How gaming will die and why it is our fault

[ZippyDSMlee]

The consumer is a idiot happy with anything shiny which will lead to there begin 3 publishers world wide and not enough support for them all and their exacerbated hardware/software forcing them to go out of business and turn gaming into something akin to webcomics sold by various online publishers...but in 10-20 years everything will be online anyway.....

 

[Wicky_42]

Tryzon's Nostalgic Gaming Trips
...And so I come to my controversial conclusion: there was nothing wrong with the graphics of the last generation, so why keep making them better? Use time and money on gameplay first, story second (although plot does not always suit a game), visuals last. It saves resources for the important stuff. It seems to obvious to me, and yet the masses demand stunning visuals but no substance behind the veneer. It enrages me so...last?

If graphics didn't improve then, well, we'd be drowning in a sea of 16 bit sprites. Which would suck. As tech advances and gets cheaper the opportunity to tempt customers with new, shiny, advanced graphics and processing power becomes a powerful tool in selling your console, and if one company does it then the others are going to have to follow suit or else see their console fade into antiquity. It doesn't always work - they obviously need the software, but with enough money behind them then that isn't the hard part.

Think about it for a second - if Sony had stuck with the ps1, focusing on better games and not new consoles, which would you get - a 360 or the ps1? Gameplay only does so much for me, and I'm only tempted back to my old N64 by nostalgia.

You say "gameplay, story, visuals" should be the order of importance, and tirade against the games industry recycling game engines. Do you not see that by re-using the Havok or Unreal engine they are saving SERIOUS cash, not having to build a game engine from scratch? This has been a long standing tradition of the games industry - even HL1 was built on the Quake engine, albeit heavily modified.

I agree that gameplay should come first, but far too many games have been spoilt by retarded plots or dodgy graphics to make either of them completely secondary aspects. Whilst it works for simple, cheap arcade-style games, modern games are much more complicated and need polish in all regards if they are to help the industry progress.

Plot-wise, I think the largest problem that the industry faces is that too few companies hire writers to do the stories. The over-abundance of cliches, remakes and sequels should hint at this. The games industry needs to wake up and hire creative thinkers to do the stories for their games, not just go 'Hey, car chases are cool! And so is shooting people! Yeah, we got a game sorted!'. We're sort of getting a Hollywood situation in the games industry, with a continuous flow of brainless adrenaline shooters providing the morphine drip to the hooked masses. Eventually things might improve, intelligent stories emerge, but there's a strong risk of stagnation.

 

[darkcow55]

for every King Kong, Escape From Butcher Bay or Star Wars: Battlefront there are thirty rushed, ill-conceived lumps of excrement designed purely to milk foolish cinema-goers while they are still reeling from whatever half-decent film they watched before driving past their local Gamestation.

Wait.... what? King Kong wasn't a rushed, ill-conceived lump of excrement? Could have fooled me. :O

 

[AlexTheBucket2112]

Originality isn't dying

Gaming will never truly die (mainly because most games contain the undead, and that is one contagious virus). But I can understand where some would think originality is dying. But I think some people just find it tough to take a chance with new games without some website or tv show praising it. I am now that I accidentaly bought "The Last Remnant"

(BTW you could count this post as a quote/normal post combo)

 

[hikingnut]

wait im confused i'm i supposed to rush out and buy the new 3-d glasses and $600 monitor or not. lol

 

[bjj hero]

I think the OP is a bit too negative.

There has been plenty of innovation in the last few years. We have the whole guitar hero/rock band music games that have cropped into the mainstream. The Wii and DS have changed the way we play games. Online multi player finally became mainstream. People now know what MMOs are and their fan base has grown.

There is shovel ware but there are quality titles too. Its no different than film or TV and people still view those... Even when there are straight to DVD titles and shoddy made for tv movies.

Weve seen another recent change with the DLC where publishers are making smaller low budget titles, trying something new.

I think its an exciting time to be a gamer. Graphics are as good as they need to really be. Well see some interesting gameplay coming.

