The console interactivity I wish WoW could have
by David Bowers 
Aug 22nd 2007 at 2:05PM
As a teenager, I loved console games. I grew up with Nintendo game images, tactics and ideas rolling through my mind. For various reasons, however, I've never really had a chance to pick up any console system since then, and I have often wondered how many changes have taken place in those sorts of games over the years. So recently one of my friends treated me to a few evenings where he just showed me a few of his console games, so that I could get a sense of what they're like these days. The experience made me wish that it were possible for World of Warcraft to incorporate a few of the features I saw in those games.
The biggest one was a sense of interacting more with the in-game environment that your character lives in. Especially in this game God of War, I loved how the main character was able to do special moves in special situations, such as jump on top of a monster and rip its head off, or pin it to the ground, or even climb inside its giant mouth. He can also sometimes climb walls or use special items to solve interesting environmental puzzles. Many other games have this sort of experience where there seems to be less of a barrier between your character and the other entities in the game's world.
WoW just doesn't have that interactive feeling. Whenever you swing your sword, you swing it in pretty much the same way, even if your target is so huge that you're actually just swinging at the empty space between its massive legs. Whenever you run along up hills or mountains, you do just fine until you come to that magical angle at which your character cannot climb, cannot crawl -- only runs in place against an invisible barrier, even though visually it seems like he should be able to just use his hands.
I have no idea how Blizzard would manage it, but I really wish my WoW character could climb up walls (or at least ladders!), flip enemies around, or climb up on top of giants' shoulders and stab them in the head. Even if all these things are an impossibility, I still hope there's something significant they could do to help foster a more cohesive and interactive feel between our characters and everything else in Azeroth.
Do you ever wish for some console game features in WoW? Or are they totally apples vs. oranges for you?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
John Aug 22nd 2007 2:09PM
"console game features"?? I've never thought of console games having features such as clibming and special movies as opposed to...PC games...most PC games have those too....someone sounds out of touch....just discovered the PS2, did you??
dragkhan Aug 22nd 2007 2:14PM
Wowinsider should have a rule, don't let noobers post stupid articles like this.
Arras Aug 22nd 2007 2:16PM
This is just a longer version of "Blue! WoW on Wii/xbox/PS3?"
It might be neat, but it ain't going to happen. Face reality and just deal with it. You little console twerps can have your Halo, your Gears of War and your Guitar Heros and shove it.
If Blizzard wanted to, they would have developed WoW for a console already. They're not going to, so just stop
Freehugz Aug 22nd 2007 2:25PM
errr... I wouldn't call it "console interactivity" seeing as there's pc games that do this and console games that don't.
About the subject: Adding more environment interactivity would be gamebreaking.
Queuetip Aug 22nd 2007 2:25PM
I still have my NES hooked up to the living room TV. On occasion my friends and I get in a game of Blades of Steel or Golf (Oh Golf...). As far as interaction is concerned, console games are designed to put all focus on the player. Everything is programmed to interact with one person (or Co-Op). MMOs are designed to interact with thousands of people at one time. So much effort is put into managing such a huge environment that adding simple bonuses are probably on the lower end of the importance spectrum. I would rather them work on new content and items than let us punch npcs in the face and knock them over. Actually on second thought.... :)
"Whenever you run along up hills or mountains, you do just fine until you come to that magical angle at which your character cannot climb, cannot crawl -- only runs in place against an invisible barrier, even though visually it seems like he should be able to just use his hands."
You can climb it. You just need some game exploiting wall jumping skills.
ickibod Aug 22nd 2007 2:26PM
@3
You should read the whole article before posting. He never says WoW should be developed for concolses - he states that WoW should incorporate the environental interactivity that many console games have.
Now, I could do with a bit more interaction with the environment in WoW, but console games are no more interactive than a PC game - see Half-Life 2 and Bioshock for good examples.
amasen Aug 22nd 2007 2:27PM
Personally, I wish the game could have more interactivity myself. God of war is amazing in how it implemented interactivity. More importantly it took you out of the same grind of pressings buttons in a certain order to win. Because lets face it, wow is filled with that, and it could certainly use a refresh every now and again...
Though in some ways, fights like Terron Gorefiend would be similar to that where you die, you get turned into a ghost and only ghosts can kill the things that spawn out of your dead body... Problem is... All the creative and interesting fights in this game are for raiders only, and most people have not ever seen them, nor will they ever see them.
LEAX Aug 22nd 2007 2:27PM
Man are you serious about what you wrote now ? Stop playing WoW and go play God of War if you like it so much but dont bring those *bling bling* *cool* ideas to WoW because we dont need it ..
ickibod Aug 22nd 2007 2:29PM
Ugh, correcting my last post -
The first "concolses" should be "consoles" and the first "environent" should be "environment".
Note to self: Don't post when I've gotten
Baluki Aug 22nd 2007 2:29PM
Ok, now that the angry people have had their say, let's get back to discussing this in a civilized fashion.
