Are we in the golden age of gaming?
Raslin
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
After seeing that Sonic and Mario will be in the same game together, I realized something, something that had been lingering in my mind for a while now. We are in the golden age of gaming. I daresay better than the SNES/Genesis days. Now, before you kill me, just hear me out.
Look at the situation. More people are playing video games than ever before. Especially because of the Wii and DS, most of you probably know people playing games like Brain age and Wii Sports, people you would never expect to play games before. My family is a bit different, they've always played games. However, I can't play my Wii anymore. Why? My dad. He doesn't get off of super swing golf. I got it for him at Christmas. There is little time when he is home, that he doesn't play it.
Us hard core's aren't left out. We have arguably the best Zelda game to date out, which is saying something. Even being second is still something. We have, again arguably, the most perfected shooter developed to date, Gears of War out. World of Warcraft has stormed the gaming charts, and Blizzard is printing money not known since the Starcraft days. Stalker has finally come out; even with bugs, it is just an amazing game. Civilization 4 is giving most of us TBS fans a hard-on, and a new expansion is on the way. RTS? Command and Conquer is finally getting a true sequel, and we also have games like Company of Heroes, and Supreme commander.
Fighting games that aren't evolutions of Street Fighter. DBZ: BT2 is a game that many of my friends who aren't huge fighting game fans, are playing a lot. Racing games, from Motorstorm, to Burnout and Mario Kart DS, are arguably seeing their best days. Then we have more. A New NiGHTS game is coming for the Wii. Guitar Hero is going strong, and mini-games have exploded in potential with the Wii. Open-ended games are coming more and more often. Crackdown out, Oblivion out, Stalker out, GTA4 coming.
Retro gaming? We have backwards compatability going back two generations for some systems. Virtual Console and Live Marketplace are giving us games from even further back. Furthermore, indie games are growing exponentially. The modding community is pure sex right now. Half life 2 and BF2 are coming out with excellent mods, and games like Oblivion, Stalker, and others are giving us great opportunities for modding. Indie games actually have a chance now, with online distributing, whether through Steam and its contemporaries, or Live marketplace/PS3 home/Virtual console in the future, potentially. We have game college's now, its amazing.
Online multiplayer is increasingly becoming a standard. If you're so inclined, its unlikely you can't fulfill a multiplayer urge at any time of day, most of us really like at least one game that has online multiplayer. Wireless controllers are now the standard; We've all had situations where wired controllers have been a problem, at least once. Consoles now pretty much come standard with onboard memory, no more having to buy memory cards(Damn you, Xbox Core).
Obviously, in pure power, we're at our height. All the systems are capable of handing games with large environments, large numbers of things on screen, and quite good looking things as well. Once we get further into this generation, it will get even better.
We have an incredible line of games coming. Crysis, Bioshock, FFXIII, new FF:Tactics games, Mario Galaxy, SSBB, A new Kirby game, Halo 3, Metroid Prime 3, Ace Combat 6, MGS 4, DMC 4. All these games will be out within two years, most probably this year. These are just a few of the incredible games coming, just what I could think of on hand.
We have games proliferating more onto varying systems. Playstation games on the Xbox, Xbox games on the PC, Sega games on the Wii. Solid Snake in SSBB, A halo character in… what was it, tekken? Link in soul caliber(though that's a bit old).
It completely feels like a golden age for us gamers. I can't imagine what's coming next. I'll leave you with one last thing: If Starcraft 2 is announced in the next six months, I will eat my cock. Simply because if I don't, it will explode in anticipation, and I may as well get the nourishment.
TL;DR: Lots of cool shit coming out, more people playing than ever, no genre feels underloved.
Your thoughts?
Look at the situation. More people are playing video games than ever before. Especially because of the Wii and DS, most of you probably know people playing games like Brain age and Wii Sports, people you would never expect to play games before. My family is a bit different, they've always played games. However, I can't play my Wii anymore. Why? My dad. He doesn't get off of super swing golf. I got it for him at Christmas. There is little time when he is home, that he doesn't play it.
