The Day the Gaming Industry Died: Impressions from E3 2010 :(

[Le_Lisra]

I watchted the MS presentation on a stream yesterday.. and while the technology is pretty impressing it seems rather pointles gameplay wise. Why would I want to to auto racing without a wheel or pedals? I can see the appeal for a dancing game, or for this silly working-out shit (if people injure themselves there, good, more work for me) but.. this starwars game looks like a motion-railshooter and anything else just does not impress.
Its cool we have this technology, but why aren't there any interesting games?

I just sit behind my computer and play PCgames, like the poor smuck I am.

 

[SturmDolch]

Huh. I wrote the same article for my website a few months ago. In fact, I'll just post that in spoilers here:

Spoiler: The Last Year of Console Gaming

2009 marked the end to console gaming as we know it. With both Microsoft and Sony jumping on the Nintendo train to make their own Motion Control peripherals, console gaming is entering a new phase? One that is dark, and filled with shitty games.

However, that Nintendo train is going from Gamingland to Wavehandsland. It?s a dismal land, filled with old people, babies, and Hannah Montanas that will now call themselves Gamers for being able to clap their hands. The truth is, playing the Wii makes you as much a gamer as my Grandma because she owned the Clap Lamp, which according to today?s definition of Video Game Consoles could be classified as one itself.

I?m selling my Xbox 360. As soon as Microsoft announced their intention to release the Project Natal I smiled to myself and rolled my eyes. Of course. I should have seen it coming, with the introduction of the cute Avatars. How I despised the little wave that ?Greedo CH? gave me when I saved and exited the menu. He was supposed to be evil. I mean, look at him:

And now I can use him to play Go-Carts or throw snowballs at my friends Avatars! Fun! Oh, wait, I paid over $500 for the console with VGA and WiFi adapters alone. I paid $60 to access the online features. Why am I playing games that belong on Facebook? Come on, Microsoft. No one is going to use the Xbox 360 as a social networking device. I guess they caught on and put Facebook on it in a recent update, but why the hell would I want to navigate Facebook with a bloody controller? Idiotic.

The whole industry is moving towards Casual Games due to the Wii?s success. But if the Wii?s line-up of titles is any indication of what will be released for Microsoft?s Natal and Sony?s Gem, I don?t want to be around when they hit. I can?t think of a single good Wii game. Nothing. Smash Bros and Mario Kart are fun with friends for maybe an hour, but those get old quick. The only reason I could see for owning one is to download N64 games onto it, but I have an N64 so screw it. I went to HMV last week and saw the Wii section of games. It looks like any flash game website I?ve ever been to, except these games cost $20-$40! But people buy this shit!

Apart from the move to casual gaming, the current game line-ups for the two Video Game consoles left aren?t too promising either. Everything worthwhile is multiplatform, and most likely available for PC. As for exclusive titles, Microsoft offers a great variety of generic shooters while the PS3 gives us bizarre, badly translated, Japanese Anime games. Hooray.

No, I will be sticking with my PC for a long time. Yes, it has casual games as well. Hell, it?s where casual games came from. But it gives us the choice to play them. The Wii is exclusively casual. Microsoft wants to go the same route. Sony? They?re just weird.

So farewell, Consoles. You served Gaming well, hitting a peak with the Nintendo 64. Sadly, it?s time to move on, and escape the sinking ship drowning in a sea of casual madness.

In short, I'm moving to PC gaming for precisely these reasons and David Wong needs to realize that "Gaming industry" includes the PC as well. The 2 million users on Steam right now would agree with that, and the millions of others playing non-Steam games.

 

[teknoarcanist]

Can I suggest an alternative outcome?

Motion controls become so ubiquitous that they cease to be gimmicky. Developers assimilate motion controls into the rest of their developmental arsenal and begin to develop games with an 'all comers' approach. Having been stripped of the ineffable language barrier of a controller and analog sticks, developers are now free to create serious games which can be played by and communicate artistic messages TO people not ordinarily familiar with gaming (ie, your mom).

Gaming breaks the mold and, over the next 3-4 decades, becomes the dominant medium for entertainment and artistic expression in America.

But first it has to become mainstream accessible--which requires new technologies. And new technologies will INEVITABLY spawn a few years of gimmicky "LOOK AT THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY" bullshit before being integrated with the rest of the field.

Positive attitudes, fellow gamers!

(Also, your PC-gaming-takes-over predication is hilarious. You should do stand-up.)

