Is it ok to shun the current videogame industry?

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 6:18 pm

This is a sort of a spinoff on the Xbox2 screens thread. I guess it's either because I can't afford the next gen machines or that no new games really interest me, I kinda want to give up on the current videogames and consoles that are out in the market. I couldn't give a rat's rear about PS3, Xbox2, or even Revolution. My PS1 games get more play time than my PS2 ones, so why did I even buy the PS2 in the first place? Oh yeah, to play Gradius V and play my old games on a more realible system (my PSOne's laser suddenly crapped out one day, so I figured I'd make the upgrade anyway). I find myself yearning for the good old' days of the NES and SNES, and have this urge to collect games for those systems. It's cheaper anyway, so why not?

Since we are on a forum about a "dead' genre from gaming's past, I wonder if some of you too, have given up hope for the next-gen. Nothing wrong with living in the past, in my opinion. We are the videogame equalient to classic car fanatics, is it the mentality of "they were built better back in the days" or what? I know some of you are so hardcore that you have built your own arcade in your rooms! Man, my dream is to open up an arcade with fill it up with nothing but Japanese shooting goodness.

As for me, screw the mainstream game industry, I'll be sitting here with my dusty old NES playing the first Final Fantasy with extra money in my pocket while those fools waste theirs on new technology that doesn't exactly promise fun.

alpha5099 · Post by **alpha5099** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 6:40 pm

Yeah, it was apathy for the current state of gaming that brought me to shmups. The only system I still buy new/recent games for is my GBA.

I've been considering selling my GC. I haven't used it in months, I could use the cash. Most of the games I could buy on Dreamcast or PS2 (once I have a PS2, that is). I guess I might miss some of the Nintendo exclusives. But not really, actually, Paper Mario 2, Animal Crossing, and Super Smash Bros. Melee have been the only Nintendo games that have really impressed me. I can play those games on N64 or when the DS ports arrive.

Lately, I've pretty much focused all of my attention on expanding my Genesis and Saturn collections. There are at least 300 games between those two systems I'd like to get, it should tide me over for years.

Ord · Post by **Ord** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 6:40 pm

Although my first (and so far enduring) love is shooters, i enjoy a lot of this generations other titles. I do think that this generation is ending to quickly, which is thanks to microsoft i guess, and i'm not really that excited about the Xbox 360/PS3/Revolution. However i love videogames and if there is a future title that i want on the next gen consoles then i'll simply buy it.
Simply put, it's not a case of either going retro or just buy the new titles. It's both for me. It'll be intresting to see if they can put some fresh new ideas into games, it is something i doubt will happen though. I'm sure it'll be the same old gameplay but with even more advanced graphics, but i'm ever hopeful.

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 6:50 pm

I guess it's going to take a killer app or a godly shmup to interest me in the next-gen consoles.

Hand-helds are another story however, I'm actually slightly interested in the PSP, and the DS looks like it can do some pretty interesting stuff (I'm sold on Castlevania DS already), but I'm still waiting it out for a price drop.

I am building a new computer anyway, I don't need to be blowing wads of cash on some next-gen console.

Valgar · Post by **Valgar** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 7:19 pm

You guys are wacked. Wanda and the Collosus looks awesome, and Gitaroo-Man is one of my favorite games. Nothing has changed, companies continue to put out shitty games while a few gems trickle in.

MovingTarget · Post by **MovingTarget** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 9:59 pm

The only thing you need to worry about is buying the games that you will really like. There'll be amazing games on the next gen consoles, as well as shite games. If I see some great games on a particular console and I can afford it I'l buy it, otherwise I'll keep buying the games I want for older consoles. I dont see what the problem is really, things could always be better than they actually are.

Diabollokus · Post by **Diabollokus** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 10:33 pm

I'm not sure what move I'll make there are still great games made these days they are just hard to spot. Far cry and Doom 3 have renewed my interest in fps.

I haven't played a good (NEW) strategy game or rpg in 3 years.......

Ord · Post by **Ord** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 10:41 pm

Diabollokus wrote:I'm not sure what move I'll make there are still great games made these days they are just hard to spot. Far cry and Doom 3 have renewed my interest in fps.

I haven't played a good (NEW) strategy game or rpg in 3 years.......

