What has modern gaming done right?

[Gamerforlife]

I skimmed through the entire thread. I think a lot of people are focusing on the hardware (which is ok) and also focusing on the "current generation".

I would like to chime in with the following, some of which have been already mentioned at least partly... Many of which were pioneered in the PC.

Better understanding of game design. One example, although some people here may disagree with me: I actually like that games have drifted considerably away from the "arcade" roots of credit munchers. This is even though I like well designed challenging games a lot, but they should be difficult in the right ways and for the right reasons.

Better understanding that players may need to stop playing and do not want to lose progress. Do not confuse this with the above point - you can implement this type of thing without affecting the game balance, with "saves" that can only be loaded once. There are still too many games not getting this right, but they are fewer, and very rare in handheld games in particular.

Ivo.

I like those two points. I love beat 'em ups, a genre known for pumping out a lot of cheap, quarter munchers. Most of my favorite entries in the genre though are more balanced and fair in their difficulty. I like a challenge, but I don't like sadistic games, which is why I tend to avoid games that have become notorious for their difficulty like Demon Souls. I'm past that "hardcore" stage of my gaming life. I like a challenge, but only when it's enjoyable to take on. Infuriatingly hard games like Kung Fu Strike The Warriors Rise or bullshit challenges like the uber cheap Insanity mode in Castle Crashers just piss me off.

I do like games offering convenient save features as well. Many of us are adults. We have lives, and we never know when we might have to drop what we are doing to do something else.

I also like the resurgence of Indie games, but I think it is a resurgence. Back in the home computing days (C64, Amiga) we used to have this sort of innovation. I'm really glad it is popular again.

Ivo.

I'm starting to appreciate Indie games myself as of late. I'm been enjoying fun games on the Microsoft Indie games section on the 360, and XBLA/PSN games with very indie game sensibilities like Journey, Dust: An Elysian Tail, etc. I'm even starting to look into trying out some PC indie games like Dear Esther or Abobo's Big Adventure. I don't have a powerful PC or laptop, but a lot of those PC indie games have low tech requirements so I've little excuse not to try them out. It's the bigger, triple A titles that my PC can't handle

[Menegrothx]

One thing I really like about PC games especially is the amount of them that allow quick-saving. Not a new thing by any means, but since we're talking about saving, I thought I'd bring it up.

Can any one think of a recent console game with quick save function btw? Most late 1990s and early 2000s RPGs have quick save but very few of them were ported to PS2. Abe's Exoddus on PS1 is one game with such function, but it's not a recent game (and the game's difficulty and design was such that it would've been very hard/infuriating to play with out quick save). I cant think of any current gen console games with quick save, but I know that Max Payne 1&2 had quick save. So did Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath on the Xbox.

[Gamerforlife]

One thing I really like about PC games especially is the amount of them that allow quick-saving. Not a new thing by any means, but since we're talking about saving, I thought I'd bring it up.

Can any one think of a recent console game with quick save function btw? Most late 1990s and early 2000s RPGs have quick save but very few of them were ported to PS2. Abe's Exoddus on PS1 is one game with such function, but it's not a recent game (and the game's difficulty and design was such that it would've been very hard/infuriating to play with out quick save). I cant think of any current gen console games with quick save, but I know that Max Payne 1&2 had quick save. So did Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath on the Xbox.

If you want to count portables they had one for Symphony of the Night in Dracula X Chronicles. I think I have played one or two console games with the feature too but can't think of them off the top of my head.

[Ivo]

I understand the lack of quick save as it affects the balancing and such significantly (and personally I don't think most games with "quick save and quick load when something goes a bit wrong" are that well designed).

But you should be able to save anywhere, any time (including cutscenes), making you exit the game and resume from there deleting that save point. That goes for basically all single player game modes where it doesn't affect anyone else. There is just no reason not to have this important feature.

Many games are unplayable for lots of people because this feature is not ubiquitous (and it should be).

The only reasonable exception that I can think of, is if that feature somehow gives you a possibility to get advantage in scoring. But I don't think doing this lets you get any advantage than just pausing and thinking about the game state for longer would. And for score runs that you video tape to send to twin galaxies or whatever they already disallow pausing.

Ivo.

[ZeroAX]

OP:

The fact that it has lasted so long and (specially the PS3) it still has new games I want coming out 6-8 years after it started.

[Erik_Twice]

The only reasonable exception that I can think of, is if that feature somehow gives you a possibility to get advantage in scoring

Apparently, the reason why many games don't let you save everywhere is that Japanese developers see fiaxed saves as a feature, or a stylistic choice more than a convenience. I know many have chimed on this but I don't remember much beyond the obvious examples of Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid.

[Menegrothx]

The great thing about the PSP is that you can close it down when you want, and the next time you open your console the game will continue as if nothing had happened. I prefer playing many older games on the PSP for that reason. I wont have to play any longer than I want just to find a save spot when I want to quit, which makes me more likely to play the game in the first place because I know that I can quit when ever I feel like it.

OP:

The fact that it has lasted so long and (specially the PS3) it still has new games I want coming out 6-8 years after it started.

The best/most technically impressive Atari 2600 games we're made in 2000-2010 (and are still being made) as homebrews. There were great games being released on the NES and C64 back in 1992 and 1993. That doesn't tell anything about the overall quality of games on the console. Of course gaming platforms get better games the older they are because game developers and programmers know more about the platform itself and how to program for it as efficiently as possible.

[brandman]

Awesome controllers (excluding Wii)

You say that like the Wii doesn't have an awesome controller.

[ZeroAX]

The best/most technically impressive Atari 2600 games we're made in 2000-2010 (and are still being made) as homebrews. There were great games being released on the NES and C64 back in 1992 and 1993. That doesn't tell anything about the overall quality of games on the console. Of course gaming platforms get better games the older they are because game developers and programmers know more about the platform itself and how to program for it as efficiently as possible.

Really? Homebrew? And really you are comparing the NES's release schedule in the 90s (Kirby's Adventure and....what? Star Tropics?) to the games this gen is going to get in the next 2 years? Besides by 93 the 16 bit console era had been going on for 4 years........heck the next one was starting. The current one isn't even over yet

[Menegrothx]

And really you are comparing the NES's release schedule in the 90s (Kirby's Adventure and....what? Star Tropics?)

Bucky O Hare, Mr Gimmick, Mega Man 4-6, Wario's Woods, Ducktales 2, Gargoyle's Quest II, Felix the Cat, Darkwing Duck...

Besides by 93 the 16 bit console era had been going on for 4 years........heck the next one was starting. The current one isn't even over yet

I dont see how that fact goes against what I said. Yes, by 1992 the SNES was already out, and yet still there were good NES games coming out. In fact doesn't that show how awesome the NES was? I mean at the moment there is no Xbox 720 or PS4 so of course the good games are coming out on the 360 and PS3, the developers have no new console to publish them on so they dont have a choiche. But back in 1992 there were plenty of more powerful computers around (first models of Commodore Amiga came out in 1985!) and the SNES was already out by then, but yet still C64 and NES got some good new games.