The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
I remember when I was just a little kid, knee high to a grasshopper. I have many fond memories of my neighbour who was about five years older than me (and has only recently moved away). Some are of us playing football, or watching television in the lounge, others are of him converting me, son of a Spurs fan, into a Gooner. However, one of my fondest ones is how he introduced me to gaming.
As I said, I was knee high to a grasshopper so I hadn’t had much gaming experience. Anyways, this neighbour of mine had a Sega Genesis, or Mega Drive, whatever you want to call it. Either way, I used to go round and sit in his room, watching him play some game where you’re Mickey Mouse. I can’t remember the intimate details, but I remember having a go, and loving it. That was probably my first game. Then there was the Safeway’s kiddie crèche which had a SNES and Mario Kart along with a Mario platformer, which one I have no idea. Whatever it was, I spent many a shopping trip racing around against my sister, or another random kid. Back then I just grabbed the controller and had some fun…little did I know how jaded I would become. Whoa, that rhymed!
Anyway, after that I suppose I went backwards a few steps, playing Donkey Kong and Tetris on a mate’s Game Boy. After that I got me own Game Boy for a joint birthday and Christmas present, cost £100 with all the trimmings, socket adapter, light magnifier, and a fair few games like the superb Super Mario Land 2 and a personal favourite, Mortal Kombat 2. That was the first proper game ‘console’ I ever had, and I still play it every so often today, with Pokemon Red or Tetris. It’s been almost everywhere I’ve been, and no doubt so have many of your Game Boys. But what I’m getting at is I didn’t care if Mario didn’t move that fast. The tinny sound of the punches landing in Liu Kang’s stomach didn’t matter. The fact that all those blocks were some shade of green was irrelevant. I had fun.
Nowadays the shops are full of video game magazines, speculating on this and that, previewing the games and ultimately critiquing them. GTA: Vice City fared extremely well across the board, and rightly so. It’s polished, it’s better than the last, and it’s fun. But now it’s facing a backlash. It’s just not “original” enough, it “doesn’t bring anything new to the table”. Well who cares? All I know is that this is the only game where I can be cruising down the freeway in a convertible, see a motorbike going the other way, do a quick handbrake turn to smash into it and be away pulling wheelies and shooting at other drivers in an instant. And if that doesn’t warrant some kind of accolade I don’t know what does.
Games are becoming harder and harder to enjoy. With every new console, the last one’s failings are magnified, much like my first ever console’s screen when I clipped on the beige monstrosity that took two AA batteries and weighed a ton. If a game has pretty graphics, it has no depth. If it has depth, the gameplay isn’t fun. If it’s fun, it doesn’t have pretty graphics. It takes a small miracle to be hailed as a classic nowadays…just look at Halo. Then look at all the posts everywhere on every message board thinking back to the golden age of gaming when you had the likes of Contra. It’s no coincidence that when we look back to the past we use rose-tinted lenses: life was simpler back then. Gaming was for geeks, and the mainstream hadn’t yet poisoned it with an inferiority complex.
We live in a jaded generation with regards to gaming. The latest Tony Hawk’s game, no matter how good it is on its own, is still “just another clone”. Metroid Prime isn’t any good, because “Metroid is not a first person shooter!”. Why doesn’t everyone just chill out and go back to their console, or PC, and play a game for what it is – a game? Something to entertain you. Don’t be comparing every new purchase with an unknown, unattainable super perfect experience…just live for the moment.
I long for the day when a game comes along that isn’t particularly ground breaking, or clever…just good. I long for the day when a game like that can be embraced by the masses as a good game. Because surely that’s what it’s all about…playing some good games? Having some good times? I long for the day when I could be sat there, watching a friend playing a game and sit there rubbing my hands with glee, waiting for my turn rather than searching for jaggies, and tut tutting at framerate slowdown. Don’t you?
Thanks for reading.
