Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Video games as a whole are not what tehy used to be. I used to remember being excited when a new system would come out and wondering what innovations it would bring. Somewhere along the line, the industry has turned into just that; an industry. I often get the feeling that people don't know exactly how crappy some of the new "big" games are. Halo is nothing new and nothing special; it is nothing revolutionary; there have been and are a million games like it. The plot isn't that great, and the fact that you can save every 5 seconds means it takes no skill to "beat." I'm not saying there isn't a skill to multiplayer, but ultimately it comes down to memorizing every weapons cool-down/fire rate, all the map layouts and your twitch reactions. Even looking at the password coming into being, losing in a game has lost all meaning. If you can just reload where you were 5 seconds ago, who cares? The only new games I can enjoy are ones where I feel like I have to practice to attain skill (hopefully the fighting genre is making a comeback). Beyond that, 3d graphics don't impress me. They annoy me. I can still remember everyone going nuts over FF7 and hailing it as this great step for gaming, when it was jsut a really crap stat system and a bunch of movies that took forever to load. My brother beat it equipping weapons he thought looked cool and giving everyone heal spells. I remember him being stuck for a week because he was supposed to go through a door that, due to a graphics error, was hidden behind this rock. Games should just work, and they should be fun. For the past week at my job I've been working on 360s and PS3s and it amazes me. My NES never crashed or needed a download. Rant done. Thoughts?

Its only so long before an idea is new and fresh turn into something repeated and old.

How many hero vs aliens in the future setting can be re used without player thinking its the same old thing.

How much money can a company afford to lose and they try something new instead of play it safe.

If you can answer those question CTU , you are the next millionaire designer the video company needs.

Can you state your point?

Is it that the gaming industry is bigger, with the same amount of quality but 10x more "bad stuff'?

Where did zetsubo sensei go!?

whats this new avatar? *goes into despair...

Squig_herder wrote:Can you state your point?

Is it that the gaming industry is bigger, with the same amount of quality but 10x more "bad stuff'?

...Sorry, I tried. Ask the mighty FSM for guidance.

I don't really get it.
I like videogames and I play a lot of them. True, it's hard to find something "new" in a buisenes that's mostly interested in "safe" investments.
I guess it also depends on what kind of experience you expect from a videogame. Take Final Fantasy 7 for example: When I played it for the first time I played a bunch of RPGs on Gamecube and Dreamcast and decided that I really liked the genre. But what made it truly great for me, was the atmosphere and story.
Sometimes I also play for a game to test my skills. Viewtiful Joe for example. I sure didn't play that one for the story
btw. have you played Mega Man 9 yet?

I didn't really have much of a point save that I think the majority of games released now should have had a huge focus put on gameplay, sacrificing graphics and "story" (if I want fuggin' cut scenes I'll watch a DVD!). It makes me sad. I think their needs to be a few companies that can catch the mainstream gamers eye that just make good games, not games that tout good graphics and half-assed plots as their major feature.

I guess I should explain the name of the thread too. I used to talk about how one band/artist hears another band/artist and begins to idolize them. They strive their hardest to be "as good as them." Then the next generation hears that artist and tries otbe "as good as them." And it spirals downward til the point where Nirvana is considered good somehow. I'm not opposed to anyone liking anything, I just feel better if they've been exposed to good stuff first. I'll admit that I like some very crappy band/artists, but they're fun to listen to. Anyway, end rant again.

That Nirvana effect is a funny thing

To me, most games need a satisfying story. That way it's much more fun if you achive something important, like beating a hard boss battle.
The MGS series is practicaly based on the whole concept that games are interactive movies, which isn't such a bad thing in my opinion.

I still love UFO: Enemy Unknown. And Ultima VII part two, Serpent Isle, even though I haven't finished it since I first played it when it came out.

Fallout 1 and especially 2 are still a joy, as is the Baldur's Gate series.

Other than that, I liked Halo because of Legendary setting. I liked the way the A.I. worked, and the fact that you can switch weapons while not carrying a huge arsenal.

I still love CS, too.

Games were never that innovative. For every Mario there’s a hundred Mario clones.

Gameplay has been lacking in 95% of games released since the Atari, Collecovision or whatever system you felt was the golden age of gaming, because gameplay is really hard to get right.

Prettier, better looking games have always been a focus, and will always be a focus because it is a visual medium, part of the appeal is to look at something cool.

There are interesting game titles released all the time. There are millions of innovations put out in small budget titles, hardly anyone buys them because people are way less interested in innovation than they claim.

Good point seb.

I also think that these days it's hard to come up with an original concept in a market which is dominated moslty by all kinds shooters.

But there should be some original games out there.
What about Mirror's Edge for example?

sebster wrote:Games were never that innovative. For every Mario there’s a hundred Mario clones.

Gameplay has been lacking in 95% of games released since the Atari, Collecovision or whatever system you felt was the golden age of gaming, because gameplay is really hard to get right.

Prettier, better looking games have always been a focus, and will always be a focus because it is a visual medium, part of the appeal is to look at something cool.

There are interesting game titles released all the time. There are millions of innovations put out in small budget titles, hardly anyone buys them because people are way less interested in innovation than they claim.

This. Also you grew older and filtered out all the crap from when "you were younger" and only remember the good ones.

I will look forward to 15 years from now when current graphics look like crap and people tout _________ as being "about the story and atmosphere" and not about a generic [genre].