Do you like the direction video games are going In?

[Gunstar Green]

As far as the turn towards all downloads go it's pretty distressing to me. It feels impermanent and once the online services for these things go, so will the games. We even see the start of this with some games that had DLC that's no longer available. If you buy those games now you're out of luck, you can never enjoy the complete experience of that game anymore. Even worse when its an entire game that disappears from a download service.

I think it's great to have this option as an archive, which is how I kind of view GOG, but not for all new releases which seems to be where we're eventually headed because it makes the most sense from a business standpoint. The bright side is that it also removes much of the cost and risk of publishing a video game so it's brought smaller developers and indie developers into the mix with new ideas and amazing games so it's not all negative.

The direction that video game genres have taken though, you can't really predict where that's going to go. For example people said the tournament fighter was dead, especially 2D ones. They said the barrier of entry was too high for new players and that fighting games would never be mainstream again. Street Fighter IV came out and suddenly the genre was pretty popular again. You never know how the landscape of games is going to change and what people are going to be playing in the next few years.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Not hugely mainstream ones, but those are actually a small portion of the games coming out. A lot of my friends spend tons of time gaming and have never heard of Metroid Prime (Is that the one with the fox??)

So many new and novel things are possible, which I like better than repeating the formula of 6th-gen games. Look at Tokitowa! THAT is a game I want to play, and it's only possible on modern hardware.

[jfrost]

Do you guys like the direction books are going in?

whats a book?

It's a white weapon.

[Gamerforlife]

As far as the turn towards all downloads go it's pretty distressing to me. It feels impermanent and once the online services for these things go, so will the games. We even see the start of this with some games that had DLC that's no longer available. If you buy those games now you're out of luck, you can never enjoy the complete experience of that game anymore.

Like Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. I'm one of the lucky few who got the DLC for that game before they were legally unable to provide it anymore.

I was thinking about something a lot recently. One thing that concerns me as a console gamer, is that console gaming has been gradually losing its identity this generation. When you look at what's popular now, it's all stuff with roots in PC gaming like first person shooters, third person shooters, and western rpgs. Plus, you have digital games, lots of online emphasis, it's all PC oriented stuff.

And all of these PC game genres were also dumbed down for casuals when they were moved from PC to consoles. And with consoles we've also lost many of the things that made many PC games great, modding, hosting your own servers, game communities and so on. PC games suffered from this move as much as console gaming, and as a result neither the PC games nor the consoles games of today are as good as the PC games&console games of the 1990s/early 2000s.

So what you're saying is...the world isn't big enough for PC gaming and console gaming to co-exist

Cue dramatic music

[Zing]

As far as the turn towards all downloads go it's pretty distressing to me. It feels impermanent and once the online services for these things go, so will the games.

I'm concerned enough already about disc-based games deteriorating. I can't imagine going download only, unless the games were completely DRM-free.

[Menegrothx]

So what you're saying is...the world isn't big enough for PC gaming and console gaming to co-exist

They co-existed back in the Genesis/SNES and Saturn/PS1/N64/Dreamcast days so I don't see why they couldn't co-exist now. PCs had RPGs, FPS, strategy and adventure games while consoles had JRPGs, platformers, fighters/beat em ups and SHMUPs. Sure there were fighters and platformers on PCs and there were FPS games on consoles but there was a more clear distinction between the two. PCs had more immersive and intellectually challenging games that had a slower pace (except in some FPS games) while consoles had more reflex and skill based games with arcade roots that we're quick to get into/pick up and play. Both had their own merits and offered unique and pure gaming experiences.

As far as the turn towards all downloads go it's pretty distressing to me.

You can find just about every game released during the 1980s and 1990s from the internet, from arcade games that were never ported to some really obscure and rare games. As long as internet is around, I doubt these games will vanish from the face of earth.

[Zing]

You can find just about every game released during the 1980s and 1990s from the internet, from arcade games that were never ported to some really obscure and rare games. As long as internet is around, I doubt these games will vanish from the face of earth.

The difference is that, for the vast majority of those games, only physical media prevented it from being copied. When games switch to digital-only, we will have to rely on a third-party to crack the DRM.

[Gunstar Green]

As far as the turn towards all downloads go it's pretty distressing to me. It feels impermanent and once the online services for these things go, so will the games.

I'm concerned enough already about disc-based games deteriorating. I can't imagine going download only, unless the games were completely DRM-free.

I was watching this documentary about the Library of Congress and they showed how they do stress tests on different types of media so that they can learn how to best preserve that type of media.

It was interesting with CDs, they took two of the same music album and put it under their rigorous stress test (I think it mostly amounted to subjecting the disc to EXTREME humidity). Even though the discs were the same album they were manufactured at different places at different times under different processes.

One disc came out perfectly fine and still looked and played like brand new. The other disc was completely stripped of its data layer! It was reduced to a clear plastic disk.

So basically some discs will last virtually forever and others will rot away. The depressing kicker being that manufacturers were always changing their methods and not informing the consumer so we have no real way of knowing what discs will live the longest.

[CRTGAMER]

I'm concerned enough already about disc-based games deteriorating.

It was interesting with CDs, they took two of the same music album and put it under their rigorous stress test (I think it mostly amounted to subjecting the disc to EXTREME humidity). Even though the discs were the same album they were manufactured at different places at different times under different processes.

One disc came out perfectly fine and still looked and played like brand new. The other disc was completely stripped of its data layer! It was reduced to a clear plastic disk.

I saw that video, it was pretty interesting. The edges of Discs have the aluminum exposed to air which is where the corrosion begins. In the case of the test using the heat and humidity, once the label paint is "burned away", the aluminum coating just corrodes away. As long as discs are maintained in a climate controlled environment pretty much most will outlive you. Laser Discs and earlier two sided DVDs would sometimes get the "Disc Rot" from moisture trapped during the glue process.

[Gamerforlife]

So what you're saying is...the world isn't big enough for PC gaming and console gaming to co-exist

They co-existed back in the Genesis/SNES and Saturn/PS1/N64/Dreamcast days so I don't see why they couldn't co-exist now. PCs had RPGs, FPS, strategy and adventure games while consoles had JRPGs, platformers, fighters/beat em ups and SHMUPs. Sure there were fighters and platformers on PCs and there were FPS games on consoles but there was a more clear distinction between the two. PCs had more immersive and intellectually challenging games that had a slower pace (except in some FPS games) while consoles had more reflex and skill based games with arcade roots that we're quick to get into/pick up and play. Both had their own merits and offered unique and pure gaming experiences.

I miss those days. Those various console genres seem to be slowing dying now. Ironic, since for years now people have talked about how it would be PC gaming that would die. If anything, it's slowly taking over console gaming