The Downfall of the Gaming Industry

[thebabyhater]

As somebody who has beaten the original Super Mario Brothers before learning to walk, video games are a huge part of my life. Growing up, games like Chrono Trigger and Secret of Gaia really influenced my creativity, and are still very important to me. Games had a heart and soul, and the ones with the best reputation earned it because they were original and creative.

But now, with game development budgets approaching $6 million for some big titles and 1080p graphics as standard, I can't help but feel like the focus of the gaming industry has changed. The original games are VERY few and far between - practically everything that comes off the shelves is just another generic FPS! Don't get me wrong - I still play DOOM II online every once and a while, and love the everloving crap out of it.

Where are the great stories, the memorable characters, and the all-around experience that made each game stand out as an individual? Gone. Nobody cares about that anymore - they just want graphics and more graphics. Professional game reviewers give generic games like Halo and Gears of War perfect scores, yet they drastically underrate original games because they simply aren't cookie cutter copies of the latest and greatest FPS.

I can't wait for Still Life 2.

 

[lemon-tree]

I just believe the focus of the market has changed for one key reason: the market has changed. Originally, it was a very specific market where satisfaction was guaranteed and the games had that 'human' touch in the design and the overall game-play. However, nowadays the market has changed somewhat to serve the masses and people are more bothered about graphics and so on.
I personally enjoy both genres of games and take the benefits of them both.

 

[leo1954au]

A current example is GTA 4 it needs a good PC to run it and only has option for mouse and keyboard and if you want to use a joystick your out of luck unless you buy an adaptor for your PC and use the Xbox 360 game pad.

But some guy has made a little program workaround to use a PC game pad, steering while or like me a joystick.

http://www.tocaedit.com/IB/index.php?act=home

 

[xPlozion]

I loved the games on the NES and Genesis, did they have good graphics? No, but they had a good story. The best game IMO on the last gen consoles was undoubtedly Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 (and Black Arrow). Nothing like it and I have tons of pleasant memories about it.

Unfortunately, all the FPS games I play are multiplayer, and with the audience for older FPS's dying every day (especially on the consoles), it's really hard to find someone playing it. Racing games I've got no problem playing both online and offline.

 

[Livewire]

A current example is GTA 4 it needs a good PC to run it and only has option for mouse and keyboard and if you want to use a joystick your out of luck unless you buy an adaptor for your PC and use the Xbox 360 game pad.

I'd like to point out real quick the 360 adapter is only required if you use the wireless gamepads; wired ones are Plug N Play, and if needbe the driver installer is freely available on Microsoft's site.



Continue

 

[thebabyhater]

Ugh, now I realize that I mean "Secret of Mana" and "Illusion of Gaia." Both very good games.

I'm glad to see I'm not alone here. One thing I didn't mention was the new focus toward online games, too. I would be fine with a multiplayer game that was creative and original, but now everything is just a generic RPG. Click on the enemy, watch it die, click on the next enemy, repeat for 90 days until you have a level 99 character, start all over... all while getting called a "noob" and asked "hoe 2 mien 4 fish." Talk about boring... and to think people actually pay subscription fees for games like this.

 

[enraged]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who is strictly against subscription fees/

 

[warlordste]

i am against gaming fee and the gaming industry has changed it used to be about creating good games with alright graphics but now its just become another money making scheme where there not botherd about the story lines any more just about the graphics and how much they can make wish it went back to the good old days

 

[Smith6612]

Personally, while the creativity of games has gone down, I don't see the gaming industry declining at all. Being a PC gamer myself, and of course liking games, I have a crapload of FPS games as well as a few games such as Starcraft and Trackmania, etc on my system. Now, I may be the oddity out there that has to have a god-like machine and tons of games, but the PC gaming market as well as the markets for the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii have really kept up. Not sure how the PSP or the DSi/DS is going though.

