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Damn industry! When will they ever learn to get past the basics and progress to more advanced material? I've been playing games for a good amount of time now and yes there have been some good changes with peripherals, console performance and so on, but why settle for average when you can excel to greater things?
The way gaming started off was quite intriguing and very well accepted by the minor audience in amount mostly because everybody was new to what stood before them. A new form of media entertainment has always found a place in the world's heart, so of course gaming would receive a nice welcome. The games from the past that have now become classics were fun enough and the greats like Zelda, Mario and Mortal Kombat have evidently earned a name for themselves because they were unique to others. I can't really slate such games because they were the ones that at least tried to surpass a mere average performance.
Time has moved on through different stages. Firstly, the Playstation, N64 and Sega Saturn came as new consoles moving up a notch from the old 16-bit and below machines, so we could expect something more from them.. which we did receive, but at a weak amount. To me, it seemed as though developers were churning out material for the fun of it, well not just for fun, but to simply make some quick cash. There were so many crap games at the time that some like myself still resorted to games like Streets of Rage and Street Fighter on older consoles. There were only a few occassions I can remember that showed potential in the industry like the arrival of Goldeneye on the N64, Gran Turismo on the PSX, but this was just in the earlier stages. As time went by, the Sega Saturn gradually began to wither away with poor sales records because of its poor quality in games (with exception to Sega Rally) and most of the limelight, and you could call it competition, was between Sony's Playstation and the N64.
This is the exact point where Sony took charge to earn the respect of many because they surprised everyone thanks to their trusted contract partnerships with talented developers like Capcom who eventually began to throw some decent titles in the mix, and at a commendable rate. But Nintendo kept up with them all the way thanks to their group of talented creators like Rage, who kept poducing fun titles Nintendo are well-known for. This was all happening just before the new millenium and debut console consumers only really followed reputation on what console they were to get. So you could say during this period the gaming industry was doing very well for itself, mainly because of developers with good intentions other than making money.
But now I think they've started with their old bad habits again. Either that or their just not good at what they do because since the arrival of the so-called 'next generation consoles' the industry has lost quite a lot of flare. You would expect such advanced consoles to contain a greater income of high quality games, but it just hasn't happened. Instead, what us gamers are given is something worse than waking up to 'Girls Aloud' in the morning - continuous, giant donkey balls! The majority of games that arrive for sale on the market are of poor standards. When I look on the shelves of videogames stores nowadays, all I can see is how desperate some people are to make money. Is it just me that realises the potential in these consoles or what? Fair enough, there have come the odd one or two industry shockers like Halo, Vice City and Metroid Prime, but to me these games are merely reaching standards because I believe the overflow of these next-gen consoles beholds something greater.
Forget about console wars please and focus more on what we are been given. The reason why many find it worthy to review games of the past is because most exceeded standards for the poor performance machines they had to be played on. Nowadays, we see more quality peripherals been made than we do videogames. How is this possible? Surely someone must recognise the poor state the industry is in at the moment. How can it be so hard to just make a good game? Crap games simply show little effort, but if developers do some hard grafting they may actually end up "earning" more amounts of money like Vice City, Halo and Mario Sunshine clearly demonstrate.
Some may think differently, but dive into the engine of the industry (what keeps it running) and you'll see how much better it can do. It's good that we keep receiving a continous flow of games, but it would be much greatly appreciated if half of them were above average and actually made their console sweat. Games are improving, which is good, but looking at the stats, it's just not good enough.
KK
The way gaming started off was quite intriguing and very well accepted by the minor audience in amount mostly because everybody was new to what stood before them. A new form of media entertainment has always found a place in the world's heart, so of course gaming would receive a nice welcome. The games from the past that have now become classics were fun enough and the greats like Zelda, Mario and Mortal Kombat have evidently earned a name for themselves because they were unique to others. I can't really slate such games because they were the ones that at least tried to surpass a mere average performance.
