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Anyone remember the old days of gaming? Where SNESs and Mega Drives were pushing around colourful sprites in the most imaginative non-realistic fashion? Who could have imagined where gaming has left us...
When I first saw Mario 64, I thought it was a triumph for gaming. Pure imagination and original thinking had survived the switch into the brave new world of 3 dimensional gaming. Of course, games like Tekken and Ridge Racer, whose genres dictated that they be realistic, followed the path of realism. But for those of us who feared a loss of originality, our woes were put at ease…
For all of a couple of months. You see, when, after 3 months of Mario’s release we had yet to see another great Nintendo victory (after all, there were only 4 games available on the console at this time), and the Playstation game trend was following the path of becoming ever more realistic, originality seemed dead. Sony’s leagues of casual twenty-something gamers wanted realistic games, and that’s what they got.
Original quirky games got relegated to being thought of as “kids games”- something that still sticks to the N64. The mass-market had wrecked originality.
Now we are on the verge of the second great release of 3D consoles- two aimed at “adult” gamers, and one following the more original fun-gaming path. And it looks like the originality in games has been trodden down for good. Although the Gamecube will get higher sales than the N64, it still seems to hold the status of a kids’ machine in the mass-market.
Will the mass-market embrace originality? I certainly doubt it.
Sonic
When I first saw Mario 64, I thought it was a triumph for gaming. Pure imagination and original thinking had survived the switch into the brave new world of 3 dimensional gaming. Of course, games like Tekken and Ridge Racer, whose genres dictated that they be realistic, followed the path of realism. But for those of us who feared a loss of originality, our woes were put at ease…
For all of a couple of months. You see, when, after 3 months of Mario’s release we had yet to see another great Nintendo victory (after all, there were only 4 games available on the console at this time), and the Playstation game trend was following the path of becoming ever more realistic, originality seemed dead. Sony’s leagues of casual twenty-something gamers wanted realistic games, and that’s what they got.
Original quirky games got relegated to being thought of as “kids games”- something that still sticks to the N64. The mass-market had wrecked originality.
Now we are on the verge of the second great release of 3D consoles- two aimed at “adult” gamers, and one following the more original fun-gaming path. And it looks like the originality in games has been trodden down for good. Although the Gamecube will get higher sales than the N64, it still seems to hold the status of a kids’ machine in the mass-market.
Will the mass-market embrace originality? I certainly doubt it.
Sonic
I definitley remember the early days of console gaming!
I remember spenidng the whole of x-mas day at the age of 5 in my room playing Super Mario Bros. on the NES!
Back then, not everyone was fortunate to have a console, and Alex Kidd on the Master System was a HUGE game!!
And it all seems like a big joke now, looking at the latest in gaming with Halo and Super Smash Bros. Melée!
It was serious to us back then, and it's something you'll never forget!
I miss those days.... even if it's all 'better' now.
And I don't think that many developers will take up on many 'original' ideas, partly becasue they'll be working on increasing and improving current games into long running series'. And it must also be a rare treat to come up with a completely new and original, brilliant idea these days!!
It looks as if they may've all already been taken!
But I still don't think we'll be dissapointed with what we get. :)
I remember spenidng the whole of x-mas day at the age of 5 in my room playing Super Mario Bros. on the NES!
Back then, not everyone was fortunate to have a console, and Alex Kidd on the Master System was a HUGE game!!
And it all seems like a big joke now, looking at the latest in gaming with Halo and Super Smash Bros. Melée!
It was serious to us back then, and it's something you'll never forget!
And I don't think that many developers will take up on many 'original' ideas, partly becasue they'll be working on increasing and improving current games into long running series'. And it must also be a rare treat to come up with a completely new and original, brilliant idea these days!!
It looks as if they may've all already been taken!
But I still don't think we'll be dissapointed with what we get. :)
Brew wrote:
> Originality is not high on developers minds. Why? Look at the success of The
> Sims. Both the original and all 4 add-ons are still in the gaming charts. So
> if the same stuff over and over again makes the developers money, then they'll
> be afraid to take the risk of changing tried and tested formulas, and putting
> their cash flow at risk.
