Infinity Blade Dev: "We're in the Golden Age of Gaming"

[ablac]

Predictable as always. Someone says something actually positive about the industry and rather than say that maybe things arent as good as a golden age or that there are problems being overlooked in the statement people decide that it is suitable to say that instead this is the absolute worst era of gaming ever. Seriously there is no middle ground with the majority of these posters. Things are great. We haveour problems but they arent exactly a deal breaker are they. We are all still here so something must be good. We all have games we are going to play in the next few hours which will be very enjoyable and make us very happy. Not a golden era but its unfair to say this is some sort of stone age. People dont remember that gaming has always had plenty of crap to go along with the great and good. all you seem to remember are the good games of history because they are the only ones worth remembering.Im probably gonna get some hate for that arent I?

 

[The Wooster]

You know... I'd be more willing to take this man for his word...

IF his two biggest games were on a system that WASN'T an overhyped upwards-to-$800-$900 phone. I mean sure, I played and enjoyed Shadow Complex, but since I don't want to be on AT&T's horrid service I also don't want to spend an absurd amount of money on a phone, when my Razr works perfectly fine still after 5 years.

You can play them on an iPod touch too.

 

[Atmos Duality]

This is the best the industry has ever been, that isn't up for debate. If you think otherwise, you're wrong.

*chuckles*
Really?

That argumentation is so fallacious and wrong, it's downright hilarious.
I should try that sort of argumentation more often: "YOU ARE ALL WRONG BECAUSE MY OPINION IS LAW!"

Anything else we can do for you, oh Almighty?

 

[Sylveria]

Yes we have some great free games and some amazing $60 games, but we also have piles and piles and sun-obscuring piles of $60 games that are absolute shit.

I would call this the golden age if it was the clever games that usually got the big sales and the marketing pushes, but it's not, its the stuff we've seen done over and over again. Those clever games get buried by the 15th installment of some series and then, when they don't break a billion dollars in sales, the company is gutted and the IP is locked away forever.

On top of that, this is also the age where the gaming industry itself is pushing really, REALLY strongly to stifle the rights of the "Gamer". Not just managing price piracy, but control everything you do with the product you paid full price for.

Yes, creativity is at an all time high now that the tools and distributions methods exist for small companies to get their names out there, but that's not all that should constitute a golden age.

This is the Dark Ages of gaming: innovation and creativity are stifled and hidden away while the shadows of Mass Market Appeal engulf more and more of the landscape. Sure, there's plenty of rogue agents out there who dare to say that the world is round and green instead of flat and brown, but they aren't the ones on top of the heap; the old rich white men and their big hats who want to oppress you are.

 

[Atmos Duality]

It's not opinion oh lord of the sarky ones.

I'm not sure if anyone ever told you this but...Just because you state something as fact, doesn't make it true.

[sub]It's ok. It's our little secret.[/sub]

There are currently more people making games than ever before, there is a booming indi market, more games than ever before are flooding the market. Engine fidelity is at an all time high, as is graphical fidelity. Depth of story and overall narrative technique is better than it's ever been before and because of the sheer amount of games being made, there is a ton of originality. Even if people like you choose to focus on the CoDs and Battlefields (which btw, I actually enjoy.).

Right...that's why Nintendo and Sony (you may have heard of them) are all "restructuring" or coping with significant losses. Incidentally, THQ is filed for Bankruptcy. EA lopped off another developer, but I'll let that one slide since that's just business as usual for EA.

And with that comes the DRM, corporate meddling and marketing. I can't play any AAA title without either a console (with all the fun that comes with proprietization) or signing onto a monitoring system that checks to make sure I haven't taken anything.

Huh. Ok, I'll be fair and go with the notion that maybe the market is shifting focus.

Looking outside of the Big Three and the major publishers...I find a sea of developers.
But an overwhelming majority of whom are shilling absolute garbage on Apps stores for iPhone/iPad and Android. And that's the market with the biggest gains.

Infinity Blade, Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds. Whoo.
Going into MyTwitBook territory: We find Zynga grinders dominating. Huh.

Uhh...independent developers?
Ok, I will happily admit that there is a stronger presence for independent developers, whom I support a helluva lot more than the Publishers at this point (not blindly, mind you).

