What has happened to game intros?

[Vinnie]

In 90's and early 00's every game had an intro and most of them were nice to look at. Nowdays it's nothing or some pretentious stuff. What happened?

 

[Jashiin]

Jews

 

[Baron Dupek]

They threw it to the first level with very helpful tutorial in case you're fresh in video games.

 

[Ermm]

Nolan

 

[deuxhero]

By intro, I take it you mean attract mode videos?

I've seen devs mention they aren't cheep to make, especially when they aren't in-game footage.

Saints Row 2 shows it is possible to have a good one with just in-game stuff (it's actually pre-recorded but produced in the game engine so the game doesn't have to load before playing it)



It establishes what happened between the first game and the sequel, gives some basic knowledge of the villains and as an added bonus, it even ties in with the actual start of the game (A guard is finishing watching TV and putting down the remote)

 

[Jick Magger]

After the End of World War 2, the world was split into two; east and west. This marked the beginning of the era called the Cold War.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I don't think I've seen a modern game with no intro, even the indiest indies have them.

As for boring samey intros, I imagine it's the consequence of gaming becoming a big fucking business like films. It has to be approved by a group of people, who are trying to satisfy the largest number of people.

--

edit: haha, the SR2 intro. I never noticed the studio doing the interview has a bright orange color scheme (Ultor Corporation's color)

 

[DalekFlay]

I tend to dislike long non interactive intros unless they are insanely well done. Deus Ex: Human Revolution's intro was okay, for an intro. More games need to have interactive openings though.

 

[Nutmeg]

Good riddance.

 

[Boleskine]

One of the best ever:

 

[Surf Solar]

One of the best ever:

I just skipped, stopped and forfeited everything I was doing prior to watching this thread just to view this video. It is just... perfect. No other intro can match this.

 

[Boleskine]

I just skipped, stopped and forfeited everything I was doing prior to watching this thread just to view this video. It is just... perfect. No other intro can match this.

Ron Perlman makes everything better.

 

[shihonage]

 

[taxalot]

Remember when cutscenes were supposed to be an award for completing a difficult section?

This happened.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

I've discovered what appears to be an extended intro to San Andreas.





Shows the green sabre attack on CJ's mother.

 

[Athelas]

Besides the general decline, I imagine it's because back in those times, producing those FMV's was relatively expensive, so they had to make every second count. Also, graphics were limited, so the movies were usually reserved for fantastic stuff that couldn't be conveyed otherwise. Nowadays the problem is the opposite: cutscenes of mundane/boring stuff.

 

[Jick Magger]

 

[DwarvenFood]

I tend to dislike long non interactive intros unless they are insanely well done. Deus Ex: Human Revolution's intro was okay, for an intro. More games need to have interactive openings though.

I tend to dislike any kind of interactive intro.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

 

[ZagorTeNej]

My personal favourite:

 

[sea]

I think a lot of the decline in game intros has to do with everything needing to now be "epic", that, is, grandiose, high stakes, with bombastic orchestral music, and so on. A lot of older intros tended to have stricter limitations on what they could show due to the fact that, say, animating a massive battle between two armies was out of reach of many developers, so instead they had to go for something with a bit of subtlety, clever direction and mood, which ended up being much more interesting.

 

[Infinitron]

You don't need epic introduction cutscenes when the entire game is like that anyway. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if they discovered that lots of players just skip 'em.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

Didn't Fargo say that he never even saw the intro to Hunted until it hit the shelves?

 

[Vinnie]

Exacrtly, you don't see stuff like this nowdays, and it's not only graphics but the general feel, aesthetics and the direction. Today you see mundane stuff, it's like no one cares anymore and the only thing that matters is $$$$

 

[agentorange]

best htere ever was




unf that music