When did Gaming begin to go wrong?

[Kronopticon]

I'd like to believe it didnt, but there is a lingering fear that a major flaw was created in gaming, when do you think it happened? and how? If you think it ever did.

its been an issue lingering on my mind for some time, what are your views?

 

[PurpleRain]

I didn't think it did. I mean, were never going to see games like Fallout again. But on the upside, we are now constantly served up games like Dead Rising, Bioshock, Mass Effect and Hells Highway (fingers crossed if that ones good)

 

[Yerocha]

Games only seem to be failing in the eyes of the retro gamers. Personally, I've played lots of good games in the past year.

 

[Zera]

Oh boy... I remember when I made these questions like these. I dont see gaming going in a downward spiral, I just see it going the direction I dont like( the more realistic you try to make a character look, the more fake it feels, too many shooters)

 

[GrowlersAtSea]

What "major flaw" is it you're referring to?

I've been gaming for a long time now, and although this generation of consoles hasn't impressed me as much as previous ones (although like many, the success of the Nintendo Wii has really surprised me), the games as a whole this year have been very good, I've thought.

 

[Testing]

Sonic Heroes.

 

[Zera]

Sonic Heroes.

What?

 

[laikenf]

I don't know exactly what flaw you're referring to, but I have noticed something rather muddy in the gaming industry. In the first place I have noticed that there is something in games these days that make them seem kind of incomplete; they often tend to go for the "wow" factor, leaving what might have been fresh ideas up in the air. Notice that people complain that games are shorter (which I don't think is entirely true) and others say they are easier; but the truth is that video games are a multi- billion dollar industry and it's pretty obvious by the way games are approached. You can see this when you play a game that for the first half of it you're totally amazed just to be gradually put off towards the end (if you're still interested and actually make it to the end). Now I'm not saying that games are generally bad, what I'm trying to say is that good concepts and ideas usually take a back seat in games to favor presentation and familiar gameplay.

 

[Combustible Monkey]

I don't think gaming has jumped the shark, as such.

This industry has always been cyclical in nature. There's only really one constant: whatever machine you're playing on will be obsolete sometime soon. Other than that, anything and everything can change.

That said, we've currently got some issues, and I hope developers, publishers and consumers can work around them. Like having so much development money thrown at low-risk endeavors (FPSes being the most visible). Or the decreasing relevance of the Japanese market (and, therefore, Japanese developers).

It's probable, though, that we're going to keep having these issues for quite some time, until gaming opens up beyond its current audience and we see an end to the bigger-better-faster-graphics-technology focus on the hardware end.

I realize this makes me sound like a Nintendo shill. Ironic, since I don't own a wii.

 

[Testing]

Sonic Heroes.

What?

Sonic Heroes.

 

[runtheplacered]

Sonic Heroes.

What?

Sonic Heroes.

Either he doesn't speak English or is immensely lazy.. but I think Hackiroth is suggesting it went wrong when Sonic Heroes was released? Don't know why that would be.. but that's all I can think of.

 

[LordOmnit]

I think it's the lazy one.

 

[Zoidbergio]

I can't think of a year that had more great games released than 2007, if you can think of one please post it with a list of those games.

This year has been seriously good for gaming, I've bought over 15 great games and rented several more.

 

[Copter400]

Sonic Heroes.

What?

Sonic Heroes.

Ah, Sega's once beloved mascot now in ruins. The best I've seen for a new Sonic game is a 7/10.

On the original subject, yeah, it's pretty much only the retro gamers who think that way, in more or less the same manner an old man says in his disapproving tone, 'In my day...'(not that it's a bad thing, please don't take offense).

 

[Copter400]

Sonic Heroes.

What?

Sonic Heroes.

Ah, Sega's once beloved mascot now in ruins. The best I've seen for a new Sonic game is a 7/10.

On the original subject, yeah, it's pretty much only the retro gamers who think that way, in more or less the same manner an old man says in his disapproving tone, 'In my day...'(not that it's a bad thing, please don't take offense).

 

[whyhalothar]

Well, I'd say it kind of started in the beginning of this generation (some would say after the SNES era). Why? Because now developers, designers, companies are now reaching for what they think is popular. What is popular at the moment here in North America is shooters, I mean look at Halo 3 (IMO, it's really overrated). I also noticed that only a handful of games out there are actually worth playing and buying, the industry seems to be running out of ideas these days. A lot of games make me feel like they look for a half-fast plot with pretty graphics. Not to mention, that a lot of games are very short. However, you can't blame them. Lot of gamers want the games NOW, and they want it pretty because they have a fetish of comparing a game of console A to console B. It's really just like Hollywood.

This is just my 2 cents.

PS (I'm not saying that all the games are like that, only those that seems to get a lot of attention. Again, Halo comes to mind)

 

[WraithGadra]

Gaming hasn't "gone wrong" so much as it's "going down another path". Whereas games of old relied on difficulty and gameplay, nowadays they are more focused on graphics and tech specs. We don't have anything too worry about any time soon.

Fingers crossed for Sonic RPG. If anyone can pull it off, it's Bioware.

 

[p1ne]

The gaming industry has grown to the point where it's now experiencing the same obnoxious problem that the film industry is plagued by: an aversion to financial risk-taking in the form of backing unique and creative projects that don't stay within the bounds of known economic winners. The larger directive force in game development these days seems to be in the hands of the financial overlords rather than the developers, because most of what we're seeing lately are boring, derivative games that wallow in stagnant genres. Even the GOOD games have this problem.

With PC gaming, there also seems to be some kind of unholy alliance with the hardware companies, because developers these days apparently feel obliged to make every single game a technological marvel so that gamers will want to upgrade their video card for the second time in a year to play it. I think that the amount of economic (and especially) human resources required to make a gorgeous next-gen game means that certain outdated concepts as "gameplay", and "creativity", and "plot", and "characters" get assigned a lower priority than they probably should.

I know that making games has probably always been this way to a certain extent, but I don't think it used to be as bad as it is now.

 

[stevesan]

this is kind of the natural ebb and flow of business, i think. first, you get a small-ish group of people (the hardcore gamers) that buy games and love em. but then, as a business, you need to grow. so you start catering to more "casual" gamers to sustain your business. thus, you have less time/resources to devote to the hardcore crowd. sure, hardcore games will never go away, but there will be less of them.

a bit sad for hardcore gamers... but business is business. although an interesting question would be, would hardcore gamers pay a premium for games that they would like? for example, many movie-goers pay more for art-house theaters to see really good, non-mainstream movies. it's at a premium, but damn the movies are good. would you pay $100 for another Fallout, or System Shock, or FF6, or..X-Com? hmmm...hell, i would. i'd much rather pay $100 for a modern System Shock than $50 for the watered down BioShock.

maybe it's time that games develop a premium market.