Us hard core's aren't left out. We have arguably the best Zelda game to date out, which is saying something. Even being second is still something. We have, again arguably, the most perfected shooter developed to date, Gears of War out. World of Warcraft has stormed the gaming charts, and Blizzard is printing money not known since the Starcraft days. Stalker has finally come out; even with bugs, it is just an amazing game. Civilization 4 is giving most of us TBS fans a hard-on, and a new expansion is on the way. RTS? Command and Conquer is finally getting a true sequel, and we also have games like Company of Heroes, and Supreme commander.
Fighting games that aren't evolutions of Street Fighter. DBZ: BT2 is a game that many of my friends who aren't huge fighting game fans, are playing a lot. Racing games, from Motorstorm, to Burnout and Mario Kart DS, are arguably seeing their best days. Then we have more. A New NiGHTS game is coming for the Wii. Guitar Hero is going strong, and mini-games have exploded in potential with the Wii. Open-ended games are coming more and more often. Crackdown out, Oblivion out, Stalker out, GTA4 coming.
Retro gaming? We have backwards compatability going back two generations for some systems. Virtual Console and Live Marketplace are giving us games from even further back. Furthermore, indie games are growing exponentially. The modding community is pure sex right now. Half life 2 and BF2 are coming out with excellent mods, and games like Oblivion, Stalker, and others are giving us great opportunities for modding. Indie games actually have a chance now, with online distributing, whether through Steam and its contemporaries, or Live marketplace/PS3 home/Virtual console in the future, potentially. We have game college's now, its amazing.
Online multiplayer is increasingly becoming a standard. If you're so inclined, its unlikely you can't fulfill a multiplayer urge at any time of day, most of us really like at least one game that has online multiplayer. Wireless controllers are now the standard; We've all had situations where wired controllers have been a problem, at least once. Consoles now pretty much come standard with onboard memory, no more having to buy memory cards(Damn you, Xbox Core).
Obviously, in pure power, we're at our height. All the systems are capable of handing games with large environments, large numbers of things on screen, and quite good looking things as well. Once we get further into this generation, it will get even better.
We have an incredible line of games coming. Crysis, Bioshock, FFXIII, new FF:Tactics games, Mario Galaxy, SSBB, A new Kirby game, Halo 3, Metroid Prime 3, Ace Combat 6, MGS 4, DMC 4. All these games will be out within two years, most probably this year. These are just a few of the incredible games coming, just what I could think of on hand.
We have games proliferating more onto varying systems. Playstation games on the Xbox, Xbox games on the PC, Sega games on the Wii. Solid Snake in SSBB, A halo character in… what was it, tekken? Link in soul caliber(though that's a bit old).
It completely feels like a golden age for us gamers. I can't imagine what's coming next. I'll leave you with one last thing: If Starcraft 2 is announced in the next six months, I will eat my cock. Simply because if I don't, it will explode in anticipation, and I may as well get the nourishment.
TL;DR: Lots of cool shit coming out, more people playing than ever, no genre feels underloved.
Your thoughts?
I cant url good so add me on steam anyways steamcommunity.com/id/Raslin
3ds friend code: 2981-6032-4118
3ds friend code: 2981-6032-4118
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It's a good time to be a fan of 2D.
Edit: Oh my.
There's this thing about opinions, y'know? A lot of people think different. I wasn''t saying it was the best.
3ds friend code: 2981-6032-4118
Golden age of gaming? I dunno, ... isn't that something you state retroactively? And if its anything like the "ages" of comics, ... I would say we passed the golden age years ago.
Don't do that.
Anyway I don't get the point of this topic. What is there to talk about? What do you wanna hear from us? Should we just hold hands and start singing halleluja?
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT
That's another huge reason that one could say it is the best time to be a gamer.
I want to hear whether you agree its the golden age or not. Is there a bunch of glaring problems I'm not seeing here?
3ds friend code: 2981-6032-4118
apparently, though I can't see them.
I like where this is going
Great games have existed in every generation, and every person in that generation can easily make the claim that that was the best generation. Technology continues to grow, of course, but there's also still tons and tons of room for improvement on every aspect of game tech. Basically, the only thing you can say with any accuracy is 'the gaming industry continues to grow and improve'.