* * * * *
Yeah but the idea behind the first Sims game was quite original.
> Originality is not high on developers minds. Why? Look at the success of The
> Sims. Both the original and all 4 add-ons are still in the gaming charts. So
> if the same stuff over and over again makes the developers money, then they'll
> be afraid to take the risk of changing tried and tested formulas, and putting
> their cash flow at risk.
* * * * *
Yeah but the idea behind the first Sims game was quite original.
Originality is not high on developers minds. Why? Look at the success of The Sims. Both the original and all 4 add-ons are still in the gaming charts. So if the same stuff over and over again makes the developers money, then they'll be afraid to take the risk of changing tried and tested formulas, and putting their cash flow at risk.
We do still get the occasional pretty original game. Look at REZ on the PS2 and Dreamcast...
Super Monkey Ball on the Gamecube is another example.
Super Monkey Ball on the Gamecube is another example.
I find that so called "adult" or "mature" games likes GTA3 and State of Emergency to be the opposite. They are in fact very childish.
Blowing people up and smashing their faces in with baseball bats is fun but ultimately juvenile.
Mario 64 which looks "kiddy" in appearance was in fact very original and offered a "pure, unique and timeless" gaming experience that suited all age groups.
We are seeing less and less of these types of ground-breaking original titles....
I guess what I'm trying to say is "I agree with you".
Blowing people up and smashing their faces in with baseball bats is fun but ultimately juvenile.
Mario 64 which looks "kiddy" in appearance was in fact very original and offered a "pure, unique and timeless" gaming experience that suited all age groups.
We are seeing less and less of these types of ground-breaking original titles....
I guess what I'm trying to say is "I agree with you".
Anyone remember the old days of gaming? Where SNESs and Mega Drives were pushing around colourful sprites in the most imaginative non-realistic fashion? Who could have imagined where gaming has left us...
When I first saw Mario 64, I thought it was a triumph for gaming. Pure imagination and original thinking had survived the switch into the brave new world of 3 dimensional gaming. Of course, games like Tekken and Ridge Racer, whose genres dictated that they be realistic, followed the path of realism. But for those of us who feared a loss of originality, our woes were put at ease…
For all of a couple of months. You see, when, after 3 months of Mario’s release we had yet to see another great Nintendo victory (after all, there were only 4 games available on the console at this time), and the Playstation game trend was following the path of becoming ever more realistic, originality seemed dead. Sony’s leagues of casual twenty-something gamers wanted realistic games, and that’s what they got.
Original quirky games got relegated to being thought of as “kids games”- something that still sticks to the N64. The mass-market had wrecked originality.
Now we are on the verge of the second great release of 3D consoles- two aimed at “adult” gamers, and one following the more original fun-gaming path. And it looks like the originality in games has been trodden down for good. Although the Gamecube will get higher sales than the N64, it still seems to hold the status of a kids’ machine in the mass-market.
Will the mass-market embrace originality? I certainly doubt it.
Sonic
When I first saw Mario 64, I thought it was a triumph for gaming. Pure imagination and original thinking had survived the switch into the brave new world of 3 dimensional gaming. Of course, games like Tekken and Ridge Racer, whose genres dictated that they be realistic, followed the path of realism. But for those of us who feared a loss of originality, our woes were put at ease…
For all of a couple of months. You see, when, after 3 months of Mario’s release we had yet to see another great Nintendo victory (after all, there were only 4 games available on the console at this time), and the Playstation game trend was following the path of becoming ever more realistic, originality seemed dead. Sony’s leagues of casual twenty-something gamers wanted realistic games, and that’s what they got.
Original quirky games got relegated to being thought of as “kids games”- something that still sticks to the N64. The mass-market had wrecked originality.
Now we are on the verge of the second great release of 3D consoles- two aimed at “adult” gamers, and one following the more original fun-gaming path. And it looks like the originality in games has been trodden down for good. Although the Gamecube will get higher sales than the N64, it still seems to hold the status of a kids’ machine in the mass-market.
Will the mass-market embrace originality? I certainly doubt it.
Sonic