 

[zen-r]

I suppose the gaming industry is just like any other long-standing industry, where it gets harder & harder to come up with original ideas. The music industry is just the same. It's quite rare now that I hear any good new original stuff - most of the time it's just a re-hash of music I heard when it came out first time around. Youngsters are fooled into buying it though, because they haven't heard the (usually better) original. And when the new stuff is original, it is still often very similar to a thousand other tracks which came out years earlier.

In respect of the gaming industry, each new generation of players often feels the same as you do; about creativity being lost in the trend towards over-utilising the newest technology just for the sake of it, & blatant commercialism. Even the film industry suffers from this, where often the CGI effects take over, at the cost of basic good story-telling.

I'm lucky (unlucky?! :happysad: ) enough to have been there when some of the first computer games were just becoming available to the average consumer. I was the first kid on my street to get a Ping Pong console, only to see it blown away a year or two later by the Atari console which took cartridges for additional games. I typed Basic code into my "computer" in order to get it to play Noughts & Crosses or Pontoon. I was there to drool over the first Space Invaders, Pac-Man & Asteroids when they arrived in the pubs. I wasted a few hours on text-based adventure games.

By todays standards these games were primitive, but just as you are perhaps feeling now, somehow those games & some of the subsequent games seemed to capture for my generation, more pure gamesmanship & quality of design than the later ever-more graphics-heavy games. It's remarkable how inventive the early coders could be, when they had very few pixels, Hz, & bytes to work with! As the computers power increased, the coders could get lazy with the cleverness of the gameplay itself, instead relying on impressing the player with ever more realistic looking graphics. And, of course, even when the coders did try hard to be creative, they suffered back then from the same problems as are being discussed here; that they were running out of fresh new ideas.

What it always seems to need when an industry stagnates is a whole new platform, or a revolutionary concept on which to build fresh & original products. So, just as the internet & MP3 gave the music industry new platforms on which to be creative (though more in the delivery of the music, than the actual music itself) then I'm guessing that new platforms will be required in the gaming industry before anything particularly new & exciting will happen. Who knows what this might be, but I'd suggest that areas involving greater interactivity will be a likely starting point (online multi-player gaming, the Wii, total immersion suits etc - they all may have their part to play).

Please click my Reputation button

(at the corner of this post) & make me -it costs you nothing!

If I've traded services/credits with you, please remember to leave iTrader Feedback. Thanks.​

 

[saynelabs]

I too started back in the pong unit days, coming up through pacman, space wars, space invaders, the police/kings/space quest era. I would just like to make it known that this lack of creativity in the gaming space is NOT because of any extra emphasis on graphics. There is no reason whatsoever that a company cannot make a beautiful 1080p (or better) graphical environment and have good story and gameplay. There is no barrier here, and I HATE it when people always blame the graphics for the lack of gameplay. It is a matter of what the majority want, or what the companies believe the majority want. It is pretty much the same as the movie industry. If people continue to go to the theatres and buy the DVDs of remakes, reimaginings, sequels and crappy comicbook interpretations at the theatres, people are showing the industry that that is what they want. Like in any industry, where you want to look for the more interesting games is the Independent(Indy) scene.You won't get much originality out of the big players in the industry, they just want to take the safe way while an Indy developer has nothing to lose and will take those risks because the benefits completely outstrip the downfalls. You have to look beyond what you can get just off the shelf in Bestbuy or [insert name of store where you get games here]. There are a helluva lot of excellent games out there right now because it's easier and easier for anyone to make them. The industry is fine, it's just getting flooded with crap and don't even get me started on exclusive console releases. I just wanted to chime in with my thoughts that it really isn't the fault of graphics becoming better and better. A company can make a game engine or license one such as Unreal Engine 3 (UE3) where the work is already done, so the graphics come down to building the models and texturing them (obviously a large effort goes here, but that's the art departments job, not the designer's and dev's) Cutting back on development time by using your engine again and just making new assets, new story, new gameplay rules. The ONLY reason that the game industry seems to suck at the moment is because people keep buying the crap that the big companies are peddling, and that the game designers seem to be taking a piss. This isn't the downfall of the game industry, it just means we will see a renaissance soon enough as soon as people stop buying crap. Plus there have been a FEW interesting games in the last few years. Portal was a neat spin on the FPS, perhaps better called a First Person Puzzle/Platformer. Same with Razor's Edge where the emphasis was on free-running/parkour and away from combat. These breathe at least SOME creativity in the FPS space, but if you want even more, you should check out the mod scene as well. I have to admit, I'm a big Fallout fan I wasn't sure how bringing it to 3D would work, but I can't get enough of Fallout 3. It is a brilliant adaptation of the old isometric gameplay of the first 2 games. You can play like a first person shooter, a third person shooter, the VATS system helps with those who can't aim, and actually want to use their gun/weapon skills that they've bumped up. It is a really fun game, and the gameplay is awesome. I like the non-linear gameplay and open game world. The only thing I dislike is how short the "main quest" is. That being said, most of my time isn't even SPENT on the quest but exploring a post-apocalyptic wasteland. That is another problem in the last few years as well, the games are getting shorter. If those stories were tripled even quadrupled in length I truly believe that most of people's objections on "gameplay" would be put to rest. Anyway this got pretty long so I'll stop here.

