This gaming generation a failure?

[tankisfreemason]

I would love to hear opinions on this matter. I feel at the end of this current gaming generation (ps3, wii, 360), the generation as a whole will be remembered as a generation of failure. Sure a lot of great, amazing games came out this generation but, as a whole, development has gotten very lazy and has shown the effects of laziness. Developers don't bother to fully finish games feeling they could just patch the rest up after release, numerous companies try to disguise content already of disc as paid downloadable content, and the failures of 360 systems and the PSN will be remembered for a very long time. The laziness of developers lowers my trust for any video game companies, I don't want to shell out $300+ on a system that will have an error due to laziness.

[Muskrat]

Failure? Hell no. Gaming is as popular as ever, the advent of motion controls is leading to people who have never played or haven't played in years rediscovering gaming. This gen is far from a failure

[The Tank]

Failure? No.

Lazy? Maybe.

The generation where it became (at least from the companies' standpoint) acceptable to f*** over the gamers by making them pay for content that they've already paid for? Yes.

[forgottensinpwf]

May 14, 2011 21:14:24 GMT -5 The Tank said:

Failure? No.

Lazy? Maybe.

The generation where it became (at least from the companies' standpoint) acceptable to f*** over the gamers by making them pay for content that they've already paid for? Yes.

Pretty much how I feel about gaming today, and a factor as to why I prefer retro gaming.

[Push R Truth]

Gaming is great.



Although DLC that is already on the disc is a crime against humanity.

[Yami Daimao]

I feel the "variety" of video games have been absent this generation. Look back at the games that came out during the SNES/Genesis era, and then look at today's games. All the same army/space FPSs, the same sports games, the lack of colorful graphics traded for grey, brown and red, replay value, etc. Sure there would be a truly great game every now and then, but then they see how successful it is and drive the concept into the ground until it becomes a chore to play.

It's pretty sad, really.

[Allie Kitsune]

The gaming industry backbone has always been in Japan, and rising development costs shifted core Japanese development to handheld systems (see Dragon Quest 9 being a DS game, and the wild success of the Monster Hunter series (even BEFORE the Japanese 360/PC and US Wii installments) as a prime example of this). Japan scaled back their development on current consoles, leaving western developers to take the reins when it came to big budget HD game development. Due to the rising costs, said companies wanted to put out more and more installments of "sure thing" games and PC ports (FPS, Guitar Hero, GTA-style Sandbox games, Oblivion/Fallout 3 style games), which over-saturated the market.

[Yami Daimao]

May 14, 2011 21:19:21 GMT -5 Allie Kitsune said:

The gaming industry backbone has always been in Japan, and rising development costs shifted core Japanese development to handheld systems (see Dragon Quest 9 being a DS game, and the wild success of the Monster Hunter series (even BEFORE the Japanese 360/PC and US Wii installments) as a prime example of this). Japan scaled back their development on current consoles, leaving western developers to take the reins when it came to big budget HD game development. Due to the rising costs, said companies wanted to put out more and more installments of "sure thing" games and PC ports (FPS, Guitar Hero, GTA-style Sandbox games, Oblivion/Fallout 3 style games), which over-saturated the market.

You pretty much said what I just said, but better. Thank you.

[The Booty Disciple]

Depends on your criteria. Technology has improved vastly from the hardware standpoint. The gaming? That's up for debate.

I will say that I have had the opportunity to preview via friends both the new Forza and Gran Turismo 5, and believe me, for a guy who lives and breathes motorsports, oh, it's no failure for me.

[tankisfreemason]

I mean don't get me wrong, this generation has brought great games, some on my favorite ever list. But, when I think of the 360, I automatically think of the RRoD. PS3 now will be remembered for PSN going down and our info getting stolen. The Wii, though very innovative, will be remembered as Nintendo taking a step away from hardcore gamers and a step towards casual gamers, which made the system have only a few great games, all of which were first party titles. When I think of this generation I would love for it to be remembered by Uncharted, Gears of War, Left 4 Dead, Portal, Castle Crashers...etc but seriously, it will be remembered for all the failures.