Disgaea : Hour Of Darkness is a pretty fab strategy rpg that i can easily recommend. And if you haven't already got too sick of FPS Half Life 2 is wonderful.

SheSaidDutch · Post by **SheSaidDutch** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 10:41 pm

I lost interest when the Dreamcast died, I would love to pick up a PSTwo at some point, as I meant to purchase one since launch.

Gamecube hasn't been touched in a whole year

I wont be getting any new consoles for the next generation.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 11:21 pm

I'll still get a system if it has any shooter offerings.

I'm still catching up on old stuff though, with just acquiring a PC-Engine and all, it's not like I have a complete shortage of shooters to buy already :p

I'm kind of looking forward to having the new generation pushed out, then I might actually get around to buying a Xbox... (am I the only person who pronounces it 'kissbox'...? Gah..)

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 11:37 pm

Well, I've sorta become disillusioned with new stuff after the Saturn's fall but I still get them since some stuff is interesting and, well, new. It's easier since I like other genres, stuff like arcade racers that do tend to get better as technology progresses.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 2:31 am

Sort of. I see a lot of games coming out that I want to play, but most of them I only end up playing once and then forgetting about, whereas I always find myself coming back to the classics. It's also hard to keep track of what's coming out with all the consoles and handhelds currently available.

Zhon · Post by **Zhon** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 3:13 am

No, it's NOT okay to shun current video games. You must bow down to them! And spend all your money! And watch in-game ads! And buy the cool T-shirts that them virtual gangsters wear!

Acid King · Post by **Acid King** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 4:49 am

I usually ignore new systems until I see something that I like on one. For this next generation, that will almost surely come with the arrival of a new Ninja Gaiden game.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Sat Apr 23, 2005 5:29 am

People who know how to make Good games don't die from one console generation to the next, so I'll keep buying new systems as they become affordable and have a decent library.

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 7:32 am

No, it's daft IMO. Let's be honest, the ratio of good/shite hasn't really changed since the days of the Specrtum and C64. How many cookie-cutter 'me too' shmups appeared on those machines during the late '80's/early '90's? My apathy is more to do with the fact that I've grown up with gaming since the age of five or so, and it's getting harder and harder to impress me. That's not the fault of developers and publishers as such, after all there's got to be a finite number of original concepts before developers run out of ideas. I feel like I've seen it all and played it all, and a game really has to be something special to make me want to shell out £40 on release day. Now for someone younger than me who has perhaps been playing games for a shorter amount of time, I can understand and appreciate how, say... Doom 3 might impress the pants off of him/her and make them rush straight out to buy. Don't mean that at all condescendingly, but if you've been playing games for half the time I have, then it could be reasonably argued that you should only be half as jaded

and I can see how titles that don't particularily excite me may still get other gamers fired up. It's in no way a bad game, but to me personally, after experiencing classics (at the time) such as Doom, Duke Nukem, Half-Life and so on, it's just all a bit 'so what?' y'know?

What I won't be doing is making a mad dash for any of those machines on release day and then getting stung with the inevitable £100-£150 price drop six months after. Prolly give it a year, and pick up anything I've missed game wise once it's dropped in price. There should still be another good two years left, in the Xbox especially IMO, and it annoys me to see the next-gen being forced on the market prematurely. Course, Nintendo are fucked, but I can see 'em going the same way as Sega soon anyway. Might do 'em good, but that's a whole different thread...

Nemo · Post by **Nemo** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 7:32 am

For me there's only like 1 or 2 titles that I couldn't live without on each current system that forces me to keep it. For instance, if it wasn't for Orta, I would have ditched my Xbox long ago. Unfortunately for Microsoft, I don't see any Ortas on the horizon, so no Xbox 2 for me. I'm sure I'll get Nintendo's next offering just because they always have great 1st party software, though they've sucked here recently. And I'm sure I'll get suckered into getting a PS3 just because they'll have the most games and the law of averages says something has to be worthwhile on it. But I still probably spend 15x as much time playing 8-16-bit games as I do 32-bit + (non-shmups). I'd estimate the good-to-crap ratio (good meaning something I'd like to play for more than 5 minutes) now is something like 1:150 whereas in the early days it was more like 1:30.

You guys are wacked. Wanda and the Collosus looks awesome, and Gitaroo-Man is one of my favorite games. Nothing has changed, companies continue to put out shitty games while a few gems trickle in.

