Simulated Wood-Grain Gaming

[Danpascooch]

You know, I don't think this is an effect of gaming changing, but rather an effect of gamers changing, that is to say, gamers aging.

That since of awe isn't lost from the game industry, it's just gone for people personally when they aren't a child anymore.

 

[Elonas]

(Sorry for offtopicness. Last one!)

Off Topic: I haven't played it in aeons. Could you toss me a spoiler tagged reply with what happens ?

Spoiler

Spoiler: SERIOUSLY, DON'T CLICK THIS IF YOU NEVER PLAYED OKAMI!

Ammy...kinda dies. And then comes back.

Spoiler

Oh, fighting the owl-y things. Her future self, correct?

 

[PHOENIXRIDER57]

Wow! I almost cried when I read this. When I was younger I would become awestruck by video games and what they could do, now I think I have a better understanding of the world and how things work and concepts introduced by videogames are just more comprehendable, and that makes them less awesome.

Oh and you have the same last name as my Chemistry teacher. Related? I'm sure your'e not. But are you?

 

[Dexiro]

We still have shock-n-awe moments, they're just a lot harder to make and are mostly about preference.

First time seeing the scenery in FF13, those cinematic moments in Uncharted 2, beating the first boss of Demon Souls, fighting the 13th collosi. All amazing moments :3

 

[Susan Arendt]

We still have shock-n-awe moments, they're just a lot harder to make and are mostly about preference.

First time seeing the scenery in FF13, those cinematic moments in Uncharted 2, beating the first boss of Demon Souls, fighting the 13th collosi. All amazing moments :3

Oh, sure, there are still amazing moments to be had, it's just a matter of degrees.

 

[Dexiro]

I wish i could relate directly to the first jumps in gaming technology and express my opinion more. I think i've come close a few times though

Like maybe the first time seeing HL2's physics engine. I used to be very behind on tech, for me this was a jump from the PS1 to a full blown physics engine that's still used today.
"Wait.. wha? You can... pick up this mug like THAT. Is that a seesaw? Holy crap that thing just bounced off a wall"
Hours of fun

I'm sure i'd have more if my childhood wasn't so blurry. Like finally getting a backlight on those gameboys instead of using that twirly streetlamp attachment. And hell they made it smaller too... WITH a foldy screen!

First seeing that semi-terrifying PS1 splash screen too as i was about to play my first console

Think i'm going off-topic a bit now xD

 

[Chipperz]

I think it's something to do with the game, as well. We have a guy we hate in our guild in Warcraft at the moment. He's a great kid, really gets into it, but always willing to help.

We hate him because he's still on his first character, and every second level, when he gets a new ability, he gives a single line to the Guild Chat that is almost copied and pasted every time - "I have [Spell]! This is AWESOME!" I was there when he got both his mounts, and he was amazed at how fast he was going. Part of me wants to be there when he hits 58 and goes through the Dark Portal for the first time and sees Hellfire Peninsula for the first time. Part of me doesn't because of the seething jealousy that all I can feel when I see such an awe-inspiring sight is the fact that I've seen it all before, multiple times.

Also, I went from Amiga 600 to Mega Drive to Playstation 2. I've seen the jumps in technology, and they have been amazing Part of me wants a new generation, just to get all that again, but I don't know if I'd get it, now that I'm as immersed as I am in the culture.

 

[RowdyRodimus]

We still have shock-n-awe moments, they're just a lot harder to make and are mostly about preference.

First time seeing the scenery in FF13, those cinematic moments in Uncharted 2, beating the first boss of Demon Souls, fighting the 13th collosi. All amazing moments :3

Oh, sure, there are still amazing moments to be had, it's just a matter of degrees.

Might I toss in an amazing moment of my own?

I'm guessing that we grew up in the same era, give or take a few years (mine was the actual Atari VCS, for some reason it was cheaper than the Sears version) and during those old Atari days my dad and I would sit and play for hours. We'd play Combat, Joust, Pac-Man (yes the 2600 version), Galaxian, Burgertime etc...

