Anyone else not give a shit anymore?

[Buck]

Anyone else feel that the gaming industry is a dying industry? At least, as we know it?

Don't get me wrong, I love video games more than a fat guy (I.E. me) loves fried chicken. They're just not advancing and the new things they're coming out with are going away from gaming and going more toward making game consoles into Windows lite.

Also, prices are just getting out of control. That really started with the past generation and is actually starting to dial back a bit this gen, but still, DAMN. Unless you're rich, how can you realistically play all of the games out there? Also, it's moving more toward mandatory online connection and motion controls, both of which I have no interest in.

I'd honestly just rather keep playing the PS2/Xbox generation and the PS1/N64 generation and earlier. I really don't have any interest in new games.

I love video games as much if not more than anyone else reading this or anyone else out there and I challenge anyone to dispute that. But am I not really a gamer because I don't give a shit about the new stuff?

[Locke]

I'm basically with you. I have a PS3 and I love it. It is still too expensive for me to afford every single new game. I would love a PS4 but I have a PC that's already 2 or 3 times stronger than either PS4 or Xbone.

I get tons of enjoyment out of current games, but I still get the most enjoyment out of my PSX or PS2 games, and my rom/emulator collection (which is comprised of the games I own legally but lost, or got destroyed).

[Westcoastvibes]

Shit is to expensive, I remember high end games being $20 at the most with psx and n64. Now I have to pay the equivalent of my monthly TV bill for 5-6 hours of gameplay with the new systems.
Plus the whole transition to online gaming for a better experience shit is stupid. I like the idea of being able to play online and on the console but when I want to. They are pushing to hard to make online a requirement and I hate that.

[Hanley!]

I'm definitely with you, and I think a lot of others out there are too. Getting new consoles costs money, so there has to be a reason to get excited about it and there isn't. All of the supposed improvements focus on meaningless extras that ultimately have nothing to do with gaming. It's all watching tv on your console, or changing channels with your voice or sharing, etc. They want people to spend money without showing them how it will benefit their GAMING experience.

And all the new games look bland and/or shit. Just more new versions of the games that have been getting made over and over again over the last generation. No improvements (or attempts at improvements) seem to have been made at all, except for maybe pretty graphics or whatever. But that's always going to be a secondary concern to gameplay in my mind. I'd rather play a good Sega Genesis game than a terrible PS3 game.

[War Daddy]

I find it so hard to invest my time in games nowadays. Unless it's 2k or a really good RPG I just have no interest.

[JPG619]

Well I am growing up and having less and less free time to play games. I work a 40+ hour week and get home and most of the time I am tired and not into playing games. If I am not at work I out with friends doing stuff since most of my friends are not gamers anyways except for 2 really great friends I have but to play with them it has to be locally since both dont own games I own.

If I do have time it most likely an hour here or there since if I do have some alone time I most likely online checking email, on facebook, texting friend, chatting with friends, since I think my social life is more important then games.

[Kyle]

I'm not that fanatical about the PS4/XB1 generation yet but I'll get into it once a lot more games are out there. As for games being expensive, that's true, but me personally, I only buy the games I know I'm going to play a lot and love, so I don't feel like I'm wasting money. I played FIFA 13 for over 300 hours and will probably play 14 for over 100.

[PorkChop]

I get what you mean about the prices, Buck - I haven't had a games console since 2006 when my original Xbox broke, and the thing that has kept me away from buying a new one is the prices of the consoles and the games. They cost a bomb these days, and you can still have as much fun on the new Xbox as you can on the old one - or a Game Boy Colour for that matter.

[Viazon]

I went into game the other day. AC IV: Black Flag cost £54.99. It's insane. I only get a few games a year and never are never really new games. They are either sequels to other games I have played or just the updated sports games like FIFA, which come out every year. There are just too many games that come out every year and I have no idea how one would afford all of them unless they have a really decent paying job.

[PorkChop]

I went into game the other day. AC IV: Black Flag cost £54.99. It's insane. I only get a few games a year and never are never really new games. They are either sequels to other games I have played or just the updated sports games like FIFA, which come out every year. There are just too many games that come out every year and I have no idea how one would afford all of them unless they have a really decent paying job.

I saw it on sale for £21 the other day, you got robbed. Plus, having played the game, there's no way it's worth 55 quid.

[Viazon]

I went into game the other day. AC IV: Black Flag cost £54.99. It's insane. I only get a few games a year and never are never really new games. They are either sequels to other games I have played or just the updated sports games like FIFA, which come out every year. There are just too many games that come out every year and I have no idea how one would afford all of them unless they have a really decent paying job.

I saw it on sale for £21 the other day, you got robbed. Plus, having played the game, there's no way it's worth 55 quid.