If the indies continue to gain more market ground, I could see us EVENTUALLY reaching another Golden Age, but IMO, we're not there yet. I'm waiting on the day where independents can stand more firmly against a AAA mass-market clogged with derivative sequels.

But no, it's alright, keep on chuggin with those rose coloured goggles. We can afford to leave a few of you behind on the misanthropic nostalgia island.

Meanwhile, I'm going to go and enjoy the plethora of fantastic games currently at my fingertips.

Toodles.

Baseless assumptions! I knew more of those were coming!
And get back here! You don't get to act smug that easily! You have to EARN IT.

Previously, I mentioned how few AAA titles I've bought, played and enjoyed. (feel free to read that above. I'll wait.) But I didn't mention any of the indie games I play.

-Terraria (bought it on release. As of this post, Steam reports 387 hours logged on it to date.)
-Orcs Must Die
-EYE Divine Cybermancy
-Bastion
-SPAZ
-Magicka

And that's just within the last year or so. I could name others.

YEAH, I SURE HATE NEW GAMES. OH HOW IT SUCKS BEING A GAMING DINOSAUR WHO CAN'T SEE PAST NOSTALGIA.

All sarcasm aside, I seriously like the track Independents are on, but it's too early to claim we're in a "Golden Age" when that only applies to maybe (MAYBE) half the fiscal market.
Cutting aside the usual chaff of shovelware and exploitations, we're still looking at a market dominated by stagnant AAA titles and increasingly worrying DRM schemes.

And if the access to the games becomes too restrictive, it honestly doesn't matter how good they are; people can only tolerate so much bullshit. I'm hoping that issue sorts itself out in the long run though.

 

[Druyn]

I don't think its possible to make that kind of judgement right now, not in the middle of it. That's something rewarded retroactively. There is just so much happening all at once. You have incredible innovation on the mobile front and indie market, but AAA titles are becoming stagnant and repetitive while at the same time brand new styles and innovations are exploding in that same industry. You have developers and corporations treating the consumers like crap, the whole industry trying to find an acceptable balance between used and new sales, the struggle to find a non-invasive, non-oppressive DRM to stop piracy, consoles starting to gear up for new models, the beginning of more interactive, involving games (like Mass Effect or even Bastion's narrator), and so much more happening. Its impossible to look at all of this and make sense of it in the "This is the best time," or :this is the worst time," sense.

Hell, you might even say the paradigm shift from console to handheld is the beginning of a new age. Its all too soon to tell.

 

[Atmos Duality]

But it is not up for debate as to whether this is the best the industry has been thus far.

See, that statement you just made? It has no substance. Just pretense.

I can claim that the tremendous boom of adventure games in the late 80s and early 90s pushed gaming narrative MUCH further ahead then than it does now.

Spoiler: justification

Moral choice systems? Small potatoes compared to the painful task of writing branching story-arcs that mean anything.
You try tying potential plot-threads together based on the potential actions of a player. Even limiting that to TWO choices per branch still results in a potentially exponential growth in content you have to create.

(The Blade Runner game by Westwood was such a production, and one of the last major click-adventure games of its era. The number of endings and plot branches is staggering compared to anything today.)

Now, I may or may not be correct in that assessment, but I can state it as an opinion.

The fact that I can question it means it's debatable. Go ahead, try and stop me.
You haven't cited facts, just the same ASSUMPTION of something YOU CANNOT MEASURE.

Therefore, you have nothing but an interpretation. An opinion.
And the hilarious thing: If you attempt to marginalize my point here, you generalize the state of the industry, which in itself is another assumption you can't measure.

SUBJECTIVE.

There is as much creativity as there's ever been and theirs enough interest and money for our medium to turn into something special. And technology is the best it's ever been, that in of itself opens doors.

I doubt your first claim, not the second.
Technology and discoveries can be measured. However, developmental culture and concepts cannot. You cannot measure "creativity", you can only interpret the results on a personal level.

That's subjective thinking. Not objective.

Stupid inconveniences such as DRM and sequel happy publishers don't detract from the other advances that have happened in the last few years.

Oh but they do.
Pushing potential creative works aside to force a developer to craft clones DOES detract from gaming as a whole. Even Infinity Ward, prior to their somewhat violent departure from Activision, went on the record saying that they were tired of making Call of Duty games, given that they had been doing so for the duration of their contract.

