Question of the Day, April 28, 2010

[Stormz]

Until graphics stop being the focal point I don't think I can say we're better off now then the old days. Sure we have some awesome games this gen but a lot of them still focus on graphics to much. Unless people can stop being shallow and stop caring about graphics so much(never going to happen) I don't have much hope. I like graphics as much as the next guy but it's not the main thing I look for.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I'm still having as much fun as I was ten years ago so, no. I really don't see a real difference outside of graphics that has changed much. The goal of a video game is to amuse me and I feel as amused as I was ten years ago.

 

[Tiut]

Sighting a lot of nostalgiafags on the shitstorm radar. Please stand by for bawwwwwwwwwwing.

 

[My1stLuvJak]

No, gaming is much better now

As a straight answer, the market is much more competitive; it's cheaper to play videogames now than it was before (N64 games cost, what, $80? Now AAA titles sell for $60, and there's so many that others are forced to sell cheaper).

Videogames are more mainstream, so they can be enjoyed by more people (think: guitar hero/rock band).

We still have access to a large share of the greatest games from past years, due to downloadable content, and Indie games are doing exactly what games were on the NES ages ago - innovating, creating unique experiences that are both cheaper to make and cheaper to buy (I buy more games off PSN than I do regular titles - if I had an Xbox, I'd buy more from Live, too).


There may not be as much creativity in PS3, Wii and 360 games as there has been in the past, but I'd say that's largely due to the cost of production. When you have to master a complex, 3D, HD capable system, there's more that you have to deal with, in terms of programming (I think). Often, developers will use the same engine to churn out games that often look and feel quite similar, as a result (Unreal Engine's one of them, right?). What made retro gaming so fantastic, was the level of freedom that developers had, due to the familiarity and (I'd say) simplicity of the systems they were working with. There were, what, 500+ NES games made? They HAD to be creative, in order to stand out from the crowd - not every game was great, of course, but most of what was on offer was amazingly varied, absolute fun. Games were shorter in length, too, so the games were often intuitive and easy to pick up and play for some fun every once in a while (you could say that's because controls were simpler, the NES only had 4 buttons, but I don't know if that's fair. The games were both well designed AND easy to play - hard to master)

 

[My1stLuvJak]

See, but I hate Oblivion! Anyone can pick up Space Invaders and have a good time, where only a select group of people look at Oblivion and feel compelled to live in that world for hours on end

I don't know that story is that important in a game. It definitely adds to a game, but I don't think it can take away - I still have as much fun chasing down the princess in Super Mario Bros that I did ages ago; I'll go back to Mario time and time again, but, say, Infamous? No

 

[My1stLuvJak]

Games are much better now, I'm sure almost everyone here rather play CoD, Splinter cell or Dragon age (just to mention some relative new games) then old arcade donkey kong.

Good thing you said 'almost', as I can't stand Splinter Cell and epic, 200hr RPGs typically bore me to tears (unless it's Pokemon - I'll play that til Dooms Day).

CoD feels like an older game, if we're talking about Modern Warfare, as it's very much an arcade experience (ie. kill two guys, die yourself. Try again. Repeat, improve your game, overcome more obstacles)

 

[Cherry Cola]

As long as Shadow of the Colossus is available for purchase, the glory days will forever remain.

 

[Banana Phone Man]

I find it hard to vote on this. I'm not old enough and haven't been in gaming long enough to experiance old games. So I can't compare them to the games that I play today. However games are improving on stuff like graphics, gameplay and lots of other things. Does this make them better games though? My favorite game of all time will be and probably always be HL2 (It's not that old though but it's getting there) and I rate that higher than a lot of games that come out today. However that is also down to personal choice.

 

[Keava]

Depends what one means as 'better'. New games have much better visuals, are able to provide more fancy mechanics, can fully integrate online multiplayer modes and are probably 'easier' to create and update with content than the old games.

Now, to make things clear i consider the 'old' games the ones that were published before 1995. Despite their simplicity, that in some really older cases was quite extreeme considering todays productions, they seemed to be more focused on providing fun, rather than gangbanging players with flashy graphics and fancy special effects.
Not saying graphics are bad things, but already seen some releases that pretty much didnt have aything else, just nice visuals and no value in gameplay.
The older games used to be a lot more challenging as well, something i do lack in the new ones. All the platformers/strategies get streamlined to be more 'user friendly' and easier to access for 'casual' gamers, getting rid of 'frustrating' mechanics. For me, that makes them boring. Nowadays the challenge moslty moved to competetive multiplayer, which im not that interested in. Im quite a rabid single-player unless its a MMOG.

