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"The end of hardcore gamers?"

What constitutes a hardcore gamer? Is it someone who buys all the latest, greatest games before they come out in Europe? Probably not- I never have enough money for games these days, but would certainly class myself as one of the elitists.

Instead, I think a hardcore gamer is someone who has an open mind to gaming, and isn't afraid to speak the truth about them (none of that "PSX rules, DC sucks").

However, with games now becoming more and more monotonous and less original (you KNOW it's true! Remember the 8bit day? Almost every game was original!), do you not think that people will become complacent?

To offer an example, Gran Turismo 3 is nothing more than GT2 with better graphics. Yet no one complains. Nor do people complain about the endless list of Fifa games- each a copy of the last, but with "less" bugs.

If this stream of bad games continues, do you think that people may forget what origainlity is? Occassionally we will get a new Zelda game... but appart from such rare occurances, when are the bounds of gaming pushed? And even more worryingly, how long will it take till games are totally film orientated?

Sonic

Theres a couple of subjects going on here and I'd like to get in on them all...

On the subject of games writing, there is that new package coming out in japan similar to the PS1 Yarose job, using a unix compiler. If sony wanted to really let people do this, they would add a cd writer to the set (of the keyboard, mouse and disc), then people could write PD like they used to. It would let new talent get spotted and new game ideas to be seen by the world. If it got big enough, perhaps some PD would be available on magazine coverdiscs.

And on Game concepts, How about SR opening a new forum specifically for creating game ideas. Someone would submut an idea, the rest of us would help its development and SR would send it onto the designers. Desigers would be sent the URl so we could have their input on it, and we might be able to see our game on the shelves sometime. Similarly, designers would be able to run ideas past us during development for a game and see what we would do with it, asking for features and so on.

(Yes, the forum exists, but its not bieng used to its full potential...)

Everything today seems to revolve around money. The more you have got the better chances you have. Large developers can create sequels to games with very little changes. Take the Fifa games or the Tomb Raider ones. Each sequel is just extra levels, better graphics and a few extra touches here and there( not worth £35).

Smaller developers who have just started out have got it real tough. The games they make have to be original and have good graphics and gameplay. If they don't then they wont survive. I think that it will be the larger developers that will survive. Companies like microsoft will pay the larger developers as they don't want to give the smaller ones the chance incase they mess up. Thats why there aren't many original games around.

one way I guess we could get more original games is if everyday people like us come up with ideas, get feedback from others then send it to some of the big developers and see what they think of it. Its not easy to come up with original idea that can be made into a game that lasts long enough. So developers usually choose the easy option, release a sequel that people know and most will buy. Thats the way gaming is going!

'Hardcore' gamers don't exist. I refuse to use the term.

It's often used to put down another gamer who doesn't share an opinion. "Of course you'd say that, you're just a casual gamer."

Surely anybody that enjoys games is a gamer, but some play more often than others.

Hardcore gamers don't sell their old machines or games, unless forced to by nagging parents who dont want the saturn cluttering up the house!

I still reminisce about old games, mainly MarioKart, Cannon Fodder, FlashBack and the like.

Your right though most games arent as good as the newer counterparts. However there are always classics like Sonic2 that still have that pull.

I don't think hardcore gamers will ever die out. I think that a hardcore gamer is someone who most of all enjoys games, but also recognises the good things that make a a game. A hardcore gamer is not bothered whether the game they are playing is 4 years old and cost them a fiver or whether they have just splashed out over £200 on Samba so long as the games are good.

Hardcore gamers know what constitutes a good game and therefore have little or no rubbish games in their collection. Oh yeah, and they don't always reminisce about all the old games as they accept that most games were not as good as you think now. Go on try it, sell your favorite game and just wait and see how your opinion of it soars as you miss playing on it.

Fantasy Meister has a point, nowadays we expect more from games. More and more were finding games that blur the lines between different genres, only the big companies could possibly do this by reworking say a karting game they have and then adding it to a platforming game as a sub level.

There have been (comparitivly) quite a few original games released over the past few years...

By original I mean new slants on current genres, new genre mixes, completly new gameing types, etc..

The problem is, original games always flop upon release...

The reason publishers dont make original games is beacuse on the whole, games players dont buy original games...

Instead they prefer to compain about the lastest Tomb Raider being exactly the same as the last one, whilst at the same time handing over the cash for the current version...

If there was a demand for it... developers would make them... They go where the cash is... and the cash certainly isnt on untried ideas...

Ok, take this one as an example:

"A combination of Driver/GTA/Unreal Tournament. (Drive to a location at high speed, answer a telephone, then go FPS mode and enter a building and take out the baddies.)"

Sure, I could get out my QBasic manual and code it, but what would be the point? To get it onto a PC or PS2 or X-Box or N64 I'd need millions of pounds of investment, licencing, developing, and only the big companies can do that.

It's a game I'd love to play, but you can guarantee that you're looking at a few years to get it from idea to disc, and only the huge names in the gaming industry have the resources to do that nowadays.

hmmm... good points, but if you were to name the original games 10 years ago, the list would be far bigger! The reason is that many games were made for fun, in people's bedrooms. Hence people weren't out to make money, instead to make somehting new, inovative and enjoyable.

Now big publishers have one sole purpose: make money. Thus many just make remakes, or rehashes of old ideas that they KNOW will sell to the mass market, rather than actually take a risk.

Look at ALL the games you have mentioned- they are all made by either HUGE companied, or developers with HUGE backing... without these things no one will take a risk.

Sonic

Ild say that a hardcore gamer is a gamer who likes to vary the type of games they plays, someone who likes to see all the fruits of electronic gaming and then eat them all.

A hardcore gamer is a gamer who plays racing games, platforming games, RPGs, Sport sims any game they can get their mitts on.

Then assuming that game is good, they play that game to death.