As I said, I was knee high to a grasshopper so I hadn’t had much gaming experience. Anyways, this neighbour of mine had a Sega Genesis, or Mega Drive, whatever you want to call it. Either way, I used to go round and sit in his room, watching him play some game where you’re Mickey Mouse. I can’t remember the intimate details, but I remember having a go, and loving it. That was probably my first game. Then there was the Safeway’s kiddie crèche which had a SNES and Mario Kart along with a Mario platformer, which one I have no idea. Whatever it was, I spent many a shopping trip racing around against my sister, or another random kid. Back then I just grabbed the controller and had some fun…little did I know how jaded I would become. Whoa, that rhymed!
Anyway, after that I suppose I went backwards a few steps, playing Donkey Kong and Tetris on a mate’s Game Boy. After that I got me own Game Boy for a joint birthday and Christmas present, cost £100 with all the trimmings, socket adapter, light magnifier, and a fair few games like the superb Super Mario Land 2 and a personal favourite, Mortal Kombat 2. That was the first proper game ‘console’ I ever had, and I still play it every so often today, with Pokemon Red or Tetris. It’s been almost everywhere I’ve been, and no doubt so have many of your Game Boys. But what I’m getting at is I didn’t care if Mario didn’t move that fast. The tinny sound of the punches landing in Liu Kang’s stomach didn’t matter. The fact that all those blocks were some shade of green was irrelevant. I had fun.
Nowadays the shops are full of video game magazines, speculating on this and that, previewing the games and ultimately critiquing them. GTA: Vice City fared extremely well across the board, and rightly so. It’s polished, it’s better than the last, and it’s fun. But now it’s facing a backlash. It’s just not “original” enough, it “doesn’t bring anything new to the table”. Well who cares? All I know is that this is the only game where I can be cruising down the freeway in a convertible, see a motorbike going the other way, do a quick handbrake turn to smash into it and be away pulling wheelies and shooting at other drivers in an instant. And if that doesn’t warrant some kind of accolade I don’t know what does.
Games are becoming harder and harder to enjoy. With every new console, the last one’s failings are magnified, much like my first ever console’s screen when I clipped on the beige monstrosity that took two AA batteries and weighed a ton. If a game has pretty graphics, it has no depth. If it has depth, the gameplay isn’t fun. If it’s fun, it doesn’t have pretty graphics. It takes a small miracle to be hailed as a classic nowadays…just look at Halo. Then look at all the posts everywhere on every message board thinking back to the golden age of gaming when you had the likes of Contra. It’s no coincidence that when we look back to the past we use rose-tinted lenses: life was simpler back then. Gaming was for geeks, and the mainstream hadn’t yet poisoned it with an inferiority complex.
We live in a jaded generation with regards to gaming. The latest Tony Hawk’s game, no matter how good it is on its own, is still “just another clone”. Metroid Prime isn’t any good, because “Metroid is not a first person shooter!”. Why doesn’t everyone just chill out and go back to their console, or PC, and play a game for what it is – a game? Something to entertain you. Don’t be comparing every new purchase with an unknown, unattainable super perfect experience…just live for the moment.
I long for the day when a game comes along that isn’t particularly ground breaking, or clever…just good. I long for the day when a game like that can be embraced by the masses as a good game. Because surely that’s what it’s all about…playing some good games? Having some good times? I long for the day when I could be sat there, watching a friend playing a game and sit there rubbing my hands with glee, waiting for my turn rather than searching for jaggies, and tut tutting at framerate slowdown. Don’t you?
Thanks for reading.
I remember when I was just a little kid, knee high to a grasshopper. I have many fond memories of my neighbour who was about five years older than me (and has only recently moved away). Some are of us playing football, or watching television in the lounge, others are of him converting me, son of a Spurs fan, into a Gooner. However, one of my fondest ones is how he introduced me to gaming.
