really good! It's strange that being primarily an artist I appreciate gameplay more and think that often art requires a huge investment and grants minimal benefit increases to the end user.

Lots of these things are really just stupid to still have. Do I really have to wait 10 minutes or more when I want to visit a different area of MGS4 on PS3, so it can install? I realize the load times would be atrocious if not, but the install time doesn't help me much. Unless, like @Bart was saying, you look at PC games. Ok they take a few minutes to install, but none of that need be done again and again as I progress through the game.

Another interesting thing I'd like to note on the issue of tutorials: Games used to come with instruction manuals by default that covered the basics in a readable manner and often covered the advanced stuff too. I know no one reads them, but I used to, and still do if they are worth anything. And I have purchased quite a few digital distributions that have this content in softcopy for all consumers. So digital downloads aren't excuses. If you think about the instruction manual, it's actually sort of nice to be able to continue playing the game while reading tips from a book in your lap. No break from the game, no need to wait to get to the tutorial or to revisit a certain part. How do I do that combo move? Oh yeah, it's on p.16 flip flip, read: ^X<[]O ok, that's easy enough let me try it. Most of the time now I see instruction manuals that don't have anything or enough or aren't clear. Well, no wonder no one uses them. They buy strategy guides or go to gamefaqs.com, so it can't be the medium itself that has failed.

I totally agree. I think the audio issue shows how some developers are not making games with their customers in mind. Even a lot of core gamers don't have the best audio setup. I also think that all games should allow for customized controls.

I liked most of Chris' points, but I'm confused about some of them, too.

Stereo (or lack thereof): this is most definitely a problem for PCs, particularly laptop users (and there are more and more of them with the increase in availability for desktop replacement laptops at reasonable [but still too high] prices). At the same time, I use my old simulated surround system on my stereo with consoles and DVDs because I simply like the sound from my old, 30 year old speakers (and my 20 years old bookshelf speakers, too). ^_^ Of course, that doesn't address the TV speaker issue, either, so I agree with the point in that aspect.

Texture pop: My understanding of this issue is that it is often an engine issue (Unreal... perfect culprit). And yes, it happens on PC, too, quite often, even on high end machines (perhaps not ultra high end, but almost no one owns one of those, anyway... too expensive even if you try to build one, and most want to play, not build). I think perhaps the more important point is that having super-demanding images and high end sound doesn't have much to do with a game actually being worthwhile and, as was pointed out, is that games from the past are often better than what is currently being offered as far as enjoyability factor (and other areas, too, in some cases). Then again, that's why they still sell, even as rereleases, let alone secondary market.

Tutorials: I wouldn't use Dragon Age as an example to illustrate this problem because the manual for DA was pretty all inclusive except for Tactics (which is broken anyway, but I digress... they should've used Tales of Vesperia's tactics system, much better, imo, or even Star Ocean's). More importantly, as far as the menus on DA are concerned, the console version has (and had) bugs as a shipped product, Bioware has agreed with various posts about the problems, and still has not managed to work with Edge of Reality or anyone else to offer a patch to fix the problems (Rogues selection wheel broken due to not counting traps, poisons, etc correctly? great move...) Bioware obviously wants to compete with Bethesda as far as building a good modding community, but releasing a broken product isn't exactly a good way to start, especially not when you keep releasing DLC rather than fixing the product. All that being said, there are plenty of examples of lacking or poor instructions, of course, in game and in manual (or not in manual, actually).

Long load times: Bethesda managed to fix this, more or less, on Fallout 3. Granted, they built on prior experience. However, other companies with prior experience should be able to follow suit, at least theoretically.

I agree with Bart about attempts to kill the PC, but we all know that isn't really possible from a practical viewpoint. I doubt anyone wants the industry to go into a controlled environment... not as controlled as console-only development, anyway. I don't think that will ever happen within the entire global context, though. There are way too many tools and options on PC that will never be on consoles. Plus... well, there are games that simply work much better with mouse and keyboard, anyway, just as there is some validity to the view that some games work better with a joystick or other type of controller on console.

