[Rant] What's Wrong with Video Games These Days?

Originally Posted by Denicalis

You guys need to stop acting like if there's a lot of flash, there can't be substance.

So very true. The flashy aspects of a game are irrelevant to the substance. The two aren't related in any way. I've played flashy games this generation that had a ton of substance. I've also played flashy games this (and previous) generation which were as shallow as a coat of paint. It can go either way. It isn't like there's a slider bar that can go to either end of a flash/substance scale.

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You're also using revisionist history. Every system had this happen. There were a handful of quality titles, and then a whole lot of filler.

This is what I came into the thread to say. I'm not a young gamer, and I've got a long perspective on games as a form of entertainment. I'm finding just as many quality games to buy as I ever did. I'm also finding just as much trash to ignore as I ever did. Sure the DS and the Wii are full of shovelware, but wasn't that also true of the SNES and the PS1? It happens to popular consoles.

Although I'm not really a fan of FPS games, I have to say a few words in defense of the genre. It happens throughout gaming history that the most popular genre attracts a lot of games which may appear to the casual observer to be very similar. Right now FPS are extremely popular, and it may well be the case that the differences between them are only visible to those who take an interest in the genre, but much the same could be said of RPGs. The FPS fan sees the vast array of RPGs on the Playstation series of consoles and wonders what exactly is the difference (other than story) between all these games involving turn-based battles.

When platform games were popular, the SNES and Genesis were positively flooded with titles. It just happens to whatever genre is the most popular at the time. It doesn't mean that the various games are all the same, it just means that most of them are aimed at the enthusiast, and the differences may not be readily apparent.

As for the question of gaming stories... I have to admit that games will never rival film and television, much less great literature. I generally view the story in a game, even in an RPG, as an interesting way of presenting the player with motive and objectives, rather than purely as a narrative. It is nice if the story is well presented and coherent, but I don't expect as much from it as I would from any typical TV show.

Jam it back in, in the dark.