• 8Aug 09

  When all hope is gone...

  What is going on with gaming today? Seriously does anyone really know? I get lost in the sea of title and find myself drowning in the lack of quality. Does anyone remember the first Silent Hill? How about the first or even second resident evil? Why can't companies reproduce this quality anymore I wonder. I believe the soul has died and the hearts been cut out. Games today truly feel like a 'researched' product and not a expression or idea. Games used to be made by gamers, guys would sit there and go "You know what would be cool? Lets make something that scares people, that is just plain creepy." Today though a 'board' sits around a table saying "So, what's our demograph tell us is the up coming 'trend' genre?"
  That's the problem people, this has become pure business. People like Hideo Kojima are a dying breed. Even artist are becoming stagnant, creature and world design is uninteresting at best. Did anyone ever play Omikron? That had some of the most beautiful arcitecture I've ever seen in a game. Plus creature creation, so typical now, so bland. Everything is a soldier or a zombie or some sort of bland demon. Again I turn to Silent Hill, even today it has some of the more unique creature creation but it too has become bland compared to it's past.
  Ever wonder WHY the first Halo was the best? Because the first was built buy a group of gamers, by the time they were mostly done with the ground work Microsoft picked them up and a game that was years in the making was finished. The reason 2 sucked and 3 was just a bland everyday shooter was because it was a product, not a game. I miss the days of playing a game and having the think, the hellish puzzles from Resident Evil and Silent Hill, the head trip of Eternal Darkness for the Game Cube. Remember Intelligence Cube? Or how about Myst? These games required brain function. What does today? Resident Evil 5 didn't even have any real puzzles, Silent Hill:Homecoming did but the puzzles were broken and laid out poorly, thinking wasn't really the problem, just getting all the pieces together was. The challenge is fading.
  I've heard it asked "Why do so many games that sell well in Japan not sell so well here in the states." Simple, americans, for lack of a better word and lazy and stupid. Sorry to say it folks but it's true. A lot of people I know I play video games with have proven this. I ask people to play out games like Dead Space or Shenmue with me and the reply? "It's too slow, I just want something that give me instant action and explosions." Thats the general reaction of most, because people are lazy, they don't want to wait. The second is the death of puzzles and RPGs especially in this country, because people are stupid. They don't want to have to use their brain. They just want to point and press a button.
  This is most sad when someone like me is stuck here in the states, I love games like Shenmue and Omikron. I wish I could find more, but the best game titles never make it here because the masses are too stupid and lazy to purchase anything that doesn't involve them blowing somebody into pieces within 5 minutes. The best proof is the Resident Evil series, I was like most. When RE4 came out I thought it was an amazing turn in the 'right' direction. Until I went back and played RE2 and Veronica. I still think RE4 is great, but RE5 just sits there. Why? No replayability. There is no substance to the product anymore, just press start and start shooting. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Left 4 Dead, and am a large fan of Gears of War. But I want more from time to time, and Half Life only comes out once every so many years. It will be interesting though. The rate things are going I beleive the industry will burn down in the next five to ten years. As the industry becomes more reliant on "Casual" gamers and bids more money on party games and the Wii, eventually all those casual gamers will get bored. Because to them it's a casual thing to do, not a hobby, not an obsession and not a way of life. Eventually they'll tire of it and move on, and when they do all the millions if not billions of invested dollars will fall right through the slots and it'll fall apart.

  • Posted Aug 8, 2009 7:22 pm PT
  • Category: General
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• 16Jul 09

  The end of gaming is nigh.