Time has moved on through different stages. Firstly, the Playstation, N64 and Sega Saturn came as new consoles moving up a notch from the old 16-bit and below machines, so we could expect something more from them.. which we did receive, but at a weak amount. To me, it seemed as though developers were churning out material for the fun of it, well not just for fun, but to simply make some quick cash. There were so many crap games at the time that some like myself still resorted to games like Streets of Rage and Street Fighter on older consoles. There were only a few occassions I can remember that showed potential in the industry like the arrival of Goldeneye on the N64, Gran Turismo on the PSX, but this was just in the earlier stages. As time went by, the Sega Saturn gradually began to wither away with poor sales records because of its poor quality in games (with exception to Sega Rally) and most of the limelight, and you could call it competition, was between Sony's Playstation and the N64.
This is the exact point where Sony took charge to earn the respect of many because they surprised everyone thanks to their trusted contract partnerships with talented developers like Capcom who eventually began to throw some decent titles in the mix, and at a commendable rate. But Nintendo kept up with them all the way thanks to their group of talented creators like Rage, who kept poducing fun titles Nintendo are well-known for. This was all happening just before the new millenium and debut console consumers only really followed reputation on what console they were to get. So you could say during this period the gaming industry was doing very well for itself, mainly because of developers with good intentions other than making money.
But now I think they've started with their old bad habits again. Either that or their just not good at what they do because since the arrival of the so-called 'next generation consoles' the industry has lost quite a lot of flare. You would expect such advanced consoles to contain a greater income of high quality games, but it just hasn't happened. Instead, what us gamers are given is something worse than waking up to 'Girls Aloud' in the morning - continuous, giant donkey balls! The majority of games that arrive for sale on the market are of poor standards. When I look on the shelves of videogames stores nowadays, all I can see is how desperate some people are to make money. Is it just me that realises the potential in these consoles or what? Fair enough, there have come the odd one or two industry shockers like Halo, Vice City and Metroid Prime, but to me these games are merely reaching standards because I believe the overflow of these next-gen consoles beholds something greater.
Forget about console wars please and focus more on what we are been given. The reason why many find it worthy to review games of the past is because most exceeded standards for the poor performance machines they had to be played on. Nowadays, we see more quality peripherals been made than we do videogames. How is this possible? Surely someone must recognise the poor state the industry is in at the moment. How can it be so hard to just make a good game? Crap games simply show little effort, but if developers do some hard grafting they may actually end up "earning" more amounts of money like Vice City, Halo and Mario Sunshine clearly demonstrate.
Some may think differently, but dive into the engine of the industry (what keeps it running) and you'll see how much better it can do. It's good that we keep receiving a continous flow of games, but it would be much greatly appreciated if half of them were above average and actually made their console sweat. Games are improving, which is good, but looking at the stats, it's just not good enough.
KK
LOL!
Where the hell did that come from!?
:D
Where the hell did that come from!?
:D
Ahh.
*rubs chin intellectually*
Hampsters could be considered better than gerbils, but only in the right circumstances.
Such as:
If you lived in a box: gerbil.
If you had no partner: hampster.
*rubs chin intellectually*
Hampsters could be considered better than gerbils, but only in the right circumstances.
Such as:
If you lived in a box: gerbil.
If you had no partner: hampster.
Ah, replies, thankyou very much.
It is true that people have divided opinions whether they like a game or not, but the majority of gamers resemble in the sort of games they like in different groups, which shows that the industry still isn't producing decent enough games. The worst thing is when you buy a game that you expect to be good, but (as usual) it ends up being the exact opposite.
Hype doesn't really help the situation either, especially when been done for all the wrong reasons. Next-gen isn't really what it's meant to be because of how poor the majority of games have been.
Like Freakout for the PS2 for example. Now who the hell is going to like a game that for one has pants graphics, stupid gameplay where you have to go about swiping ribbons and stuff from chunky gay monsters and a really pointless storyline? What possessed its developers to make such a degrading game? It makes you think whether they actually make games to please other people and not themselves.
It is true that people have divided opinions whether they like a game or not, but the majority of gamers resemble in the sort of games they like in different groups, which shows that the industry still isn't producing decent enough games. The worst thing is when you buy a game that you expect to be good, but (as usual) it ends up being the exact opposite.
Hype doesn't really help the situation either, especially when been done for all the wrong reasons. Next-gen isn't really what it's meant to be because of how poor the majority of games have been.
Like Freakout for the PS2 for example. Now who the hell is going to like a game that for one has pants graphics, stupid gameplay where you have to go about swiping ribbons and stuff from chunky gay monsters and a really pointless storyline? What possessed its developers to make such a degrading game? It makes you think whether they actually make games to please other people and not themselves.
