Then check out this article.
I have been reading this site for a year or two and like what they write, and this article is spot on to my opinion of modern sequels and DLC.
If you take anything away from this article, realize that ultimately big corporations have their ear to the ground on everything that is trending from MMA to music to of course video games. They constantly wish to find the most successful way to remove money from your wallet; addiction currently overruling quality.
BLOG | BST Systems Owned: Atari 2600 & 5200, NES, Game Boy (OG, Pocket, Color, GBA & GBA SP), DSi, 3DS, SMS, Genesis, Sega CD,
Nomad, SNES, Saturn, PS1, Dreamcast, XBox, PS2, Gamecube, Nintendo DS, Wii, PSP, PS3, WiiU, XBOX, 360 XBONE & Switch.
Well... yeah. I think of this as more of a fact than an opinion. Even developers will tell you that mainstream games are stale now. It all boils down to what Flake has already said. It's too expensive and risky to try and make something fresh. Why bother doing so when you can just shit out an FPS and have guaranteed profit?
It seems there is generally more uniqueness and innovation in the handheld libraries today than the consoles, so it's not all lost. I'm guessing handheld games remain more unique because they are cheaper to make.
prfsnl_gmr wrote:There is nothing feigned about it. What I wrote is a display of actual moral superiority.
Yes, quite a few mainstream series are similar to each other. Yes, sequels and DLC are a hell of a lot more common than new IP's.
Is that a problem though? Well that's up to the individual, but I certainly don't think so.
Despite what Yahtzee Croshaw hypocritically says sequels can still be quality experiences. And "Originality = Quality" is an idea. An opinion. Not a rule. A video game being "Gray and brown FPS #1337" does not make it instantly devoid of credit. There are obviously still people who enjoy those kinds of things, otherwise they wouldn't be selling so well.
Besides, even if the majority of mainstream games are falling into the easy money route that doesn't mean all games are doing so. Even looking to the future, there will never be a totally complete eclipse of quality games that don't go for the quick buck. It's just not possible.
I'm not worrying.
I feel old when talking to anyone my age yet too inexperienced to effectively talk to anyone older. Life is grand that way.
As a lover of all games, I can say that current day, mainstream titles offer me things that older retro and classic games can't, particularly in the realm of expansive environments and cinematic presentation. Games like Uncharted and Gears of War are good examples of a thoroughly enjoyable 10h game that gives me a fast paced movie like experience,
On the flip side, retro and classic games also deliver a form of game play and entertainment that a lot of today's big budget games have lost or forgotten. More simplicity, more imaginative, less emphasis on realism, 2d, more puzzlers, fighters and shumps, etc.
Does that mean I am defending the trend of current day games? Not really, but I also don't feel it is all bad.
how are we defining "mainstream," though? I mean I see Catherine previewed in every gaming magazine and up for pre-order at GameStop. A game like that is certainly proof that (even on consoles) there are plenty of unique and interesting games coming out if you're paying attention.
The same basic complaints have been there every generation. If not for games, then other media.
There are trends I'm not keen on, but there are still interesting games coming out. I don't doubt that we'll look back on this round of consoles and cherry-pick the best of it while complaining that the future's games just aren't as good. Some of that might be unique stuff. Others just the cream of the crop - there are quite a lot of nicely produced games coming out, if nothing else.
Arguably too, the current-gen infrastructure allows for those indie/direct download games to flourish on consoles, instead of just being shareware titles on the PC.
noiseredux wrote:how are we defining "mainstream," though? I mean I see Catherine previewed in every gaming magazine and up for pre-order at GameStop. A game like that is certainly proof that (even on consoles) there are plenty of unique and interesting games coming out if you're paying attention.
I agree, its great to see deserving games get some coverage like El Shaddai
I disagree that the current gen is altogether stale. Some of the modern day gaming experiences do things I only dreamed of as a kid, and they are not devoid of creativity. While you can look at the landscape of modern games and just see a sea of boring undifferentiable zombies, army men, and space marines, you can also find some incredible stuff. Mirror's Edge did 1st person platforming to perfection. Left4Dead revolutionized the co-op campaign. Mass Effect is the pinnacle of space opera. Fallout 3 is the ultimate post-apocalypse simulator. Portal ranks up with Tetris for most important puzzle games of all time. I could go on. As time goes by, all that crap that is out there will not be remembered, but the good games never die and the best of the games of this generation will be revered for a long time.
Last edited by J T on Mon Jun 20, 2011 11:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