All in all, it depends what one is looking for in games. Personally i find myself bothering with less and less titles each year, moslty because they do all seem like the same game just with 'better' graphics, rather than fully new expierience.

 

[ottenni]

Hell no, the gaming industry still has so much room to grow.

Patience padawan's, our time will come.

 

[beatnik11]

I voted that they will be getting better, in fact they have been getting better all the times. I have wonderful nostalgic memories just like everyone else had of the 80s and 90s but the reality is that we tend to really remember the good games we had and not the sea of crap, because there was plenty of shovelware back then as well. The current gen certainly is not without flaws to gripe about, that is for sure, but games really have advanced a whole lot since that time and although there is plenty of crap, I am also seeing even more immersive environments. I will never forget the good times I had with Planescape, Grim Fandango, and FF6 but now I have GTA4, Bioshock, and TF2. I think the future is bright for us all even with controversies like the milking of wallets with DLC and the taking away of customer power with draconian DRM

 

[silentsentinel]

In the olden times, I could sidescroll and jump over things. Now I can connect with people all over the world in incredible environments. The very concept of online multiplayer still blows my mind, after all these years. Video games have become amazing; I don't care if Super Mario World or some other old game revolutionized gaming, those old games are nothing compared to the likes of Bad Company 2 or Mass Effect.

I think that the reason that some gamers still think fondly of the good old days while disparaging modern gaming is that they've lost their sense of wonder. We all used to sit close to TV screens, wide-eyed and marveling at Sonic's speed, or Contra's frenetic action. Now we lay back on our couches with head sets and quietly push buttons as entire cities crumble around us.

In all honesty, it is true that I've yet to feel the same wonder that I felt when I played Pokemon Red. This is not because Red version was the best game ever, it is instead because I've aged. It's harder to impress me now. If we all had any proper sense, we'd all be frozen in amazement at the things happening on our TV screens.


All that being said (in a rambling fashion) I still think that the gaming industry has much room to grow. Good graphics have become the norm, now developers should start perfecting their storytelling techniques.

 

[pantsoffdanceoff]

I think the social aspect is highly diminished. Back in the good ol' days you would huddle in a basement and take turns being Mario and Luigi or play Golden Eye, but I feel online play has somewhat ruined that,

 

[ResiEvalJohn]

I would give anything for games to return to how they used to be on the N64, PC, or PS2. Some of my favorite games of all time were the first person shooters like Turok/ Goldeneye on the N64, the Theif series on the PC, and the Resident Evil series (RE 0 - 4).

Right now, it seems like too many games are focusing on presentation and graphics, rather than gameplay quality. I hope that soon, developers realize they've reached the limit of all that they need to do with graphics, and just concentrate on making awesome games with the existing engines that they have. As gamers we need substance, not just pretty things to look at.

 

[SonicKoala]

Nope, gaming is still fantastic. Sure, there were a lot of great titles made in the past, but there are a ton of great titles available today. Gaming is a continuously evolving medium, and I believe that the best is yet to come.

 

[dehawaiiansupaman]

I can't really say if older games have more to offer than the newer ones. I do find myself playing older games more than newer ones but to say the best games are older games kind of ignores all the excellent games that have come out in recent years. While I do want a return to the older games where there was less focus of realism and grittiness I don't really see either side, new or old, being better than the other.

 

[Redd the Sock]

I'll admit as an older gamer, some of my love for the past comes from a lack of understanding of some things. I'll never get wii-motes, touch screeens, sixaxis or any other controler that tries to imerse you into things. Online play has turned gaming with friends into something you're more likly to play a 12 year old with ADD that curses like a drunken sailor. Improved graphics don't make the game better, and I've think we've reached a point of diminishing returns on game world size. I never got the MMO thing either.

Games like Super Metroid were special due to the leap foreward. You could just tell that they had grand ideas in the earlier 8-bit era that they finally had a chance to explore. I don't see that quite as much. They all have a nice graphical polish, but don't feel like anything was added. Tweeked at best.

 

[Redd the Sock]

Oh, and it isn't just software. While I appriciate some of what the modern systems can do, we didn't have cute names for dead systems because it was a rare thing for a system to die unless you spilled something on it.

 

[ultrachicken]

Games are getting more and more advanced. There were definitively good games in the past, but I find that a lot of good games are coming out often.

 

[Georgie_Leech]

Hmmm... there were many great games in the past, but I do not think that means the golden age of gaming is gone.
No, our time is yet to come.

Exactly. Although there seems to be a general slump in quality right now, I don't think the peak of gaming has been hit yet.