 

[zen-r]

I too started back in the pong unit days, coming up through pacman, space wars, space invaders, the police/kings/space quest era. I would just like to make it known that this lack of creativity in the gaming space is NOT because of any extra emphasis on graphics....................

Some interesting points (would have been easier to read if you'd inserted a few new paragraphs, though )

I don't play computer games much nowadays - they don't really interest me any more, & I find PC applications just as fun to "play" with as I learn to use them & gain new skills at the same time. As a result, I can't really comment on the more recent crop of products on the market, but I did feel the originality was already slipping away from new games many years back. As you say, it certainly wasn't the fault of improving graphics, but it was the graphics which many manufacturers relied on when they couldn't actually come up with any other originality.

I'm sure there must still be good games being produced amongst some of the mass-market dross, & you have provided some pointers. But personally I don't think there is any comparison between the small flourishes of originality that can sometimes be found in games now, & in the major breakthroughs which were constantly being made in the gaming sector 20-30 years ago. It is easy to forget just how ground-breaking the ideas & concepts were, back then.

 

[betosh]

Yeah, I have to agree that the really fun games just remain in the past... anyone remembers the Secret of Monkey Island Series? It was all about fun and laugh!!! you could play it over and over even when you beated the game, and never got tired of it

 

[zen-r]

Yeah, I have to agree that the really fun games just remain in the past... anyone remembers the Secret of Monkey Island Series? It was all about fun and laugh!!! you could play it over and over even when you beated the game, and never got tired of it

I recognise the title, but never played it myself. Apparently it was designed/led by Ron Gilbert & used the SCUMM engine, a few years after he also made the game Maniac Mansion, using the same engine. Maniac Mansion is a game I do remember (original, weird, & funny!)

 

[mac173]

...........As you say, it certainly wasn't the fault of improving graphics, but it was the graphics which many manufacturers relied on when they couldn't actually come up with any other originality...........

..............But personally I don't think there is any comparison between the small flourishes of originality that can sometimes be found in games now, & in the major breakthroughs which were constantly being made in the gaming sector 20-30 years ago. It is easy to forget just how ground-breaking the ideas & concepts were, back then.

First, I think you are getting it backwards. The manufactures did not rely on graphics and skip originality, it was the customers that demanded better graphics. Cookie cutter games exist because they SELL. If the market demanded more originality, then the manufacturers would produce it.

I played Tabula Rasa when it first came out. IT was original. The concept, the storyline, the quest arc and the skill system were all different. The combat system was also different, and fun.

The problem is that the customers were not happy. It was not like all the other games, the combat system was too hard, the quest arc was too limiting, the crafting system was too hard, the graphics were not good enough etc. The game closed down mostly because it was not cookie cutter enough.

LOTRO is not really original in story, but it is original in that there is a very intricate and detailed story line and a persuasive world to play in. The level of detail in the world is unique. Not just the graphics, but the "feel" and "flavor" of the world. That has nothing to do with the graphics or combat. Although the game has gotten many awards for its originality, it is NOT the biggest game around.

