My first non-retaliatory post
Ah. Video games. Master of my spare time, and a portion of it that should have been spend on making my elementary school book reports better.
Most of you won't relate to this on a personal level but you have some kind of similar feelings for something, like I dunno. Cars. How you lament the day when GM stopped making cars that people were proud to drive (too young to know if they ever did), or how the new lines of a 2005 Mustang make you weep and pine for a 67 Shelby GT.
There once was a time when people would crowd around an 12" tv disconnect the tv's rabbit ears and play Mario, humming along with a melody composed of a beeps and boops by a 4 fingered keyboardist.
That day has gone and the video game industry has gone to shit. Almost, entirely gone to shit. Until recent years I couldn't figure out how to walk into a Babbage's or Funcoland without walking out with something new. Half the NES games I have today I "borrowed" from my cousins (they never got any of them back, and I still play those games today). My friends decided who's house to go over to based on which game we decided to play. Everything was good in our 8 and 16 bit universe.
Then came along the Playstation. Sony, a new comer to the video game console scene. Just as Sega was realizing it was going to die a slow punishing death at the hands of Nintendo and their quality games, innovative controllers and lovable characters (Not to say Sonic wasn't cool). l The Playstation product announcement was premiered on MTV. Which as we all know, hardcore gamers watch religiously. MTV, the monolithic beast that has nearly singlehandedly destroyed music in my lifetime.
It was designed to play games on CDs. Holy shit. WOW. This was going to be awesome, think of how great the games are going to be on this thing, Cds hold so much storage space (more on this later). Turns out optical media means things like "Loading..." screens. I cannot tell you how much time I spend looking at that screen playing games. Its the bane of the casual gamer. What games do people play when they are short on time? Tetris, Minesweeper and Harts, because you dont have to wait for 3 company logos to come and fade, then wait for the game to "load." I would guess I've stared at a "Loading..." screen damn near 20-40 hours of my life waiting to play a game from optical media. And don't forget how easily a CD can get scratched, there is a $35-50 opps right there. And to top it all off, you now had to paid another $30-40 to save your games. Wonderful. Was the Playstation any better than a N64? Not really, but you could play your CDs on it! And thus the N64, an extraordinarily innovative system with an amazing controller (the PS controller was essentially a rip off the SNES) was outsold by a Sony creation because it doubled as a CD player.
Another issue with optical media based games, (cds on the Playstation, dvds on PS2, Xbox and Xbox 360) is the capacity is wholly unnecessary. The Game Cube, Nintendo's first console to use a non-cartrage delivery method, is a 1.5" dvd. And make no mistake, all the cross platform games fit on the GameCube disks. The vast majority of PS2/Xbox games fit on 3Gb or less. All that extra space is wasted and makes the console outlandishly bulkier when compared to a GameCube; but cheaper to produce (and yet marketed at a higher price).
First to market this last generation, the Playstation 2 ran under the same concept as the PS, it could be your DVD player too! The Xbox from Microsoft also comes into play here. And this is really where the videogame industry goes insane. Nintendo continues to maintain its celler-dwelling sales numbers with once again, an amazing console every bit as capable as the PS2 and XBox, with once again, the most well designed controller (The PS2 controller is identical to the PS controller, and the Xbox controller was redesigned based on huge negative feedback from gamers), but doesn't play DVDs and can't rip your music cds to be used as soundtracks for racing games. The industry is now more focused on the pissing contest between Sony and Microsoft as to who can perform the most operations per second, a statistic completely worthless to making games that are actually interesting with high replay value. Most of this is done publicly at E3. E3 (the biggest most important industry convention) is now filled with booth babes because they appeal to the gamer who is swayed by the bigger numbers. How that became the case, I blame EA, because most of them are selling Madden 200x from a company that used to make good games and now supports itself by purchasing small innovative companies, all their licensees, and shitting out a new version of Madden, NBA Live, and NCAA Basketball every 12 months, and Sony/MS because they know they can't compete with Nintendo on quality.
In college, I found myself in the dorms, shocked and amazed at the people now spending their time playing video games: Jocks, meatheads, and fratboys. These people frighten me, they buy up those Roster Update 2006 titles the day they come out and sign up for the Madden tournament sponsored by Miller at your local tavern. Most of them own only that one game. These are the people driving sales of dull, played out games, forcing innovative, unique games to become "nitch market," "cult classic" games.
Through the 2000-present period, with all the glitz and "improved graphics" of modern games, there have been casualties in the console wars. Replay value has diminished significantly. I find myself pumping Mario 3 through 5.1 speakers far more often then shooting drug dealers and miscellaneous mobsters in the latest Grand Theft Auto simply because the games are boring. They offer very little potential to become classics. How many games from the Playstation era are going to be considered must-play? How many people can think back fondly on the hours wasted playing Grand Theft Auto, how about Contra? Mario Kart?