I'd say it's more like companies used to put out some awful games, a lot of great ones, and a good amount of gems. Now 99% of games are garbage. You named one game you think will be good and another that is good, so that's 2 game out of what, a few thousand? And that proves current gaming shouldn't shunned. Heck, I could find a 2 worthwhile games on the Jaguar and Virtual Boy.

Valgar · Post by **Valgar** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 1:07 pm

Those games are just some examples, there are some others, but I am a tough cookie like Martha. Honestly, Marc said it perfect Let's be honest, the ratio of good/shite hasn't really changed since the days of the Specrtum and C64.

Nei First · Post by **Nei First** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 1:38 pm

I've noticed some people here say they don't touch their gamecube much. I know alot of people who either hardly play their gamecube, or don't even have one at all.

If any of you are Naruto fans, I would suggest trying to get Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen! 3, that game will make you play gamecube for quite a while...... If that's your sort of thing.

On topic, I don't really have a problem with the next gen, but I'll admit I definatly prefer the older games overall. I can go as far back as the 16-bit era, but alot of the games on NES/Master system I just can't play anymore, a bit too basic for me.

Diabollokus · Post by **Diabollokus** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 1:43 pm

Theres still as much crap coming out these days as there was back in the nineties, it was just harder to spot back then.

Nowdays we have reviews everywhere, games are all about graphics endless sequel after endless sequel, Look at football games i mean soccer to you americans, pro evolution soccer 1-4 some changes nothing major.

I think people have just become tired. Another Orta? i hope not that was a fantastic game that rivaled zewi and pd1 but i hope it gets left alone, i want another saga or to do a prequel based on the fall of the ancient age and the utopian civilisation that fell.

QUESTION: will the xbox 2 be backwards compatible? if so i may buy some cheap xbox 1 titles.

SheSaidDutch · Post by **SheSaidDutch** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 1:43 pm

Valgar wrote:Those games are just some examples, there are some others, but I am a tough cookie like Martha. Honestly, Marc said it perfect Let's be honest, the ratio of good/shite hasn't really changed since the days of the Specrtum and C64.

That is indeed true, just that certain genres aren't as popular or made anymore for the current systems.

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 2:02 pm

Diabollokus wrote:Theres still as much crap coming out these days as there was back in the nineties, it was just harder to spot back then.

Come to think of it, there's always been shitty games, even back in the "good old days" of videogames.

I guess I'm just sick of wasting my money and having a game disappoint me. Gran Turismo 4 I bought out of sheer hype (stupid me

) and now I rarely play it, I'd rather play Rush 2049 or the first Turismo.

Is it the realism that people push for that bores me? The first GT was a powerslide-a-ton and it was hella fun. GT4 almost puts me to sleep. (Though there is a bunch of cool cars to mess around with).

For now, the next-gen is a wait-and-see sort of thing for me.

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 3:31 pm

Yup, there have always been crappy games. Period. My biggest problem is the lack of arcade style games, or even envisioning what an arcade style game looks like today. Most games are designed to be played for hours at a stretch (which is fine) but the games you played for 10 or 15 minutes have gone away. This makes gaming difficult for me because while arcade style games have an enormous amount of replay value, games like Resident Evil 4 (which I really love), can at most be played through a couple times and then real boredome sets in. I'm digging Devil May Cry 3, but still haven't beaten it, in part because once I have beaten it, I don't know how compelled I'm going to be to play it again.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 8:41 pm

Diabollokus wrote:Theres still as much crap coming out these days as there was back in the nineties, it was just harder to spot back then.

I think we've just forgotten about the crap and focused on the good stuff. Looking at a list of older games for a system, you can easily see be recalled that plenty of them were crap.

sethsez · Post by **sethsez** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 10:14 pm

Nemo wrote:I'd say it's more like companies used to put out some awful games, a lot of great ones, and a good amount of gems. Now 99% of games are garbage.

Nope. Marc covered this bit of rose-tinting pretty well:

Marc wrote:Let's be honest, the ratio of good/shite hasn't really changed since the days of the Specrtum and C64.

Marc wrote:My apathy is more to do with the fact that I've grown up with gaming since the age of five or so, and it's getting harder and harder to impress me.

