Why do I hate everything?

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Freakyweakywoo

White 30 something men are the most neglected consumer group evarrr. This is why we hate everything, nothing is aimed at us.

Er... how should games for 30 year olds look like? Maybe I just don't wanna know

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

Er... how should games for 30 year olds look like? Maybe I just don't wanna know

Taking my own shift in interests as an example, I'd say less action oriented and more thought oriented / slower with a decent story/engaging atmosphere.

Puzzle games, strategic games and RPGs are more my main interest now, while I used to like every game including some kind of explosion and flying bullets. Now I like stealth games while regular FPS games used to rock my boat.

When I was younger I used to play at least 10 different games in a day. Now I play 1-3 games each day, stretched out over weeks.

Now that I take the time to think about it, even in RPGs I used to be "Okay I have my sword, which heads can I chop? Giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimbaaaaaaaaaal the Aaaaaaaaassssshooooooooooole!" right from the initial fade in. And now? I take a long stroll first to take in the scenery.

I'm old

[TCD]

Still hate sneaking/stealth games (no patience for that stuff), still like lotsa bullets flying around on screen, always liked RPG and adventure games, so I still feel like I'm 15... Er... maybe that's also wrong in a certain way I play a lot less today, but mainly because I simply lack the time, not the motivation to play

[Photon]

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

Like? You mean any current gen console produces graphics that aren't possible on PC hardware? Talking about 'CPU/GPU power' it's the other way around (for a bit longer time already). Also 'horsepower' has surely nothing to do with designing an interesting different graphic environment to play in. The main reason is (and it will most likely stay this way) you can sell these '3D graphic improvements'. Enough people are willing to pay for the next gen hardware, with the next batch of improved graphics games (which still play the same). Only thing to have an influence is to buy the 'right' games and ignore the rest

Yeah, I was surrupticiously dissing those two games without having played them! So I shamefully reduced them to "two 1st person shooters". :'( Polys with some different styling.

And yeah, it should have read: something else than the styling of polygons.

Graphics cards in PCs are made for basically one single graphical style, polys with shader code. At least console chipset have the potential of doing some new things, like 3D without polygons, other shading than textures+lighting, particles and ofc 2D processing.

Improved graphics with same gameplay is what I 'hate' too, it was in fact the topic of my post!

I agree with your last statement - even if we probably have no chance of out-buying the bad games, it will make it worthwhile for the devs who dare take the risk. To counter the marketing muscle attitude of selling games now that wasn't the case 20 years ago, I guess we gotta hang all day playing games at the superstore, like we used to! Or be more active in gaming/gamedev sites *looks at self*

Freaky's last post is interesting too. We played what was 'cool' when it was cool back then and loved it. Now we have a different definition of what is a cool game, and devs only make games that 15yos think are cool (as they always have). Me, I like enjoyable and fun more than impressive and cool these days, and so back to retro gaming I am drawn (c) Yoda.

[AB Positive]

my problem is and always will be that I'm a gamer with poor depth perception. 3D often kills me if it's really necessary which often it is. What do you do when you can't figure out what's going on visually?


...

Play Amiga games, clearly.

[gilgamesh]

Of course there is a good deal of nostalgia involved. But then, the games in the 80s/90s were different. A bunch of people could through together something really weird, say Knights of the Crystallion or Kult, and succeed (more or less) on the mass market.

Now the games industry has spends budgets like Hollywood. Hundreds of people working on one game, that will be forgotten within months. Of course you can still find gems now and then. But it is all so streamlined.

Remember. You could bake bread in Ultima VI.

[DH]

You know, I'll always go back to the classics especially re-makes, if they're done well. Anything from the classic arcade games, Spectrum, C64 and Amiga. Although I have played stuff on the PS2/PS3 Wii, Xbox etc... I can't really stay focused like I can with the classics. Maybe it's my age but the classics still stand out from all the stuff you get today + it's like a war of the GFX..... who can create the best which kills the game play

[Crown]

I think that we, kids of the 80's lived pretty much what movie pioneers had the chance to live: the birth of a new medium. See what the movie industry is up to these days and you'll understand that the game industry is moving along.