As I said, I was knee high to a grasshopper so I hadn’t had much gaming experience. Anyways, this neighbour of mine had a Sega Genesis, or Mega Drive, whatever you want to call it. Either way, I used to go round and sit in his room, watching him play some game where you’re Mickey Mouse. I can’t remember the intimate details, but I remember having a go, and loving it. That was probably my first game. Then there was the Safeway’s kiddie crèche which had a SNES and Mario Kart along with a Mario platformer, which one I have no idea. Whatever it was, I spent many a shopping trip racing around against my sister, or another random kid. Back then I just grabbed the controller and had some fun…little did I know how jaded I would become. Whoa, that rhymed!
Anyway, after that I suppose I went backwards a few steps, playing Donkey Kong and Tetris on a mate’s Game Boy. After that I got me own Game Boy for a joint birthday and Christmas present, cost £100 with all the trimmings, socket adapter, light magnifier, and a fair few games like the superb Super Mario Land 2 and a personal favourite, Mortal Kombat 2. That was the first proper game ‘console’ I ever had, and I still play it every so often today, with Pokemon Red or Tetris. It’s been almost everywhere I’ve been, and no doubt so have many of your Game Boys. But what I’m getting at is I didn’t care if Mario didn’t move that fast. The tinny sound of the punches landing in Liu Kang’s stomach didn’t matter. The fact that all those blocks were some shade of green was irrelevant. I had fun.
Nowadays the shops are full of video game magazines, speculating on this and that, previewing the games and ultimately critiquing them. GTA: Vice City fared extremely well across the board, and rightly so. It’s polished, it’s better than the last, and it’s fun. But now it’s facing a backlash. It’s just not “original” enough, it “doesn’t bring anything new to the table”. Well who cares? All I know is that this is the only game where I can be cruising down the freeway in a convertible, see a motorbike going the other way, do a quick handbrake turn to smash into it and be away pulling wheelies and shooting at other drivers in an instant. And if that doesn’t warrant some kind of accolade I don’t know what does.
Games are becoming harder and harder to enjoy. With every new console, the last one’s failings are magnified, much like my first ever console’s screen when I clipped on the beige monstrosity that took two AA batteries and weighed a ton. If a game has pretty graphics, it has no depth. If it has depth, the gameplay isn’t fun. If it’s fun, it doesn’t have pretty graphics. It takes a small miracle to be hailed as a classic nowadays…just look at Halo. Then look at all the posts everywhere on every message board thinking back to the golden age of gaming when you had the likes of Contra. It’s no coincidence that when we look back to the past we use rose-tinted lenses: life was simpler back then. Gaming was for geeks, and the mainstream hadn’t yet poisoned it with an inferiority complex.
We live in a jaded generation with regards to gaming. The latest Tony Hawk’s game, no matter how good it is on its own, is still “just another clone”. Metroid Prime isn’t any good, because “Metroid is not a first person shooter!”. Why doesn’t everyone just chill out and go back to their console, or PC, and play a game for what it is – a game? Something to entertain you. Don’t be comparing every new purchase with an unknown, unattainable super perfect experience…just live for the moment.
I long for the day when a game comes along that isn’t particularly ground breaking, or clever…just good. I long for the day when a game like that can be embraced by the masses as a good game. Because surely that’s what it’s all about…playing some good games? Having some good times? I long for the day when I could be sat there, watching a friend playing a game and sit there rubbing my hands with glee, waiting for my turn rather than searching for jaggies, and tut tutting at framerate slowdown. Don’t you?
Thanks for reading.
As I said, I was knee high to a grasshopper so I hadn’t had much gaming experience. Anyways, this neighbour of mine had a Sega Genesis, or Mega Drive, whatever you want to call it. Either way, I used to go round and sit in his room, watching him play some game where you’re Mickey Mouse. I can’t remember the intimate details, but I remember having a go, and loving it. That was probably my first game. Then there was the Safeway’s kiddie crèche which had a SNES and Mario Kart along with a Mario platformer, which one I have no idea. Whatever it was, I spent many a shopping trip racing around against my sister, or another random kid. Back then I just grabbed the controller and had some fun…little did I know how jaded I would become. Whoa, that rhymed!
