Is Gaming Dead?

[retyopy]

Just look at the new games coming out. A Halo clone, a God of War clone, a Call of Duty clone, and countless sequels. The indie game market seems to be the only place with orginal games, and that's dying too, because more and more clones are coming out to capitalize on the succes of other games. (I'm looking at you, fortresscraft! And a ton of zombie games that are somehow released on the indie market, my other eye is on you!)

So is gaming dead?

EDIT: I haven't been on the Escapist very long, so I have yet to see another gaming is dead thread, and therefore wasn't aware that this was unorginal.

 

[Furioso]

No way, the indie market is picking up steam, Arkham City and Skyrim are coming out, as far as I'm concerned, gaming is far from dead

 

[BanicRhys]

No, it's just in need of some inspiration and risk taking.

 

[Sexy Devil]

If being in a rut is being dead then I've been dead pretty much all my life.

 

[AlternatePFG]

At the risk of causing a flame war, what is the Halo clone, God of War clone, and the Call of Duty clone?

And no, plenty of good original games coming out in the indie market. Not all of them are zombie games, trust me.

 

[manythings]

No, it's just in need of some inspiration and risk taking.

Which consisantly leads to massive losses as no one who demands those games ever buys them.

OT: No. Are you asking if creativity is dead? Also no, just not profitable. Are asking if the community is dying? 27(ish) million steam accounts alone say no.

 

[Howlingwolf214]

No way, the indie market is picking up steam, Arkham City and Skyrim are coming out, as far as I'm concerned, gaming is far from dead

This.

And as for the clones of Minecraft, well, the gaming scene's always been like that. People want easy money.

Look past that though and you'll see the indie scene is still alive and kicking.

Bastion, for example.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Are you mad this autumn, winter and going into next year sees some of the best releases in ages. I'm wondering if I might have to sell a kidney to pay for it all...

Deus Ex
Skyrim
Arkham City
Dead Island
Assassins Creed R
....
[small]The pets expansion for the Sims 3 *cough*[/small]

such gaming goodness and I'm sure I've missed some. :3

Look past that though and you'll see the indie scene is still alive and kicking.

Bastion, for example.

This too, the Indie and handheld scene is still going strong.

 

[lukeyk]

Not at all, people who think that gaming is dead tend to be looking in the wrong places.
Certainly gaming has become more popular and so the masses will buy these clones, simply because there good (Yes they are good, Unoriginal maybe, but you can't say that there not good)
But that doesn't mean that it's dead.

For example Garry's mod got its 1 millionth sale a week or so ago. So in no way can I see gaming as being dead.

 

[retyopy]

Oh I get it.
You keep making these threads so you can get a flamewar going.
After some hot topic badges are we?

yes, you've hit the nail on the head. Or it could be because I'm genuinely curious.

 

[AzureRaven]

I'm not sure how you figure it's dead. It's more or less related to the economy. It's not doing well, so innovation which goes hand-in-hand with risk is being cast aside in favor of games with pre-proven formulas that sell. It'll get better. And even now, if you actually take a closer look at the games out there, there's still a few gems in there. Sure, not as many as some would like, but it's far from dead or even dying.

 

[Kirtap]

The indie market is bigger than ever, Even though many sequels are coming out they are pretty much just using the name so that the game will sell better. If the sequels coming out this year would be stand alone games i think that they would probably hold up anyway. A sequel doesn't mean that it's an unoriginal game. Sure some games like call of duty or battlefield are pretty much going to be the same as they have been the last 4 years but they aren't the only games coming out this year. Many orignal games are getting released in the coming few years.

It actually seems gaming is the opposite of dead.

 

[aba1]

Just go play the indie market. The film industry is in the same rutt too if you look at all the releases.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

What? I can't hear you over the sound of minecraft, Magicka Cthulu saves the world and my anticipation over Deus Ex!

Honestly, gaming isn't dead. Nowhere near dead. Yeah, the AAA industry is becoming safe and stupid, and the indie market if getting flooded with clones, but that's not the end just yet.

And even IF gaming does die off and become utterly safe, boring and stupid, I still have all the old classics, and some of the new good games to last me for the rest of my life.

 

[Arkynomicon]

I would argue that gaming is not dying but gaming culture is turning worse by the year. To much defensive fanboy attitude instead of just agreeing that we enjoy games. Then there is also the fact that a lot of people don't like the fact that the games of today don't play like the ones they grew up with.

 

[SageRuffin]

Is this a serious question? If so, I'd love to know how you thought of that inquiry.

If anything, gaiming's in a bit of a low point, but it's certainly not dead. The way the economy is (at least here in the US), being "creative" - it in itself a matter of personal observation - isn't as lucrative as simply playing follow the leader; why do you think there's such an influx of FPS games dropping nowadays?

I was playing a demo of El Shaddai: Rise of the Metatron the other day. Despite its very minimalistic art design (simple shapes for the stages and pastel colors), it's quite appealing to me and the gameplay is rather fun if unrelenting in some areas. I just may get it, but kind words like mine a blockbuster does not make, and developers these days are more interested in getting as many people into the product as possible (i.e. BioWare/EA). It's far more profitable to make something everyone is already familiar with than to make something original for the sake of doing so and hoping for the best, sad as it is to say.

 

[kyogen]

Genre work is not the same thing as cloning other games. Three huge fantasy rpgs were scheduled for release this year, but Dragon Age 2, The Witcher 2, and Skyrim are hardly clones of each other. Some games are shameless clones of others, but industry reliance upon genre is not necessarily a signal of its demise.

 

[Manji187]

Oh I get it.
You keep making these threads so you can get a flamewar going.
After some hot topic badges are we?

Heh...perhaps reminiscing about tactics you've employed in the past yourself? XD

 

[lord.jeff]

What are the clones your talking about?

I have a problem when people say God of War clone because it gets applied to any brawler game that came out after it, and God of War didn't invent that genre in fact God of War didn't invent anything, it just did them well. If you want unoriginal, highly polished games you go AAA, if you want creativity you go indie, that's how it is for the most part. Nothing wrong with either choice I have a collection of both. And just because I can I'm mentioning a recently released AAA game that is rather unique Catherine.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

Put it this way. When you're on a website with thousands of gamers on it who actively play video games on a daily basis, there is no possible way it can be dead.

Not every game is a clone, you need to broaden your horizons a fuck load more.