Game development is now an industry that spends millions on a new title. The magic of garage and/or teenage room game development has long gone and we're now facing a new era. Saying that it was better is certainly a non sense to the younger generation. Yet, we had the opportunity to be part of a generation that saw the birth and raise of videogames.

If you compare today's computer and game industry, it appears far less vivid that what we used to have. These days 2 computers remain (PC and MAC), 3 major game companies (EA, UBI, ATARI). There again, pretty close to movie theatres (the small ones are closing down) and studios.

This, anyway, gives a pretty clear vision of where Internet is likely to be someday.

[Paul_s]

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

Hmm, I wow'ed when I saw Quake, Gothic, Morrowind, Doom 3... That's for the 'tech' wow. Also had several gameplay wow's after the C64/Amiga time. I agree that there are too much well known concepts used over and over again nowadays and that something has to change. Yet people seem to buy enough of these games that nobody thinks about change...

Hmm I dunno. The Amiga was just a different sort of 'wow' for me. Nothing like it at the time - it was unique and just so damn cool.

Amiga also appeared in Miami Vice which makes it so cool that it could start a new ice age

/usual paul_s rant about nothingness because he is in so much love with Amiga.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Paul_s

Hmm I dunno. The Amiga was just a different sort of 'wow' for me. Nothing like it at the time - it was unique and just so damn cool.

Who can't agree with that Just wanted to say that there still were wow's after the Amiga, but surely the frequency and amplitude wasn't as big anymore

Originally Posted by Paul_s

/usual paul_s rant about nothingness because he is in so much love with Amiga.

And that's why I'm in love with you... er... you know

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

Who can't agree with that Just wanted to say that there still were wow's after the Amiga, but surely the frequency and amplitude wasn't as big anymore

I dunno. I was certainly wowed by many games that were release for the later 486 / Pentium platforms. I also was completely wowed by N64 Zelda games. I was astonished by the use of sound in the first two Thief games, which still hasn't been equaled by any other game.

Other than that the PS1 and PS2 blew me away when they were first released. The PS1 kept wowing me up to and including Final Fantasy 9 which was a beautiful piece of art compared to other games released for that platform. I can still remember seeing Gran Turismo 1 and 3 for the first time... WOW!

Many wows for me

[lomaxx]

I think the basic problem, which is not only related to video games, is the type of perspective a human being has on things. The more limited your view is, the easier it is to be happy. Happiness is a state of a partial mental repression. However although this statement sounds rather scientific, i beg you not to take this too precise. Because everything is relative. The harder you try to get an absolute point of view on things, the more you are doomed to fail. Because the human intelligence is limited in both: space to memorize things and processing-power to work with the data.

So why do i think the above is at least partially correct? I will try to stick to the topic. Who has most fun in playing games? Young children. They do not think about so many things and just stick to there emotions. They start a game, explore it, suck the information out of them, process the data and make conclusions out of them and - which is important - are rewarded with a highscore, a new level (with new music and graphics) they reached, or what ever.
They do not think about if they should spend their time more useful, if they damage there body and brain by playing too long, about the costs the system caused and causes, about maybe better hardware, about whether they can use it in real life somehow or not, about war going on, about human kind destroying nature, about the fact that it would make more sense to help science to find ways to overcome death and leave this limited planet (because once we would reach this state, we could eternally play computer-games, multiply and find enough resources...maybe =þ).
Also they do not think about "Why is that game-hero doing this? Does it even make sense?" or similar topics. They find a better sword, take it because it looks cool and thus makes them feel good.

The problem of repetition: I am not sure if the human being is able to really create things on its own except for doing it by accident. Sometimes i think that we only take smaller or bigger parts we found somewhere and put them together to something we call new. I am not judging this. But because of this, game-contents tends to repeat itself. Once you saved the world for the 100th time, you get bored of it. And the older you grow, the harder it is to find new content.

The problem of abstraction(?): The more you learn about game-graphics and techniques the harder it is to 'step into the game' and get fascinated by them, i think. Coders probably see variables, triggers, functions where children see a spaceship,laser-beams, explosions. Coders can of course be fascinated as well, but i guess they will be because of a yet unknown coding-technique instead of the game itself.
Similar examples could be done for musicians, graphic-, level-designers or story-writers.