The PS2 and Xbox have offered gamers extraordinarily little as far as innovative game play; and you would think with those powerful processors they argue over, one would expect better AI, which is not to be found. The most recent Metal of Honor nazis as just as stupid as the peons in GoldenEye. The games are no more challenging then they ever had been; and the "difficulty" settings almost never change how the NPCs react, the game only lets you find less ammo and health packs to make it "harder". The only evidence of slightly increased AI from the last/current generation of consoles is Halo's aliens. On the higher difficulty levels, the aliens can be smarter than the average player. However they also make the damage you take far greater as well and that doesn't count as any kind of solution to a pervasive problem plaguing all platforms.
Sony and Microsoft's solution to this problem has been to stick their head in the sand; oh and they offer online play for a subscription fee. You buy the hardware, the games at $50 a pop and then a few more bucks every month so you can play against other humans without picking up a phone or any effort at all for that matter. Lovely. All the connection issues of a LAN event without all the hassle of enjoying people's company.
So the new paradigm for this latest console wars is graphics, already the Xbox 360 made waves saying all games will have surround sound and up to 1080i HD quality visuals, and the PS3 claims it will deliver 1080p (as of the time of writing current evidence says Sony will miss this mark). What is the matter with that? Compare GoldenEye to Halo, Resident Evil 4, etc. We're hitting a wall. They can't possibly look that much better, and reviewers do not recommend anyone with a standard definition TV to get a xbox360 yet, the graphics improvements just don't exist over a composite video cable. And unless you get the "premium" package, you have to buy the HD cables separately. Hows that for customer appreciation? I can't see how that bodes well for a full bundle which can cost as much as a modest HD tv that it needs to be attached to.
Maybe I got it wrong though maybe the new crux of the industry is the new "will play your cds/dvds" feature of the game industry, interpolarity with the home PC. Today's TVs look a lot more like computers and computers are looking more like TVs, is your console's pc/internet connectivity the new main function? I can only hope it isn't. The only true video game company left is Nintendo, who has forever operated on the model "its all about the games." Sony and MS never seem to grasp this, but then again neither does the current average gamer apparently.
The one thing I will say is a positive about the video game industry in the last 5-6 years is the sports game evolution. The only sport game I have ever enjoyed before NHL 2003 was NBA Jam T.E. on the Sega Genesis. Perhaps thats where the influx of meatheads have come from, and if thats true I'd gladly trade the back the improved sports games for what used to be important to the majority of video gamers. The huge boom of game devlopers' budgets, player numbers and social awareness of video games has only lead to booth babes, high profile hollywood licensed generic movie games, a shift in the focus from quality, replay value and innovation to 'bling', 'glitz', a quick profit, unnecessary sequels, and higher prices of consoles, games, and the required "accessories"
Most of you won't relate to this on a personal level but you have some kind of similar feelings for something, like I dunno. Cars. How you lament the day when GM stopped making cars that people were proud to drive (too young to know if they ever did), or how the new lines of a 2005 Mustang make you weep and pine for a 67 Shelby GT.
There once was a time when people would crowd around an 12" tv disconnect the tv's rabbit ears and play Mario, humming along with a melody composed of a beeps and boops by a 4 fingered keyboardist.
That day has gone and the video game industry has gone to shit. Almost, entirely gone to shit. Until recent years I couldn't figure out how to walk into a Babbage's or Funcoland without walking out with something new. Half the NES games I have today I "borrowed" from my cousins (they never got any of them back, and I still play those games today). My friends decided who's house to go over to based on which game we decided to play. Everything was good in our 8 and 16 bit universe.
Then came along the Playstation. Sony, a new comer to the video game console scene. Just as Sega was realizing it was going to die a slow punishing death at the hands of Nintendo and their quality games, innovative controllers and lovable characters (Not to say Sonic wasn't cool). l The Playstation product announcement was premiered on MTV. Which as we all know, hardcore gamers watch religiously. MTV, the monolithic beast that has nearly singlehandedly destroyed music in my lifetime.
It was designed to play games on CDs. Holy shit. WOW. This was going to be awesome, think of how great the games are going to be on this thing, Cds hold so much storage space (more on this later). Turns out optical media means things like "Loading..." screens. I cannot tell you how much time I spend looking at that screen playing games. Its the bane of the casual gamer. What games do people play when they are short on time? Tetris, Minesweeper and Harts, because you dont have to wait for 3 company logos to come and fade, then wait for the game to "load." I would guess I've stared at a "Loading..." screen damn near 20-40 hours of my life waiting to play a game from optical media. And don't forget how easily a CD can get scratched, there is a $35-50 opps right there. And to top it all off, you now had to paid another $30-40 to save your games. Wonderful. Was the Playstation any better than a N64? Not really, but you could play your CDs on it! And thus the N64, an extraordinarily innovative system with an amazing controller (the PS controller was essentially a rip off the SNES) was outsold by a Sony creation because it doubled as a CD player.
Another issue with optical media based games, (cds on the Playstation, dvds on PS2, Xbox and Xbox 360) is the capacity is wholly unnecessary. The Game Cube, Nintendo's first console to use a non-cartrage delivery method, is a 1.5" dvd. And make no mistake, all the cross platform games fit on the GameCube disks. The vast majority of PS2/Xbox games fit on 3Gb or less. All that extra space is wasted and makes the console outlandishly bulkier when compared to a GameCube; but cheaper to produce (and yet marketed at a higher price).
