Lenne

Well where do I start.. to me it seems as if all games are about now are great graphics... For some reason I think that the games of the past had more effort in them than the games of today! Seriously I wonder what the game developers are thinking.. i know graphics are important.. I think gameplay is more important by far, and to this day my favorite games are Final Fantasy III (DS), Final Fantasy VI (III for SNES), and Chrono trigger... I buy a lot of games because of the fact that I collect games but I think out of the last 50 games I have bought I have beat maybe 4 of them... For some reason i can't stand to sit there and play such a crappy game.. Sometimes the only reason I play games is to see the graphics but I soon get tired of that and switch out my console... As I said before I collect video games so I will always buy video games, but I think the gaming industry needs some change... Nintendo has done a great job with the Wii! The graphics are nowhere near that of the PS3 or the XBOX 360 but I have probably spent more time playing Smash Brothers Brawl and Mario kart Wii! I probably play my DS more than I play my other consoles or handhelds.. Well is it just me or does anybody see things the way I see it!

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AtheniaOnline, FFrepublic, AnimeOnline, soompi, solid07, Anipike.... Same Lenne

Exoparadapsyphobia

I'm about to go to bed so I'm not going to get into a lot of detail, but basically game publishers and designers are only out to make a quick buck, and they can't do that if people are constantly getting frustrated at the complexity or difficulty of some games. To make more money they have to appeal to a wider audience, and that means making games simpler and easier to beat.

Really the game industry is just trying to keep itself afloat, and this is the best way they see how to do it; appeal to as many people who don't have the time, energy or skill to beat a half decent game as possible. Which means designers dumbing down their games by emphasizing less on the development of skill and problem solving by the player to win. This isn't the case for all game designers, but as you have noticed this is becoming more and more of a trend for quick money making.

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Soshi Kitai

Oh... graphics?
Yeah... that's been what's going on.

You see, when 3D came into existence... people were amazed and in awe...
But when good gameplay appeared in 3D, people were astounded.
Then 3D became BETTER 3D. PEOPLE WENT BANANAS.

It happened around mid-Playstation.
When Playstation hit a graphics-mark people haven't seen normally, the gaming industry took notice at the sales for better graphics.
The gaming industry also noticed that people tended to avoid bad-graphics, even if the gameplay was beyond fun.

That's where the gaming industry split.
Playstation headed for graphics.
Xbox tried to show off its PC-esque capabilities (which included graphics).
Nintendo still aimed for gameplay.
And SEGA... well, they were unfortunate. Too soon, SEGA, too soon.

Playstation had awesome gameplays in upcoming 3D games, but if you really took notice: The gameplays were becoming more stale as the graphics got better... it was the same thing over and over, even though the systems could handle better controls and action-sequences. ( Good example: Kingdom Hearts gameplay... though fun to most of you, you do realize that it could have been 100000x better, right? ...or do you not remember old games? ...or are you just blinded by the fanfiction and colors? )

Xbox... well... they're Xbox... they're like PC gaming: Add more features, add better graphics, and add even more options--- but they tend to skip out on gaming. All their genres follow a certain formula that they think they've perfected (but that's not completely true)..... henceforth, it feels like all they focus on is graphics, but really, they've never really been top-notch in gameplay. -Not saying it ain't fun, just saying that they aren't that innovative in controls.

And Nintendo kept following the same formula they always had. The sad thing is, Nintendo didn't really care about graphics... they thought gaming hasn't reached its potential in gameplay yet, and thought the gaming industry was too focused on graphics- of which they could have worked on anytime. So as truth shows: Graphics has gone to the gamers... most gamers tend to hate the Wii because of its "old-gen" graphics and unfamiliar gameplay.


But Wii's paved the way for the other systems... the other systems' companies realized how much of a "threat" the Wii was, and started planning on future console controls.