[Ducky Momo]

Yeah I really don't remember other generations being much better. In fact now that we have the age of the internet you can only blame yourself if you get ripped off for buying a shitty game. At least now if you get an unfinished game they can try patching it, before you were screwed while they laughed all the way to the bank. Gamers today expect developers to do their best to fix games, and with online updates they don't really have much of an excuse not to try. I do agree we get kind of ripped off when it comes to pre packaged DLC, but DLC made after release is fair game. Assuming they don't cripple the game modes so that you pretty much have to get DLC to compete online. RDR has all this stuff online but you can't do and it constantly tells you, "hey you can play this, but you need to buy our DLC!", that's pretty annoying.

[Koda, Master Crunchyroller]

May 14, 2011 21:18:51 GMT -5 Yami Daimao said:

I feel the "variety" of video games have been absent this generation. Look back at the games that came out during the SNES/Genesis era, and then look at today's games. All the same army/space FPSs, the same sports games, the lack of colorful graphics traded for grey, brown and red, replay value, etc. Sure there would be a truly great game every now and then, but then they see how successful it is and drive the concept into the ground until it becomes a chore to play.

It's pretty sad, really.

What variety do you speak of? There was a lack of variety back then as well. Hell, if anything, we've gained variety thanks to systems going to 3D.

I love the retro machines just as anyone, and will always treasure them, but let's be honest here, they were not paragons of originality, either. Most games back then were one of the following:

- 2D platformer
- 2D fighter
- 2D brawler
- 2D action/platformer(think Contra, Metroid, Castlevania)
- Top down adventure
- Top down RPG

Whole bunch of 2D stuff there. Nowadays we can do both 2D and 3D stuff, that alone doubles the variety right off the bat.

And not for nothing, but there is still quite a lot of bright color games nowadays. Also, replay value is a subjective thing. You may not think there is as much replay value nowadays, but honestly, I think there is more replay value.

[Allie Kitsune]

Pre-packaged DLC (much like pre-order exclusive DLC) is a symptom of publishers trying to kill off the used-game market, so that people who buy used games still have to pay full-price for DLC, putting SOME money in the publisher's pocket.

[FinalGwen]

Let's not pretend that the 16-bit era didn't have its share of shovelware and generic clones. They just didn't seem to get the alarming amount of coverage or buys that the ones these days do. For every Mortal Kombat, there was a Bloodstorm, Street Fighter: The Movie or Eternal Champions. For every Sonic the Hedgehog there was a Bubsy The Bobcat, Gex, or Aero The Acrobat. Not saying all of those were bad, but they were trying to get the same audience, and none of them were really as good quality.

Gritty war FPSs might be too prevalent now, just as cartoon animals with 'tude were in the 90s, but there's plenty this generation that breaks out of that label. Dead Rising, Assassin's Creed, Braid, Super Meat Boy, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Portal... The list goes on and on.

DLC? Means that a game can be updated and given more time even with the shackles of release dates. If Sonic 2 came out today, we'd have Hidden Palace, Wood Zone, Dust Hill and Cyber City. If Fallout 3 came out in 1992, we wouldn't have Broken Steel, The Pitt, Operation Anchorage or Mothership Zeta. Or if we did, it'd be an extra disc we'd have to go out and buy. DLC is a good thing, not a bad thing, so long as it's not abused (which I think is less common than people make out).

And consoles less reliable? With the complexity of them, I'm not surprised that sometimes things go wrong. There's more things to go wrong. While internet problems and compromised solders aren't brilliant, neither was blowing into a cartridge to get it to work.

[Ducky Momo]

May 14, 2011 21:33:50 GMT -5 tankisfreemason said:

I mean don't get me wrong, this generation has brought great games, some on my favorite ever list. But, when I think of the 360, I automatically think of the RRoD. PS3 now will be remembered for PSN going down and our info getting stolen... but seriously, it will be remembered for all the failures.