Those features would be cool, but the way that WoW is built just makes these things impossible. Characters are basically "anchored" to the ground and follow its contours. If you happen to leave the normal, accessible, travellable plane, that's when stuff starts to Evade, and when lots of other targeting glitches show up. They would basically need to completely remake a huge part of the game engine, and at that point they may as well just create an entirely new game.
It would be nice if characters actually aligned themselves to attack characters though. If I'm a troll fighting a gnome, I should be stabbing downward. If I'm attacking a dragon, I should be launching myself at its legs and jumping up and slashing at its head and neck.
It would also be nice if spells could hit anywhere on a creature's body, not just their central point. If you shoot a fireball at a flailing dragon, that fireball will change course and weave around and around to hit the dragon squarely between the eyes, whereas in reality, you'd be far more likely to hit the dragon somewhere along its huge torso. I'm not saying that spells should be aimable, or that this should in any way affect current gameplay, but it'd be nice if stuff was a little more cosmetically variable.
coccacola13 Aug 22nd 2007 2:30PM
someone sounds bitter. don't get out much do we? what happened? did your roomate come in and open the blinds, exposing you to that evil thing in the sky that is known to you as the sun? Poor Arras has a glare on his monitor. what is he to do now? Too bad you cant use all that WOW experience to get up and shut the blinds.
Pudie Aug 22nd 2007 2:31PM
You might not be able to scale Onyxia and rip her head off with your bare hands with a button pressing action sequence. But does Kratos tell jokes about Chuck Norris?
Sinkiller Aug 24th 2007 10:28AM
Wow... @1,2,3 - do you folks read much? Or have any clue how to comprehend a string of syllables put together in an ordered fashion to convey meaning? Doesn't look like it, based on your "intelligent" remarks.
@1 - obviously the writer is not saying that computer games lack the interactivity that console games have. Where do you even get that? The article is about a specific game ( WoW ) wherein the author wishes the interactivity were a bit deeper between toon and environment. The issue with attack visuals being the same no matter what mob is being hacked on is a valid one. It seems a bit ludicrous when you are standing there stabbing away at air because the red circle is five feet further around the mob than their skin graphic shows. That sort of thing is just a little funny looking. At no point in this article does anyone say "I think consoles are better because there are no computer games that have climbing / jumping / etc. " you just made that up....sorry.
@2 - What a brilliant and scathing retort. You keep the universe in order, my friend... wow...you got them good with that "noobers" part. we all LOL'ed and admired you. Well played. We looke forward to your next "first!" post.
@3 - You seem to be replying to a completely different article as well. Perhaps you and #1 are channeling some previous slight or insult, one that hurts deeply, but is not necessarily pertinent to this article? Where does the poster say, anywhere, that they wish WoW would be made into a console game? Where?
How about reading the thing before responding to it... take a dictionary if the trip is too much for you.
Sylythn Aug 22nd 2007 2:41PM
@2 - Yeah, I'd like one about trolls too...
John Aug 22nd 2007 2:42PM
i feel bad about what i said in comment 1 - it must be tough coming up with new topics for a daily blog about this game....and there are plenty of slow news days....
agreed about the lack of chuck norris jokes in console games
Razhlok Aug 22nd 2007 2:49PM
I wish I could input up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, start and unlock big head mode.
I also wish my orange had a peel I could eat like my apple or that my apple was more citrusy, like an orange.
FireStar Aug 22nd 2007 2:45PM
Definitely not possible in wow, but it may be something a future mmog can do.
Horixon Aug 22nd 2007 2:50PM
I think its sad that so many people jump down your throat for a post that is completely valid. It would be cool to have some more interactivity against mobs. No, it probably won't happen. Doesn't mean you have to be jerks to the guy writing the post.
@dragkhan - Until you have the chance to write a regular colum for any site or publication, grow up and keep stupid comments to yourself.
@John - I think it's awesome that you reposted feeling bad about your first comment. I bet it is pretty tough to always come up with new posts. Good on ya!
chris.babin Aug 22nd 2007 3:06PM
I can see what he's talking about and I think it would make this type of game better. I wasn't really that exceedingly impressed by "God of War", although it was a lot of fun in a "beat stuff to death" kind of way. But, I remember back to the days of the original "Soul Reaver" or any of the "Zelda" games and I think to myself, wouldn't it be awesome, if in a dungeon, or even in the wilds, there were puzzles to solve by pushing things, platform jumping, using items to open doors, all for the sake of progressing through a dungeon... doing something other than killing trash, to progress. Imagine the type of puzzles you could have that would involve a whole raid of 40 to solve or complete. I think that would be neato, and I see why it couldn't work in WoW but it would be awesome to see used in a future game.
Dracula Jones Aug 22nd 2007 3:06PM
Side-scrolling platformer daily quest. That's just fun for everybody. Head-stomping some murlocs? Please!