  I don't know about you folks, but gaming for me is slowly dying. The quality of games has just slowly been going down hills, the more developers "innovate" the more bland things tend to feel. Games are just being a adrenaline junkies product. Everything is faster, less thinking is required to play. Anyone remember the old Resident Evils? The Classic Silent Hill games or anything like that anymore? I miss games that took time to play, some thinking. Remember the piano puzzle in silent hill? AWESOME, a little over board but better than what most games today offer. Don't get me wrong folks, I love blowing stuff up. I'm a big Gears of War fan and Half Life is probably my favorite game series of all time! But this doesn't stop me from loving things like Final Fantasy, Resident Evil and Silent Hill.
  I'll admit, when Resident Evil 4 came out I was blown away, I loved it. Then RE5 hit us and for a time I was impressed, but lately I look back and realize something. The things that made RE great are gone, the 'survival' horror aspect isn't there anymore, it's just an action game now. Cutting the game into 'sections' is what killed it for me. I've been playing Resident Evil 2 and Code Veronica the past 2 weeks. I keep beating them and starting over, why? Because they are REPLAYABLE. There was serious thought and quality put into those titles. RE5 was pretty and had nice mechanics but it's soul was cut out when the play wasn't continuous and was 'chapter' oriented. RE4 was probably one of my favorites, it offered solid gameplay from start to finish. I miss the puzzles, I miss games actually being scary. I've played the new Resident Evils and the new Silent Hills, they just aren't scary anymore. Just like in movies, horror is a matter of pressure and time. You have to subtley push people for awhile to build up fear, these games are becoming so slapped together and short there is no time to become scared.
  Everything is becoming a genre fit, nothing is unique anymore. Remember Space Channel 5? How about Shenmue? Myst? Clock Tower? How about Ico? The Bouncer? These were some unique titles, they had their place but they didn't fit perfectly. Or they were Genre defining. Now everything fits, the second you see it, it fits. Good graphics and 'gimmicks' only go so far. Games that last more than 8 hours are dissapearing, and the ones that DO feel like a facotry print off. The last few RPGs I've played felt so... static, so cold, like a huge team just drew up some ideas for the sake of having a story and threw it together. The deep, intricate thought that used to be felt in games like Final Fantasy 7 is SO far gone, it's buried. Some unique titles exist, but they feel like fan fare more than heart felt. Like the new Metal Gear 4, interesting but with it's over abundance of cut scenes and lack of gameplay, it felt more like Hideos own little piece of self serving pat on the back. Flower was a nice idea, decent but the lack of story really makes me wonder if it was built by someone with a true idea or if it was just gimmicked out. The PS3 is becoming this generations Dreamcast. It's only survivability is it's unique and strange games. When it comes to the mainstream it's got nothing.
  Of course where would this industry be without it's developers? In a much better place that's for sure. Of course we need people to make games, but what I'm talking about is the developer mentality. Best proof - http://www.megagames.com/news/html/pc/c&c4willrequireinternetconnectionforofflineplay.shtml Right there folks. EA strikes again, the funny thing is you see some of their new titles like Mirrors Edge and Dead Space and think "Hmm, maybe they are coming around and deciding to pick up the market." but then they punish their supporters worse than anything. You people rememer Spore? It was a decent game but the DRM issue was a big deal, the funny thing is that Pirated stolen copies of the game ran BETTER than legit purchased copies. EA was actually punishing you for buying the game, how sad is that? And the new C&C 4 DRM is going to be a step further, while most people have internet, requiring people to be online just to play offline is sad, and no excuse on earth will fool people into thinking it's anything but EA doing what they do best, screwing the customer and milking the IP. More and more I'm seeing the customer bite the bullet because developers want more profit, I understand it's a business but really, someday (I hope) people will grow spines and stop buying games. They'll get tired of the abuse, the low quality and the bland state the industry is in and just get bored and walk away. I sure have.
  I used to buy a ton of games, bought one or two a month. And now it's down to maybe 6 a year. And it's not because of the economy. I could get the cash to buy more games, but they all suck so much I'm looking for other hobbies. I've spent most of my time this month on my Dreamcast, while my 360 just sits down stairs. It's just the house DvD player now. Again don't get me wrong, I love games like Duke Nukem(RIP), Doom, Half Life, Gears of War and the like, but the over all quality in everything is just sinking and I think a lot of people can feel it even if they can't put their finger on it. I don't know about you, but I don't boot a game up with the same anticipation I used to, the same giddy energy. I remember buying a game I would rush home to play it, now I pick up a game and when I get home I might just toss it in a drawer till later. I think Red Faction Guerilla was in the wrap for two days before I opened it to play. Not busy, just wasn't looking forward to it that much. And my lack of enthusiasim was proven right because it wasn't that good. The industry is dying and it doesn't even know it, this new generation of consoles has made developers lazy, instead of thinking of ways to push things further their lack of programming limitation has made them stop looking for new things and just go with graphics and speed. Nothing has to be thought about anymore, just programmed to run fast and look pretty and that's it. I'm sure plenty will disagree with me, since some people hold onto this industry like a child with his blanket, but the reality doesn't change. It's falling apart. Look at Fallout 3, it had the makings of something amazing, but in the end it was just a LOT of land with little to do. A FPS/RPG that was nothing but an exact match of that genre and nothing more... Someone tell me, where is Shenmue and Dues Ex when you need'em?

  • Posted Jul 16, 2009 10:59 am PT
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• 29Jun 09

  What a whirl, what whirl!?

  So what is wrong with the industry? So very very much. Costs are up, profits are down and companies are doing the corporate shuffle to avoid admitting the problem, or maybe they're just busy omitting the problem. Yes we are in a recession, people are looking for good investments of entertainment right now. And penny pinching is at a max. So what's the issue? Pricing? Yeah of course, free is always going to do better than priced. But that doesn't turn profit. The problem is the entire industry turning it's back on it's core, it's dedicated fan base. Best Example, the Wii. The ultimate in novelty items, the blandest of bland, the most un creative of ideas and the best mass market carpet bombing of all time probably. In the end, I really hope Nintendo gets theirs for bringing such a soulless system to the market.
  
