I think that we are entitled to high expectations. I, as with a lot of gamers, grew up on titles where the quality was amazing. Yes the games were only in 8-16bit, were stored on cartidges, or to the even older generations, cassette tapes, but the games themselves were innovative and exciting. They were all about the gameplay, and with an limited set of buttons and D-Pads, they were still a lot more responsive and intuitive than a lot of games today.
As time has gone on, technology has improved, graphics have becomes works of art, control systems have advanced, with the advent of motion control and analogue thumb sticks, more buttons and more advanced 'pads in general. With our PC brethren, the mouse and keyboard control systems and higher powered machines in some cases.
The problem as I see it is this; while technology has advaced, gameplay has not. Developers have a hard goal to achieve, balancing top-end graphics with intuitive controls and innovative gameplay and concieving fresh IP's or rebooting old ones faithfully and, on top of it all, they have to make a game which is going to shift units. Unfortunately, I feel, more emphasis is placed on making a game look great and able to sell units and not that which makes games great. The gameplay.
The games market has exploded over the last decade, near on every household has some form of gaming platform, from the mobile-phone to the super-powerful gamings rigs and consoles, and so the market has expanded to a level to rival other forms of enetertainment like film and music. The big fish are all snapping at each other to become owners of the pond, while the little fish get eaten. We have huge publishing houses like EA and Activision Blizzard that turnover millions a year and have their fingers in a lot of pies, and, as with most things the rich get richer. Few are the small indie dvelopers working out of a bedroom or garage with the freedom to make and publish great games, like Codemasters did with Micromachines way back when. It has become about shifting units, and the marketing men of the industry count success in profits made and units sold, not in quality.
Quality has fallen, we, the gamer, have become another niche market to be harvested as these so called "casual gamers" have grown in number and the market expands. The "hardcore gamer" have become such a small fration of the market that we are hardly worth satisfying when the "casuals" will happily spend their cash on near enough anything thats marketed right.
Look at Nintendo. The Wii has had astronomical success and the biggest selling titles are the novel games that use a basic gimick in a fancy package, while the number of titles that I see of any quality are very few and far between.
To define the terms "casual" and "hardcore" is difficult in itself. I see the "casual" gamer as someone who plays games on the side, for quick fix enjoyment, and maybe spends an hour or two here and there gaming. The "hardcore" gamer to me, of which I count myself, is someone who plays games as a hobby, someone who spends several hours a day playing for enjoyment. Someone to which playing games is a fundamental part of their everyday existence and life-style.
A lot of people are happy with the games released, the "casuals", while those who are harder to satisfy are we of the "hardcore" mindset who have become a little more discerning.
Sorry for the epic post.
Also sorry for the crappy spelly, typo's and grammar, I'm spent now so can't be bothered to edit it down right now.
As time has gone on, technology has improved, graphics have becomes works of art, control systems have advanced, with the advent of motion control and analogue thumb sticks, more buttons and more advanced 'pads in general. With our PC brethren, the mouse and keyboard control systems and higher powered machines in some cases.
The problem as I see it is this; while technology has advaced, gameplay has not. Developers have a hard goal to achieve, balancing top-end graphics with intuitive controls and innovative gameplay and concieving fresh IP's or rebooting old ones faithfully and, on top of it all, they have to make a game which is going to shift units. Unfortunately, I feel, more emphasis is placed on making a game look great and able to sell units and not that which makes games great. The gameplay.
The games market has exploded over the last decade, near on every household has some form of gaming platform, from the mobile-phone to the super-powerful gamings rigs and consoles, and so the market has expanded to a level to rival other forms of enetertainment like film and music. The big fish are all snapping at each other to become owners of the pond, while the little fish get eaten. We have huge publishing houses like EA and Activision Blizzard that turnover millions a year and have their fingers in a lot of pies, and, as with most things the rich get richer. Few are the small indie dvelopers working out of a bedroom or garage with the freedom to make and publish great games, like Codemasters did with Micromachines way back when. It has become about shifting units, and the marketing men of the industry count success in profits made and units sold, not in quality.
Quality has fallen, we, the gamer, have become another niche market to be harvested as these so called "casual gamers" have grown in number and the market expands. The "hardcore gamer" have become such a small fration of the market that we are hardly worth satisfying when the "casuals" will happily spend their cash on near enough anything thats marketed right.
Look at Nintendo. The Wii has had astronomical success and the biggest selling titles are the novel games that use a basic gimick in a fancy package, while the number of titles that I see of any quality are very few and far between.
To define the terms "casual" and "hardcore" is difficult in itself. I see the "casual" gamer as someone who plays games on the side, for quick fix enjoyment, and maybe spends an hour or two here and there gaming. The "hardcore" gamer to me, of which I count myself, is someone who plays games as a hobby, someone who spends several hours a day playing for enjoyment. Someone to which playing games is a fundamental part of their everyday existence and life-style.
A lot of people are happy with the games released, the "casuals", while those who are harder to satisfy are we of the "hardcore" mindset who have become a little more discerning.
Sorry for the epic post.
Also sorry for the crappy spelly, typo's and grammar, I'm spent now so can't be bothered to edit it down right now.
)