There have always been loads upon loads of absolutely terrible games. However, you were more easily impressed when you were younger, and because it was much harder to get information on any game you could imagine, it was harder to become disillusioned with them. And if you started gaming as a kid, I also doubt you had the ability to get whatever game you wanted, when you wanted it. It's much easier to enjoy a game if that's going to be your only one for the next few months than it is if you can pick up five used games at Gamestop and return them if they suck.

Finally, as CMoon said:

CMoon wrote:My biggest problem is the lack of arcade style games

and that's pretty much what it comes down to, and is a perfectly valid reason for ignoring the next generation of systems. The quality of games hasn't gone down at all, but the focus has shifted a bit. If the shift in focus doesn't interest you, by all means, ignore modern gaming and fill out your collection for older systems. But that's not an indication of the current, or next, generation's quality.

SheSaidDutch · Post by **SheSaidDutch** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 10:51 pm

I completly agree with what sethsez has pointed out.

adam76 · Post by **adam76** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 11:28 pm

I think its ridiculous to write off a whole generation before its even released a console, let alone any games! Theres enough good stuff around at the mo to suggest a reasonably bright future for all things games-related.
As people who are passionate about a specific interest, i guess its sometimes natural to look back on times gone by with rose-tinted specs. Its the equivalent to waxing lyrical about the Haight Ashbury scene of the 60's while bemoaning Oasis's most recent waste of good vinyl. Gaming is no different, at the end of the day there will always be poor games around regardless of the era-you gotta take the wheat with the chaff! Remember that while the SNES had Contra Spirits, it also had Chester the Cheetah!

I love the old systems and i've got tons of old games, but my collection would feel a hell'uva lot poorer without the likes of Fable, Paper Mario, Resident Evil 4, Pro Evolution footy, Halo, Deus Ex:invisible war, KOTOR, Devil may cry, Viewtiful joe, Rainbow Six 3 and Ninja Gaiden.
At the end of the day though, thats just me. Each to their own!

Diabollokus wrote:I haven't played a good (NEW) strategy game or rpg in 3 years.......

If you've not played it yet, try Tales of Symphonia-50 hrs of pure gold!

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 3:06 am

I believe its okay to shun the marketing hype behind new consoles. I mean they always tell you its the "business" and usually fall flat on their face when it comes time to deliver. But mostly, especially with PS2, it is the fanboyism of actually owning a day 1 machine than actually any of the games.

Bare in mind that most of the marketting is aimed at games which will sell the most. So your not going to see Microsoft promoting a shmup at the launch of the system because its a niche product. Doesn't mean there will be no shmups on the system, it may have the most shmups, 2D platformers on a 3D console to date. You just never know.

adam76 · Post by **adam76** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 9:48 am

neorichieb1971 wrote:I believe its okay to shun the marketing hype behind new consoles. I mean they always tell you its the "business" and usually fall flat on their face when it comes time to deliver. But mostly, especially with PS2, it is the fanboyism of actually owning a day 1 machine than actually any of the games.

Bare in mind that most of the marketting is aimed at games which will sell the most. So your not going to see Microsoft promoting a shmup at the launch of the system because its a niche product. Doesn't mean there will be no shmups on the system, it may have the most shmups, 2D platformers on a 3D console to date. You just never know.

I don't disagree with you in the slightest mate. The marketing for videogames has always centered around pushing big-hitting titles that aren't nessessarily any good but will sell by the bucketload due to a franchise brand name(Fifa,Medal of Honour) or movie tie-in(remember ocean's 8-bit titles-Robocop, Batman, Red Heat, Street Hawk).

The more worrying aspect of this is that it actually works. At the top of the UK multiformat games chart at the moment lies none other than Fifa Street!

If the marketing men can flog this shambles-of-a-game in such large quantities the situations never gonna change. Somewhere along the line, the consumers have got to take a degree of responsibility and try to be a little more discerning when buying games or we're gonna have this kind of piss- poor quality title foisted on us again and again. Of course, the real trouble begins when you uncover that 70% of the games-buying public actually LIKE the game...

The thing is, if you can sift through all the bullshit and hype, there will always be those handful of nuggets that make that system a worthwhile purchase. Unfortunately the ratio is such that you may have to do a hell'uva lot of sifting, but if that results in you finding the next Rez or the next Ico then its gotta be worth it!

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 10:56 am

Ico, Rez and Prince of Persia Sands of time, Gitaroo man being some of my favourites on the ps2.