As the news is hitting that Xbox is possibly working on their next generation console, video demos of hyper-realistic game engines get our eyeball's rods and cones all in a flurry, I stop to think... games these days are CRAZY! I was born in 1980, so I grew up with the evolution of the home console. I had and a NES, a Sega Master System, a Sega Genesis... you get the point. I've lived through the releases of Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog and Bionic Commando and all these franchises that are still being milked today, but I wonder if the nostalgia is lost on today's younger gamers. Let's put it this way: Halo came out ten years ago... a decade... I was playing video games before I was ten years old, so what are kids starting on these days?
I honestly feel like a lot of today's bigger titles are made for people about my age by people about my age. There's little pop-culture references from the 80's and early 90's littered throughout it seems (Achievement names such as Riding South on a White Bronco, Clever Girls; the guys in Bad Co 2 talking about their favorite scene in Predator!), and while I'm not saying kids shouldn't play these games (unless they're rated M in which case I guess it's up to parenting skills) I just wonder how much of why these games even exist is lost on today's younger gamers.
If I had to guess, I'd say 14 is a good round age for your average young gamer. That would put you born in 1997 (I just face-palmed doing the math and writing that) The first Playstation had already been out for three years. What are your thoughts? Do today's younger gamers "Get it"?
I honestly feel like a lot of today's bigger titles are made for people about my age by people about my age. There's little pop-culture references from the 80's and early 90's littered throughout it seems (Achievement names such as Riding South on a White Bronco, Clever Girls; the guys in Bad Co 2 talking about their favorite scene in Predator!), and while I'm not saying kids shouldn't play these games (unless they're rated M in which case I guess it's up to parenting skills) I just wonder how much of why these games even exist is lost on today's younger gamers.
If I had to guess, I'd say 14 is a good round age for your average young gamer. That would put you born in 1997 (I just face-palmed doing the math and writing that) The first Playstation had already been out for three years. What are your thoughts? Do today's younger gamers "Get it"?