Gameplay doesn't suck nowadays, it's just not new (except on the Wii side)... sure, we get more options and more graphics - but whatever happened to a good ol' fun-time with family like we used to have with the old Nintendo? (I remember constantly playing Super Mario Bros. 3 with my family all the time)
Gamers have kinda' burned that path a long time ago ( when their parents told them that video games were from the devil ), only new gamers and loyal Nintendo fans still appreciate that kinda' thing.

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aceman67

Excuse me... WHAT?

Last I checked, the revenues from video game sales, including consoles, Surpass that of the Movie or Music Industries. Combined.

The game industry is in no way endangered of going belly up, its just that good games take a couple years to develope, and the studio's that make them can only make one game at a time, so that means that good games, like Gears of War, Halo, Rockband, Final Fantasy, almost anything that Wil Write touches, take several years to come to fruition, so there will be a few years between games, meaning that there will be mediocure and crappy games to come out in the mean time.

Had sega put a DvD player into its Dreamcast, they would have won the console wars (At least the first part of it) and drove Sony into the ground, so to speak. What make the Playstation so popular was the fact that other then its gaming capablities, it was a cheap DvD player, it came out when dvds were just coming into the market. If it wasn't for its DvD player, the PS2 would have floundered.

The Dreamcast hardware could easily compeat with the Playstation 2's graphics, its only limitation was the media its games were stored on were CD's, not DvD's, making multidisc games a necessity and that drove up production cost.

The same could be said for the PS3, right now, its the cheapest BluRay player on the market.

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cantsenditback

Its depend on how much you like that game you got or going to get, if you have tried it before you got it and liked it, then you are going to get it, but if you are basing the game on reviews and graphics then you may be in a dissapointment then you have wasted your money if you cant return it. yeah some classic game are better but some of the new game are good as well

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Joe Mage

Aceman pretty much hit the nail on the head, but however Exoparadapsyphobia has a point too. Yes, the gaming industry is tryin' ta appeal ta a broader audience, but not necessarilly 'cause it's tryin' ta stay afloat. The gamin' industry is doin' jus' fine, however there r alot of ppl out there who either don' have the time or skills ta sit down and play a video game for long periods at a time. So the gamin' industry is tryin' ta broadin' their horizons and appeal ta that market by creatin' a variety of different games wit different levels of difficulty. They're jus' tryin' ta appeal ta ppl of all different types, ages, and even sexes (although they still have a ways ta go on that part). But also, as Aceman has already stated, it takes years ta develope good games; so the gamin' industry is rakin' in the money by creatin' games that appeal ta ppl who are more casual gamers. It's jus' simple economics.

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"Believe in yourself, if in nothing else."
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NeoDeath90

well, yes aceman has gotten it, like he usually does.

however my opinion is that at this point we are coming to the summer. the summe gaming drought should begin. and if its not a drought its a list of crappy titles made only to keep their businesses afloat if things dont go well for the summertime.

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Thank you, Yasmine, for this badass sig!

Hassun

In short Lenne, It's just you. Games are on a high right now. Both gameplay and graphics are becoming better fast. In fact, there are so many good games being released that we don't even have the time anymore to finish them all.

@ Aceman67
I strongly disagree that the PS2 only won the last console generation because it had a DVD drive or that the Dreamcast lost because it didn't have one.
The Dreamcast failed because Sega didn't have the money to compete on the level of the PS2 and because the PS2 had better games + a good name with the first playstation winning the console generation before it.

I never used the DVD drive the PS2 had and I'm one of the early adopters.

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Exoparadapsyphobia

Ok, I used that in the wrong context. But like I said I was tired so I wasn't thinking that well.

I didn't mean to say I thought the game industry was threatened with bankruptcy or anything. I understand perfectly well that's it's doing great at the moment. What I meant, and failed to get across, was that designers are doing this to try and stay in the good position their in.

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ron119125

I think that it depends on how you look at it. In my experience there have always been good and bad games. Now that the game business is going well companies are under presure to put out more games. Some of these games may not be up to what many players have come to except. So it is up to the player to research any game before they purchase it.

aceman67

Had the Playstation not had a dvd drive, or used DvD medium for its games, it wouldn't have done half as well as it did.

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