Why do people seam to like old games more then new ones?

[MgsTheFury]

It always makes me wonder when you hear people talking about how game were better before XBox and the PS2. Now with the PSN XBL and the Wiiware you can download games form yesteryear. I've done this on my 360 and PS3.... The games that I remember playing back in the mid 90's when I was a kid were amazing! Now.... there just rubbish! But I always find people that will defend to the death that game where better back then. Some games still stand the test of time or even get a new life like Duke Nukem 3D for the 360. Will games now be the same in 15-20 years time. Will we look back and say "wow, Halo is just unbearable to play".

 

[delet]

Nostalgia Goggles make everything from the past better...

Most people grew up on games from the past, and so their favorite games at those times carry on as their favorite game of all time. Whether it's really better than a current game is irrelevant.

 

[Imp Erection]

I think people say that about Halo now, Lol.

But yeah, games are always changing, and I think they will change even more as time goes on.

But hey, I still play old as Hell games like Tomb Raider, and Resident Evil 1, and Team Buddies. Games being the way they are now doesn't make the old ones I used to love any worse, in my opinion.

 

[khaimera]

Its for the nostalgia factor and that games were more bizarre back then.

Plus the seams were held together better.

 

[JacenElectronica]

Nostalgia. also i like to think it could be cuz back in the day not every single fps only allowed you to use 2 weapons. and games were most about havin fun with friends instead of people takin it serious as if gaming was more than just entretaiment

 

[micky]

nosalgia makes Myst just as amazing as it was.

 

[MisterShine]

I'm not so sure about nostalgia either.

I just played Baldur's Gate Trilogy, Planescape: Torment, Majora's Mask and System Shock 2 again, all this year, and they're just as entertaining and amazing as I remember them being.

Sure, it's been a while since I played something that just twisted me up inside and spit me out like Planescape or KOTOR did, but it's not that I think we can't do it anymore, I just recognize such brilliance is a rare thing, and we're near the bottom of the curve right now.

edit: Well, actually, the last game to inspire me was a couple months ago when I finally played SMT: Nocturne. Though that doesn't really count, as I'm just like 5 years behind the release date.

 

[octafish]

snip

Plus the seams were held together better.

Tee hee, double stitching.

To the point though, I don't think it is nostalgia that makes me love X-Com, Jagged Alliance 2, System Shock 2, Beyond Good and Evil, Planescape Torment, The Longest Journey and No One Lives Forever. Sometimes games just haven't been bettered in their Genre.

Oh thank you Mister Shine, I can't believe I forgot to include Torment in that list up there.

 

[Luke5515]

Yeah, but 10 years from now or so, when mass effect 2 or something of the like goes on steam6.0sale everyone will be making threads to tell everyone to snatch it up.

 

[migo]

Nostalgia goggles is one answer, another is they're selectively remembering the good games from prior generations and comparing them against all the games of this generation. The really good games of each generation will always stand out and the others fade into obscurity, so the average game of this generation is compared against the best of earlier generations.

Now in the case of platformers, older games really were better since platformers didn't make a good transition into 3D.

 

[spartan231490]

I think that several old games are good, not neccesarily better. I think the reason is that there are a lot of "old" games to choose from. so if you really really like 5 or 6 of them, it's not a big percentage, they were just good games. I love the original mario, duck hunt, and asteroids, but that isn't a huge sampleing of "old" games, so it isn't really relevant.


Edit: The guy above me said it a lot better.

 

[The Procrastinated End]

Because the new ideas that blew your mind back then are now overused and nostalgia does beat new games over the head.

 

[oranger]

Many people here have said it better...but yeah, its just that the quality of the game itself, its mechanics and story, even its graphics in some cases (like dark cloud 2, radiata stories) just haven't been beaten. Many modern games are primitive in comparison with regards to story and mechanics.
That's why older games are still popular.

 

[Flying-Emu]

They're harder, and therefore better.

 

[Latino Gamer]

Besides the nostalgia factor... games that are still remembered well were good enough that they passed the test of time. We don't know yet which current games will be that well-remembered in ten years.
Also, some just really were that good. Like Mario 3 and Spyro 1.

 

[R Man]

Its partly because new games tend to get caught up in the graphics race instead of focusing on other things, and ultimately after the first 5 minutes graphics cease to really make a difference. They tend to be shallow and don't penetrate the memory. Since graphics in the past tended to be poorer, less time was devoted to them and more time to building better systems, playability and characters. For example, Despite the advanced Graphics of Rome, Medieval 2 and Empire Total Wars I don't think any of them had battles as tactically involved as in the original Medieval.

And of course, we tend to remember the cream of the crop, so only the best are remembered.

 

[Tony2077]

Its most likely the fact that the new games seem to be the same stuff we've played before just with better graphic's, or just with slight variance in game-play. There are a few game now that break that rule