Gaming: where it stands and what will become

Ok. I dont know how many of you are on the same page as i am, but ever since the golden days of gaming and the excitement of psx gaming has gotten somewhat... stale? I mean dont get me wrong, i love games today but it just doesnt feel the same. Even the highly praised games of today arent nearly as exciting as the nintendo/sega channel days. That behind, what about the future? I wonder what its going to be like when tech demos of ps3 and so one will come out. Any input? Favorite gaming moments? Worst gaming moments?

Gaming has lost some of that magic, but not entirely.

There are still games out there that can make the most jaded gamer go "wow". GameCube\'s new Zelda game is one, PS2\'s ICO is another. While a lot of concepts are now been there/done that.. there\'s innovation to be had.

there was nothing like when Super Mario RPG came out... I went into a state of euphoria.

I thought about that too. I don\'t want to play a mario game where it looks like a real short stubby Italian plumber. And I don\'t want Zelda to look photo realistic, same with Final Fantasy... actually I do!

But I think later on adults will play video games as much as kids, and it will be as common as watching a movie.

One should not forget that we are very experienced gamers. Most of us have played video-games for more than a decade. We have grown into vicious critics and our virgin-like sense of innocent wonder has vanished. We acknowledge what video-game industry holds within. We know how games work - we know the burger-products, the clichès and the repeated ideas. We still crave for the same wonder we felt when we took our first steps into the virtual realm of computer- and video-gaming. We still yearn for the same sense of originality.

Agreed - the golden age of computer-gaming has passed. As the industry has swollen from quite large to humongous, the game-companies have greater amount of pressure upon them. The gaming-world of today is very demanding - for good or ill.

So, the question goes: which is the dominant side? Are we truly too experienced for our own good - or has the down-hill of video-gaming hardened our hearts?

Originally posted by Darth Joyda
So, the question goes: which is the dominant side? Are we truly too experienced for our own good - or has the down-hill of video-gaming hardened our hearts?

I think the lack of originality has made that sense in the players: I\'m bored with this videogame after playing 5 mins. Or, I have not fun in this title after seen X. Videogame industry needs new minds that open the future ways of entertainment. We say, yes, there are still great games, like Zelda for GC, or the next FF for PS2. But what we don\'t notice is that Zelda, and that FF, are the same games created long years ago in NES: they follow the same pattern game after game with graphic improvements. So what\'s the key that will open a new era in videogames? I don\'t know, but it\'ll likely be in online gaming. Indeed, there are lots of excepticists who don\'t believe in the future of online gaming. But I do. Although it hasn\'t had a good start, I think it could become a standard playing mode in few years. As well as internet lines grow, online videogames will also do, and who knows... perhaps after a new "best game ever made" with only online mode, people "begin to believe", and the new era start.

Well, online gaming has already been around for a while.

The only way that I see it really innovating is if heavyweight Japanese devs (Nintendo, Konami, Capcom) that haven\'t developed online games.. start to develop online games. Then again, maybe US devs will re-invent the wheel.. we\'ll see. I\'d say that broadband (or a stronger form of connection) would have to become more mainstream in order for some of the more exotic ideas to work.

Blade, I referred to that: till a big company doesn\'t make a great game, the online mode will be only part of the games as an addition, or updating way.

[Living-In-Clip]

A disturbing trend this generation is games with glitches / bugs.   MK:DA, Prime and Buffy are three top games that come to mind that all have glitches that freeze the game. Where is quality control and bug testers?

Nice one darth. Anybody remember when prehipherals like "the glove" or those goofy 3d glasses were made for nes and such? Back in the day were everyone wanted virtual reality, (the kind atari wanted to offer but flopped terribly with the jag). I remember when i got my sega channel. Man what a blast.

Ps. I wonder how the years of ps2 xb gc will fade when we start to see ps3 tech demos around 2004

Edit> Whoops i guess i already said that.

Have you ever wished or wondered what it would be like to make a hommage back to old school?

Even at my advanced age, I am right there on day one when a new console is being released. I don\'t think that will ever change. But I suffer from the same thing as you guys and it\'s been going on for a while now.

It\'s a rare occasion when I pop a game in and I can\'t stop playing until the end. When it happens it\'s great but more often than not it goes back on the shelf.

Maybe it\'s because I have been doing this since Pong.

Ace

Considering the future, the demographics are just going to widen consistently.  I\'m 20 and I play games.  Five years from now I\'ll be 25 playing games and there\'ll be five years worth of new gamers coming up behind me.

I read the average gamer\'s age right now is 28.  Accurate or not, it definitely shows the trend.  We\'re growing up, but we\'re taking our games with us, and into the mainstream.

-Eik

The next big step for games would be for Console manufacturers to place quality control on not only if the game works but whether it\'s actually any good too.

The sooner the market stops getting flooded with awful games at a ratio of 10-1 against good games the better. I had 56 games for my psx before moving up to a ps2, most of them naff, I\'d rather own 5 killer apps from different genres.


Edit: Ace - I recently played the original pong machine from the 60\'s (the one designed at MIT) at an exhibition in London, the screen was a modified oscilloscope, really sharp and excellent fun, we lost about two hours on it.