Really, though, this generation skyrocketed the console pricing due to the push to HDTV and all the other paraphelia. Used to be that a console system would be $200 or so and simply hook up to the TV you had. This generation has many games that really do not work on SDTV despite claims of "compatibility" (hah... when you can't even read the text, that's not really true). When games are made for 30 inch or larger HDTVs that cost another few hundred $$$ (for inexpensive ones) plus console prices of $300 (or more, originally), that's quite an incredible jump.

... and then there's rereleasing a title a year later on a different console but with content that should have been on the original release for the first console... but again, I digress....

I completely agree about the bad tutorials (or non-existent ones) still being shockingly common today. I remember picking up Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction on a whim even though I'm not big on platformers, and having a hell of a time getting started. The game starts out with enemies attacking you, without even mentioning what button is attack, let alone better information on how to aim weapons. I know several people who almost gave up on Assassin's Creed II for the same reason, since the game seems to just assume you played the first one and are aware of the extremely unorthodox control scheme they have in place. And I also know plenty of people who don't even bother with sports or racing games they might be interested in, because again the developers seem to just expect that you've been playing the previous iterations for years.

If this kind of stuff confuses hardcore gamers who just are unfamiliar with one particular genre, then things must be extremely annoying to casual gamers who will probably not be patient enough to put up with dying multiple times at the beginning as they go through a strenous task of trial-and-error. This kind of thing needs to be addressed to expand their audience overall. Just do it like Gears of War did, though, and make the tutorial completely optional for those who are veterans.

The ability to pre-load an entire game onto the XB360 HD has greatly reduced, and in some cases eliminated, load times. I sincerely would like to see Sony implement this feature on the PS3 at some point because it really does improve performance across the board. At the very least, the ability to load an entire game on the HD should be a standard on the next wave of consoles.

I agree with Cardoza's suggestion of having optional tutorials. Who wouldn't that please, really? A great example of a producer that realized the demand for tutorials is EA's Fifa 2009 to 2010. In terms of tutorials, Fifa 2009 really leaves players to the wolves, especially with the changing directional relativity. 2010 supposedly really improves upon its predecessor by providing a tutorial system.

In Darksiders, I got the Abyssal Chain, then went back through the world exploring all of the areas I couldn't reach before. Managed to hit the swimming tutorial I should have seen in the first 10 minutes after over 10 hours in. Awesome~

I can relate to Ephiram's sentiment, once I get into the flow of gameplay, I don't like having my play interrupted so I can go back to school again. My preferred method is the initial tutorial level. Put me on a very linear path I can't deviate from, put progression blockers in my way, throw me a quick "Press Z or R twice" prompt up on the screen, then make me use those abilities to get past it.

I like my tutorials to be short, sweet, condensed and as close to the very beginning of the game as possible.

Also, I agree on the props to the Bayonetta loading screen. Though I really wish there was some sort of idle enemy with infinite hitpoints I could have practiced my combos on. You could only tinker with them while loading, trying to hit enemies with them is a much different experience requiring specific timing you can't get while whiffing the air.

Excellent points all around and some of my own gripes for years!

I'd also add

Don't waste the players time!

Too often check points that force to watch the same cutscene or experience 10 minutes of game content to be able to try again is still present in many great games that I play through. Hell just reloading the level after a failure and waiting for nearly a minute or more feels like an eternity!

If texture streaming and loading-screen times seem worse on this generation than they did with the PS2, there's a reason for that. The Xbox360 and the PS3 have 16 times as much RAM as the PS2 did, but optical drives have not gotten much faster than they were in the previous generation, certainly not 16 times faster! It simply takes a lot longer to load the data.

The amount of audio streaming has also increased (more simultaneous streamed sounds such as voiceovers, background music, etc.) which means current-gen games waste more time seeking back and forth between streams than previous gen games did. PS3 games often use hard-drive install to mitigate this. They can also afford to put multiple copies of data on the blu-ray to reduce seek times, but Xbox360 games often can't afford that size increase because of DVD size limitation. Some games (open-world games for example) need to load data sets that change very dynamically based on game conditions, so they have no choice but to seek back and forth numerous times to get to the data they need, and every seek takes 1/10th of a second or longer. Some types of game can reduce seeks by packaging their data more intelligently, but it only works if you can predict accurately at packaging time what assets will need to be loaded together, which really depends a lot on your game.