 

[Svenparty]

I can't really see gaming getting wiped out. As long as hype machines are on full blast and every game is pimped with anticipation before any info is released for it and of course people keep buying them it cannot die.

You only have to see how much shovelware they shove on the Wii and get great sales to realise gaming isnt a cult thing anymore.

I agree over the game score thing, Oblivion and GTA:IV are good examples of games hyped up to get amazing scores.

 

[Kazturkey]

I agree with the "People are stupid" bit but when the people who currently love halo grow up, stop playing and buying these games, there will be room for new innovation. But not like mirror's edge. HELL no.

 

[meatloaf231]

Gaming will never die, its become to popular and well known to simply crash and burn.

From previous posts people seem to hate the Wii. WHY?!
Its made more people gamers, thats what many of us wanted, to unite the world into a gaming utopia and then play a worldwide game of human Tetris.

Exactly. If anything, World of Warcraft and the Wii have been the two largest factors in assuring gaming's longevity. Honestly, people who hate on the Wii could do well to read Shamus's article a bit back... this one.

 

[Simon Hadow]

Oh the Humanity, what started as a ball bouncing between lines roughly thirty years ago (I don't know when pong came out, so sue me) has become an industry of such diversity that it could be the U.N., but alas, it is doomed to collapse upon itself and become like a coyote in a trap, chewing off it's own leg, but in this case their are many coyotes in one trap, all chewing off the wrong leg.

 

[solidstatemind]

I guess I could be seen as a hopeless optimist, but I think we're approaching a golden age of innovation in gaming.

Yes, things may appear grim from a particular perspective, but from another, I think you could reasonably predict that the massively wide-spread acceptance of video games is going to bring more and more creative minds to the medium, rather than the traditional venues of film, art, music, print, etc.

Games are evolving. And that's good. Change, while always uncomfortable for those who were present from the beginning, is usually a positive thing. If you accept the notion that gaming is media/art, then you have figure it's going to stumble through an initial, awkward adolescent period as it moves from the fringe to the mainstream, just like Film, TV, and even Radio all did. So yeah, there will be a lot of crap released, but look at it this way: if the percentage of good games stays about the same (and I don't think that's an unreasonable expectation), then the number of good games is still going to go up.

 

[vxicepickxv]

*Dusts of his NES*

Yup, there's a lot of originality here in this old thing. There's a lot of suck too. Funny thing about that.

Time marches on. Technology changes. Demographics change. People change.

There is framework for only 52 different types of hero based stories, some of which would be really boring if they were put into games.

Just because they put a 2 after something doesn't always make it bad, or good for that matter. Terminator was good. Terminator 2 was better.

 

[teisjm]

As long as there's still released good games it doesn't really matter how many bad games they release. You might have to walk past an extra shelf of suck in your game-store, but it's like 3 steps extra you have to take, or 3 pages you have to click through when if you browse games online.
I haven't noticed a lack of good games recently.

But yes, improvement will probably slow down, because for every time someone nails a game or a brilliant game mechanic, the good parts of it will be copied, which is fine.

I'm not old enough to remember which FPS-game was the first, but you could argue that every other FPS was just copying it, same game - new name and fancier graphics, and a few new mechanics, but take a look at a good new fps and the most oldschool fps you can find and think about which one is better (preferably a really old one you've never played b4 so nostalgia doesn't screw up your judgement)

 

[Churchman]

How can gaming be dieing when its profit margins are in the billions?

 

[Liverandbacon]

First of all: All you people complaining about the so called "wall of text", it isn't a wall. He changes paragraphs at sensible times. Semantics aside, complaining about the length of a well thought argument just makes you seem like a fool. If you are incapable of reading 20 lines of text, I reccomend you go back to school, or at least ignore it and don't post complaining about its length.

As for the OP, while I agree that it is upsetting that the mainstream shuns originality in games, I doubt that it will kill originality outright. People have been ignoring original games for ages. Ever heard of Strife? I thought not. It was an incredibly original FPS with many RPG elements, but gamers went for the graphics of Quake instead. My point is that gamers have been ignoring true originality in favor of graphics for a very long time, and while this is sad, originality has not died out.

