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shadowsworn

My own opinion is that the key to the problem is the high cost of good graphics. Most people won't buy a game without good graphics (we are not counting so-called casual games here). This is pretty much a fact imo.

Gaming companies need to spend alot of money and manpower on good graphics.

therefore gaming companies need to ensure that they get a good return on that investment. Of course this means that they become absolutely terrified of deviating too much (if at all) from formulas that have worked in the past.

so therefore we end up with bad games.

At the same time though, I can't agree with him saying all games have been bad recently. Maybe there haven't been any games that I would call classic recently, but imo people tend to forget when looking back at the past through rose-tinted glasses that even then there was alot of crap, not to mention good games that never really sold much at all.

lastly "I remember," said one of the oldest mayflies, "when all this was fields, as far as you could see."
The younger mayflies looked around.
"It's still fields," one of them ventured, after a polite interval.
"I remember when it was better fields," said the mayfly sharply.
-Reaper Man, by Terry Pratchett

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Deimos

its relative.

there were plenty of sh*t games 15 years ago. but we just look at the past through rose tinted spectacles, rose tinted eyes and a brain drowned in tint of rose.

its easy to judge todays state of gaming by comparing it to the past because we have hindsight.


one thing though, i dont like how some companies have bought out smaller ones just to crank out more crappy sequels.

the biggest example i think is EA. electronic arts used to be cool man. they used to make RAD games like desert and jungle strike, they made road rash 1 and 2, they gave us the first medal of honor game which rocked the PSX, then they went all stupid and bought westwood studios. they destroyed the c&c franchise, they destroyed the strike series and the rash series. and they somehow think that cranking out average sports titles each year and new crappy c&c games with no soul somehow makes up for it.

if all this is because of following past formulas... then they need to scrap it NOW.

also, im in the middle of reading reaper man right now, what a co-inky dink.

:edit: also i mainly blame the rise of console gaming for the shoddy state of gaming today


if you have a PC you are a gamer. if you have a console you are a punk kid following a fad so SCREW YOU KIDS.

console titles can be chucked out a dime a dozen and then sell for ridiculously high amounts. any title for pc played on a console is way cruddier. and i DONT mean in terms of graphics. ok you can talk about hardware limitations or whatever, but console games always feel shallow to me ever since i started predominantly playing on pc.

the proof (in my eyes only) of this is the amount of CRAPPY console ports. get a game ported to pc and its gonna SUCK. pc to console can work some of the time. civilization and doom to name but a few worked nicely on console..... but going from console to pc is just not worth it.

in short: consoles are to blame for crummy games. consoles are mass media pandering pieces of crap shovelling swill into the gaping maws of the assembled hordes of braindead quick-fix blockbuster media-hit drones that currently clog the arteries of human existance.

deth 2 anyone who uses the phrase "next gen".
deth 2 consoles

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BGLamb

This comment right here marks you out as a wanna-be gamer.

Anyone who really cares about playing games cares about gameplay. **** the graphics. I'll go watch LOTR if I want CG.

Give me an interesting art direction and you can stuff your PS3 up your arse.

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shadowsworn

The ****. If you'd actually read what I said properly you'd know that you basically just repeated what I said.

I said "most people". I am not most people.

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Bacn

The number of good games has, more or less, stayed the same. The reason most people say different is because of nostalgia and a desire to separate themselves from casual gamers who go around claiming Halo 3 is the greatest achievement of mankind.


Also, love the comic.

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BGLamb

@Shadowsworn

The ****ing *** for **** up your f*********bas****

I thought originally that that was what you were saying, but then you said 'I'm not counting casual gamers', by which I assumed you meant 'casual gamers' as the opposite of 'serious gamers', there by making your statement refer to 'most serious gamers'.

I obviously misunderstood, however I did read it properly.

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leathel

Meh im still liking my games but its clear we are getting too many easy games. I found my old KOTOR 2 xbox disc and have been playing that for the last week. Im only on the start of the main story and im on 20h gameplay...(some afking but yeh) and then when i look at resident evil 5 which took me 10 hours to complete 3 times. It only makes you wonder....

I lol'd when it said we are getting old remakes instead of new games. So true. I bet if we all bunched up 10 of the new mmorpgs that came out scrapped away the 5min concept idea's the company put on it and looked at its features and gameplay they would all be the same. (F2P of course P2P too with some.)

O and to Shadowsworn 3 words.

Little Big Planet/Every Nintendo game except Zelda for the wii. The DS and Wii Still keep selling their horrible looking games. Why? Because its fun not because it looks amazing.

Your view isnt completely invalid though since i still think the Halo series and GoW was only hyped/successful because of its graphics.

(Sure there are others but thats what i remembered first)

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shadowsworn

I also said "casual games" not gamers :] Clearly you did not read it properly o_O

Casual games meaning ultra popular games like Tetris and Pacman which are still massively popular but obviously not graphics intensive.

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Deimos

i agree with that. waaay to many half-*ssed korean betas (or it seems like it)

i think the mmo scene is alot worse than other gaming in general. like that other guy said games have more or less stayed the same, the bad will always outweigh the really good.

but i think mmo's have gone downhill ever since people started spouting "this is gonna be the WoW killer!!!"

why not just focus on making the game rather than making other current games your target. its stupid.

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Celor

...Sweet, a new VGCats is out?





...I was tempted to end th' post there, but I figured I'd thrown in my two tarnished cents. (Because all of my pennies are tarnished. Yes, I'm slightly insane and ADD.)

Now, to put it bluntly, the majority of people I've seen buying games will overlook the truly unique titles--games that don't always have the best of graphics, but will keep you coming back for more--and buy some new crap because it's got "good graphics".

Now, I take it seriously when buying games--if you tell me you're buying a game because of the graphics, you may as well be telling a car salesman something like: "I'm buying that car because it's shiny."

I must say, though, every time someone tells me that "dude, you have to get this game--the graphics are astounding!" I have to fight the urge to grab them by the collar, hold them in the air, and say:

"ARE YOU ****ING STUPID?"

..Yeah, I went a little off-topic there, sorry. The point is, the companies are focusing more on the graphics than the gameplay; all flash and no substance, so to speak. However, if they stop making innovations in gameplay, and stop bringing new stuff to the table, then they'll simply lose more sales.

That's all. I'm a fan of games that require some thought, and actually have some difficulty. I don't collect achievements, nor do I care about trophies; I merely want a game that I simply cannot put down, no matter how many times I try! That's all. (Though, in recent knowledge, the only game like that was Fallout 3 ... I played for about 16 hours straight. Powered from level 5 to 19. Lots of fun. Almost fried my Xbox.)

...Er, I digress. And that was my two cents on the matter. (Also, seriously, don't argue over graphics vs. gameplay--it winds up becoming a stupid fight that no one gains anything from. Just remember: a game with great gameplay and horrid graphics will be overlooked by many, as a game with great graphics and horrid gameplay will be overlooked as well.)

...Ah... I must apologize. I only meant for this post to be about two paragraphs. ^^;

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