Where the hell is gaming going?

[Forgetitnow344]

EA just won Worst Company in America. Nintendo's next console is going to have a touchscreen in the middle (and it only supports one at a time as of now!). My girlfriend and I are considering getting another Xbox because we can't play any of our favorite games together on the same Xbox. New consoles are rumored to smite used games entirely. Consoles in general are trying as hard as they can to become media centers as opposed to gaming devices. Hackers are finding more and more reasons for us to never trust our video games with anything more than a fake name and a spare email address. Developers and publishers are pulling underhanded tactics to make a quick buck while at the same time punishing their employees for doing what they love.

When I found out the next Xbox and Playstation likely wouldn't come out for another two years, I thought about saving up for a gaming PC in the meantime, then realized there isn't much of a point there. All the high end games are just console ports that are being held back technically speaking by their console counterparts.

What are we supposed to do anymore? Isn't anyone else just depressed when they think about what their hobby has become? It went from just being bunch of companies who created baby computers that played tiny little files packed into discs or cartridges that could be enjoyed with multiple friends in front of a single TV to something that a conspiracy theorist could not inaccurately describe as dystopian, what with every single gamer encouraged to play separately on separate TVs as far away from each other as possible, all purchasing a single product to enjoy on their own, only interacting through voice chats and leaderboards? I can't help but feel like I'm not looking back on my childhood with rose-tinted glasses... Everything's going to hell. Someone make it better.

 

[Zhukov]

A touchscreen is a sign of the impending apocalypse now?

 

[Forgetitnow344]

A touchscreen is a sign of the impending apocalypse now?

It's a bad sign. I personally didn't think the DS was a bad console, but I found it took me out of the game to have to whip out the stylus every few seconds to do something and it was uncomfortable to just hold it. I like my hands to stay in one place while I'm playing. I suppose this has to do with how it is implemented in a game, but I sold my DS not long after I got it. It's not a sign of the apocalypse, but it is most definitely a bigger gimmick than game mechanic and it isn't the kind of change we need for gaming to not implode on itself at this point.

 

[Forgetitnow344]

I just hope the PS4 has more splitscreen titles. The amount of splitscreen games this Gen is pitiful.

This is what makes me the saddest, really. I wish every game could be like, say, Halo Reach. I could have three friends over and we can all jump on my LIVE account and play online, or just kill each other. That kind of multiplayer is perfect and I wish they could implement it on every multiplayer game. I'm sure it's not exactly possible/easy on games like Red Dead Redemption or GTA IV, what with their big, open worlds... But then you get games like NFS: Hot Pursuit.

Oh my god, in the PS1 era, we'd have like six kids sitting around taking turns at playing cops and robbers. Now, I was so excited to bring it home and play it with my little brother (new to my family through marriage) and my girlfriend, only to find it was online multiplayer only... I felt legitimate sadness. There is no reason to pull that kind of shit. Local multiplayer is the foundation of gaming and the only reason it ever got off the ground.

 

[Forgetitnow344]

I just hope the PS4 has more splitscreen titles. The amount of splitscreen games this Gen is pitiful.

This is what makes me the saddest, really. I wish every game could be like, say, Halo Reach. I could have three friends over and we can all jump on my LIVE account and play online, or just kill each other. That kind of multiplayer is perfect and I wish they could implement it on every multiplayer game. I'm sure it's not exactly possible/easy on games like Red Dead Redemption or GTA IV, what with their big, open worlds... But then you get games like NFS: Hot Pursuit.

Oh my god, in the PS1 era, we'd have like six kids sitting around taking turns at playing cops and robbers. Now, I was so excited to bring it home and play it with my little brother (new to my family through marriage) and my girlfriend, only to find it was online multiplayer only... I felt legitimate sadness. There is no reason to pull that kind of shit. Local multiplayer is the foundation of gaming and the only reason it ever got off the ground.