I feel like i get lost in my thought again. So will try to come to and end. So what's the conclusion of all the above. The best would be probably if you read it more or less and then say "What is that idiot talking about? This all does not make sense.". Because then you got one another message i am trying to get through: Not everything makes sense, even if we think so, because - again - the human brain is limited. It doesn't even have to make sense. Not even this posting.

[Jgames]

Originally Posted by lomaxx

The problem of abstraction(?): The more you learn about game-graphics and techniques the harder it is to 'step into the game' and get fascinated by them, i think. Coders probably see variables, triggers, functions where children see a spaceship,laser-beams, explosions. Coders can of course be fascinated as well, but i guess they will be because of a yet unknown coding-technique instead of the game itself.

This is true, so true; but... even if i did code 2D and 3D games, i really don't care anymore at how technically the game is done, and concentrate on the game itself and play;

I remember playing sf2 on the arcade, back in early 90's, sf2 had this special rotating floor, that i waited to see if the pc and amiga version would have, they didn't, the snes/megadrive and pc engine did;

But now, i do really like having at least 1 hour of games every day, maybe because i think i am more at ease with the principles of 2d and 3d graphics, and i am no longuer fascinated by the technical side of it.

[Freakyweakywoo]

Some nice points IOMAXX. I am going to start enjoying games for what they are, warts and all, but instead of taking the bad points and obsessing over how stupid they are I will endeavour to enjoy the enjoyable bits.

Resident Evil 4 was a game I stopped playing after an hour purely because it was retarded that - couldn't aim AND move. Perhaps I should ignore than and concentrate on the more enjoyable aspects of it.

Instead of striving to play the perfect game perhaps I should enjoy the things the game does right.

[deefadog]

So it's not just me then I can't move and shoot at the same time either.

I am a young 34 and had many C64's and Amigas, i remeber when there was a digitized voice or image in a game it was jaw dropping - all the kids would talk about it. remeber Xenon II and Bomb the base music - Made my flipping year did that!.

Now like others have said - things have moved on, kids don't appreciate any of it anymore and it's not there fault, it's just the way things are now!

I have just got a PSP as i love God of war, but i mainly use for playing Amiga games - best thing i have done in ages!

[PowerPie5000]

I love my old retro games from when i was a kid but i also enjoy some of todays games on the newer consoles/PC's too

The main thing that annoys me is the build quality and reliability of modern games consoles.... It sucks compared to classic consoles such as the Megadrive, Snes, Master System etc... Even my old Amiga's are still going strong but i can easily forgive them if they decide to die due to their age (you will never see a 360, PS3 or Wii lasting as long as the oldies )

[deefadog]

Very true, my old Competition pro got a hammering and it still works today!

[TCD]

Originally Posted by deefadog

Very true, my old Competition pro got a hammering and it still works today!

Good ol' Comp Pro

Originally Posted by Freakyweakywoo

Instead of striving to play the perfect game perhaps I should enjoy the things the game does right.

Kinda... There are some games that mess up one key aspect and do other things right, so you should bend the rules and just ignore that aspect (as best as you can). Unfortunately many games mess up more than one thing or don't have anything really rewarding to offer instead. I would say that's the main problem today. Mediocre games that have an annoying aspect in them

[Monsterland]

Summarized, I think you can't except the fact that you aren't enjoying games as an adult as much as you could as a child. No matter how good and fun a new game will be, it will not have the same magical feeling. I do not believe it has anything to do with current technology or gameplay focus but everything with the difference between the mindset of a child and an adult. Well, it works this way for me I think..

[blade002]

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

The main thing that annoys me is the build quality and reliability of modern games consoles.... It sucks compared to classic consoles such as the Megadrive, Snes, Master System etc... Even my old Amiga's are still going strong but i can easily forgive them if they decide to die due to their age (you will never see a 360, PS3 or Wii lasting as long as the oldies )

I sometimes wonder if they don't last as long due to higher demands in processing power thus in turn much more heat is generated which means a shorter life span?

Beyond that though, i totally agree that the technology of our youth was most likely built far better with quality components