Man, I hate this generation. Huge budgets are being spent, and that's ALL most people care about. So you have studios that were big names back in the day, either re-releasing the last game they made, or....
The Call of Duty series has been so refined so much(and earned so much money from the FPS whores) for example, that the only changes Activision saw fit to have in future releases were things that clearly made the game WORSE. Games have become of such great quality, there's not many other ways to go. Graphics have basically reached their fullest potential now, gameplay has been innovated/mangled/reinvented to death, sound is perfect, even network interaction is getting much better.
And IMO, I think the games of the past WERE way better. Because back then, we didn't think THIS would be the future.
While I kinda agree about the Call of Duty series, you sorta just proved my point about nostalgia. The "games can't get better than this" mentality has ALWAYS existed. No matter how far back you go, each generation couldn't imagine the next path games would take. It's exactly the same now.
Here's what I got out of your post: "Graphics and everything are the best they can get now, so that makes games of the past better." Isn't there a logic failure there at some point?
BryanM wrote:You're trapped in a haunted house. There's a ghost. It wants to eat your friends and have sex with your cat. When forced to decide between the lives of your friends and the chastity of your kitty, you choose the cat.
It's just about saturation. Everything new has to compete with everything that came before it. Enduro had nothing to fight against, and there aren't going to be 4th dimensional games invented. Short of the holodeck, it's just old fads resurrected periodically.
Like Egon said: Print is dead.
PSX Vita: Slightly more popular than Color TV-Game system. Almost as successful as the Wii U.
I am in the camp that says do away with the last generation of games for the next generation. Give something else to us. If the aim of the game is to be a protagonist shooting everything in sight I can't say I'm all that excited. I Think within 6 months of the new console launches the men at the top will start to get the idea if enough people like myself start adopting a "no shit" policy. I only bought a PS3 for blu ray and I've bought a few games here and there. But largely I've been disapointed in 90% of them. I think my PS3 disc based library consists of 12 games. I bought about 100 for the previous generation.
Also I prefer the consoles to have differing delights. Much prefer 1996 when Saturn, PS1 and N64 went up against each other with differing tastes. I bought over 250 games in that era. It was so nice to buy Street fighters on saturn, Diddy kong racers on N64 and MGS on PS1.
This industry has become 2 dimensional as it transcended into a 3D world.
Lord Satori wrote:Don't forget the nostalgic factor. Everyone likes to think the games they played as a kid were the best.
Gaming now is definitely much worse than it was during the 90s - and I mostly didn't give a shit about the good games from that era until a few years ago thanks to emulation. Nostalgia has nothing to do with it.
Lord Satori wrote:Don't forget the nostalgic factor. Everyone likes to think the games they played as a kid were the best.
Gaming now is definitely much worse than it was during the 90s - and I mostly didn't give a shit about the good games from that era until a few years ago thanks to emulation. Nostalgia has nothing to do with it.
It's not worse than the PSX/N64 era. Worst. Generation. Ever.*
* = except for all the cool shmups and some of the other arcade games
That was definitely a much better era, even though it was the point of transition from challenging arcade design to cinematic pseudo games. Most of the best arcade games came out in that timeframe too.
I've gone back to the 96 era of Xmen vs Street fighter, Street fighter zero 2, Super mario 64, Mariokart 64 and such and I find it much more charming than todays efforts.
It was just a more colourful era. I even miss the packaging differences.
This industry has become 2 dimensional as it transcended into a 3D world.
I think possibilities now are a tad too much for people working in the business. Would games like BreakQuest (PC original), World of Goo and PixelJunk Shooter even be possible on 16-bit platforms?
And yet the only 3D game this gen that felt "next gen" to me was Burnout Paradise, which was, objectively speaking, just mildly above Midnight Club II.
Something about the budgets and everybody's expectations seems to be counter-innovative nowadays.
If there was any console manufacturer whose idea of "next gen" is anywhere near mine, I'd happily get hyped up about their upcoming console. Gave Nintendo a chance and found their games ugly for the wrong reasons. Frankly, of their first party Wii stuff I saw, only Kirby games don't look worse than they should. This bodes ill.
The rear gate is closed down
The way out is cut off
As far as Wii goes, it shouldn't look much better than gamecube, because the hardware is extremely similar.
In general, I agree though. A huge lack of innovation and uniqueness has really hurt this generation, and I can't imagine the next to be much different.
Oh boy, time to play Generic Grey And Brown First Person Shooter 5182, now in OMG 4K RESOLUTION.
Your average GameCube game looked better than your average Wii game. I have no problem with capabilities of Wii; I have a problem with Nintendo 1st party Wii games.
But that's their choice; they choose not to spoil me. Fair enough, Nintendo, control your boat where new technology and harmful biscuit have been attached, just don't expect me to row in it.