 

[blaze96]

Why is gaming as a whole dead because originality is dropping? Gaming isn't dying it is simply changing. The pendulum swings from end to end and never settles in the middle. When the "big" sellers stop making so much originality will come back in force, but this takes time. We can not expect that gaming will always be that of the 80's and 90's because that is simply unrealistic. I may be an optimist in this sense but I truly believe that gaming will not be dying out in any way, shape, or form anytime soon.

Besides all the now "industry standard" games were unknowns once as well. One day Portal may be an "industry standard" game series as is half life, Fallout, and Grand Theft Auto. Being a standard does not mean they are not doing anything to add to gaming as a whole (I call the gravity gun and VATS to the stand). Just because we do not see a new name title every year does not mean originality is dead, it only means you must look deeper into the games themselves. I also must ask is there a problem with originality waning as long as the games still being produced are fun? Does originality automatically equal fun? We should worry much less about a game with a completely new concept and focus on fleshing out concepts and ideas that while not brand-spankin shiny new are different and fun.

 

[andugus]

There is nothing as special as a GM and several players generating memories they will take with them for the rest of their lives. It is akin to living vicariously through role-playing. The better the GM and group, the more memorable experiences occur.

As for the state of gaming or product quality we have no one to blame but ourselves. If we buy substandard products we give the impression that is what we will consume. Sure there are big companies out there that seem to dictate what is acceptable for us. This is just not true, there is a huge force of creative out there. All you have to do is look for it.

One thing is certain to me. It doesn't matter what the game system is, as long as I am having a great time with my friends (in person and more frequently, online). Who cares if I am rolling a d20, or 10d10 if the magic is right I will get new experiences that make my life more meaningful.

Gaming in the role-playing sense will die with the last breath of the last GM.

 

[HyruleanHyroe]

Does originality automatically equal fun?

Of course it doesn't! Originality CAN be fun, and it can pave the way for fun new games of the same type, but it's no guarantee. There's a reason ideas sometimes get recycled. You ready for this? It's because they are GOOD IDEAS. Gaming will live on as long as the human race does. 'Unoriginal' game franchises continue to be successful because they continue to be enjoyable. I mean, c'mon, would you never eat your favorite food again because doing so is unoriginal? Would you skip out on a sequel to a terrific movie, or never read the next book in the series, or refuse to buy the next year's car model, or not buy another CD by the same band simply because it's based on the same idea as the original? It's a foolish stance to take.

After reading that, I must say that you don't seem to mention the Wii as a factor in the death of gaming. And it is killing it, with its constant stream of shovelware.

Yeah, I'll agree, Nintendo is disappointing me. That's not to say that there haven't been some GREAT games for the Wii, but something about my girlfriend's grandmother buying one just to use Wii Fit REEEEEALLY bothers me.

My point is that gamers have been ignoring true originality in favor of graphics for a very long time...

This is, unfortunately, true. It's upsetting when all anyone talks about is how pretty a game is, and they never mention how FUN it is. HOWEVER: Do not fall into the trap of hating a game just because it looks good. Too often I find myself walking down the electronics aisle at Walmart and hearing a guy say to his little brother, "Don't buy that, it's just a bunch of graphics hype." More often than not, these people are referring to games they've never even played. I know, I usually ask them. I don't mind being a bit offensive to make a point., and usually I can talk them into at least renting the game and giving it a try instead of refusing to play it because it looks 'too' good.

/rant

 

[Khazoth]

I'm from the future, I know when gaming will end.


Manhunt 16 just came out, congress is having some sort of problem with a scene where you rip out the spine of an orphan and strangle a nun with it.


..Go figure.




To be serious, violence and tits without artistic value is just controversy for the sake of controversy and makes you a worthless waste of space.

I'm talking to you, Rockstar, and makers of God of War.