First to market this last generation, the Playstation 2 ran under the same concept as the PS, it could be your DVD player too! The Xbox from Microsoft also comes into play here. And this is really where the videogame industry goes insane. Nintendo continues to maintain its celler-dwelling sales numbers with once again, an amazing console every bit as capable as the PS2 and XBox, with once again, the most well designed controller (The PS2 controller is identical to the PS controller, and the Xbox controller was redesigned based on huge negative feedback from gamers), but doesn't play DVDs and can't rip your music cds to be used as soundtracks for racing games. The industry is now more focused on the pissing contest between Sony and Microsoft as to who can perform the most operations per second, a statistic completely worthless to making games that are actually interesting with high replay value. Most of this is done publicly at E3. E3 (the biggest most important industry convention) is now filled with booth babes because they appeal to the gamer who is swayed by the bigger numbers. How that became the case, I blame EA, because most of them are selling Madden 200x from a company that used to make good games and now supports itself by purchasing small innovative companies, all their licensees, and shitting out a new version of Madden, NBA Live, and NCAA Basketball every 12 months, and Sony/MS because they know they can't compete with Nintendo on quality.
In college, I found myself in the dorms, shocked and amazed at the people now spending their time playing video games: Jocks, meatheads, and fratboys. These people frighten me, they buy up those Roster Update 2006 titles the day they come out and sign up for the Madden tournament sponsored by Miller at your local tavern. Most of them own only that one game. These are the people driving sales of dull, played out games, forcing innovative, unique games to become "nitch market," "cult classic" games.
Through the 2000-present period, with all the glitz and "improved graphics" of modern games, there have been casualties in the console wars. Replay value has diminished significantly. I find myself pumping Mario 3 through 5.1 speakers far more often then shooting drug dealers and miscellaneous mobsters in the latest Grand Theft Auto simply because the games are boring. They offer very little potential to become classics. How many games from the Playstation era are going to be considered must-play? How many people can think back fondly on the hours wasted playing Grand Theft Auto, how about Contra? Mario Kart?
The PS2 and Xbox have offered gamers extraordinarily little as far as innovative game play; and you would think with those powerful processors they argue over, one would expect better AI, which is not to be found. The most recent Metal of Honor nazis as just as stupid as the peons in GoldenEye. The games are no more challenging then they ever had been; and the "difficulty" settings almost never change how the NPCs react, the game only lets you find less ammo and health packs to make it "harder". The only evidence of slightly increased AI from the last/current generation of consoles is Halo's aliens. On the higher difficulty levels, the aliens can be smarter than the average player. However they also make the damage you take far greater as well and that doesn't count as any kind of solution to a pervasive problem plaguing all platforms.
Sony and Microsoft's solution to this problem has been to stick their head in the sand; oh and they offer online play for a subscription fee. You buy the hardware, the games at $50 a pop and then a few more bucks every month so you can play against other humans without picking up a phone or any effort at all for that matter. Lovely. All the connection issues of a LAN event without all the hassle of enjoying people's company.
So the new paradigm for this latest console wars is graphics, already the Xbox 360 made waves saying all games will have surround sound and up to 1080i HD quality visuals, and the PS3 claims it will deliver 1080p (as of the time of writing current evidence says Sony will miss this mark). What is the matter with that? Compare GoldenEye to Halo, Resident Evil 4, etc. We're hitting a wall. They can't possibly look that much better, and reviewers do not recommend anyone with a standard definition TV to get a xbox360 yet, the graphics improvements just don't exist over a composite video cable. And unless you get the "premium" package, you have to buy the HD cables separately. Hows that for customer appreciation? I can't see how that bodes well for a full bundle which can cost as much as a modest HD tv that it needs to be attached to.
Maybe I got it wrong though maybe the new crux of the industry is the new "will play your cds/dvds" feature of the game industry, interpolarity with the home PC. Today's TVs look a lot more like computers and computers are looking more like TVs, is your console's pc/internet connectivity the new main function? I can only hope it isn't. The only true video game company left is Nintendo, who has forever operated on the model "its all about the games." Sony and MS never seem to grasp this, but then again neither does the current average gamer apparently.
The one thing I will say is a positive about the video game industry in the last 5-6 years is the sports game evolution. The only sport game I have ever enjoyed before NHL 2003 was NBA Jam T.E. on the Sega Genesis. Perhaps thats where the influx of meatheads have come from, and if thats true I'd gladly trade the back the improved sports games for what used to be important to the majority of video gamers. The huge boom of game devlopers' budgets, player numbers and social awareness of video games has only lead to booth babes, high profile hollywood licensed generic movie games, a shift in the focus from quality, replay value and innovation to 'bling', 'glitz', a quick profit, unnecessary sequels, and higher prices of consoles, games, and the required "accessories"
posted by Marc at
12:39 PM
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