Last edited by Obiwanshinobi on Sat Feb 09, 2013 4:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
The rear gate is closed down
The way out is cut off
The problem with the wii was that everyone felt they had to make use of motion controls. In fact the whole motion gaming annoys me a bit. If I wanted to move around I wouldn't be sitting on my ass playing video games, would I?
BryanM wrote:You're trapped in a haunted house. There's a ghost. It wants to eat your friends and have sex with your cat. When forced to decide between the lives of your friends and the chastity of your kitty, you choose the cat.
Obiwanshinobi wrote:Your average GameCube game looked better than your average Wii game. I have no problem with capabilities of Wii; I have a problem with Nintendo 1st party Wii games.
But that's their choice; they choose not to spoil me. Fair enough, Nintendo, control your boat where new technology and harmful biscuit have been attached, just don't expect me to row in it.
If you're talking about graphics, I'm surprised you weren't thrilled with Mario Galaxy. That was pretty great looking, IMO.
Yeah. The biggest disappointment from the Wii is that a lot of games didn't look as good as GC games. I get the feeling that developers just throw their hands up if a system isn't the most powerful thing around. I can think of a few examples of this throughout gaming, but the thing that always springs to mind is how fucking awful FM music on PC sounded, and how little effort it took to make it sound decent.
louisg wrote:If you're talking about graphics, I'm surprised you weren't thrilled with Mario Galaxy. That was pretty great looking, IMO.
About Galaxy graphics, I like: a) the animations (something 3D Mario games are admittedly good at), b) the fur effect, c) the observatory lady (she was not voiced at that, small mercies be praised). Everything else, after Jak & Daxter engine galore, looks pretty sub-par. Most jarring thing is that there is no fog where it should be to make things look more distant.
It's just that previous gen 3D platformers set the bar pretty high graphically, but Nintendo choose to pretend they don't compete with them.
Make no mistake, I find the engine very competent and the physics are something I doubt PS2 could do quite as well. Oh yes, the water shader looks nice.
louisg wrote:I get the feeling that developers just throw their hands up if a system isn't the most powerful thing around. I can think of a few examples of this throughout gaming, but the thing that always springs to mind is how fucking awful FM music on PC sounded, and how little effort it took to make it sound decent.
To be fair, many computer games optimised for low-end machines look pretty nice these days. Guild Wars - arguably the first PC game to rival Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance engine - had low system requirements when it was new. Max Payne 2 also didn't melt many computers back in 2003. Those were the days of still fervent armaments race, when CryEngine was the dog's bollocks.
Last edited by Obiwanshinobi on Sat Feb 09, 2013 5:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
The rear gate is closed down
The way out is cut off
louisg wrote:If you're talking about graphics, I'm surprised you weren't thrilled with Mario Galaxy. That was pretty great looking, IMO.
About Galaxy graphics, I like: a) the animations (something 3D Mario games are admittedly good at), b) the fur effect, c) the observatory lady (she was not voiced at that, small mercies be praised). Everything else, after Jak & Daxter engine galore, looks pretty sub-par. Most jarring thing is that there is no fog where it should be to make things look more distant.
It's just that previous gen 3D platformers set the bar pretty high graphically, but Nintendo choose to pretend they don't compete with them.
Make no mistake, I find the engine very competent and the physics are something I doubt PS2 could do quite as well. Oh yes, the water shader looks nice.
Hmm lemme think. I think it did blur the background. IIRC, there was more shading in the distance in Sunshine. What impressed me about Galaxy was the shader effects galore. It all looked really cool.
I haven't played Jak & Daxter, but I don't remember anything on PS2 looking anything close to Galaxy in terms of both image quality and effects (I did play Ratchet & Clank a bit-- a very nice looking game).
louisg wrote:I haven't played Jak & Daxter, but I don't remember anything on PS2 looking anything close to Galaxy in terms of both image quality and effects (I did play Ratchet & Clank a bit-- a very nice looking game).
Galaxy is a glorious looking game, with an incredibly competent and harmonious graphics engine. J&D and R&C admittedly looked nice for PS2 graphics (not that they're games I would ever want to play) but they're obviously not a patch on Galaxy.
louisg wrote:
I'd also suggest that there's a fallacy: Genius only counts if it's popular. For example, for everyone who says "there's no good music made anymore", they're just thinking about what they hear on the radio, not what's going on in their local scene. Do we only *really* recognize good games when everyone else is playing the same thing? Is that the only time they "count"?
I want to say no to fit in with all the cool and collected people but I just know that there will be another hype release someday that will cause me to dump a bunch of money on another paper weight console just to play it. It happened thrice last gen with the Wii, PSP and PS3, but at least the PSP had games!
ChainsawGuitarSP wrote:I want to say no to fit in with all the cool and collected people but I just know that there will be another hype release someday that will cause me to dump a bunch of money on another paper weight console just to play it. It happened thrice last gen with the Wii, PSP and PS3, but at least the PSP had games!
