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[koam]

How do you think current genres will fair next generation? Which genres will be most popular, which will drop? Do you expect anything new?

Here are my opinions:

Cold Genres:

World War Whatever shooters: This generation showed a huge spike in military FPS games. A lot of them have been real good and there were a few stinkers as well. Overall, the market has become saturated. I don't expect this to last much longer going into the new gen.

Wrestling Games: We've been waiting for the next No Mercy and it never came. Def Jam 3 apparently isn't being made by AKI but rather internally by EA. TNT license goes to Midway. WWE has lost late 90s/early 00s popularity, I don't expect much here. I really hope I'm wrong as I really like wrestling games.

Hot Genres:

The Non-Games: The reality shows of gaming basically. I think non-games will become more and more popular especially in Japan. We've seen some success with Nintendogs, Brain Training and so-on. I'm expecting these to get big, especially in the handheld market.

Western Shooters: I mentioned earlier that I don't think War-based FPS games will be as big next gen. I think Western shooters will gain popularity but they won't reach the same levels that the war games did this gen.

Old-School games: Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade and low prices. Enough said.

Stable Genres:

Open-Ended: The big thing this gen. I don't think this will die out nor do I think there will be a huge boom in here. GTA will always be popular, more games will adopt the formula but that's about it.

Stealth Games: Hitman, Metal Gear and Splinter Cell. SC4 and MGS4 looks amazing but I don't think we'll see many new games in this genres besides sequels.

P.S Keep in mind that GAF likes to bookmark threads like this to use your quotes against you in the future, so think before you type

 

[VALIS]

Pretty good guesses, except I think military based shooters will always be popular. They've been omnipresent for 20 years now, no reason why they'll slow down now.

 

[JRPereira]

Pretty good guesses, except I think military based shooters will always be popular. They've been omnipresent for 20 years now, no reason why they'll slow down now.

What?!

 

[Parallax Scroll]

I don't expect mascot-based platformers or platformer/shooters to go anywhere this next gen.

 

[Blackace]

What?!

I was kind of thinking the same thing

 

[Suburban Cowboy]

depends how quickly EA chooses to kill any given genre.

 

[koam]

I was kind of thinking the same thing

Maybe Commando and Guerilla War?

 

[GhaleonEB]

How about the Giant Battle genre? Games like N3 and the battle scene in Kameo - lots and lots and lots of guys running around at once. Why? Because we can!

 

[Victrix]

The general open ended nature of games that was only just starting to be explored last gen on the consoles (technical limitations abounded) should be much more fully fleshed next gen, and I'm hoping some of it spills over to RPGs on consoles. Even on the PC, it hasn't really been common - other than Morrowind/Oblivion, there aren't many, and I'm hoping Oblivion is a sign of things to come for console RPGs.

I'd like to see some accessible, more 'actiony' rpgs that still have very large detailed worlds. To some extent, I think Hellgate: London is going down that route, in terms of playability and expansiveness, though they're doing it via random generation, rather than simply overloading the player with options and world size. I want to be overloaded

PSU is another, though I find my interest level at a steady lukewarm - there's something about the pantyfest female android design stylings that just creeps me out

In a lot of ways, MMOs on the PCs for the last X years have been scoping out that territory on the PC side, but there's a lot more that can be done with it. Guild Wars and now Hellgate are good steps, and I'm hoping some of that spills over to the consoles, though I fear that the strong desire for monthly payments may restrict the number of potentially awesome free games that are huge.

I fully expect a greater level of online integration for 360 titles, though how well it will be done across the board is a question mark. I suspect there will be a few killer titles that'll just completely rock to play with your friends, and that's all you really need. I have no idea what to expect from the PS3 or Rev in that arena - too early to speculate yet.

 

[VALIS]

What?!

I'm not just talking about FPS, but military themed shooters in general. Operation Wolf, Mercs, Commando, Ikari Warriors... they seem to have always been around.

 

[Blackace]

I'm not just talking about FPS, but military themed shooters in general. Operation Wolf, Mercs, Commando, Ikari Warriors... they seem to have always been around.

oh he said fps games.. so.. but I see now

 

[argon]

While the next hot genre is awfully difficult to predict, I tend to think the increased costs of next gen will lead publishers to focus on a licensed games with high budget, flashy graphics, and a bunch of really simple creative games sold at a lower price range. With that mindset here's what I think will be big next gen:

Superhero / Action hero Games - I think we'll see a ton of them, like the GTA clones of this gen. With physics, terrain deformation, and some serious online multiplayer mayhem, it's just the right kind of game to show off what nextgen consoles are capable of, and licensing a popular character is a way for publishers to play it safe with their big budget titles since there's a built in fan base.

MMORPGs - I think this will be big both on Revolution and XBox360 (with a kb/mouse peripheral) and it makes a lot of business sense.

Adventure Games - I'm hoping this makes a comeback, especially in light of Revolution's controller. It just seems absolutely perfect for manipulating items and solving puzzles in true 3D space. Adventure games can focus more on story and don't really need flashy graphics since they are less action oriented. All it takes is one breakout game to ressurect the genre.

 

[AndoCalrissian]

Open-ended isn't really a genre, just a feature.

 

[Acosta]

Very hot genre

MMORPG: I´m sure that this generation we will see a big jump for MMORPG and bastardizations of it like Guild Wars. I believe this thinking on the online structure that is going to be for the three consoles, that will convince developers about the possibilities of releasing this types of games on them, profiting their huge markets.

Crackdown, DC and Marvel MMORPGS are just a beginning. I think they will be very popular among players this generation and that developers will offer more variety on thematic far away the sword & magic worlds.