The Video Game Industry: Creativity & Originality

Creativity, it can be found everywhere. Movies, music, novels and my favorite; video games. To be creative is to have an imagination and that's where ideas originate. They usually stem from what you think of based off of what you've experienced. For instance, the upcoming movie 300 is Frank Miller's novel in movie form based on the ancient Battle of Themopylae of 480 BC. 300 is Miller's vision of a slick and more bad-ass version of the historical battle. All forms of entertainment are hardly original these days but that doesn't always mean the property of something else was stolen, or that whatever manifested from the original idea is not enjoyable anymore. Most of the time, ideas are reused because the predecessors had set the bar, or that they became an inspiration for even big and better ideas. Oh, and if you were wondering, yes, I'm listening to Come Original by 311 right now.

Nowadays, when I look at the many video games that pass and go in the video game industry it is difficult to spot out something that hasn't been done before, so pure and untouched in its infant form, an original idea. I have been observing the Game Developer's Conference held in San Francisco during March of every year and I noticed that Sony's Home (the answer to Xbox Live and Wii Connect) is basically a Sim's/Second Life/Virtual Console/Xbox Live all in one. Cool? Visually it looks pleasing but it's too early to tell, just a fine example of how creativity wasn't exactly found there. Previous ideas were used to develop what is the end product, a combination of everything else. On the other hand, Sony had something else to show off entitled Little Big Planet which is a side-scrolling game where you manipulate the level constructs and objects however you please. You solve the puzzles and challenges that other players or yourself create with your friends, the game was truly impressive. You can see it for yourself here.