I never bought it. I'm just saying that's how much it was. I was just browsing. I have already seen it pre-owned though for much cheaper. Plus, I always trade in my old completed games anyway.

[PorkChop]

I went into game the other day. AC IV: Black Flag cost £54.99. It's insane. I only get a few games a year and never are never really new games. They are either sequels to other games I have played or just the updated sports games like FIFA, which come out every year. There are just too many games that come out every year and I have no idea how one would afford all of them unless they have a really decent paying job.

I saw it on sale for £21 the other day, you got robbed. Plus, having played the game, there's no way it's worth 55 quid.

I never bought it. I'm just saying that's how much it was. I was just browsing. I have already seen it pre-owned though for much cheaper. Plus, I always trade in my old completed games anyway.

Good man. Dressing up as a pirate and going around stabbing people is much cheaper anyway.

[AkydefGoldberg]

^On the subject of trading, what are the trade-in prices like for the next-gen consoles? Are they more reasonable?

I say this as when I used to trade in my PS2 games for another game, it was completely demoralising having a low trade in price when it was pretty much a recently released game.

But I think they sheets of paper to determine what prices to charge for trade-ins.

[SortaCreative]

^On the subject of trading, what are the trade-in prices like for the next-gen consoles? Are they more reasonable?

I say this as when I used to trade in my PS2 games for another game, it was completely demoralising having a low trade in price when it was pretty much a recently released game.

But I think they sheets of paper to determine what prices to charge for trade-ins.

It's worse these days, there's more places to trade in these days and more people do it so the prices are dirt cheap.

The whole trade in thing seems to be running it's course anyway. The publishers are taking more and more of an effort to curb the act of getting rid of your old games and the low prices and obvious seedy second hand salesmanship of some places isn't gaining a lot of consumer good will.

Plus digital only will eventually lead to lower prices. Look at Steam.

[Kein]

I dont think the new technology is killing it for me, I applaud developers to come up with new ways to play games, but... cater to what works as well guys. If it aint broken dont fix it. All this motion and stuff is neat but thats just it. Its neat.

But really... The gaming industry as a whole has definitely peaked and is running its course into the shitter.

I am probably younger than a lot of you, but I was raised with a NES. I have almost all the consoles up until this latest generation that has just come out, and they all still work. I get more enjoyment out of classics, and simpler games sometimes than any new game can offer. Back in the day there weren't good graphics, so the games had to come up with compelling stories, and unique timing to keep people engaged. Versus modes were much more about player skill rather than character gimmicks and balancing.

Things started to go a little downhill with the xbox, gamecube, and playstation 2 because during that era games were more eye candy. The games took up more space than normal because of the graphics requirements allowed per disc space and everyone was oo'd and aah'd by how pretty things were. Nevermind that the game sucked, it looked great!

I have said it before in another thread but it applies here as well, developers are making games targeted towards people with short attention spans. The games are so fast paced, and "go go go" to the point you will finish shit faster than 25 hours in a game. They give people tutorials on everything and hand feed everyone to get them going. Their poor excuse for difficult games is make your enemies hit harder and have more health, don't bother with intelligence that's a waste of programming time. This is even if they bother with difficulty, most games say you want a tough time!? go play PvP! Those guys are tough!

Games these days come out incomplete. With the online system developers are finding it more and more acceptable to create a game that is "good enough" and pass it out. Make their sales and come out with pay to play content, their sorry excuse for expansions. New maps, new weapons, new armor, new characters. These should have been in there in the first place, not something your playerbase should have to pay for, and especially not something your players should have to pay for to keep up with everyone else.

The gaming developing companies are ridiculous, they are like sweat shops. Developers are a dime a dozen,they get payed less, work their asses off, the old days of gloriously creating a game and seeing your name in the credits are over. This is a money industry, make your worth or gtfo, because they got a release date, and they got money to make.

Companies are lazy, their work around pirating is to make a game 100% online. They dont want copies to come out so everyone has to play online with a CD key, and while were at it why not just restrict multiplayer to online only as well?! Fuck split screen that shits for the old days, who wants to go to someones house and play? I DO YOU ASSHOLES. I wanna beat someone and point a finger in their face and let em know I owned them hard! I wanna push someone next to me because they are being a dick. All the online stuff is fun, its convenient, but its no where NEAR what you get in person.

Every aspect of games from every direction IN GENERAL has these piss poor blueprints. You will find special cases though, and they are so worth it. So so so worth it, hold on to them dearly they are so rare...

You know what I DO like about new and old games though? Their soundtracks.

[Everlong]

^^Really good post. Just wanted to respond to a couple points you made:

Back in the day there weren't good graphics, so the games had to come up with compelling stories, and unique timing to keep people engaged. Versus modes were much more about player skill rather than character gimmicks and balancing.