 

[Ravek]

(Ok first off may as well call them XPS seeing as there are a steady increase of third person shooters aswell, and the word F/TPS and shitty are not synonymous I just don't think games like Halo should be compared to games like Portal)

The player doesn't do any shooting in Portal. It's not an FPS.

 

[King Kupofried]

(Ok first off may as well call them XPS seeing as there are a steady increase of third person shooters aswell, and the word F/TPS and shitty are not synonymous I just don't think games like Halo should be compared to games like Portal)

The player doesn't do any shooting in Portal. It's not an FPS.

What about that parts where you shoot portals? D: That's shooting.

 

[thethingthatlurks]

Yes, motion control is absolute shite, unless somebody invents a holodeck.

Ok, now that the obvious is out of the way, let's rant: The sad truth is that this stuff will be successful. Let's face it, us "core" gamers are no longer the driving force of the market. You have twitchy 13 year old who bug their parents until they get a 360 and whatever the Halo du jour happens to be. You have the Wii, a console that is actually named urine, selling like freshly made cupcakes with crack filling. You have things like Farmville and all of its bastard offspring making more money than half a dozen countries I could name (hyperbole, obviously). Natal (or whatever the hell it's called now), and the Sony equivalent will sell well, because the Wii sold well. Mass appeal is the name of the new game, motion control is its face, and simplicity its character.
/rant
Now if you'll excuse me, I have just reinstalled Morrowind, System Shock, Master of Orion, Civ4, and Freelancer. I'll go play some big boy games while the hobby I once loved goes to hell...

 

[Deofuta]

Yes. The gaming industry is going to burst into flames and all will be consumed by the orgy of fire.

We need to get used to the idea that E3 isn't aimed at us, and it isn't aimed at casuals as they won't be watching anywya. It's aimed at shareholders.

UGH! shareholders.

Hey hey woah woah hey! I enjoy my shares thank you very much!

I don't think its going to die. Or fall. Or whatever. It may change to incorporate more people, but when was that a bad thing?

Also, all MMO's? I can dig that.

 

[Ravek]

What about that parts where you shoot portals? D: That's shooting.

I shoot people all the time in RTS games too ... but we don't call them third person shooters, because that's just a gameplay element, not the focus of it.

Portal is a platformer and a puzzle game.

 

[Magnalian]

Oh, boohoo. So Project Natal ( yes, Natal. I hate the name 'Kinect' ) didn't live up to your standards. Did you really not see that coming? The thing's an advanced Eyetoy, so naturally games developed for it will be of a similiar quality.
This does not mean that gaming is dead, nor does it mean PC will suddenly reign supreme again. It's just a stupid gimmick, it'll fade into obscurity before long, don't you worry.

 

[Elemental]

"Hey look guys! it's a dancing game and you don't need no controller because it has a motion sensor! and it's in 3D!!!"

Excuse me while I go and strangle myself.

 

[General BrEeZy]

HOORAY FOR CRACKED.COM
great website, very legit.

 

[slowpoke999]

What about that parts where you shoot portals? D: That's shooting.

I shoot people all the time in RTS games too ... but we don't call them third person shooters, because that's just a gameplay element, not the focus of it.

Portal is a platformer and a puzzle game.

I know but technically Portal is played in the first person perspective,during which you can shoot Portals.If you want a better anology compare Halo series to Half-Life series

 

[DN83]

If anything awesome came out of it, we can at least cut watermelons in Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker.

 

[Nazz3]

If anything awesome came out of it, we can at least cut watermelons in Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker.

Wait, Peace Walker? The PSP game?

 

[Lordmarkus]

And while the industry is crashing around me, I'll be gaming away with all the PC and PS2 games I've missed which would be enough for several years.

 

[Ravek]

I know but technically Portal is played in the first person perspective,during which you can shoot Portals.If you want a better anology compare Halo series to Half-Life series

What use is a genre if the games that you include in it have almost nothing in common?

I don't see what Halo and Half-Life have to do with it, by the way. What analogy are you talking about?

 

[Littlee300]

That's why I support actually good games that people don't seem to notice because all they care about is graphics and violence.

I'm waiting on games like Armored Core 5, which is the only original game coming out these days IMO. No space marines, no stupid western GTA rehashes, no pointless sexual agendas. Just pure game.

This post is making me think about how brainlessly made stuff is fun to many people... Farmville looks like cyber chores, Call of duty looks pretty simple.

 

[Stabby Joe]

It won't die just go through a famine or influenza of sorts. Good games still do sell, some even break records.

The fact that Demon's Souls, a super difficult PS3 hardcore title sold quite well with next to no advertising gives me hope it's not all gone down the **** (I don't know what I'm bleeping, take your pick).