The State of Gaming

Discussion in 'Gaming' started by Phisix, Mar 11, 2011.

  1. [​IMG]

    Gaming has now been around for over 30+ years and most of us have grown up while gaming has evolved. From simple 2D sprites, to blocky pixels and up until the gorgeous pixel 3D graphics we have today, we have seen games entertain us in all manner of ways. The three main aspects of gaming has been graphics, game-play and music. When all three of these have been met in epic ways we get epic games.

    Over the years gaming has gotten quite stale in many ways. We now have games that are mass produced or by copying others. We have other games that promise a lot but fail. Back in the Snes, Megadrive and Playstation era we had many original and epic games that fulfilled all three aspects, and since then we have had a less bringing of epic and original games. Out of this there are always a lot of gems which come around now and again and of course the games that are destined to be epic but just fall short. Or there are games that excel in one area of the main three I mention and then fail in the rest.

    These days people are more focused on the graphics of games. This in turn means developers prefer to work on this while the game-play side of it falters. Although beautiful and stunning graphics are great, the other two aspects Music and game-play should be considered first. I for one would prefer game-play and music to be worked on more than graphics. Once in a while we do get a game that has every aspect fulfilled.

    Is the state of gaming still going in the right direction for you, or do you think for epic original games, we can only rely on a small percent of those truly imaginative developers to bring us those epic and amazing games we want? What are your thoughts on the state of gaming now, and what would you change about it if you could?

    Comments welcome.
     
  2. NEED MORE FPS PEW PEW PEW
     
  3. Gaming seems better than ever. There's wider experiences to be had, better online, fantastic chances for very small developers to succeed via channels like Live Arcade and the App store and huge blockbusters with massive production values. As for gaming being derivative and obsessed with graphics then that's nothing new; people have being the saying the same thing since the 80s.
     
  4. Like cmdrmonkey explained here somewhere else, when pc gaming was on its top/perfect, it was better then anything is now, and probally ever will be.
     
  5. Indeed. Online gaming has thrust gaming to a whole new level. Back when I was a bit younger it was harder to enjoy multiplayer games as my friends were either rubbish at a game, did not like it, or did not want to play. Now though, you can play anyone at any time.

    Very true. As much as I love how great a game can look, I prefer game-play over it. I still play horrible looking games from our younger days, but they retain some of the great game-play we love.
     
  6. I never was a PC gamer back in those days so I don't know, but how was it better than anything is now?
     
  7. Haven't PC games been the most resistant to change than anything else?
     
  8. PC games from the late 90s were deeper, more original, and more complex than anything from today. They were designed for an intelligent, mature crowd, and the combination of powerful (for the time) hardware and developers who were willing to take risks resulted in games that were either years ahead of their time, or unrivaled to this day. Nearly all of my favorite games are from that time period. Frankly, consoles with their casual, dumbed-down games have ruined serious gaming.
     
  9. I believe I was saying the similiar things about how strong PC gaming was back then. I'd say that period saw some hugely influential and great games but the gaming scene, as a whole wasn't stronger.
     
  10. Bingo! Like I said, only a handful of Developers have managed to create games like this over the years, and the rest is good, average and utter garbage games. We need more developers to take risks. The Last guardian for instance should help nail this.
     
  11. I should have said modern consoles instead of just consoles when talking about dumbed down games. The SNES had a lot of really groundbreaking stuff too.
     
  12. As cmdrmonkey answered your question (which i was waiting for ;) ), these days are the days i really miss. To give some examples, Quake 3, UT99, Half Life and all of its mods (thinkoff Natural Selection, team fortress etc), CS1.6, Unreal 1, and offcourse the Flight Simulator series, Age of Empires, Doom, Deus Ex.

    Then somewhat later we had BF1942 with its Desert Combat mod, we had BF2 with its great modding scene, thinkoff AIX, Project Reality, Forgotten Hope, POE, etc. The mods are endless, where are those times?
    Another example is CS Source, theres TONS of costum maps and mods out for this game, for free.

    These games had LAN support, the ability to host your own server (unranked though for BF2 and such), a solid server browser, those games took advantage of the hardware from that time, they didnt have the fckd up FOV settings from the consoles, and they felt more 'pc'.

    Crysis in 2007 was one of the last games that took advantage of high-end hardware, and theres still no game that surpasses that game (especially if you install the Ultra High mods)

    Those games were games aswel that you could play for years and its still fun, due to mods aswel.
    As pc gaming was backthen, nothing came close and it was miles ahead of the consoles backthen, and now.

    Sure console gaming was better aswel then its now, but it wasnt better then the PC.
     
  13. What i want to add, pc games were also bigger, just look at BF2 and its mods, you can play up to 256 players without lag in maps that are atleast four times the size compared to the biggest maps in BC2.

    According to DICE, the PC version of BF3 will have bigger maps then the console versions, so theres still hope.

    Anyone agree that PC gaming was better then console gaming, back in those days?
     
  14. Player cap on multiplayer depends on the servers. MAG manages 256 players with no lag and some pretty large maps. It is doable, it's just whether the developers want to bother.
     
  15. DICE noted that it was thanks to the consoles hardware, notable the CPU and GPU and memory performance that couldnt handle over 24 players.

    MAG doesnt have the advanced graphics BC2 has (let alone BF3), those games are in a totally different spectrum.
    Planet Side on PC in 2003 supported 300 players on one server/map.
     
  16. "Sure console gaming was better aswel then its now, but it wasnt better then the PC."

    What a stupid statement. Console and PC gaming have always offered advantages in different genres. It depends what you prefer, there's no definitive answer. It's fundamentally dumb point to argue.
     
  17. The PC gamer "badge" back then was orders of magnitudes worse than being a console video gamer. Mentioning you liked to play games on you PC was a surefire way to be avoided by everyone.
     
  18. Almost everyone I knew in high school played PC games. I had a pretty big group of friends I would play Red Alert, StarCraft, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake 2, and Total Annihilation with online. With the people I knew, being a console gamer was a badge of shame. It meant you were too cheap to get a decent PC, and too antisocial to play online with everyone else.
     
  19. Funnily enough, being antisocial was what people accused the PC crowd of too. It probably didn't help that anyone that did play PC games in my school all had that signature, nerdy voice.
     
  20. Its not stupid, its the truth.

    @chi

    Il prefer the nerdy voice over any kiddy voice.