The sad thing is, a lot of racers this gen didn't have splitscreen. Imagine Burnout Paradise splitscreen/splitscreen online? Me and my would could spend days playing that. I know that open world games are difficult to make that happen, but even launch titles like Motorstorm didn't have that option.
Even simple co-op modes in FPS games where the second player is just a random soldier like we used to get.

Both my brother and my girlfriend love to play Halo 3's campaign and they INSIST on being player 2 just so they can be the Arbiter. It brings me back to playing SNES and Sega with my best friend and arguing over who'd get what controller... Who'd be Toe Jam or Earl? Who'd be Diddy or Dixie? Who'd be Mickey or Minnie? Who'd be Goofy or... His douchey son? Games just hardly ever do that anymore.

What I always thought would be cool while playing Mass Effect is if you could have friends jump in and jump out of your campaign, just to be support in your firefights. It's not like you don't already have control of your squadmates, since you all get the same weapons and you have full control of their powers. You'd just have to disable the paused weapon and power wheel. Considering the trade-off of getting rid of one of your idiotic NPCs, it seems fair.

 

[TorqueConverter]

I just hope the PS4 has more splitscreen titles. The amount of splitscreen games this Gen is pitiful.

I'm no console gamer but isn't there a metric ass ton of local multilayer games out for the consoles, particularly the Xbox 360?

http://www.co-optimus.com/

 

[CAPTCHA]

It's because we're moving into the next computing age. Web 2.0, ubiquitous systems, etc... Gaming has always made use of the technology available to it, right from the very first radar pong consoles to todays massive communication networks. It's just trying to remain relevent to a technology which isn't truly tested and who's ultimate direction isn't known. Does it suprise anyone that it's losing its way trying to find it's new place in an uncertain world?

I'm not kidding about no one knowing where technology is going by the way. For example, for all the publicity and bluster you here about cloud computing, there isn't actually a definition for what it is yet. Everyone's in such a hurry to get to Mecca, they're slipping into a state of technological determinism.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Gaming is going full on corporate, if you haven't dealth with it before it is high time to realize people will make money in any way possible.
Just keep your wits about you and put money where it matters.

 

[Kahunaburger]

A touchscreen is a sign of the impending apocalypse now?

It's a bad sign. I personally didn't think the DS was a bad console, but I found it took me out of the game to have to whip out the stylus every few seconds to do something and it was uncomfortable to just hold it. I like my hands to stay in one place while I'm playing. I suppose this has to do with how it is implemented in a game, but I sold my DS not long after I got it. It's not a sign of the apocalypse, but it is most definitely a bigger gimmick than game mechanic and it isn't the kind of change we need for gaming to not implode on itself at this point.

It does mean people will make console FPS games where you can carry more than 2-4 weapons at a time. Giving console controllers more buttons/precision is definitely a good thing.

 

[rob_simple]

It's a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' kind of situation as far as I'm concerned: as gaming has become more popular it's a)had to dumb down to have mass appeal and b)given publishers more strength in terms of what they can get away with. On the other hand, if gaming had never become this popular it would have probably died out when companies started looking to invest in more lucrative businesses.

I'm not that worried personally because when I think back on previous generations things were never much better. The N64 had some of the greatest games ever made but they only managed to release one or two a year. By contrast, the PSX churned out games by the bucketload, resulting in a few gems but overall a load of cash-in dross. The Megadrive era and before it essentially followed one simple tenet: let's all try to be Mario/Sonic.

I agree with you that Nintendo have just lost the God damn plot by now, but I stopped caring about them three consoles ago; to me the real meat and potatoes of gaming now is in the online marketplace: out of all the games I played last year; Shadow Complex, Dead Nation and Outland were easily in the top five (I know some came out before 2011 but that sort of proves my point more, I think.)

For all the faults of the new generation (and there are a lot) now has never been a better time to let indie developer's get their break and I think that's worth all the other sacrifices.