Trends show that it'll likely get a PC release. Just upgrade your computer instead.
There's too much emphasis on the video in videogames nowadays. Didn't care about this gen (Cave ports aside), and won't care about the next unless something genuinely novel emerges.
This gen has been decent to me. I've enjoyed numerous mainstream multi player games but at the same time this gen lacked a lot of things that previous gens had.
There were very few memorable moments in gaming this gen for me but I can recall a ton of memorable moments past gens.
I'm not all too excited about next gen of console. In fact I'm actually going back and playing some of the much older titles for the PS2 that I haven't even got a chance to enjoy yet.
The whole idea of distributing games and locking them to accounts or consoles is not my thing. One reason why I purchase so many games to add to my library in the first place is because I enjoy collecting. There is no point in collecting a game if the disc is locked to a specific console or I have to be connected online to play.
I have very little time to play the stuff I have now and I probably won't have much time for a next gen console either. At least when I do buy games now I can at least play years later. I most likely can't say that for next gen games.
can't say that the Xbox 360 hasn't been good to me, I quite enjoyed it and all the innovations it brought forth (ie: awesome online play and integration along with Achievements).
My interest in gaming comes and goes in cycles. Does a modern Xbox interest me? of course!
I'd say there were enough good games to make each current gen console worthwhile to own; some more than others.
DS was great (many awesome 2D action games and adventures, too many to list).
PSP is still getting cool games even now.
No matter what you think of Sony, PS3 got some great stuff (so what if games like Uncharted are mainstream, that doesn't mean I can't enjoy them), also Demon's Souls, Wipeout, Gran Turismo, Heavy Rain, God of War, Ratchet & Clank, Yakuza, all the lightgun games (House of the Dead 3,4,Overkill DC etc), Journey and now Ni No Kuni. If you didn't play any of these, you missed out. PS3 also has the distinction of being the first region-free home system since the NES, and the first system ever to support generic USB controllers, regular HDDs etc. I hope it won't be the last.
And then there's 360, anti-consumer region locking, online paygate scam, but a shmupper's wet dream come true; I bought one the instant its region-lockout was defeated and imported every single shmup. And while Microsoft abandoned any serious first party efforts besides Halo, Gears of War and Forza after the launch of Kinect, 360 has some cool exclusives like Alan Wake, Just Cause and many neat XBLA titles that I'm glad to have played.
While Wii's software support was rather pathetic relative to its market share, we got Konami's Rebirth series (Gradius, Castlevania and Contra), Donkey Kong Country Returns, Sin and Punishment: Star Successor, Wario Land Shake It, New Super Mario Bros, Mario Galaxy and more. Wii was/is also great at parties; for instance Just Dance is a blast with people who'd never play any video games otherewise.
Last but not least, the multiplat games: Rayman Origins, Dead Space 1+2, Fallout 3, Bioshock series, Mass Effect series, Pinball Arcade, Bayonetta, Dark Souls, Batman: Arkham Asylum, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Portal 1+2, Red Dead Redemption, Limbo, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Earth Defense series, and so much more (eg. several fighting game series I'm too lazy to list now).
So there was nothing for you to play this gen? Then you must be wearing blinders, or be willfully ignorant. We got everything, from point-and-click adventures to 2D platformers.
Will there be lots of crap next gen? Naturally. Will there be great games, too? Of course. Just wait a while. Buying a system at launch is often just asking for buyer's remorse. If a system features anti-consumer bullshit like region-lockouts or takes away the rights commonly associated with with ownership (eg the right to resell), then I probably won't buy it at all until it is liberated by hackers.
Last edited by Friendly on Sat Feb 09, 2013 11:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Wasn't the Mega Drive region-free? I know later carts have lockout chips but late 80s/early 90s ones seem fine. Some will even match the host machine's region (Bare Knuckle becomes Streets of Rage if played on a Genesis).
Hagane wrote:Dunno about the Mega Drive, but I remember having to use some region unlocking cartridge in the Genesis.
It seems to depend on the cart. JP Alien III worked fine on my NTSCU Genesis, JP Mazin Saga gave me a lockout message. US Castlevania Bloodlines will give a frozen Konami logo on a Japanese MD and vice-versa.
Last edited by BIL on Sat Feb 09, 2013 9:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I agree on the anti-region locking stance but you plug Sony religiously in so many posts that your personal love-in with them is pretty bloody tiresome.
The Mega Drive was almost region free, as was the Master System. For the MD, Japanese carts didn't quite fit but otherwise work whilst later releases (and Zero Wing, apparently) did have region protection.
This generation was chronically lacking in innovation for mainstream titles. But then, we're seeing Hollywood reboot and revisit everything under the sun so maybe the consumer is the problem for consistently buying into the same old shit?
NES wasn't region-free.
