(no subject)
*Taps microphone.*
Hello? Is this thing on?
*Feedback blares - adjusts volume.*
Ah, there we go.
It's been a long time since I had something to say.
I've been playing Perfect Dark for about the last hour or so. And it got me thinking about games. I am at the point where I just don't care any more. There is a lot of bullshit going on in the gaming community and industry, and frankly I just don't want to put up with it. I'm tired of everyone arguing the best platform, the best controller, the best maker, the best game. Frankly, no one has an actual though out opinion any more. I've never seen so much ignorance and the gaming industry sees it and is capitalizing off it. No one can see there is a niche for everything. Everything has it merits and it's deficiencies.
First off, games are becoming too predictable and "run-of-the-mill". Half-Life 2, Doom3, and Halo 2, of all games, have chance to break serious ground. But they don't. Why? Because God forbid they do something different, or at least make noticeable additions to the game. MAKE it rise above the rest. They pumped up the graphics, and added minor stuff I'm not really looking for. Doom 3, was Doom 1 but really pretty. It was an atmospheric game but it wore off quick because it was the same thing, in different rooms all the time. Halo 2 was a ten-hour game with zero story and mediocre by all standards. Half-Life 2? Well haven't tried it, but it looks a lot like HL 1 style, just new pictures and apparently weak story. First Half-Life had an amazing story. Sure it wasn't entirely new, or complex (and why should it be?), but it was there, a lot, it wasn't always in text or speech, but in the presentation. There is more then one way to tell a story, and it exploited that to many degrees and without overpowering game play. Do we see any of this now? No. Companies make one good game then drive the titles into the ground. I don't want the game I bought 6 years ago with new graphics. I'll pull it out when I want to play it.
That leads me to another thing, demographics. The companies are focusing not so much on gamers but people who don't play games to get them in and populate the market with a lot of titles that shouldn't be there. They are trying to exploit certain groups and they are slowly taking over a lot of media. Look at how the rap and hip-hop, "urban" life, has taken over music and fashion. It's slowly taking over games, movies, and TV too. The problem I have is it doesn't foster a decent society. Partially because of the people that support it, it isn't entirely a bad culture but the way people use it promote it is not helping anyone. Things like GTA 4, fast and the furious, and XXX (the movie) all becoming games? Why? The problem is people don't just play these games and everything related to the culture, but they BELIEVE in it. This stuff is starting to wash out games of value. What's the difference between GTA games? Not a lot, just a shifting it to match peoples appeal.
That leads to two things.
First, people don't realize HOW much video games now define our culture. A lot of people don't see it, but it's replacing the old way of communicating stories, morals and ideas. What once grandparents, parents, and schools told about times past, ideas, etc. is slowly being replaced by video game culture. Parents don't take the time now to explain and shape their children and leave it to the media. Not a great idea. Think about what a child will be if you leave GTA 4 to develop a child’s mind. Because video games offer sensory input, immersion, and so much control, it's fast becoming a more and more effective and powerful medium for information. Any time spent on the Internet will show you how much kids have learned by playing video games; a CS forum is a prime example. Have you ever seen so many "experts" on The M16? This part alone could be a multi-paged essay on the social effects of the game. I haven't even the time to develop these ideas partially.
Second of all, creativity and fun are slowly being lost out of games. I don't mean that all the games out there now are not fun I mean they don't last. I find a lot of old games, and do not dare start bitching about how I'm and old gamer not wanting to get with the times, I pull out more then anything. A lot of amazing titles go by the way side because franchises overpower them. How many people played, Anachronox, Rez, Ico, Katamari Damacy, Jet Force Gemini, or Rayman 2 when they came out? Not many, and fewer still can say they played them all. Those games were FUN and creative. I don't mean they are all "art" and too different to be main stream, some in fact are quite standard setups, but they all do something a bit different, or something old in a new way that set them above the rest. But thing is, they all got overshadowed by a big name release at the time, or not pushed enough, and people just don't care. Jet Force Gemini was an amazing game, but DK 64 overshadowed it. Why? Nintendo pushed it harder, and frankly, it wasn't even that good. A lot of games today I find pretty bland or repetitive and no one bothers to research anything any more about them. Who would know Rez was inspired partly from a club and the famous non-representational Wassily Kandinsky? You've likely seen his works if you know the name or not. Or how about Halo 1's story line was completely plagiarized from a novels and I don't mean the Halo books, but rather Christopher Rowley's "Starhammer". Let's not forget the marines are a shameless rip off Aliens marines and the dialogue almost verbatim. The team said that novel and a few others inspired them, but they blatantly ripped off the novel and just changed the names. If I did that in College I'd assuredly be kicked out and marred from entering any other university or college ever. If Bungie does it, they make millions. Hmmm, can you connect the dots and see where I am going?
