finalark
SNORLAX
It looks like the end of the current generation is finally upon us. With the Wii U out and the PlayStation 4 following soon we'll be seeing stores clear their inventory of Wii and PS3 games in the coming years to replace them with Wii U and PS4 titles. I wouldn't be surprised is Microsoft is planning on retiring the 360 for a shiny new Xbox soon. I'm going to take some time now to go over a few trends I liked and disliked about the current gen.
Disliked: Fixation on community - We live in the age of the internet, where people are constantly in communication with each other 24/7 though services like Facebook and Twitter. And this generation video games decided to get in on that with things like Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. Honestly, I've always been a fairly introverted person and this constant social communication isn't really my cup of tea. While I'm willing to deal with it by not participating as much as others do, I really don't like it in my games. For me, games, with a few exceptions, have never really been a social thing for me. And to see multiplayer being shoved down my throat in franchises I previously enjoyed as single player experiences *coughdiablocough* grinds my gears a bit.
Liked: Reboots - I know some people who really hate these, but personally I love them. While others might say that they're trying to squeeze life out of dead franchises I'd say that it lets a new generation experience games they never would have heard of. It also gives dying franchises one more shot at life and for me personally got me interested in franchises I never would have bothered with, such as X-Com or Mortal Kombat.
Disliked: Consoles moving away from games - I think this really started last gen with Sony including a DVD player in the PS2, but at this point it's getting ridiculous. You see MS and Sony spending many of their E3 conferences talking about new features to be added to their consoles that have nothing to do with games. And even Sony's advertisements for a while made the PS3 out to be this all-in-one super media center for your living you. I almost feel like Sony and Microsoft have forgotten that the people buying their consoles buy them to play games on, not to keep up with ESPN or to Tweet on.
Liked: Indie games getting some of the spotlight: Here's a good thing to come from services like Xbox Live or Steam, many indie games that would probably have gone mostly ignored any other generation actually getting some attention or a least a chance to do well. Games like Super Meat Boy or Legend of Grimrock come to mind for me. It's nice to see that humble studios can get the chance to really get their games out there and that the niche market for many of these titles can easily access them.
Those are just a few thing off the top of my head. How about you guys? What did you like or dislike about this gen?
Disliked: Fixation on community - We live in the age of the internet, where people are constantly in communication with each other 24/7 though services like Facebook and Twitter. And this generation video games decided to get in on that with things like Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. Honestly, I've always been a fairly introverted person and this constant social communication isn't really my cup of tea. While I'm willing to deal with it by not participating as much as others do, I really don't like it in my games. For me, games, with a few exceptions, have never really been a social thing for me. And to see multiplayer being shoved down my throat in franchises I previously enjoyed as single player experiences *coughdiablocough* grinds my gears a bit.
Liked: Reboots - I know some people who really hate these, but personally I love them. While others might say that they're trying to squeeze life out of dead franchises I'd say that it lets a new generation experience games they never would have heard of. It also gives dying franchises one more shot at life and for me personally got me interested in franchises I never would have bothered with, such as X-Com or Mortal Kombat.
Disliked: Consoles moving away from games - I think this really started last gen with Sony including a DVD player in the PS2, but at this point it's getting ridiculous. You see MS and Sony spending many of their E3 conferences talking about new features to be added to their consoles that have nothing to do with games. And even Sony's advertisements for a while made the PS3 out to be this all-in-one super media center for your living you. I almost feel like Sony and Microsoft have forgotten that the people buying their consoles buy them to play games on, not to keep up with ESPN or to Tweet on.
Liked: Indie games getting some of the spotlight: Here's a good thing to come from services like Xbox Live or Steam, many indie games that would probably have gone mostly ignored any other generation actually getting some attention or a least a chance to do well. Games like Super Meat Boy or Legend of Grimrock come to mind for me. It's nice to see that humble studios can get the chance to really get their games out there and that the niche market for many of these titles can easily access them.
Those are just a few thing off the top of my head. How about you guys? What did you like or dislike about this gen?
