The Games Industry thread.

[Felch]

I don't disagree that there were great games back in the day that are still worth playing, but it just wasn't any different is all. There were crappy movie tie in games, and there were uninspired clones of other crap. Puzzle games have always been scripted, and splinter cell is closely related to old dungeon exploration puzzle games (I don't know what they're called, but tomorrow I'll provide an example). If you look at it as an updated puzzle game instead of a Morrowind killer, then the script makes sense.

I think sometimes modern games are judged by faulty standards. But that's often a result of muddled gameplay.

Basically I'm saying that good games have always been a rarity. But you understood that. I'm just too high to make much sense sometimes.

[DrSpike]

Made perfect sense to me.

[Urban Ranger]

So where are these modern "classics?"

[Felch]

From the past few years, any of the Paradox games, GalCiv, Kotor, Morrowind, WoW, Warcraft III, Half-life 2, and I'm sure other people can chip in their own nominations.

I know you're just going to say that you don't like most of them, but that's because u r a contrarian ass

Which leads to one of the other problems with people's perceptions. In video games, like music and movies and such, there are people who want to think that they see things more clearly than others. They rant and rave against whatever is popular without really giving it an objective look. While often the popular crap is crap, it's not always the case. Sometimes a game is popular because it's actually worth playing. A lot of the harshest critics of modern games have unfair and unusual standards. For instance, I can't recall how many people I see on here saying that anything in 3D is crap. 3D isn't always good, and a lot of times it distracts the designers without adding much gameplay, but it isn't in and of itself a bad thing. It's simply a way of presenting a game.

Anyways, I don't mean to piss too many people here off, I just don't think things are as bad as y'all think. There are always new companies sprouting up, and with the constant decline in the cost of technology you'll see more and more people making their own games as labors of love. Humanitas for example.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
So where are these modern "classics?"

Halo.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Felch
From the past few years, any of the Paradox games, GalCiv, Kotor, Morrowind, WoW, Warcraft III, Half-life 2, and I'm sure other people can chip in their own nominations.

I know you're just going to say that you don't like most of them, but that's because u r a contrarian ass

I deliberately did not name any games for this reason. Just accept you are right and leave it.

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Maybe you have just got grumpier.

I think maybe this is it!

well not really - i'm a happy gamer in outlook, as i've always been.

And i cant be simply becoming an 'old grumpie' anyway as i'm also agreeing with all of Felch's points as well as accepting i've got a point also

I think for me the dissapointment that is coming over in my posts is that in the 20years or so i've been an avid gamer, i've actually seen little progress in the industry except in graphics+presentation generaly.

I think maybe i was expecting something truely amazing to happen once the hardware barriers had been breached(for example there was a noticeable improvement in many genres when we moved from the 8bits like C64, Spectrum etc to the 16bits like the Amiga and AtariST), still even games like Civ were pushing the Amiga in terms of its available Mhz(i think the amiga was rated at around 16Mhz? the old 8bits ran at around 2Mhz).

So the rapid rise in Mhz that Pc gaming started to offer, along with the improvement in graphics compared to the Amiga and AtariST was pointing to a golden age of gaming for many people, and IMHO we almost got there.

And thats where i'm mostly stuck at gaming wise, with those 'Classic' titles like Xcom/Civ2 etc.

But yes as people have rightly been saying - we do still get great games today, but from one point of view, maybe not as many as we should; considering all the years the Industry has been around to mature and learn from experience. Not to mention the huge increase in MHz, storage and graphics+sound abilities.

Something like that. Now i see a rather cynical trend in moves like what companies like EA(they are the bad boys at the mo ) are upto.
They will be behind a push to increase the costs of games, while at the same time bringing down the ammount of hours you can expect to get out of a title. After all it makes business sense? more profits for them etc.

This stuff doesn't fill me with good vibes generaly

[Kuciwalker]

But yes as people have rightly been saying - we do still get great games today, but from one point of view, maybe not as many as we should; considering all the years the Industry has been around to mature and learn from experience.

Great games are a function of original ideas, not experience.

[child of Thor]

Well yes great ideas are vital, still that doesn't help if you put your great idea's into a naf game concept. We should be able to look back over all the 'Great' games of the home computing era and say 'well what was it about that game that made it so great, how do i replicate that in my game'.

As with many things in life, experience is an important componant imho. It stops you making the same mistakes over and over

So why do we still have to put up with stuff like the recent Star Wars cash-in games for example(ok they are fun, for a short while - worth $49.99? i think not )

[DrSpike]

Then don't buy those.

I just bought Guild Wars and I've spent about 160 hours on it so far (and am not even close to thinking I'm finished). It's an awesome game with a great deal of originality - no game has integrated PvE and PvP as ArenaNet have, and on top of that they've proved that there is an alternative to the monthly fee model for this style of game. Personally I think the trade-off of having instanced worlds for all quests for no fees is a great one.

Additionally PvP in this game is just better and deeper than any other game I've seen, and the seamless (and regular) free updates are just awesome. I genuinely think it is one of the best games I've ever played.

And that's just one example that springs to mind because I've been playing it.

[child of Thor]

True, Guildwars is indeed showing that the PC isn't a dead platform( [conspiricy]which i think many publishers are trying to promote infavour of console gaming[/conspiricy] ).

If i liked online MP games i would see this game as being a reason to go get that killer PC i've saved for and an internet connection at home.
I might anyway at some point, as Guildwars does sound intriguing and there are a few other games in the MMORPG(i'm never sure of the acronim) genre coming up/being worked on that have kindled an interest.

I think in many ways the way the mainstream GI is shaping itself will actualy help the PC platform as being the saviour of origonality and excellent games in the future. So my whinning is coming from a position of optinism for the future of PC gaming.

As more of the big companies move away from PC to console, that will still leave a large market for smaller companies to get involved. We may see the return of the direct selling and 'bedroom' programing that bought around many of the great games of yesteryear?

I guess as many people here are also gamers, i'm just interested in peoples perspectives on gaming today and where we all think it may be going.

I'm pretty happy for the future - once the 'movie-industry' part of the Games Industry has put all its eggs into the consoles, i'm pretty certain i will get to see and play more excellent current PC games that really push all the envelopes of gaming, not just graphics.

[child of Thor]

wow! an interesting snippet that will have a consequence for the games industry:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4642373.stm

thats quite a stance to take. will it work?

[Urban Ranger]

Which stance? The new "anti-piracy" law or the situation before?

[DrSpike]

Obviously the new law.

[Urban Ranger]

The law of course doesn't work. The situation won't be different from all these other countries.