Submitted on: 03/11/2009 by
With the days getting longer and baseball on the minds of gamers who own video-game consoles, what better time to discuss something that is in most sports video games? I am hinting at the classic cut-scene that is in most sports games today.
Cut-scenes are nothing new in games; they have been around for a long time. And, if you have spent any time playing sports games over the past decade, you have probably played some games that are better at capturing the essence of a live broadcast better than others when it comes to the cut-scene. Because these non-interactive scenes are probably not going away any time soon, we should try and figure out what works best in the future, and also decide if the cut-scene truly is the way to go.
MLB 09: The Show
Conveniently enough, there is no better sport to talk about when it comes to the issue of cut-scenes than the baseball genre. MLB 09: The Show has been widely renowned for its jaw-dropping and wonderfully produced between-play cuts. Little things like a batter walk-up or a conference on the pitching mound are probably not on the top of many must-have lists when it comes to games, but these things certainly add to the realism of the game.
I could go as far as to say that SCE San Diego has raised the bar in terms of what can be done with cut-scenes and set a new gold standard. If you leave this game on standby, as in put the controller down and just watch, you will be treated to some of the most unique scenes in any sports game today. From mascots on dugouts, to beach balls coming on the field, to players discussing their golf swings at the plate, to dugout antics, MLB The Show captures baseball in its many forms.
But are cut-scenes still wanted today? How many times while playing a game have you just pressed a button to skip back to the action? Sure, maybe you try and watch them the first few times, but then you start to see repeats and skip them. Would companies be better off just skipping the whole idea and working on other areas?
Are you a cut-scene skipper?
That is where MLB 2K9 comes into play. The folks at Visual Concepts had a an idea and ran with it, and it should be interesting to see where this goes down the line. MLB 2K9 baseball has "Real-time Presentation" rather than cut-scenes. This more or less means there are "real-time" cut-scenes, which means there are no canned pre-recorded clips that the game cuts away to during certain moments in a game. The action unfolds on the field without cutting between various moments and scenes.
What happens is, say a player hits a foul ball and has to turn around and go back to the batter's box and pick up his bat. Well, in the past you watched a cut-scene where this all went down, and maybe there were a few variations of this cut-scene, but still it was canned and what you saw was never going to change during the scene.
Now, it could all be potentially dynamic and live. If you hit a ball that ricochets off something, you could see it in the background of your view. All the movement and animation that took place behind the scenes in the play is still going on, and if you look, you will see all the players doing things in "real-time."
MLB 2K series is not quite at this level yet, but the potential is there. As of this year, you can certainly tell that the game is all in real-time, but it is sometimes for the wrong reasons (see: herky-jerky animations of a batter walking back to the dugout).
Baseball = The Perfect Case Study
Regardless, the real-time approach is certainly something that is worth seeing more of in the sports genre, assuming it can be perfected over the years. Because no matter how good or fresh a cut-scene is at first, there is only so many times you will want to watch it.
I know for me, personally, one of the biggest letdowns in sports-gaming each year is the lack of presentational upgrades. I get bored quicker with a game that has the same stale commentary or introductions every single year. I like to feel like I am playing something new each time I fire up a sports game. It is the little things that keep us coming back for more and increase replay value for games.
How many of us play NHL 09 and race through the cut-scenes online? Or have played Madden and just wanted to get to the next play because we got tired of seeing a player adjusting his fake face-mask? How about the first time you saw some of the fan shots in NCAA Football or NFL 2K on the Playstation 2 and Dreamcast? You were probably pretty amazed -- the first 50 times -- and then it became old news.
So with the 2010 line of games due out later this year, let us hope some other games follow in the footsteps of what is right with cut-scenes -- like The Show's attention to detail and multiple diverse cut-scenes for one occurrence. Or, on the other hand, developers go in the new direction and try something a bit more innovative and unique.
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