I wrote a post about this a while back but (some say wrongly) attacking Sony for it. With the marvellous benefit of hindsight I think I went too far but most people will agree on one thing: with the technological advancements consoles have these days we expect games to be much better but there are too many rubbish games being churned out. The trouble is with gaming being much bigger than it used to be, more people are ill-informed about decent games and therefore you'll get a lot of unknowledgable people buying average/below average games out there and therefore creating a cycle where even more rubbish games get released being sold on their name or a licensed franchise.
So what can be do to stem the flow? Not much really because people keep on buying poor games. Then again, what one person may think is a good game, other person might think it's rubbish.
*furrows brows in thought*
Only honest reviews can help us make the mistake of not buying crap games but how many people out there have parents who buy games on a whim for their children based on mainstream reviews in media such as The Sun etc.?
Oh well...
A very good post, KK - keep it up!
Incidentally, this has nothing to do with the topic but I've just listened to The Cure on the radio - they're a great band. Why haven't I got any Cure tunes in my collection? Time to order some of their albums methinks...
So what can be do to stem the flow? Not much really because people keep on buying poor games. Then again, what one person may think is a good game, other person might think it's rubbish.
*furrows brows in thought*
Only honest reviews can help us make the mistake of not buying crap games but how many people out there have parents who buy games on a whim for their children based on mainstream reviews in media such as The Sun etc.?
Oh well...
A very good post, KK - keep it up!
Incidentally, this has nothing to do with the topic but I've just listened to The Cure on the radio - they're a great band. Why haven't I got any Cure tunes in my collection? Time to order some of their albums methinks...
Nice post! I agree - they should make some more games that make gaming what it really should be.
Damn industry! When will they ever learn to get past the basics and progress to more advanced material? I've been playing games for a good amount of time now and yes there have been some good changes with peripherals, console performance and so on, but why settle for average when you can excel to greater things?
The way gaming started off was quite intriguing and very well accepted by the minor audience in amount mostly because everybody was new to what stood before them. A new form of media entertainment has always found a place in the world's heart, so of course gaming would receive a nice welcome. The games from the past that have now become classics were fun enough and the greats like Zelda, Mario and Mortal Kombat have evidently earned a name for themselves because they were unique to others. I can't really slate such games because they were the ones that at least tried to surpass a mere average performance.
Time has moved on through different stages. Firstly, the Playstation, N64 and Sega Saturn came as new consoles moving up a notch from the old 16-bit and below machines, so we could expect something more from them.. which we did receive, but at a weak amount. To me, it seemed as though developers were churning out material for the fun of it, well not just for fun, but to simply make some quick cash. There were so many crap games at the time that some like myself still resorted to games like Streets of Rage and Street Fighter on older consoles. There were only a few occassions I can remember that showed potential in the industry like the arrival of Goldeneye on the N64, Gran Turismo on the PSX, but this was just in the earlier stages. As time went by, the Sega Saturn gradually began to wither away with poor sales records because of its poor quality in games (with exception to Sega Rally) and most of the limelight, and you could call it competition, was between Sony's Playstation and the N64.
This is the exact point where Sony took charge to earn the respect of many because they surprised everyone thanks to their trusted contract partnerships with talented developers like Capcom who eventually began to throw some decent titles in the mix, and at a commendable rate. But Nintendo kept up with them all the way thanks to their group of talented creators like Rage, who kept poducing fun titles Nintendo are well-known for. This was all happening just before the new millenium and debut console consumers only really followed reputation on what console they were to get. So you could say during this period the gaming industry was doing very well for itself, mainly because of developers with good intentions other than making money.
But now I think they've started with their old bad habits again. Either that or their just not good at what they do because since the arrival of the so-called 'next generation consoles' the industry has lost quite a lot of flare. You would expect such advanced consoles to contain a greater income of high quality games, but it just hasn't happened. Instead, what us gamers are given is something worse than waking up to 'Girls Aloud' in the morning - continuous, giant donkey balls! The majority of games that arrive for sale on the market are of poor standards. When I look on the shelves of videogames stores nowadays, all I can see is how desperate some people are to make money. Is it just me that realises the potential in these consoles or what? Fair enough, there have come the odd one or two industry shockers like Halo, Vice City and Metroid Prime, but to me these games are merely reaching standards because I believe the overflow of these next-gen consoles beholds something greater.
