What do you LIKE about the current state of gaming?

[Thommo]

as much a stink as people made about Mass effect 3 it's still remains an incredibly ambiotious project tieing together two other games and a bunch of interesting characaters. It's as close to The Avengers the industry has gotten to honestly.

I agree with that. The whole franchise was an attempt to connect three different games which carried the the characters choices and that the players make from the beginning of the first game to the last. That alone makes it fairly ambitious and I would like to see other games do something similar in relation to choice system. The only real problem that i found with the series was the actual main story. other then that i became really invested in the characters.

OT: I think that we are coming up to a really interesting point in video game history. We are seeing the most variety in video game story and mechanics (thanks to the Indie game world) as well as, generally, good looking games both esthetically and graphically as well as games that aren't filled with bugs.

 

[generals3]

I love how many games are mod friendly and have a lot of mods for them and also how well graphics have evolved.

 

[krazykidd]

I . Ummm . Eerr . Ahhh . Multiplayer is easier to get into now i guess ? Man i'm getting to old for this shit .

 

[ClassicJokester]

I'm loving that our current plateau of graphical fidelity (feels like it) is spurring a good amount of aesthetic-focused games, particularly from the indie field. Sound design and overall non-gameplay gamefeel is at a very enjoyable stage, to the point where I've had more than several "Okay, I think I'll probably like this game" moments (later proven quite accurate) born from no other interaction with a game than booting up to the title/start/menu screen. There's enough titles out there for most people to probably feel that at least one game was tailored for them, by developers who care about the same things in a game as the player.

Full disclosure, this is a roundabout way of me saying how in love with Bastion I am. BUT STILL. My plural points still have my backing as such.

Also, modding the ever-loving hell out of Skyrim has shown me, at minimum, two things:

1) Baby jeebus save me, if every other slightly-muddy game had the potential to look so goddamn gorgeous [http://kotaku.com/5961994/what-skyrim-looks-like-when-youre-running-100-mods-at-once] by way mostly user-generated content (and thousands upon thousands of mod-advertisement bullshots [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/09/12] with depth of field and bloom aplenty), what a world that would be. Hopefully on the way, please?

2) Steam Workshop is an incredible thing. I mean, similar mod managers have existed before, clearly, but the ease of use and lack of hassle makes me actively want to seek out cool mods, without dreading the frustrating hours of debugging the friggin' manager so I can start debugging my friggin' mods. It is very easy now to tweak certain games to be incredibly unique experiences, or at least experiences that are accommodating to personal taste in game design.

 

[Zhukov]

- They're actually starting to make an effort in the story department. Mostly shitty efforts, granted, but at least they're trying. It's a step up from the days when the story was a couple of text screens at the beginning and end of the game and maybe a blocky cutscene or two if you were lucky.

- Voice acting! There're actually people whose job it is to do professional voiceovers, as opposed to having characters voiced by Jones the programmer.

- Shit looks pretty. Best of all, there's actual animation. The peoples move like moving people should.

- Digital distribution. I can type my credit card number into a form, and a few hours later (faster for those of you with awesome internet) I have a shiny new game or an old classic good to go. Remember when you had to hope the shop had the particular game you were after or you had to order it in and wait for days if not weeks? Yeah, fuck that.

- It's so damn cheap. OP covered this.

- The indie scene has kind of exploded.

 

[TakeshiLive]

The free roam/sandbox genre of games has seen its fair share of excellent games, Saints Row and Skyrim are some of the most fun I've ever had with a game.

 

[Aikayai]

Free to play is big and games which are actually amazing are all retro and popular again (System Shock 2 on GoG anyone?).

Other than that wading through the shiny crap to get to the good stuff seems to be a game in itself. Finding a great game is a game.

 

[rob_simple]

I love everything about the current state of gaming, things are getting better every year. I recently started replaying Metroid Prime and, even though it totally holds up, there are so many elements of the gameplay that are almost primitive compared to where we are now, just ten years later.

Anyone who tries to claim gaming was better 'back in the day' is either too young to actually remember it, blinded by nostalgia or throwing hyperbole around to demonise EA's latest business venture.

Also, I'm so grateful for wireless controllers.

There are games to cater to everyone. A lot of the negativity is kind of baseless, like "I don't like this game therefore the industry is turning to shit!" It's not a direct quote but it's what it feels like at the moment.

I agree, people need to understand there's a difference between 'all games are the same now!' and 'I just keep buying the same games!'

 

[Snotnarok]

A lot of people (especially on the escapist) have nothing but hate to spit it seems, so this is a nice change. Even if my text seems to come off as a bit cynical or whatever I'm happy to share uh, the good times?

