Not now though, if you were in the business (don't forget that gaming is a business) would you rather appeal to 8 million "hardcore" gamers or 30+ million people who only can play games for a small amount at a time? It's like asking if you would rather have a smaller pile of "hardcore"'s money or a giant pile or "casual" gamer's money. Also, I don't think that games are being dumbed down for a wider audience, developers are too concentrated on technology and not on making a fulfilling experience.badgersprite said:Actually, I think a the core of 'old school gamers' always have been, still are and always will be the key audience of games of every generation. I think the evidence for that is how high the average age of gamers is now. People who grew up with old school games are the same people buying new and innovative titles today. Especially when you add techno-geeks into the equation.
Sure some people complain about new games, but I think the conflict people have with contemporary games is more that they get dumbed down for a casual gaming market than anything to do with newfangled technology ruining our games.
Whoops... hit quote instead of edit.TPiddy said:I actually take offense to several of the points made in this thread so far.
I am an old school gamer. I'm 28, and was raised on NES and PS1, yet the greatest games I have ever played come from this generation or the last.
The quality of a game is not based on whether it's old school or new school, it's based on several factors, like presentation, pacing, game play, etc.
I think what the majority of us old school gamers complain about with the introduction of casual games and the new 'less is more' attitude is the following:
1. "Everyone's a Gamer" - People who have never played a true a video game in their life are calling themselves gamers now because they played Wii bowling for 10 minutes or own a Wii Fit. Not that being a gamer is an exclusive club, but we're just upset that we now have to add the word "hardcore" to our monikers in order to differentiate ourselves from the soccer moms and amateurs who don't know dick about gaming, but at the same time adding hardcore to our titles gives us the gamer geek stigma that should only be reserved for WoW players .
2. Complacency - Promising game companies see stuff like Pop Cap games or casual games on the Wii raking in millions and think... "hey why don't I do that, that's easier than appeasing these hardcore fans" and then we lose talented developers and studios to the almighty dollar, making top quality games all that more rare.
3. Lower Standards - In an effort to reach a broader audience, games are now easier. Every game has built in tutorial levels, scaling difficulties and are generally much less involving than their previous generation's counterparts. The emphasis of most of today's games is on 'exploration' or 'random generation' rather than presenting a challenge. An achievement doesn't mean as much when my 8 year old nephew has it too.
As for the hardcore gamers, we're not entirely blame free either. Someone already brought up Psychonauts, and it's not the only victim, as a game that tried something new but nobody bothered with it. I also think that for a lot of us our expectations out of games are way too high now. Many PS3 owners have certain expectations that games on their PS3 should look better than other games, and this raises the bar for development houses again. This further contributes to the 'complacency' aspect mentioned above.
So there's a lot of blame to be passed around here, but ultimately I feel that the two sides can co-exist, as the casual game gravy train is showing signs of being a fad, which it is, and the hardcore gamer is gradually opening up to accepting new things as well.
Yes the fact that I can buy my games in a more convinent manner will kill the entire industry. You are so right I am so sorry.Supreme Unleaded said:I'm 13 and I HATE digital distrabution, not only can you not sell it if you have beaten the crap out of it, you can't lend it to a friend, and if you hardrive crashes or your computer crashes then oh well too bad you have to buy a new one. Digital distrabution is going to kill gaming, and the only way for to make me be on its side is if you get my $250 worth of Itunes music back.
Reselling old games is rather questionable. It cuts developers out of the profits. You save a few bucks, and then get crappy games. Even without Digital Distribution, that's where games are heading. Also, you apparently haven't used Steam, because you can download a game you have bought infinite times, on any number of computers. If a friend wants to try the game, just sign on to your Steam Account on there computer. You can convince me that non-digital distribution isn't outdated if you can re-imburse me for the many games Ive had scratched, lost the discs for, etc.Supreme Unleaded said:I'm 13 and I HATE digital distrabution, not only can you not sell it if you have beaten the crap out of it, you can't lend it to a friend, and if you hardrive crashes or your computer crashes then oh well too bad you have to buy a new one. Digital distrabution is going to kill gaming, and the only way for to make me be on its side is if you get my $250 worth of Itunes music back.
just to add this as a side note. My PS2 has probably taken away a year of my life, and i enjoyed it. My 360 took away 2 years of my life and i want them back because they werent very pleasent. I don't get how the old consol was MUCH more enjoyable then any of the new ones. My PS3 even doesnt give me the joy of that ol' PS2.
I don't believe the entire older generation will dislike the new games these days. I mean a good chunk might but I am sure some of the older generation will welcome the new games.MarcusMang said:Do you feel as if it's the older "hardcore" gamers and not the new "games for everyone" market that is dragging down gaming? I have had this theory for some time now because it seems like every two seconds that floods of people are calling for the death of gaming with every new breakthrough (casual games, motion controls, digital distribution, etc.) It seems to me that younger gamers in the 16-25 age range want to experience new things and welcome changes and older people, who grew up in the 80s, just want safe bland games only because they are familiar. Can we all coexist and play what games that we want to?
Side note: I am 19 years old and grew up playing the old classics from the old Atari and Nintendo days. Also I am not saying the the "breakthroughs" are good or bad, I'm just saying that the older generation will reject them no matter what happens or how popular they get.