Forget about console wars please and focus more on what we are been given. The reason why many find it worthy to review games of the past is because most exceeded standards for the poor performance machines they had to be played on. Nowadays, we see more quality peripherals been made than we do videogames. How is this possible? Surely someone must recognise the poor state the industry is in at the moment. How can it be so hard to just make a good game? Crap games simply show little effort, but if developers do some hard grafting they may actually end up "earning" more amounts of money like Vice City, Halo and Mario Sunshine clearly demonstrate.
Some may think differently, but dive into the engine of the industry (what keeps it running) and you'll see how much better it can do. It's good that we keep receiving a continous flow of games, but it would be much greatly appreciated if half of them were above average and actually made their console sweat. Games are improving, which is good, but looking at the stats, it's just not good enough.
KK
The way gaming started off was quite intriguing and very well accepted by the minor audience in amount mostly because everybody was new to what stood before them. A new form of media entertainment has always found a place in the world's heart, so of course gaming would receive a nice welcome. The games from the past that have now become classics were fun enough and the greats like Zelda, Mario and Mortal Kombat have evidently earned a name for themselves because they were unique to others. I can't really slate such games because they were the ones that at least tried to surpass a mere average performance.
Time has moved on through different stages. Firstly, the Playstation, N64 and Sega Saturn came as new consoles moving up a notch from the old 16-bit and below machines, so we could expect something more from them.. which we did receive, but at a weak amount. To me, it seemed as though developers were churning out material for the fun of it, well not just for fun, but to simply make some quick cash. There were so many crap games at the time that some like myself still resorted to games like Streets of Rage and Street Fighter on older consoles. There were only a few occassions I can remember that showed potential in the industry like the arrival of Goldeneye on the N64, Gran Turismo on the PSX, but this was just in the earlier stages. As time went by, the Sega Saturn gradually began to wither away with poor sales records because of its poor quality in games (with exception to Sega Rally) and most of the limelight, and you could call it competition, was between Sony's Playstation and the N64.
This is the exact point where Sony took charge to earn the respect of many because they surprised everyone thanks to their trusted contract partnerships with talented developers like Capcom who eventually began to throw some decent titles in the mix, and at a commendable rate. But Nintendo kept up with them all the way thanks to their group of talented creators like Rage, who kept poducing fun titles Nintendo are well-known for. This was all happening just before the new millenium and debut console consumers only really followed reputation on what console they were to get. So you could say during this period the gaming industry was doing very well for itself, mainly because of developers with good intentions other than making money.
But now I think they've started with their old bad habits again. Either that or their just not good at what they do because since the arrival of the so-called 'next generation consoles' the industry has lost quite a lot of flare. You would expect such advanced consoles to contain a greater income of high quality games, but it just hasn't happened. Instead, what us gamers are given is something worse than waking up to 'Girls Aloud' in the morning - continuous, giant donkey balls! The majority of games that arrive for sale on the market are of poor standards. When I look on the shelves of videogames stores nowadays, all I can see is how desperate some people are to make money. Is it just me that realises the potential in these consoles or what? Fair enough, there have come the odd one or two industry shockers like Halo, Vice City and Metroid Prime, but to me these games are merely reaching standards because I believe the overflow of these next-gen consoles beholds something greater.
Forget about console wars please and focus more on what we are been given. The reason why many find it worthy to review games of the past is because most exceeded standards for the poor performance machines they had to be played on. Nowadays, we see more quality peripherals been made than we do videogames. How is this possible? Surely someone must recognise the poor state the industry is in at the moment. How can it be so hard to just make a good game? Crap games simply show little effort, but if developers do some hard grafting they may actually end up "earning" more amounts of money like Vice City, Halo and Mario Sunshine clearly demonstrate.
Some may think differently, but dive into the engine of the industry (what keeps it running) and you'll see how much better it can do. It's good that we keep receiving a continous flow of games, but it would be much greatly appreciated if half of them were above average and actually made their console sweat. Games are improving, which is good, but looking at the stats, it's just not good enough.
KK