 

[richmix]

I fully agree with you in the fact that video games are losing their originality, and also with the statement that music is the same

anyways, I believe , its just the fact that like any other industry or undertaking, it started out as a fun thing, really for the story and etc, but then, money got the best of them, mass producing cookie cutter products taylor made for the needs of the many generic gamers only needing explosions, carchases, and big guns, leaving out the few like you and me, that are in it for the story line

Those are just my 2 cents

keep on truckin'

 

[mac173]

...........but then, money got the best of them, mass producing cookie cutter products taylor made for the needs of the many.............

Uh, what do you think they designed and marketed the game for, to LOSE money? They are a BUSINESS. They exist for only one reason, to make profit. They will do whatever it takes to make the maximum profit. It follows to reason that they would cater to the needs of the many, because that produces the most profit.

I hear this argument all the time, and just don't understand how people think that the gaming companies exist to do anything but make profit. Even in the early days of console games, they did not design and make the games for fun, they did it for profit.

 

[zen-r]

It is true that market demands do generally drive what is produced. However I don't feel that all your points are correct. In brief:

There have always been some game designers that have produced games for fun/ experimentation/ education etc & with no real commercial interest. It was often these ideas that you later saw exploited in the more commercial products.

Just because a manufacturer produces an un-original game, with improved graphics, for what they believe is the consumer's demand, doesn't always mean that is what the consumer wants most. The games may not be particularly successful in sales, or instead they may do well. But either way, it may be that people are buying the game more because there is nothing better on offer, than because they don't actually want originality.

"If the market demanded more originality, then the manufacturers would produce it." Oh really? It's that easy is it? As I said earlier, it gets harder as the years go on for the manufacturers to come up with anything truly original. Just a re-hash of older ideas, with improved graphics. They sell, because people new to the scene may as well buy a new game, with good graphics, than an old (original) game with very similar themes/ideas & poorer graphics. QED.

I don't think your idea of originality is the same as mine. A few new plot twists here & there, some new player movements or new graphics backdrops don't to me constitute much originality. Nowhere near as ground-breaking as in the early days, with the release of Pong, Space Invaders, Doom etc. For me, the new hardware & human interfaces will be the driving force behind creating new originality in the software, & fresh excitement in the gaming industry (Wii given earlier as one such recent example).

 

[Rgamez]

As somebody who has beaten the original Super Mario Brothers before learning to walk, video games are a huge part of my life. Growing up, games like Chrono Trigger and Secret of Gaia really influenced my creativity, and are still very important to me. Games had a heart and soul, and the ones with the best reputation earned it because they were original and creative.

But now, with game development budgets approaching $6 million for some big titles and 1080p graphics as standard, I can't help but feel like the focus of the gaming industry has changed. The original games are VERY few and far between - practically everything that comes off the shelves is just another generic FPS! Don't get me wrong - I still play DOOM II online every once and a while, and love the everloving crap out of it.

Where are the great stories, the memorable characters, and the all-around experience that made each game stand out as an individual? Gone. Nobody cares about that anymore - they just want graphics and more graphics. Professional game reviewers give generic games like Halo and Gears of War perfect scores, yet they drastically underrate original games because they simply aren't cookie cutter copies of the latest and greatest FPS.

I can't wait for Still Life 2.

How do you think gaming businesses live by just making cutter copies of originals?

by doing this is just the beginning of the life-force of the gaming world!!

Plus there is bonuses of doing this, such as great games such as Halo.

 

[sathanna]

Some companies have to make a bunch of generic games that will sell, just so they can pay the bills. Then, if they have enough resources left, they can start to work on their 'cool' ideas.
Producers do not help things, I think. A Producer is who pays the game companies to make the games, and they always have to approve of what is being made. Even if a company WANTS to make something original, if the Producer (who usually always have eyes on the money) says no, they're kind of stuck. Unless they can do it on their own time.