Fugitive of Physics

Why modern video games fail.

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Fugitive of Physics
on 02-17-2010 at 03:11 AM (186 Views)
Just a few passing thoughts, nothing groundbreaking or philosophical, probably.
EDIT: scratch that. I just spent about an hour on this thing.

My avatar is too tall. On my internet browser at least, it overlaps other people's, even though it's within the size regulations. Maybe its width is confusing the site somehow?




Do you remember the good ol' days of video games? The time period leads up until the end of the N64 era. Most of the great games, not all, but most of the really good games were made then. Sure we've got some nice ones now, LBP included, but these days it's just the same tired concepts, over and over. Wii is all Mario, 360 is all First-Person Shooters, and PS3 is so expensive to 1.build 2.buy 3.make games for, that it doesn't really have much of anything (What it does have is all Mario-style games or FPSs). The weird part is, video game companies listen to what the fans want now more than ever before.

That's exactly the problem. In the "ol' days", every company was new to the business, and all the players had only played 10-minute arcade things. You couldn't ask the fans what they want because you didn't have any fans, and if you did, they didn't know what they wanted yet. There were no tried-and-true gameplay styles, very few existing series. They were forced to try something completely new, and they had to put all their effort into every minute detail to be a success. Just look at Mario 64, the first N64 game. 3-dimensional gaming was almost entirely new, yet Nintendo didn't hold back at all. Now it is recognized by gamers everywhere as a milestone, a classic that will live as long as video games themselves.

Zelda 64 (Ocarina of Time) is another milestone, and perhaps still the greatest Zelda game to this day. Yet it bore no similarities at all to its ancestors. It contained 10+ fully fleshed-out and unique dungeons, stunning graphics (for the time), a beautiful musical score, and an epic storyline. The idea of a 3D Zelda game was completely new territory, yet Nintendo dove straight into it, risking their reputation and probably a ton of money, too. It tried hundreds of things that were completely new to video games, and introduced a targeting system still replicated almost exactly in 3rd-person action games now.

You see what I'm getting at? In the ol' days, you were in untested water, trying something completely new, and if you didn't put your full effort into it, you bombed. But now, the companies are perfectly content to make a crummy game, slap a famous name on it, and sell it. And, worst of all, it works. Games are no longer unique, or even new. Everyone as their mascot who is guaranteed to win them money and that's all they care about. We won't get any new series from the big guys, and the little guys with the good ideas are too scared to put their full effort into a game without testing the market first. Do you know how many people would be Halo 5, regardless of what reviewers say of it?



I believe I shall end my rant there, for today.

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  1. Chucky2000 - 02-17-2010 11:36 AM
    Chucky2000's Avatar
    Yeah.... Times change and so does technology, their just trying to make the best game they can with their tech.
  2. Davey U - 02-17-2010 12:35 PM
    Davey U's Avatar
    I think you've got it backwards. The big games companies continue to make what works because because people like it. They don't do it because it's easy. They know people will enjoy it and they are already good at making it so they continue. We can advance very much technologically now because there is limit and we are getting close. We can't very well add another dimension to the space-time continium to please gamers out there.
    I wouldn't say that the older games were any better than what we have now. If you took a pair of fresh eyes, say a kid that didn't grow up with the early game years, then they would no doubt say that current games are better. That shows that the reason we are so fond of the older games is because of the new things they introduced. They were ground-breaking at the time, but nothing like what we have now. In 20 or so years our kids will be complaining that GTA10 is nothing like the good old days of GTA8.
    I think a decline in the enjoyment of games is more to do with the visuals and the internet. The visuals now HAVE to be amazing. There is so much pressure to make a pretty game over a fun game now. The internet allows everyone everywhere to know everything. You can't be surprised by a game anymore. You've already had everything in it revealed to you half way through it's development.

    Sorry for my equally long and pedantic rant.
  3. bambs481 - 02-17-2010 02:07 PM
    bambs481's Avatar
    i think that the old games were totaly amazing at the time but what you say is true to a certain point. yes some games and movies just do what people want.
    e.g when twilight came out everyone loved vampires and everything now is about vampires.
    so i will totaly agree that SOME gaming comapnies will make what the fans want to make money out of a crappy game but thats really fair marketing and trust me theres always the veteran companies that makes great unique games.
  4. ezBadfish - 02-17-2010 02:10 PM
    ezBadfish's Avatar
    I would counter your claims that all ps3 has to offer is mario style platforming and fps with some game titles like; Final Fantasy, Oblivion, Heavy Rain, Gran Turismo, how about games like Flow, Echochrome, or Braid? I think your vision of what is going on in the gaming world is very narrow and there are really interesting games out there.
  5. EnochRoot - 02-17-2010 04:26 PM
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    I think the companies realise they can't just churn out the same stuff constantly or people will get bored and stop buying, Some good stuff coming up. Check out Dantes inferno.
  6. Fugitive of Physics - 02-17-2010 08:16 PM
    Fugitive of Physics's Avatar
    Wow, this sparked quite a discussion. IMO, if a piece of writing gets people thinking, it's a success. People just don't think enough anymore.

    Quote Originally Posted by Davey U
    I think you've got it backwards. The big games companies continue to make what works because because people like it. They don't do it because it's easy. They know people will enjoy it and they are already good at making it so they continue.
    Perhaps you're right, and they're not just taking the easy way out. However, it is true that only the new, small companies try new things now. The bigger ones know what people already like, and what they are good at, so they do it, as you said. While it may be a good thing in some ways, it also means we'll only get more of the same. Few people take big risks like in the past, when you didn't know if something would go over well, but you made the best of it anyway.

    Perhaps a better approach for me to have taken would be "why new ideas fail", and the reason for that is that the experienced don't make new ideas, and the inexperienced are afraid to fail and don't invest the money and effort that is really needed.


    And yeah, I'm not one to be chirping the PS3 considering I don't own one, but it does seem to have been the least successful.
  7. Luggy_ - 02-18-2010 03:17 AM
    Luggy_'s Avatar
    The stuff is made the same because it is what made them successful.
    GTA 1 and 2 were good, but 3 is the first famous one, and it is the same formula that has been used over and over.
    There are still great games out there, but none like the old ones, perhaps because of the simplicity they had. You didn't have to worry too much about how complex it was, about what spells to learn in what place at what time, or what transmission to place on your black italian car. It was just plain fun. Then again, that's just me, and even though I love customization, it does feel too complex at times.
  8. Jidget - 02-22-2010 07:31 AM
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    Those good old days on the Spectrum, programming away; or at least my dad tells me that's how it is.
  9. Teeteegone - 03-24-2010 08:00 PM
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    I must admit... game quality is getting worse quicker than it can recover.
    A good example is the Sonic Series - though I have been a huge fan since I was 3 - game quality there has dropped. SEGA is trying new things that they know won't work.

    This is happening EVERYWHERE!!