The State of the Industry: New Golden Age or Crash Course?

[bob-charley]

Gaming has come a long, long way since the Crash of '83. Not only did our beloved hobby recover from that devastating economic blow, but it actually flourished into a full blown pasttime, expanding outward to the point that it is now so ingrained in popular culture that it could be considered on par with film, literature and sports.

With so many successes occuring in such rapid succession, however, one has to wonder if the trend will continue. As developers continue to flood with the market with annual high-style, low-substance sequels, the current industry's resemblence to Atari's final few months prior to the crash is becoming more striking than ever.

On the other hand, that viewpoint could be argued as excessively pessimistic. There are lots of sequels being released these days, true, but there's an equal amount of high quality new material being put out there, at sizable risk to developers willing to take a chance. Even if there are many sequels and not enough new material, it's all of a much higher level of quality than we used to be capable of.

What do you think? Is the current trend of flashy, expensively produced sequels setting the gaming industry on a crash course, or is that merely a lack of positive thinking?

 

[Narukari]

I think that the gaming industry will be fine. We as gamers however might not be. I've seen on my brother's xbox a system that is very similar to the Mii system on the Wii. It seems that more and more companies are following the Wii in making titles that appeal to "casuals" (aka people who just want a movie in which they are the hero)

I find many of todays RPGs lack the original charm that the older titles had when they were developed amongst fewer people. Once we got past the PS1 most games I played felt "cookie cutter" in design with just various character traits applied to the main characters. I have never had an RPG yet make me laugh at the kookiness of Kefka, feel powerless at the foot of Lavos (going to fight a final boss at level 15 is a good way to lose), or just hate the villian like Sephiroth. Most villans in todays RPG's make me wince at how cheezy they are. Cheezy is ok, but I haven't seen an outlandish character that isn't a knockoff of Ash from Pokemon. Or an anihero that doesn't "fear your developing power", continue to occasionaly harass you, then realise they have been used by the villan and join you at the end. Nothing feels orignal anymore, just planned out to make as many people buy the game as possible.

 

[GreenKirby]

^You're playing too many JRPGs.

 

[BloodyPuppy]

I believe that while gaming is not headed for financial disaster, it is and has been for some time heading towards being an oversaturated and overall unoriginal market which cranks out the same old games every year, with no protest offered by the consumer. It's depressing...

 

[bob-charley]

I believe that while gaming is not headed for financial disaster, it is and has been for some time heading towards being an oversaturated and overall unoriginal market which cranks out the same old games every year, with no protest offered by the consumer. It's depressing...

One has to wonder which is a worse fate.