Cut to last night and I download Decimation X on XBLA Indie section. It's Space Invaders mixed with a bullet hell game. My dad comes in (long story why I live at home, short version is I had a massive stroke a few years back) grabs my second controller and the next thing you know, we're sitting on the floor playing what is essentialy an upgraded Space Invaders game like it's 1982 again. It didn't even dawn on me until later that night when I was reading before bed.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that no matter if it is as simple as Pong or as beautifully rendered as Uncharted 2, it's more of the moment that you are in that is the experience. It could be a spoiler tag worthy moment in a game, it can be the way the camera sweeps over a battlefield or it can be, like in my case, feeling the way you did almost three decades before. The point is, it's not the technology that makes the experience but what you take from using the technology.

tl;dr Rowdy is a big baby waaa waaa waaaa

 

[Outright Villainy]

I can relate completely with this article, there are several moments of gaming awe etched firmly in my mind. First playing duck hunt and getting to shoot helpless animals is of course heaven to a small child. The first time I laid eyes on sonic the hedgehog and was amazed with the gameplay. I played that game relentlessly (though I never got past marble zone.) First seeing mario 64 was awe-inspiring, I didn't think I'd see 3-D for years. Hundreds of hours of multiplayer goldeneye etched into my brain. Playing ocarina for about 6 months, and replaying it over and over...

And yeah, sonic adventure was ropey, but I agree, at the time that game was shit hot.

I know the games just don't compare to modern ones, but the fondness can't be matched, or replaced. *nostalgic sigh*

 

[Irridium]

The first time I felt a large moment of awe as you described was in Sonic Adventure.
The whole game was a rollercoaster of amazing set-pieces.

I'm willing to bet everyone was staring agape in awe the first time they saw sonic speeding down the side of a building, or outrunning an avalanche on a snowboard, or countless other moments of greatness.

The second time was Shadow of the Colossus. From first riding out into that open world, and seeing the first colossus for the first time, scaling him, and taking him down. Just moments of pure awesomeness...

And don't even get me started on Bioshock. Sure I give it a lot of crap for its gameplay and hilariously black and white endings, but dammit the story was one amazing experience...

EDIT: Can't believe I forgot, but Power Stone 2 left me in awe countless times.

Every level changes drastically while you play. For example, one level is set on an airship. And as you fight on that level, the ship gradually deteriorates, eventually exploding, and sending everyone falling to the ground. While your falling, you have to collect umbrellas to break your fall, but you can also fly into people, causing them to drop their umbrellas. You eventually land, and where you land has catapults, and a tank that you can use on the other combatants. Its just amazing, and almost every level is equally dynamic and ever-changing.

Edit #2: I also remember the first time booting up Battlefield 1942. It was the first time I played online. I remember joining a game on El Aliman. I was on the British side. I looked around, and saw other people. There were other people playing, and they didn't even need to be near me! Sure this sounds laughable by todays standards. But I was just amazed by it. I was playing with actual people, from different cities, and from around the world. It was amazing, and it was my first online game.

 

[domicius]

River Raid sucked even at the time. Seriously.

I remember that box art was something to agonize over. My first computer was a ZX Spectrum and in order to play anything I had to first copy the programming code from the "gaming magazine" into the computer and then compile it. Somehow I still managed to get addicted to those games...

Anyway, first moment of awe: the opponent getting decapitated in Barbarian, and the little green guy kicking the head offstage. That's still the best "Finish him" move in the history of gaming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aHUQqtp4aE&feature=related

 

[Ninja Monkey]

Good article, agree with the sense of awe when all of a sudden we could control what's on the telly. Moments like these are few and far between but still do happen occasionally even to old cynics like me. As mentioned before, Okami was one, FFVII is etched in my memory because my mate literally barricaded himself in his room for two weeks playing it but the all time #1 has to be the original Mechwarrior on PC where it kept me playing for 36 hours with no sleep.

 

[ThorUK]

It's tough to say, technology certainly advances in leaps and bounds, and just keeping abreast of all the new games and their "unique features" is a feat in itself, but I'd say that no, we haven't lost our sense of awe - there's still a game every now and again which just blows you away (MechWarrior 3, Arcanum, VtM: Bloodlines, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.).