But lo! Then did Atari blaspheme and anger the gods and createth the sack of crap called "E.T." And in their wrath, the gaming gods did unleash the Kool-Aid Man, and strike down the temples, leaving no stone set upon another stone, and gamers were forced to play at home, alone, on office equipment designed by people that thought "cyan" and "magenta" were useful colors.
So passed the first golden age of gaming. And while we have survived our long exile in the CGA desert, and can once again game with our friends via the new-fangled Internet, and are enjoying a new golden age, let us not forget the mighty temples that were lost. We shall never see their like again.
I'm certain that I'll remember the Ps2/Xbox/Cube generation in the same light as the Genesis/SNES days. Just like the 16 bit era took 2d design to a next level, I think the PS2 generation did the same with 3d design. However, I'm worried that the next step is high def, huge budgets and less publishers taking chances on the niche titles that made the PS2 library so amazing.
I'm not trying to be an ass, but how many of us actually played this game? It's generally regarded as a shit game and it seems to be in every "top ten list of olol bad games evar," but how many have us actually experienced it?
Maybe the learning curve was really steep.
Let's just say that most computers can reliably emulate the friggin' Atari 2600.
The thing is, games from that era are like silent movies: very very few of them aged well at all. ET was just worse than most, and began the tradition of movie games that suck ass.
I had Ghostbusters for the 2600 and quite liked it
I own it. I still play it actually. It's not a bad game, especially in comparison to some of the other horrid games on the 2600. However, it gets included on lists for what it represents. First of all, it was a disappointment to the people who did buy it simply because its connection to the film is pretty much limited to the use of the ET characters, the actual gameplay was pretty much nothing like the flick. Second of all, it represents the downfall of the industry as Atari manufactured far too many (more copies of the game existed than actual consoles to play it on!) and it brought about the crash of the gaming industry.
Taken on it's own, forgetting that it's supposed to be based on the movie, and forgetting it killed an industry, it's a decent game. It's mildly frustrating, but pretty fun and unlike most Atari games actually is "beatable" and isn't just played for a high score.
Clover are dead.
Looking Glass are dead.
The Golden Age was over a while ago.
All we need is Team Ico and Ice-Pick to fold, and it'll be the flaming dark age of gaming.
http://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-et.html
I should add that I am a bitter, bitter man.
I was there when it happened. There's an OK game in there somewhere, except that every time you get near it, you fall in a pit. And then another pit. And then another pit. And then you die. I might have the patience for it now, but at the time? No.
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
I actually have a physical copy, and I beat it, as a kid. It wasn't ever a good game, but I was stunned when I found out exactly how lowly it was generally considered. I could swear I've played worse.
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
So... is this another golden age of gaming or not yet for this generation?
XBL Gametag: mailarde
Screen Digest LOL3RZZ
That entire post was just great, thanks
On topic: The "Golden Age" label is typically nostalgic in nature, and I agree with previous posters who have said that we will only be able to tell later. On top of that, it is subjective and very personal.
My subjective and personal opinion: for me, this is currently the best time I've had gaming, with the most splendid options for gaming. I owned a GameBoy when I was younger, and after that I was a PC gamer. That was good, but I tended to focus on one game at a time (Full Throttle, Diablo, Counter-Strike, etc.). Now, I'm both a PC gamer and have a 360 and PS2. I have buckets of games that I need to play, or need to finish. There are so many great ones out there, and I am enjoying gaming more than ever. I'm no longer playing Mario Brothers on a GameBoy over and over and over because there wasn't much else for me to play. This has less to do with the industry, though, than my personal experiences.
It seems interesting, though, that it has taken until now for me to get into console gaming. I've always had a TV and a PC, but it wasn't until I had a full-time job after graduating college that I got a PS2 and starting console-ing. FFX was what got me to finally get a PS2, long after it had come out, but the I found that there was so much more there to play. So I've played tons of wonderful PS2 games (thank god for this forum, or I would never have played Ico), and that got me interested enough in consoles to get a 360. It may not be perfect, but I have had so much fun playing some of those games. It's just great.
So, on a scale from [glum] to [gleeful], I can certainly say that this time in my gaming life goes to 11.
On that note, it's almost time to go play some C&C3!
I played it a few years ago, and yes, it is quite bad.