PC games back in the day were fun and witty, or pushed new grounds. Remember Lucas Arts adventure games? How about Sam 'N' Max, Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, The Dig, to name a few. Those games stick with about every gamer who played them; know anyone who can repeat word-for-word or every step in Grand Theft Auto 3? For that matter, 6 years later? I doubt it. Ask any gamer who played those games and you'll get everything there is to know about them. How about the Bullfrog gaming era when they tried new and fun things? Theme Hospital anyone? Syndicate? Dungeon Keeper? Magic Carpet? That was leading edge AND entertaining. What I would give to get the original Syndicate. Gamers made those games. Not programmers told to follow a Hollywood cookie-cutter story and a spec sheet. Remember Doom and how much attention that brought? Even people who never liked games stopped to say "wow".
Multiplayer games... Oh dear... Where do I go with this? So many angles. The idea behind this concept to socialize and work together, or not depending on the game. Well, when's the last time you saw that? I can't even continue into this topic.
Frankly, the only games I go back to are my GBA games, N64, NES, ONE PS game, and about 5 or so PS 2 games. Well SNES if I had one and about 4 DC games if I had that as well. Those games got it right the first time as they were not given the time and funds to develop them like they did today. I don't want to wait three or four games into a series before it's worth playing. I'll wait if you make it worthwhile. Unlike, let's say, Diablo 2. (Blizzard, get your shit together.)
One day, all so far from now in the future, everyone will wake up like after a heavy night of drinking, wipe the puke from their pants, the sleep from theirs eyes, then roll over in bed to see who they slept with and realize, "Oh God! What have I done?" Maybe then they'll slowly pick up the pieces and put it back together.
If it every happens, knock on my door. Then we can gaze together at the Promised Land.
*Slaps GoldenEye into the N64*
I dunno about you, but I have to save the world from a giant space laser, rescue the women from the doomed train, and stop a space shuttle launch.
Until that day...
Hello? Is this thing on?
*Feedback blares - adjusts volume.*
Ah, there we go.
It's been a long time since I had something to say.
I've been playing Perfect Dark for about the last hour or so. And it got me thinking about games. I am at the point where I just don't care any more. There is a lot of bullshit going on in the gaming community and industry, and frankly I just don't want to put up with it. I'm tired of everyone arguing the best platform, the best controller, the best maker, the best game. Frankly, no one has an actual though out opinion any more. I've never seen so much ignorance and the gaming industry sees it and is capitalizing off it. No one can see there is a niche for everything. Everything has it merits and it's deficiencies.
First off, games are becoming too predictable and "run-of-the-mill". Half-Life 2, Doom3, and Halo 2, of all games, have chance to break serious ground. But they don't. Why? Because God forbid they do something different, or at least make noticeable additions to the game. MAKE it rise above the rest. They pumped up the graphics, and added minor stuff I'm not really looking for. Doom 3, was Doom 1 but really pretty. It was an atmospheric game but it wore off quick because it was the same thing, in different rooms all the time. Halo 2 was a ten-hour game with zero story and mediocre by all standards. Half-Life 2? Well haven't tried it, but it looks a lot like HL 1 style, just new pictures and apparently weak story. First Half-Life had an amazing story. Sure it wasn't entirely new, or complex (and why should it be?), but it was there, a lot, it wasn't always in text or speech, but in the presentation. There is more then one way to tell a story, and it exploited that to many degrees and without overpowering game play. Do we see any of this now? No. Companies make one good game then drive the titles into the ground. I don't want the game I bought 6 years ago with new graphics. I'll pull it out when I want to play it.
That leads me to another thing, demographics. The companies are focusing not so much on gamers but people who don't play games to get them in and populate the market with a lot of titles that shouldn't be there. They are trying to exploit certain groups and they are slowly taking over a lot of media. Look at how the rap and hip-hop, "urban" life, has taken over music and fashion. It's slowly taking over games, movies, and TV too. The problem I have is it doesn't foster a decent society. Partially because of the people that support it, it isn't entirely a bad culture but the way people use it promote it is not helping anyone. Things like GTA 4, fast and the furious, and XXX (the movie) all becoming games? Why? The problem is people don't just play these games and everything related to the culture, but they BELIEVE in it. This stuff is starting to wash out games of value. What's the difference between GTA games? Not a lot, just a shifting it to match peoples appeal.