Anyway, after that I suppose I went backwards a few steps, playing Donkey Kong and Tetris on a mate’s Game Boy. After that I got me own Game Boy for a joint birthday and Christmas present, cost £100 with all the trimmings, socket adapter, light magnifier, and a fair few games like the superb Super Mario Land 2 and a personal favourite, Mortal Kombat 2. That was the first proper game ‘console’ I ever had, and I still play it every so often today, with Pokemon Red or Tetris. It’s been almost everywhere I’ve been, and no doubt so have many of your Game Boys. But what I’m getting at is I didn’t care if Mario didn’t move that fast. The tinny sound of the punches landing in Liu Kang’s stomach didn’t matter. The fact that all those blocks were some shade of green was irrelevant. I had fun.
Nowadays the shops are full of video game magazines, speculating on this and that, previewing the games and ultimately critiquing them. GTA: Vice City fared extremely well across the board, and rightly so. It’s polished, it’s better than the last, and it’s fun. But now it’s facing a backlash. It’s just not “original” enough, it “doesn’t bring anything new to the table”. Well who cares? All I know is that this is the only game where I can be cruising down the freeway in a convertible, see a motorbike going the other way, do a quick handbrake turn to smash into it and be away pulling wheelies and shooting at other drivers in an instant. And if that doesn’t warrant some kind of accolade I don’t know what does.
Games are becoming harder and harder to enjoy. With every new console, the last one’s failings are magnified, much like my first ever console’s screen when I clipped on the beige monstrosity that took two AA batteries and weighed a ton. If a game has pretty graphics, it has no depth. If it has depth, the gameplay isn’t fun. If it’s fun, it doesn’t have pretty graphics. It takes a small miracle to be hailed as a classic nowadays…just look at Halo. Then look at all the posts everywhere on every message board thinking back to the golden age of gaming when you had the likes of Contra. It’s no coincidence that when we look back to the past we use rose-tinted lenses: life was simpler back then. Gaming was for geeks, and the mainstream hadn’t yet poisoned it with an inferiority complex.
We live in a jaded generation with regards to gaming. The latest Tony Hawk’s game, no matter how good it is on its own, is still “just another clone”. Metroid Prime isn’t any good, because “Metroid is not a first person shooter!”. Why doesn’t everyone just chill out and go back to their console, or PC, and play a game for what it is – a game? Something to entertain you. Don’t be comparing every new purchase with an unknown, unattainable super perfect experience…just live for the moment.
I long for the day when a game comes along that isn’t particularly ground breaking, or clever…just good. I long for the day when a game like that can be embraced by the masses as a good game. Because surely that’s what it’s all about…playing some good games? Having some good times? I long for the day when I could be sat there, watching a friend playing a game and sit there rubbing my hands with glee, waiting for my turn rather than searching for jaggies, and tut tutting at framerate slowdown. Don’t you?
Thanks for reading.
This is possibly the best post I have ever read. Need I say any more?
I be seconding that, by far, thougbh it got a little confuzzy to the end, or is that m *drops to the floor*
Oww.
Oww.
Kyz22 wrote:
> This is possibly the best post I have ever read. Need I say any more?
Indeed you do!
> This is possibly the best post I have ever read. Need I say any more?
Indeed you do!
L337ist wrote:
> We live in a jaded generation with regards to gaming. The latest Tony
> Hawk’s game, no matter how good it is on its own, is still “just
> another clone”. Metroid Prime isn’t any good, because “Metroid is not
> a first person shooter!”. Why doesn’t everyone just chill out and go
> back to their console, or PC, and play a game for what it is – a game?
> Something to entertain you. Don’t be comparing every new purchase with
> an unknown, unattainable super perfect experience…just live for the
> moment.
Heres a guy who missed the eighties! ;)
The lesson here, I think, is that its important to enjoy games that you enjoy, not that reviewers or friends tell you you should be enjoying...