Perhaps I was just brought up in a time of innovation (one of the first few games I ever played on the computer was Age of Empires, and C&C soon followed), and have been spoilt by the progress that was made when I was "paying attention", but things seem to have stalled somewhat - even with all the press and promotion I find it hard to be excited about most new titles - maybe gaming is just moving in a different direction, maybe it will mean something else to the next generation.

Quick gratification and overwhelming visuals seem to have taken the place of immersion, depth and occasionally even gameplay in mainstream titles - or at least that's the explanation I offer for my well worn collection of "most played" game CDs.

 

[Tom Phoenix]

I can't say I can agree with the author. Just beacuse gaming has become an everyday part of life does not mean that it cannot bring awe to the new generation that is barely experiencing it.

While I was growing up, games had already existed for a very long. To many people, they were already something completely normal. Yet, as a child, I was still amazed by video games. Even though they were something completely normal for other people, they were something completely new to me. Whether it was my first encounter with the Commodore, SNES, Gameboy, Arcade, PlayStation or PC, games had a certain magic that mesmerised me and never let go.

The point that I am trying to make is that it does not matter whether gaming had existed before or not. To us, in our own little world, it didn't until we were introduced to it, so it brought us much awe when we first made contact with it. And that is going to remain the case as long as gaming exists.

 

[Haywire]

I had my moment of awe when I was 6, and I played a game of chess on my dads work laptop (this was 1992 so it was a hefty beast with a screen you could barely read). I remember thinking "not only can this box set up the game and keep me from breaking the rules, but its some kind of genius as well!" as it roundly thrashed me, not that I was any better than any other 6 year old.

Somehow Civilization and Dune 2 found their way into my home a year or two later and I was hooked for life.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

Atari Flashback? PISH POSH! Real hardcore geeks bust out the 2600 and the rabbit ears TV set and the twin-leads-to-coaxial connectors and the tin-foil and do it old school![/pitiful elitism]

I remember the amazement and awe my father and I had when we first got AOL and realized that we could search for any song we wanted and in mere hours! have a MIDI transcription of that song to listen to! Four years later, MP3s happened and absolutely changed my life as I set upon a quest of musical discovery that shaped the very person I am today. I think this is a story many of us 20yos can relate to and encapsulates what may have been the last great era of inspired awe. Our kids are going to be sooooo fucking jaded.

Come to think of it, I bet this is the kind of 'evolution' that movie studios are counting on 3D movies and television to usher in. I don't think it's going to happen, because at best 3D television is to film what bump-mapping is to Goraud shaded polygons - just another coat of paint.

 

[copycatalyst]

I'm sure kids in future generations will have new developments to fill them with awe. I recently had a thought along those lines, wondering what will be the next big thing, as it relates to childhood and growing up:

My grandparents' generation grew up before TV, my parents' generation grew up before personal computers, my generation grew up pre-Internet, the offsrping of my generation will grow up pre-_______?

 

[Twilight_guy]

I think that on Christmas, when a kid gets there first console, they still feel that joy. It's a crystallized moment of true happiness that I think we all wish we could have more of. In knowing the world, we loss all the joy of discovering it...

 

[Chamale]

I remember the first game I had that let me save.

I was speechless at the thought that the little cartridge could remember the things I had done.

Definitely. Before we got that little memory cart for the PS1, I probably wasted $50 of electricity keeping the system on perpetually to keep my saves.

 

[afaceforradio]

I do agree here. I was gaming back in the mid 1980s and was astounded with child-like glee when I typed in a four-page code in garish green lettering just to get the fracking CLOCK up on the screen.

Now I see big, epic games like recent Final Fantasies and what have you, and whilst they always having me giving an obligatory 'ooh' and 'aah', the so-called magic behind these games isn't there.

It's just like 'oh a pretty video game', it's nothing new or special in that context any more because we know (and expect, I guess) that games will get more realistic visually, prettier, more epic etc... now it seems we're just waiting for the next big thing rather than being astounded at what's already there.