Pachter on why consoles are becoming obsolete

[Exhuminator]

I honestly believe that Minecraft will influence video gaming for decades the way Super Mario Bros for NES did when it hit the scene.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Minecraft is the new generation's Super Mario Bros. I'm glad to see someone else basically say the same thing. Just as Halo was a prior generation's Super Mario Bros. to a lesser extent.

You guys around here kill me thinking you're old in your 30's though.

[o.pwuaioc]

I honestly believe that Minecraft will influence video gaming for decades the way Super Mario Bros for NES did when it hit the scene.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Minecraft is the new generation's Super Mario Bros. I'm glad to see someone else basically say the same thing. Just as Halo was a prior generation's Super Mario Bros. to a lesser extent.

You guys around here kill me thinking you're old in your 30's though.

And SMB64/Crash Bandicoot was the gen before that, and SFII/MK was the gen before that? Before that was Pac-Man (US) or Space Invaders (JP)?

[marlowe221]

I honestly believe that Minecraft will influence video gaming for decades the way Super Mario Bros for NES did when it hit the scene.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Minecraft is the new generation's Super Mario Bros. I'm glad to see someone else basically say the same thing. Just as Halo was a prior generation's Super Mario Bros. to a lesser extent.

You guys around here kill me thinking you're old in your 30's though.

Well, I'm old compared to the age group that I was talking about with regard to Minecraft!

I would also say that Minecraft is the single biggest influence on the future of the industry SINCE the original Super Mario Bros. Sure, Halo was big and so were games like Mario 64 and even Final Fantasy 7 (sort of). But it has been a long time since something as defining as Super Mario Bros. has come along.

If you look back at the mid-1980s it is pretty clear that there is a big difference between video games before Super Mario Bros. and what video games were like afterwards. Games like Halo and Mario 64 did that for their genres. Super Mario Bros. did it for an entire industry.

I think we will look back in 20 years and say that Minecraft had the same fundamental effect on the industry as a whole that Super Mario Bros. did in its day.

What is interesting as far as this thread goes is how that relates to hardware. I think Super Mario Bros. and its progeny had a real effect on gaming hardware. Take the controller for example. The NES, aided in large part by Super Mario Bros. and its progeny, set the standard for what a video game controller should be and how it should work. For a LOT of people, Super Mario Bros. was the first game they played with a controller like that. Even today, when you look at an Xbox One or PS4 controller, it is easy to see the the NES rectangle still hiding in there someplace. Hell, I would even go so far as to say that the controllers that have been most maligned and complained about in gaming history are those that have deviated the furthest from the standard set by the NES and games like Super Mario Bros.

I think there is a very real possibility that Minecraft could have hardware implications along the same lines and the same magnitude. I don't know what, but I expect it to happen.

[Forlorn Drifter]

Another thing I started thinking about after talking to a friend. Let's say that, wherever couch gaming goes in the future, that the online communities between couch gamers and PC gamers becomes the same. I see this as almost inevitable in the direction we're heading.

How will pad users and M/KB users be balanced? I'd use FPS games as the basis here, seeing as that is probably the place where the argument comes in to play the most, and it happens to be a genre loved by both types of gamers. Right, so mouse allows for more accurate aiming, no questions asked there. So, would allowing aim assist, the same level as found on console, be allowable for pad gamers...? From what I've seen in the few cases I found where it was brought up, PC gamers tend to be against this, stating it as an "unfair advantage", being that the PC gamers would not benefit. I see the argument, but I don't think it has enough strength, because of one example: Titanfall.

The PC version of Titanfall has aim assist enabled for pad users. A friend of mine is a huge Titanfall player on PC, even though the userbase is small. He's poured hours and hours into the game. And he is a very heavy PC gamer going way back when. He said that literally the only thing that can differentiate a M/KB user and gamepad user in game is the use of parkour, where the M/KB users tend to be able to jump between the sides of building with greater ease, although some advanced gamepad users (he occasionally plays with two friends of his who you gamepads) can pull it off with greater sensitivity.

So, I'm just kind of wondering on that type of game. In something like, say, Assasins Creed, the playing field would be pretty equal overall, methinks. I'm just curious about these types of games.

[Erik_Twice]

I would also say that Minecraft is the single biggest influence on the future of the industry SINCE the original Super Mario Bros. Sure, Halo was big and so were games like Mario 64 and even Final Fantasy 7 (sort of). But it has been a long time since something as defining as Super Mario Bros. has come along.

While I think Minecraft will be influential, I think you are exaggerating a fair bit here, if simply because I cannot fanthom a 2009 game cannot have the influence in the medium Another World, Simcity or Half-Life did.

[noiseredux]

I agree with Marlowe. I think most of us who don't play Minecraft really don't grasp how huge this game is.

[Ack]

A friend of mine runs a kid-friendly Minecraft server. He goes to conventions, develops plug-ins, and writes policies to keep the kids safe and happy. At any given time, he has 50 kids minimum on his server. Minecraft is absolutely huge, more so than any other game I have ever seen. I see six year olds playing it on tablets in restaurants, and I hear that autistic children absolutely love it. It has become the video game introduction for a generation of children, much more so than any game I can think of from the last 20 years.

[alienjesus]

The Minecraft phenomenon mostly reminds me of the Pokémon craze of the mid nineties. It might not be as omnipresent across all media as Pokémon was then, but in schools it's easily a match. Kids are nuts for minecraft. Pretty much every kid I know has played it, and if I say I'm into video games, the first question asked is 'do you play minecraft?' Many of the most successful YouTube channels almost exclusively play Minecraft and make millions from doing so.

Minecraft is big enough that you can buy Minecraft Lego, despite the fact that Minecraft is essentially digital lego anyway.

Whilst I'm certainly not convinced Minecraft will have as big an impact on console design in future as the likes of Mario did (most modern consoles are more than capable of running a version of minecraft, and the home console I'd argue would make the most sense for Minecraft -The Wii U, thanks to it's touch screen - is the only one without a port) I certainly think it's going to drive a lot of game design philosphy.

[marurun]

How will pad users and M/KB users be balanced? I'd use FPS games as the basis here, seeing as that is probably the place where the argument comes in to play the most, and it happens to be a genre loved by both types of gamers. Right, so mouse allows for more accurate aiming, no questions asked there. So, would allowing aim assist, the same level as found on console, be allowable for pad gamers...? From what I've seen in the few cases I found where it was brought up, PC gamers tend to be against this, stating it as an "unfair advantage", being that the PC gamers would not benefit. I see the argument, but I don't think it has enough strength, because of one example: Titanfall.

As I have already stated, there are very hard limits to how you can balance between control methods, and even if you think you can, some folks will always pony up for more expensive, more precise equipment. Street Fighter IV on PC allows you to use keyboard, pad, or joystick. You can guess which one is best for competitive play. The default controller for PS4 and XBone is a pad. They haven't balanced pad play against the superior joystick. If you want to play at that level you have to go buy a joystick. That's just how it goes. FPS games are very similar. Unless you somehow design your controls to disadvantage mouse and keyboard players, pad players will always have a slight disadvantage.

[Cronozilla]

I agree with Marlowe. I think most of us who don't play Minecraft really don't grasp how huge this game is.

Targets in my area have a Minecraft shirt section in the boys and mens areas. It's like graphic tees, and half of that are shirts with Minecraft stuff on them. (No amiibos though. :\)