Maybe its just that its harder for the older gamers to understand that the relavtive newbies (1990+) gamers havn't expereinced the same trends, maybe its just me?
It seems to me, we are currently living in the nich of gaming, this is the state of gaming where limited of new ideas emerge, mainly based around the same technology, established genres
If I may put this in perspective, there are times when new ideas, new technology overrun each other, in the early eighties with the speccy and C64, the early ninties with the SNES and Megadrive, in the mid ninites with the PS1... points in gaming history where technology took a definitive step forward, games where being released hand over fist which developed new ideas, new conepts, some revolutionary, some thankfully forgotten... hese are the times gamers, in retrospect, refer to as fun times...
Then there are the harder times, the late eighties, the late ninties, and now, where the expansion in technology is expected, where game ideas, conepts, are less created, more developed. Gaming genres are refined, there are fewer new conepts, more the development of a theme, a refiniment of an understood ideal.
The difference, I suppose, is either developers or distributers call the shots... for the moment, its profit over prize, the next step will introduce concept over cost...
The trick is to make sure your there in the next big jump... The guy who creates the next big idea, the next Donkey Kong, the next Knight Lore, the next Populous, the next GTA...
> We live in a jaded generation with regards to gaming. The latest Tony
> Hawk’s game, no matter how good it is on its own, is still “just
> another clone”. Metroid Prime isn’t any good, because “Metroid is not
> a first person shooter!”. Why doesn’t everyone just chill out and go
> back to their console, or PC, and play a game for what it is – a game?
> Something to entertain you. Don’t be comparing every new purchase with
> an unknown, unattainable super perfect experience…just live for the
> moment.
Heres a guy who missed the eighties! ;)
The lesson here, I think, is that its important to enjoy games that you enjoy, not that reviewers or friends tell you you should be enjoying...
Maybe its just that its harder for the older gamers to understand that the relavtive newbies (1990+) gamers havn't expereinced the same trends, maybe its just me?
It seems to me, we are currently living in the nich of gaming, this is the state of gaming where limited of new ideas emerge, mainly based around the same technology, established genres
If I may put this in perspective, there are times when new ideas, new technology overrun each other, in the early eighties with the speccy and C64, the early ninties with the SNES and Megadrive, in the mid ninites with the PS1... points in gaming history where technology took a definitive step forward, games where being released hand over fist which developed new ideas, new conepts, some revolutionary, some thankfully forgotten... hese are the times gamers, in retrospect, refer to as fun times...
Then there are the harder times, the late eighties, the late ninties, and now, where the expansion in technology is expected, where game ideas, conepts, are less created, more developed. Gaming genres are refined, there are fewer new conepts, more the development of a theme, a refiniment of an understood ideal.
The difference, I suppose, is either developers or distributers call the shots... for the moment, its profit over prize, the next step will introduce concept over cost...
The trick is to make sure your there in the next big jump... The guy who creates the next big idea, the next Donkey Kong, the next Knight Lore, the next Populous, the next GTA...
Armatige Shanks wrote:
> Heres a guy who missed the eighties! ;)
My dad has a Superman tape for some format or other, but he doesn't have the console anymore :-\
I agree that the industry is becoming more like a business than a source of entertainment for many, and a great new game is hard to come by. Hopefully Nintendo will shine through and come up with another great exclusive, Rare will earn their many million dollar keep, and some third party or other will be snapped up by Sony to make more great games.
> Heres a guy who missed the eighties! ;)
My dad has a Superman tape for some format or other, but he doesn't have the console anymore :-\
I agree that the industry is becoming more like a business than a source of entertainment for many, and a great new game is hard to come by. Hopefully Nintendo will shine through and come up with another great exclusive, Rare will earn their many million dollar keep, and some third party or other will be snapped up by Sony to make more great games.
Kyz22 wrote:
> This is possibly the best post I have ever read. Need I say any more?
*blushes*
> This is possibly the best post I have ever read. Need I say any more?
*blushes*