What failures? Those are inconveniences at best. The systems themselves, even with those problem you mentioned have not failed, they've done extremely well.

There's variety in games now more than ever, if you don't see it you're not looking.

[Mozenrath]

Variety is a good key word here.

The 16 bit era, for all of the awesome games, was also probably much lazier. It was fighting games, RPGs, and platformers, and very little else outside of niche. While I do love those, we have many more choices nowadays, while still having the older games to come back to. There will only be more games as time goes on.

[Koda, Master Crunchyroller]

May 14, 2011 21:46:50 GMT -5 FinalGwen said:

Let's not pretend that the 16-bit era didn't have its share of shovelware and generic clones. They just didn't seem to get the alarming amount of coverage or buys that the ones these days do. For every Mortal Kombat, there was a Bloodstorm, Street Fighter: The Movie or Eternal Champions. For every Sonic the Hedgehog there was a Bubsy The Bobcat, Gex, or Aero The Acrobat. Not saying all of those were bad, but they were trying to get the same audience, and none of them were really as good quality.

Gritty war FPSs might be too prevalent now, just as cartoon animals with 'tude were in the 90s, but there's plenty this generation that breaks out of that label. Dead Rising, Assassin's Creed, Braid, Super Meat Boy, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Portal... The list goes on and on.

DLC? Means that a game can be updated and given more time even with the shackles of release dates. If Sonic 2 came out today, we'd have Hidden Palace, Wood Zone, Dust Hill and Cyber City. If Fallout 3 came out in 1992, we wouldn't have Broken Steel, The Pitt, Operation Anchorage or Mothership Zeta. Or if we did, it'd be an extra disc we'd have to go out and buy. DLC is a good thing, not a bad thing, so long as it's not abused (which I think is less common than people make out).

And consoles less reliable? With the complexity of them, I'm not surprised that sometimes things go wrong. There's more things to go wrong. While internet problems and compromised solders aren't brilliant, neither was blowing into a cartridge to get it to work.

*clap* *clap* *clap*

Good show, sir!

Also, I'd think we'd still get the Fallout 3 DLC, if it was released in 1992, just, they'd probably be spin-off releases.

And you are right, DLC isn't being THAT abused, pretty much the only company that consistently abuses DLC is Capcom, they are the ones that love the on disc DLC, I mean sure every now and then a non-Capcom game, like BioShock 2, will come out with DLC on the disc that you buy the unlock key for at a later date, but it has mostly been Capcom's MO.

[Koda, Master Crunchyroller]

May 14, 2011 21:45:33 GMT -5 Allie Kitsune said:

Pre-packaged DLC (much like pre-order exclusive DLC) is a symptom of publishers trying to kill off the used-game market, so that people who buy used games still have to pay full-price for DLC, putting SOME money in the publisher's pocket.

The funny thing is, these practices aren't really doing anything, as GameStop has admitted that the overwhelming majority of their used game business(I think they said either 80% or 90%) comes from the PS2, not any of the current gen systems.

[Citizen Zero]

There's been just as many crappy, generic copycat games in the NES-SNES era as there's been in the modern era (remember all the Street Fighter rip-offs? And the 'Animal Mascots With Attitude' craze?)

Yeah there were alot of great games, but there're alot of great games in this generation too.

Patches and DLC are just the light guns accessories and expansion packs of the present.

[Koda, Master Crunchyroller]

May 14, 2011 21:49:40 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Variety is a good key word here.

The 16 bit era, for all of the awesome games, was also probably much lazier. It was fighting games, RPGs, and platformers, and very little else outside of niche. While I do love those, we have many more choices nowadays, while still having the older games to come back to. There will only be more games as time goes on.

That is a good point. Even nowadays new genres keep popping up. For example, thanks to Bejeweled, a new sub-genre of puzzle games was made, and Tower Defense created a genre appropriately named...tower defense.