Gaming Trends
polycounter lvl 18
There seem to be some trends in gaming...
BAD: Decreasing content amounts
Games get shorter and shorter. Max Payne 2, Halo 2, Half-Life 2, etc. Or if they don't get shorter they get less content and more copy&paste (coughhalocough). This might be caused by increased asset creation times.
BAD: Open endings
More and more games have an "open" ending to make sure a sequel would fit seamlessly with the story. Of course, this leaves a rather sour taste in one's mouth when the story didn't reach any form of conclusion and all you get is "to be continued". Halo 2 and Half-Life 2 are recent offenders.
I know I had two positive trends to list as well but at the time I thought them up I was still fifteen minutes away from home and now I can't remember them anymore...
BAD: Decreasing content amounts
Games get shorter and shorter. Max Payne 2, Halo 2, Half-Life 2, etc. Or if they don't get shorter they get less content and more copy&paste (coughhalocough). This might be caused by increased asset creation times.
BAD: Open endings
More and more games have an "open" ending to make sure a sequel would fit seamlessly with the story. Of course, this leaves a rather sour taste in one's mouth when the story didn't reach any form of conclusion and all you get is "to be continued". Halo 2 and Half-Life 2 are recent offenders.
I know I had two positive trends to list as well but at the time I thought them up I was still fifteen minutes away from home and now I can't remember them anymore...
Replies
Recent examples: Need for Speed Underground 1 & 2, GTA: San Andreas, about a dozen of other crappy console games.
Good excerption, HL2, still about the same nerdy scientist as in the first part... but they tried to hide it a bit.
Lifetime achivement award for fighting against this trend: Nintendo
I guess it is the horror of mass comercialism and going for the lowest common determinator...just like with movies.
P.S.: Monkey Island and basicly all LucasArts adventures can be played on modern PCs (including those with ME
Now, there are 2 different cases here though. I understand bugs related to different computer configurations, since it's hard to test for all of them. I'm refering to games where they know everything isn't ready, but they release it anyways to meet some deadline.
Not including a multiplayer modus, and releasing it maybe later as a patch or even worse wait for some mod team to add it, is close to ripoff.
BAD #3: Trying to be kewler than errm dunno, to appeal to the sexually insecure 13-16 year old boys.
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Damn right they're so desperate to appeal to younger audiences
Damn right they're so desperate to appeal to younger audiences
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And yes 13-16 yearolds are quite interested in big b00bs... Well maybe I should change my original age estimation to a more realistic number, like sexually insecure 15-18 year olds (make that 13-21 for some
There seem to be some trends in gaming...
BAD: Decreasing content amounts
Games get shorter and shorter. Max Payne 2, Halo 2, Half-Life 2, etc. Or if they don't get shorter they get less content and more copy&paste (coughhalocough). This might be caused by increased asset creation times.
BAD: Open endings
More and more games have an "open" ending to make sure a sequel would fit seamlessly with the story. Of course, this leaves a rather sour taste in one's mouth when the story didn't reach any form of conclusion and all you get is "to be continued". Halo 2 and Half-Life 2 are recent offenders.
I know I had two positive trends to list as well but at the time I thought them up I was still fifteen minutes away from home and now I can't remember them anymore...
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open endings I agree with. I hate them.
As for half-life 2 being short or copy and pasting content, all I want to know is what are you smoking? 12 hours average for a FPS is quite a good amount of time. not to mention there really isn't alot of copy and pasting within the game.
Halo 2 I did not find short, took me about 12 hours again to get through the single player game which I am quite happy with. I don't feel they copy and pasted levels here either. content was a good diversity.
As for Halo, you do kow they had maybe 8 months to finish halo and get it out as a launch game for the xbox? they did the double back to increase the play time, yes not too enjoyable to must of the players out there but it was a decision that was made at the time and can't be changed now.
As for half-life 2 being short or copy and pasting content, all I want to know is what are you smoking? 12 hours average for a FPS is quite a good amount of time. not to mention there really isn't alot of copy and pasting within the game.