  Wii - I was really excited about the Wii when I first got it. Honestly I wasn't excited about it until I bought it. Being a serious nerd/gamer I generally buy all systems eventually. So I bought it after a month or so of being out. At first I was blown away by it. Motion control!... but then after awhile it hit me, not motion control, motion sensing. I remember talk about Zelda, about the nunchuck controls the shields location and moving the Wii Mote actually controlled the sword percisely. But it was all fan fare I suppose. What is the Wii really? It just replaces button pushing with motions, swing this way and a pre-written animation is played. Nothing else. People are still so awed by the marketing and media brainwashing that's gone on. Understand this people, the Wii is NOT motion controlled, it's just sensing. It Sense a motion and then executes a command that is attached to that motion. Thats why is zelda if you swing like a mad man a combo pops out, but he doesn't swing any where NEAR as fast as you. But it's not just that, it's Nintendos abuse of the motion sensing by lack of quality titles. I remember a few months after getting the Wii it ended up repacked sitting in the box collecting dust. I was talking to someone about why and this is what I told them "Everything on the Wii is cold and heartless, everything is developed on the novelty of motion sensing. Everything is designed to keep you busy with what you're doing and not what's being presented to you. The Wii is an orgy of micro games, no heart and no soul. Just mindless swinning that amounts to no story or quality." I was suprised because the guy was a nintendo guy, but he just stood there for a moment and then agreed with me. Of course he still loves his Wii but I was impressed he agreed at all. I'm sure there has to be a FEW games with a lot of heart and soul put into them, but far and few between. Metroid 3 was good gameplay but just not wonderful. And Galaxy was good too but Mario only goes so far on the quality scale. Personally I think the best game on the Wii is Paper Mario, because it took more than just swinging the stupid Wii Mote around to get through it, and it was a full length game with a story and some though and heart put into it. But Most mario games have that feel to them I suppose. Just in varying degrees... Over all the Wii is by far the worst console on the market, but sadly mass media has brain washed the public into believing other wise. Sad but true, humans have become cattle.
  
  PS3 - Oh man, I could go on and on about this, if you think the Wii rant was long. I could annihilate the PS3, but I won't waste my time. When the PS3 first came out, I was like everyone else "$600!? You out of your mind!?" Of course the Sony VP and such were laughing at us, being quoted with "We expect people to get a second job to afford our console" The thing at the time was I really thought they would be right, after the PS2s dominance over the Xbox I knew people were stupid and paid no attention to quality. I figured the Sony Zombies © (thats my term, don't touch it! Also, I use this term as I was once one. I used to be a kid back in the day saying "the Ps2 obviously has better graphics than the Xbox. Till I finally sat my stupid ass down and looked. Sony Zombies© are merely people un able to look past fact and follow the Playstation line like religious fanatics more than educated individuals.) really would still make the PS3 huge, luckily the recession hit and peoples wallets handcuffed them from investing in it. The Ps3s low system memory, combined with the horrible Blu Ray tech made is deserving of the stake it's being burned on right now. I would go on, but I don't have to. Sony is down more than a billion dollars, I say that speaks louder than any words I could say. You got what you deserve Sony.
  
  360 - Anybody that knows me, knows I'm somewhat biased. Why? Because of the three consoles out, I only own a 360 and I have owned them all at one time or another. Yes I've had plenty of dead 360s. The only thing that's kept me from sending MS a bomb instead of my console for repair has been the quality titles on the system. While far and few between. The graphics are certainly good, and to this day I've seen nothing the PS3 offers that looks better than the 360. A lot of titles until recently were quoted as looking better on the 360, but I'm not a graphics hound. And when I say quality I DONT mean Halo. The first was the best, 2nd sucked and the 3rd was a nice attempt at redemption for the 2nd. They would have had me if they made Halo 3, 2 discs it was so long. yeah I think Gears of War is awesome, and yes it's because of the blood and yes I love the tacky over the top aggression and the characters well delivered but cheesy dialogue. But what I really come to think of is Condemned, Crackdown and Fable. Sure they may someday be cross console some day, but much like Bio shock, it just doesn't matter to me. Something about playing it on a 360 feels better. More natural, could be the lack of install time, not sure. So Like I said I'm biased, but honestly at this point I would recommend someone choose a different hobby over video games. The whole industry is corrupt, prime Example - WoW and Guitar Hero. Two of the most abused IPs in the world.
  
  What else is there to say? The industry is abusing, misusing and molesting the very people that helped keep it alive, it's core audience. We've been replaced by shallow causal gamers. What the industry wants to ignore is that casual gamers look at gaming as a pass time if they can't get to a party or go out. It's something they do when they're too drunk or high to go out. Just as quickly as they pick up buying games, they can quit. The core gamers are dwindling because we are being neglected, True quality stuff died with the Dreamcast. The whole industry needs to burn at this point, gotta hit the bottom before you can go up I suppose. Things like Red Faction Guerilla would have failed horribly years back, due to it's poor shabby content. But today it's a hit because it's just the best of the worst. Even Resident Evil has become a morbid mutation of it's once quality high series. While I played RE5 into the ground, something was lacking. I can still go back and play RE2, but five just sits there. These high adrenaline games eventually lose their playability, because there is no real story to them. No real sense of drama, just stuff running at you and that gets boring. A good story is always a good story.
  
  Not sure what my opinion matters at this point, but when it comes down to it. I'm playing my Dreamcast again, and I've been playing video games since the Nintendo folks. I'm a huge gamer, but this current generation is just too shallow.

  • Posted Jun 29, 2009 2:10 pm PT
  • Category: Games
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