I don't think this has changed all that much, really. I think story writing for video games is at its best right now to be honest. I think the actual biggest issue at the moment in terms of the gaming industry is that developers are putting so much effort into these stories (at least in the kinds of games I play, the action/adventure/RPGs... I don't play too many FPS any more) that they're sort of forgetting the game play aspect. And don't get me wrong, I think the story and immersion is incredibly important to the gaming experience. But at some point, we have to get back to making games... GAMES again, rather than interactive movies. I think the experience can be just as real as film, but with even MORE immersion if they'd give us some newer, more exciting gameplay elements.

I have said it before in another thread but it applies here as well, developers are making games targeted towards people with short attention spans. The games are so fast paced, and "go go go" to the point you will finish shit faster than 25 hours in a game. They give people tutorials on everything and hand feed everyone to get them going. Their poor excuse for difficult games is make your enemies hit harder and have more health, don't bother with intelligence that's a waste of programming time. This is even if they bother with difficulty, most games say you want a tough time!? go play PvP! Those guys are tough!

I think this really depends on the genre of game, though. I know that one of Hanley's biggest critiques about RPGs and some adventure games is that the worlds have become so huge and they've given you so much to do that he just doesn't have time to get through it all. I think shooters and platformers have become shorter whereas in the RPG realm there is more pressure for game designers to create larger, more in-depth worlds than ever before.

Games these days come out incomplete. With the online system developers are finding it more and more acceptable to create a game that is "good enough" and pass it out. Make their sales and come out with pay to play content, their sorry excuse for expansions. New maps, new weapons, new armor, new characters. These should have been in there in the first place, not something your playerbase should have to pay for, and especially not something your players should have to pay for to keep up with everyone else.

Omg I can't even describe how much this pisses me off. I love the idea of expansion packs, but it really drives me nuts that they specifically withhold content that they've ALREADY CREATED before the launch of a game with the intent of releasing it as DLC later. I'm paying 60 fucking dollars for a game, so you'd better give me everything you've got. Ugh.

Fuck split screen that shits for the old days, who wants to go to someones house and play? I DO YOU ASSHOLES. I wanna beat someone and point a finger in their face and let em know I owned them hard! I wanna push someone next to me because they are being a dick. All the online stuff is fun, its convenient, but its no where NEAR what you get in person.

Ditto man, I miss this so much. Although really, the main reason I don't do this any more isn't so much the fact that it's unavailable to me as it is that I'm just at a stage in my life now where my friends and I are too busy to just bum around the house and play games, haha. But man, I have so many great memories of LAN parties or epic nights of Smash Bros on N64. Great times.

[Str8Shooter]

I dunno, I think there's a lot of great games coming out these days. I like old school games from my youth as much as the next guy. But I hardly think the whole gaming industry is going down the shitter.

[Kein]

I don't think this has changed all that much, really. I think story writing for video games is at its best right now to be honest. I think the actual biggest issue at the moment in terms of the gaming industry is that developers are putting so much effort into these stories (at least in the kinds of games I play, the action/adventure/RPGs... I don't play too many FPS any more) that they're sort of forgetting the game play aspect. And don't get me wrong, I think the story and immersion is incredibly important to the gaming experience. But at some point, we have to get back to making games... GAMES again, rather than interactive movies. I think the experience can be just as real as film, but with even MORE immersion if they'd give us some newer, more exciting gameplay elements.

Ah yes, the Metal Gear Solid 4 game was a very long movie… But you are right, some stories are very deep, I was definitely caught up in the FPS style. What about Heavy Rain? LA Noir? I didn’t dig them at all… More examples of your movie type games. I heard Dishonored was very fun, I don’t know how its story was though.

I think this really depends on the genre of game, though. I know that one of Hanley's biggest critiques about RPGs and some adventure games is that the worlds have become so huge and they've given you so much to do that he just doesn't have time to get through it all. I think shooters and platformers have become shorter whereas in the RPG realm there is more pressure for game designers to create larger, more in-depth worlds than ever before.

I have definitely taken a step back from RPG’s but to me it is because they don’t offer enough. Final Fantasy has really gone down the drain in my opinion, so that’s a bit where I was coming from. I mean 13 was like walking down nothing but hallways. 100% completion on that game was much quicker than a lot of its predecessors. While companies may be pressured to make more immersive worlds, I don’t think its particularly being done in the right way… maybe. Skyrim didn’t hold me, there was a lot, but the re-doing dungeons got old, and it was definitely a map point chase. I find a lot of the “we have so much content” games, end up being random generated quests/events that are a jumble and mix of a certain criteria, very little feeling of accomplishment.