DRM directly impacts the value of works because of practicality; hand-waving it away doesn't change that. It's more than a little irritating when a company forces you to repurchase a title, full price, just because you had to use all 2-3 of your installs on computer upgrades and repairs.
(ask EA how well that worked for Spore. People had far more to say about the DRM than the gameplay, and none of it good.)

The Mona Lisa would have no practical value to gaming if it were locked in a vault where only privileged members could reach it. (an extreme analogy I admit, but the spirit of the argument is there).

There is a genuine threat to accessibility that DRM presents. Again, I'm hoping the general market isn't full of so much sheep that they'll throw everything away just to play a game, because that's just asking for trouble in the long run.

 

[Jkudo]

This thread is gonna remind me why i hate the escapist.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Shock.. Horror..... Insanity.

People on the Escapist moaning about the lack of creativity in the industry because they've got their noses glued to the sequel pages.

Can't see the forest through the trees ay guys?


This is the best the industry has ever been, that isn't up for debate. If you think otherwise, you're wrong.

If your personal favors gaem evar was made 10 years ago, bully for you. That means exactly nothing.

Games have never been better than they are now.

I second this.

The industry has never been better, there's something for everybody.

So much bitching and moaning, it's rather tiring.

I've been gaming more than 20 years, and I can honestly say that I'm enjoying games now, more than I ever have.

 

[Saviordd1]

Golden age? ... This guy literally was born yesturday wasn't he. With the lack of creativity and constant copying, games have been in the dark ages for over a decade. And with the rule of EA and Activision it doesn't look like its going to be ending anytime soon. Its unfortunate his comments are right inline with a salesman. And not someone speaking about something they have passion for. He just wants you to fill his wallet. Nothing more.

BAH! Humbug

Shock.. Horror..... Insanity.

People on the Escapist moaning about the lack of creativity in the industry because they've got their noses glued to the sequel pages.

Can't see the forest through the trees ay guys?


This is the best the industry has ever been, that isn't up for debate. If you think otherwise, you're wrong.

If your personal favors gaem evar was made 10 years ago, bully for you. That means exactly nothing.

Games have never been better than they are now.

I second this.

The industry has never been better, there's something for everybody.

So much bitching and moaning, it's rather tiring.

I've been gaming more than 20 years, and I can honestly say that I'm enjoying games now, more than I ever have.

I third all of this.

OT: I have to say I agree, besides some old gems (XCOM!) new games are the best of the best. Everyone who complains otherwise seems to mostly be old nostalgia fanboys.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

We never had it better? We never had it worse either. Golden age was from 2001 to 2007 IMO.

 

[Shockolate]

A quote regarding gaming that is guaranteed to send the userbase into uproar?

I swear the Escapist staff is doing this on purpose.

[small]I'm on to you![/small]

 

[dills2]

the golden age is after this age when they tone down the fpses

 

[Flac00]

This thread is gonna remind me why i hate the escapist.

Yay nastolgia. Everybody knows that things were better in the past. THEY HAD TO BE!! AAAAAAAAGH!!

 

[Woodsey]

Shock.. Horror..... Insanity.

People on the Escapist moaning about the lack of creativity in the industry because they've got their noses glued to the sequel pages.

Can't see the forest through the trees ay guys?


This is the best the industry has ever been, that isn't up for debate. If you think otherwise, you're wrong.

If your personal favors gaem evar was made 10 years ago, bully for you. That means exactly nothing.

Games have never been better than they are now.

snip

Rather depends on what you're referring to when you use the word "better".

OT: Its a bit of a tough call (and in many ways a pointless one). On the whole, I'd say production values have risen, so in that way things are better than ever (and people are kidding themselves if they think games were less buggy back then; they were, on the other hand, a hundred times harder to patch).

However, I'm not sure the industry's highs are as high as they once were, although the first proper games I was introduced to were Deus Ex and Thief 2 (and the one where you try and angle the camera to look down Lara Croft's top - 'Tomb Rider' or something), so you might say I was a bit spoilt.

People do have blinkers on though; you don't remember any of the shit stuff because it was shit, whereas we do remember the shit stuff from this generation because we're still in awe of how shit it was.