That leads to two things.
First, people don't realize HOW much video games now define our culture. A lot of people don't see it, but it's replacing the old way of communicating stories, morals and ideas. What once grandparents, parents, and schools told about times past, ideas, etc. is slowly being replaced by video game culture. Parents don't take the time now to explain and shape their children and leave it to the media. Not a great idea. Think about what a child will be if you leave GTA 4 to develop a child’s mind. Because video games offer sensory input, immersion, and so much control, it's fast becoming a more and more effective and powerful medium for information. Any time spent on the Internet will show you how much kids have learned by playing video games; a CS forum is a prime example. Have you ever seen so many "experts" on The M16? This part alone could be a multi-paged essay on the social effects of the game. I haven't even the time to develop these ideas partially.
Second of all, creativity and fun are slowly being lost out of games. I don't mean that all the games out there now are not fun I mean they don't last. I find a lot of old games, and do not dare start bitching about how I'm and old gamer not wanting to get with the times, I pull out more then anything. A lot of amazing titles go by the way side because franchises overpower them. How many people played, Anachronox, Rez, Ico, Katamari Damacy, Jet Force Gemini, or Rayman 2 when they came out? Not many, and fewer still can say they played them all. Those games were FUN and creative. I don't mean they are all "art" and too different to be main stream, some in fact are quite standard setups, but they all do something a bit different, or something old in a new way that set them above the rest. But thing is, they all got overshadowed by a big name release at the time, or not pushed enough, and people just don't care. Jet Force Gemini was an amazing game, but DK 64 overshadowed it. Why? Nintendo pushed it harder, and frankly, it wasn't even that good. A lot of games today I find pretty bland or repetitive and no one bothers to research anything any more about them. Who would know Rez was inspired partly from a club and the famous non-representational Wassily Kandinsky? You've likely seen his works if you know the name or not. Or how about Halo 1's story line was completely plagiarized from a novels and I don't mean the Halo books, but rather Christopher Rowley's "Starhammer". Let's not forget the marines are a shameless rip off Aliens marines and the dialogue almost verbatim. The team said that novel and a few others inspired them, but they blatantly ripped off the novel and just changed the names. If I did that in College I'd assuredly be kicked out and marred from entering any other university or college ever. If Bungie does it, they make millions. Hmmm, can you connect the dots and see where I am going?
PC games back in the day were fun and witty, or pushed new grounds. Remember Lucas Arts adventure games? How about Sam 'N' Max, Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, The Dig, to name a few. Those games stick with about every gamer who played them; know anyone who can repeat word-for-word or every step in Grand Theft Auto 3? For that matter, 6 years later? I doubt it. Ask any gamer who played those games and you'll get everything there is to know about them. How about the Bullfrog gaming era when they tried new and fun things? Theme Hospital anyone? Syndicate? Dungeon Keeper? Magic Carpet? That was leading edge AND entertaining. What I would give to get the original Syndicate. Gamers made those games. Not programmers told to follow a Hollywood cookie-cutter story and a spec sheet. Remember Doom and how much attention that brought? Even people who never liked games stopped to say "wow".
Multiplayer games... Oh dear... Where do I go with this? So many angles. The idea behind this concept to socialize and work together, or not depending on the game. Well, when's the last time you saw that? I can't even continue into this topic.
Frankly, the only games I go back to are my GBA games, N64, NES, ONE PS game, and about 5 or so PS 2 games. Well SNES if I had one and about 4 DC games if I had that as well. Those games got it right the first time as they were not given the time and funds to develop them like they did today. I don't want to wait three or four games into a series before it's worth playing. I'll wait if you make it worthwhile. Unlike, let's say, Diablo 2. (Blizzard, get your shit together.)
One day, all so far from now in the future, everyone will wake up like after a heavy night of drinking, wipe the puke from their pants, the sleep from theirs eyes, then roll over in bed to see who they slept with and realize, "Oh God! What have I done?" Maybe then they'll slowly pick up the pieces and put it back together.
If it every happens, knock on my door. Then we can gaze together at the Promised Land.
*Slaps GoldenEye into the N64*
I dunno about you, but I have to save the world from a giant space laser, rescue the women from the doomed train, and stop a space shuttle launch.
Until that day...