I'm happy people are more intelligent/less vocal about insignificant numbers on their console "N64 has more bits than Playstation! NYEH NYEH" <=common talk back when. Now people at least go by their experiences and refer to that.

Insane sales on PC games, in stores there were rarely sales on games period, today? There still isn't but thankfully steam/origin and such have pretty amazing deals that make you actually want to buy games you may not have wanted to try otherwise. I remember many games just never ever getting a price drop, hell I saw the Diablo BattleChest for 30 bucks new still. 30 is just ...a bit much for those games now.

Handheld consoles being given some attention. Way back when on Gameboy and Game Gear there wasn't really many amazing RPGs and the like, GB had some fun platformers as did Game Gear (Pokemon not included). Now you can find all sorts of variety in handheld gaming. And best of all a lot of the games are actually different from platform to platform. I mean hell you can get full console games on handheld now. Sure this sorta started with GBA and such but now it's even more expanded.

 

[grey_space]

Skyrim was great. Loved the whole Sandbox thing as well. Some indie games on the PC also help restore my faith in the industry.

Far Cry 3, TombRaider all the Mass Effects...

The slowly growing recognition of games as art in the popular consciousness.

 

[Shrack]

I like that there is a huge selection of differnt types of games by all kinds of people out there. Small game studios can get their hand on bleeding edge tools, bring their visions to life and get it out to the public. Ten years ago getting a game out was a major problem and getting a good engine? Prepare to pay a lot of money IF you could get one. A lot of small developers had to make their own engines. And getting funding has entered a new age with crowdfunding (such as Kickstarter) There are many great things out there now and more to come.

 

[gorfias]

I'm liking casual mode on consoles so those that have a life can actually play some. I love dual analogue sticks on controllers so we can pretty closely emulate the keyboard mouse experience.

It is more than just the games that are relevant here. We can now play them on big HD TV sets. Back in the day, 25" was considered pretty huge. Now 55" seems to be a standard.

Gaming has just turned into a lavish, affordable experience.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

I love just how much games there are these days and how easy it is to access them. Seriously, if year ago I didn't casually download Persona 3: Portable on my PSP I would've never discovered one of the best game series there are.

 

[Souplex]

I'd say that this generation is a big step up from the forgettable Gamecube generation in terms of game quality.

 

[shrekfan246]

Plus, I kinda like how some old and outdated concepts, like extra lives, are slowly being abandoned. Sure, games like the Mario and Sonic series still hold onto it, but I feel it's only a matter of time.

I dunno, considering how token the lives are to the actual game (at least in Sonic; All that happens is you go back to the beginning of a level, which is the same thing that happens if you die normally unless you got a checkpoint), I kinda appreciate those particular franchises holding onto the lives system just for a little bit of a retro throwback. That may not be why they do it, but it's still neat.

OT: All of it.

All right, not exactly all of it, but I can ignore the things I don't like such as silly weapon DLC or in-game microtransactions. But apart from that? The last seven years have churned out more games that I absolutely love than my entire twenty-one years of growing up with the Sega Genesis, Windows '95, Nintendo 64, et al. And even the ones that don't match up to the lofty heights of Final Fantasy IX or Banjo-Kazooie are really good games. Controlling characters in a 3D environment has never been better, and I have a hard time going back and enjoying action games or RPGs from the early 2000's or before just because the mechanics are so clunky and archaic now.

People complain about the prevalence of shooters these days, but that's nothing new. Platformers were all the rage twenty years ago. And with how many games get made these days, both in the AAA and indie markets, there's never been such a wide variety to pick from. Seriously.
Super Meat Boy
Limbo
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Bastion
Journey
The Walking Dead
Thomas Was Alone
Torchlight II
Batman: Arkham Asylum/City
Metal Gear Rising
Okami
Mass Effect
The Witcher 2
Dishonored
Dark Souls
Mirror's Edge
Sonic Colors/Generations

All games that I doubt would've been able to exist fifteen years ago, at least as they exist today. Even Bioshock and Deus Ex: Human Revolution I feel are improvements over the actual mechanics of their predecessors. Sure, they might not be as deep as far as role-playing mechanics go, but that cost granted them much smoother, tighter gameplay in my opinion.

 

[King Aragorn]

Actually, shooters were big even back then. I'll use Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank and Sly as my example:
From the three big franchises, Sly always came last. Why? because it lacks the guns/shooter elements.

 

[NightmareExpress]

Every once in a while a good AAA title is released despite the AAA side of the industry sucking major nuts.
Talented indie devs are fairly plentiful.
Niche markets can be appealed to by things like Kickstarter.
Making a game is a much simpler affair.
Steam, sites and humble bundles allowing me to save hundreds.
Certain great products being free to play.