The Mess Hall

I remember a time when gaming used to be good. There were no online games, if you wanted multiplayer, you bought another joystick or shared the joystick (er wut?). Those were the days when games came on instantly loading cartridge or the unbelievably slow cassette tape. I'm talking about Atari's, Spectrum's and Commodore 64. When top of the line meant turbo loading games. A game that was measured in Kilobytes not Gigabytes, and how many frames were in a sprite or how many colours were active on the screen at once. The days of 8 bit gaming.

I'm not the only one who seems to think gaming might have been better back then as there's a metric fuck tonne of games that are 8-bit retro.

But pick up and iPhone, iPad, or Android device, and you'll see a slew of simple effective and fun games. But try and play them for 16 hours in one day and you won't be able to do it. I know I once did during the summer holidays.

Personally I think we've been spoiled by games with amazing depth and detail, so much so that games without that tend to seem bland.

I think what's missing is the excitement, try play any of those games now and you'd probably wipe the floor with them. But back then they were tough (because that's all we had to compare them too). If you want a hard game now, try playing through Call of Duty World at War to get the Platinum, or Battlefield 3 on hard. Making a game hard does not make it exciting, it just makes it annoying and frustrating.

Another problem (IMHO) is that there were fewer games back then, and loading them took up to 20 minutes, so you generally stuck with that one title for hours before moving on and going outside. Today we have PSN or XBL and I personally have hundreds of downloads, or we have shelves full of games, and multiple gaming systems, PC, PS3, Xbox, Wii, and even hand held consoles. Then there's mobile phones.
So what I'm also saying is that we're spoilt for choice, if one game frustrates you, you move onto the next quickly and easily.

So what's fun any more? It's been a while since I really had fun in a game, DayZ was the last and that really didn't last long, just a few weeks. Before that it was Battlefield Bad Company 1. That one game really made my PS3 sing.
There are games like Call of Duty, they were good fun but only for a while. Sure some people play them for many hours ever day, but take them games away and what do they have? Nothing. There's no alternative. So what about now?
The last game that I played and really enjoyed on the PS3 was BFBC1 and lately Dungeon Defenders.
Maybe it's because as a group of friends here at the mess-hall, it's all we played, and played it exclusively and played it together. Maybe that's what makes it fun and exciting, playing with a group of friends? Something we haven't really done since then.

Anyway, I'm here to say I'm jaded, nothing holds my attention for longer than an hour, and after that I just turn off for the rest of the day. I can't pin it down, I can't explain it, and my hearts not in it any more.

Sure I'll carry on playing, but it won't be with the same passion as before. I even used to dream about playing games, but not any more.
Maybe I'm the only one, or maybe I'm not and the others are keeping quiet?

The whole gaming for me has really gone.
PS3, Laptop, Android, IOS,

They are great for 5 minutes and then i soon loose interested.

Dragon Dogma was the last game i bought.
While i thought this game was great, It was fun, it was hard, the graphics where good, a good story line.
I just dont feel that I MUST PLAY IT.

When i enjoyed a good game, when i got in, it would go on straight away.
Now i just put the TV on find it too much of a effort to find the control, Turn it on, Put the game on and get into the swing of things.

I think someone new has to take off in the gaming industry.
Its what keeps it fresh.

You always had something to keep the user drilled it.
improved graphics,
Game play, new FPS, and FPS always got better with new features, Graphics, Objectivs.

but now they are all excused.
Something new needs to hit the market that will change peoples views. a new style to something

It needs a refresh

Sequels do get boring, Call of Duty is a brilliant example. All it consists of are new maps, new graphics (but the engine is the same) and weapons... year after year.
Battlefield has also gone down the same route, there's little new gameplay.

They can both be intense, but not playable for long hours any more.

i cant remember what i wrote before teh crash lol!

Dave, I think you'd love XCOM. It really fills a niche on PS3, and fills it well

I'd also like to point out the simplicity of PC gaming. Looking at Steam for example. Your entire library is merely a click away. I remember the days where each game was its own set of disks and it was a hassle to change games. With steam, you can save, exit, click, and be in a new game within seconds. Not to mention purchase games in less than 3 clicks of a mouse.

I miss that damn grenade.

Dr. Solomon Graves wrote:I'd also like to point out the simplicity of PC gaming. Looking at Steam for example. Your entire library is merely a click away. I remember the days where each game was its own set of disks and it was a hassle to change games. With steam, you can save, exit, click, and be in a new game within seconds. Not to mention purchase games in less than 3 clicks of a mouse.

you sound like you work for valve

i think i said this in another post. years ago games were made by gamers for gamers, gaming was its own subculture and because a lot of people didnt like it or thought it was a bad influence it was almoast a counter culture, in my eyes at least, the trouble is that gaming became a real money maker, at first this is good because the people who made the games got justly rewarded but then it became big bucks. now its more about churning out the same cack over and over while people who ought to know better lap it up. and really good games get over looked by triple A titles. triple A titles listen to me i fucking hate it.

things play better, look better and sound better. but at what cost? before long you wont even fucking own the games.....