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How long have you been playing fps? I think anything before 99 was at least 20% longer the first time through.
BTW hiyo fellow Washingtonian!
try spending weeks on legendary, it makes the game much more enjoyable (till some of the repetiveness kicks in)
Now that games are becoming more cinematic, cheesy dialogue is becoming a trend. FarCry's dialogue sounds like a low budget porno. I believe GTA:SA suffers from this also.
for example: your first playthrough of doom or doom 2 might have taken a good long time... but what quality of play was it? other than slow introduction of different guns and monsters, the gameplay is exactly the same through the entirety of the experience.
a game like half life 2, on the other hand, has a far greater experiential density and variation. it might be shorter, but given the different modes of play and variation on weapons, enemies, etc. throughout the game, it's a much richer game than a lot that we've seen.
so yes, some games are shorter these days, but i will take them every time over long, horrible slogs. Quake 2 was the worst offender in this category, IMO--the last 5 levels or so i prayed for death at the hands of the Strogg.
i'd compare it to the experience of a japanese sushi customs (or meican tapas) as compared to typical 'american' style fair--personally, i like smaller portions of much more flavorful and varied fare, instead of a fucking huge baked potato next to a huge piece of meat. this isn't to say that i won't eat at american style restaurants, i do all the time, it's just that in quality vs. quantity, quality wins out for me every time
You are only encouraging companies to make shitty games by running out and throwing down $55 for a new game the day it comes out.
What I find truely amusing is the rate at which game prices plunge. First month, game is $55, then $50, then $40, $30, then 3~5 months down the road (game depending) you can find that game on the bargin shelf for $20 NEW.
I remember seeing people trying to sell off Doom3 for $45 a week after it came out, then a week later, $35...then $25. i'd be surprised if he found some chump to buy it. Chances are they beat it, and were hoping to recoup their money.
Hell I keep an old win98 machine around just to play older games and emulators.
And if you want to play the latest and greatest, but dont want to throw away cash, I suggest borrowing a copy from a friend next time instead of blowing $55 on a game that takes 10hours or less to finish on the day it comes out.
Sure, halo and HL both are horribly short, but they are laughing all the way to the bank
P.S.: Monkey Island and basicly all LucasArts adventures can be played on modern PCs (including those with ME ) with SCUMMVM and generally you should be able to play quite a few other of the old school games with DOSbox or with homecomputer emulators (you can get Gobliins for Amiga or AtariST for example).
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I've just installed a newer version of DosBox. I've just installed Goblins 3 (the PC version) succesfully. The DosBox version I had before was a bit unstable and crashed when I tried to play lemmings. (I'm going to install Goblins and Gobliins 2 later today. Whee!
I still have to check out SCUMMVM.
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And you know what...you CAN REPLAY older games...
You are only encouraging companies to make shitty games by running out and throwing down $55 for a new game the day it comes out.
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You're right. There are a lot of old games I never played before aswell. No need to upgrade!
Tyrian 2k as i've heard, does try to adapt to modern hardware at that time, i.e. works on SB Live.
Your average gamer never finishes games these days anyway. Really you do have to cater to your primary demographic. The games business is just that, a business. The development of those games is a balancing act between creating great entertainment and a marketable product, which frankly aren't always the same thing.
HL2 was a pretty good length for me personally. I have a major sense of anticipation for the next release(expansion, sequel, whatever). I would have liked a standard Multiplayer option, since as some of you #md'ers have seen, I suck ass at CounterStrike. But then again...I dont usually play multiplayer.
the length of games is definately a problem , i cant think of a game i bought in the last 2 years that i felt i got value for money on ... as for games being harder to make now days coz they are more complex, its not the case, for doom 3 , i would have been happy with no story , just a load of levels of fast paced fighting like the first game. no one makes gauntlet style shooters any more , thats wot made doom so great IMHO , get the keys to open the doors to find the exit ... hords of monsters mindlessly come at you...
The industry will get very boring soon , unless us creative types can start making fun games again