^ All true Pud. Mainstream fucks up everything it touches

I think it's coming full circle, we're going back to the bedroom programmers. The days when just one guy codes a game that he wants to play.

OK, so maybe not quite one guy in a bedroom, but a team of up to 10 people working for themselves and not a publisher. They have the option of being cheap labour, if it flops you don't get paid. So they put heart and soul into a game. They imagine something very different for gameplay and fun. A bit like Shepherd and Frutorious

A mainstream publisher can't take the same risks when spending millions of dollars or pounds. Activision actually spend more on marketing than the game, and thats no mean feat. So they have to work on past success's or crumble and fail.

But with sequels becoming very boring these days, they'll have to learn to think differently again.

the trouble is when these people get swallowed up! if i did it and EA came to my office waving a Millions of quid in my face id sell

Nothing can be more silly than saying "Gaming is dying, 8 bit was ze best".

You've been gaming for so long, played so many different games that you've basically seen it all. It's like being a drug addict, you've used for so many years every high is bland and the reason you're still doing it is because you hold on to the first few times your high was amazing.

Wh1tE_Dw4rF wrote:Nothing can be more silly than saying "Gaming is dying, 8 bit was ze best".

You've been gaming for so long, played so many different games that you've basically seen it all. It's like being a drug addict, you've used for so many years every high is bland and the reason you're still doing it is because you hold on to the first few times your high was amazing.

I was asking IF YOU thought gaming is dying.
But as for the rest +1 excellent point. Maybe that's what's wrong with gaming... me?

i still think we have plateaued. personally i think having been around from the start as well gives you more authority on the matter, not in an arrogant kind of way, more a you don't know how lucky you are kind of way.

Dazbobaby wrote:I think it's coming full circle, we're going back to the bedroom programmers. The days when just one guy codes a game that he wants to play.

OK, so maybe not quite one guy in a bedroom, but a team of up to 10 people working for themselves and not a publisher. They have the option of being cheap labour, if it flops you don't get paid. So they put heart and soul into a game. They imagine something very different for gameplay and fun. A bit like Shepherd and Frutorious

I wish, but the problem we are finding with our games is one of visibility. This is why the big fish with all the money for marketing will ultimately win - because whether your product is good or not, it all boils down to visibility. Word of mouth just doesn't cut it these days. For every 100,000 Shepherds or Frutoriouses, there is only one or two Cut the Rope or Angry Birds.

And of course once your game does reach those levels, you have to actively avoid whoring it like Rock Band, like Angry Birds is.

Part of the problem is gamers themselves... They are too cynical, fickle and expect something for nothing these days. In theory, the advent of the internet should increase the power of word of mouth, but instead it has bred a generation of ADHD cheap skates who want to bounce from one free experience to the next. Or if they do shell out for the odd AAA game, it is invariably a broken half assed mess of a game shipped before it's ready.

I bought the Frutorious key IAP the other day, which was the only money Frutorious has made for a while. And you know what? It pushed the game to #886 in the arcade top grossing for the UK. I mean seriously? In the whole of the UK, spending £1.50 pushes an app into the top 1000?

People will happily pay over inflated prices for a cup of franchised coffee, but won't spend the price of a Snickers bar for 6 months of several people's hard work...?

If you're looking for someone to blame for the decline of gaming, look at the gamers. Publishers simply bend to the will of the market. If people demanded (with their wallets) innovation over more of the same sequels, that's what publishers would provide. They will go where the money is.

Unfortunately the majority of the market seems to be lead by the nose by TV/hoardings/etc. There are a harder core echelon that bother to delve deeper and read a handful of sites like IGN or Gamespot. Then there are the hardest core that truly try to ferret out the diamonds in the rough.

Wh1tE_Dw4rF wrote:You've been gaming for so long, played so many different games that you've basically seen it all. It's like being a drug addict, you've used for so many years every high is bland and the reason you're still doing it is because you hold on to the first few times your high was amazing.

I've am enjoying gaming as much now as I always have. It's rarer that I am wowed by a game as the progression just isn't there any more, but it doesn't mean I don't want more of the same as well.

If you expect to be wowed with each and every release, you're setting yourself up for a fall... Any innovation that takes the gaming world by storm will quickly be swallowed up and regurgitated to the point of generic so experiences are short lived at best and require you to shop on the fringes instead of in the mainstream.