Gaming Has Never Been More Geeky (rant)

[Fierce_LiNk]

I've been a way for a while, so i thought i'd combine all my posts into a giant, supermassive post, which i call my rant. You know the drill.

 

Alright, here goes nothing.

 

So here we are, again. On the eve of a new generation of gaming. Except, you could argue that we're already in that new age, but, according to Sony anyway, the next generation doesn't start until they say. So, unlucky to all of you 360 owners out there.

 

E3 came and went. So did events such as Leipzig. But now, we know everything (or, almost everything). We know when the Wii will get here. We've seen the controller. Most of all, we know it will be the cheapest system out there.

 

So why are we still complaining?

 

Well, it's a number of things. First of all, Nintendo's attitude.

 

Allow me to elaborate. Years ago, in the days of the SNES, gaming was considered geeky. Here's an idea: grab a piece of paper, and draw your idea of a scientist. No doubt, HE will be wearing a white labcoat, with thick glasses, and white hair to indicate his age.

 

Do the same thing for gamers. Better still, ask someone you know who doesn't play games to do it. Gaming still has an image problem.

 

Do we honestly want that to change? In a way, i think the fans don't.

 

I think the fans are the problem. In this day and age, we have been treated to a glimpse of the future of gaming. Motion control, with a non-traditional control scheme. So, why in God's name are we still questioning something so trivial as graphics? Why are we so interested in clockspeeds, and whatnot? Sometimes, i do think many of us discuss gaming more than we actually just play.

 

Gaming never used to be cheap. It still isn't! To make the most of your new 360 and PS3 systems, you will probably end up investing in a HDTV. Not the cheapest way to appeal to the masses now, is it? If you can afford it, fine. However, i find it amusing how various members of this forum condemn the price of the Wii, yet will no doubt purchase all 3 systems PLUS a brand, spanking new tv to make the most of it.

 

Gaming isn't going to be cheap. Unless we see a drop in prices in either this generation, or the next, gaming will always be seen as geeky. It will only be affordable, and worthwhile to gamers (and i mean it when i use that term), preferably teenagers with a lot of time to fully utilise their system, and with rich parents. This is not the way it should be.

 

I will not name any names, but various people have made comments such as "Nintendo are not catering for the hardcores. They're only aiming for casuals." Not entirely true, but in all honesty, i think this is the way to go. The only way to lose that geeky-feel of a games system is to make it more appealable to the masses. However much you deny it, there is a problem, and unless something happens to change things, there will always be a problem.

 

Is making games more graphically spectacular the right way to go? I don't think it is. It's the same problem but wrapped up in a shiney new package. This will not change anything. What needs to change is the interface. Think about a computer. Computers, years ago, were beasts. There were some tricky interfaces, but it is much simpler now. Along with this, came an audience who are now able to use computers. This is why i fully support the Wiimote. It's about bluddy time somebody took the plunge to do something different.

 

I warn you, i have just wandered in from the pouring rain so i am not really in-gear. Discuss, anyway.

[Smiter]

I'm agreed with you, Fierce.

 

I have also noticed the same problem with gamers, not just on this site but also on other sites, blogs, forums, etc.

 

I do love pretty graphics, but I honestly don't care what horsepower Wii has under its bonnet. The Gamecube was pretty enough for me, and Wii won't disappoint me.

 

Anyway, it's really the games that matter. I play games for relaxation and FUN. Isn't that what gaming was all about in the first place?

 

Take Wii Sports. It may look "basic" but it looks FUN. I can't wait to try the bowling and duel with my best friend on boxing. It's definitely something new and fresh, with its motion sensing.

 

It's something I can definitely get the family to join in. How about bowling at home on a rainy day?

 

Yet I keep hearing about the "hardcores" dismissing Wii Sports as "kiddy". They scorn the Wiimote as gimmicky and wax lyrical about HD graphics, even if the games they are playing are the same old stuff.

 

I've gamed since the NES first came out here (ahh, that was a great Xmas present), and I can easily say the Wii has got me excited again. New systems have always brought a little interest, but the Wii is more than that to me. When we used to play on the NES, the family would all join in, playing Duck Hunt and Mario Bros. It was a social thing and fun.

 

Those days have long since disappeared and gamers have found themselves retreating more and more into their bedrooms. That happened to me, and I really missed gaming with my sister. I missed getting the family involved.

 

But I truly feel that Wii could break down those walls. I can easily get my mum and sister to try out Wii Sports without the need to spend 5 minutes explaining the controls!

 

I don't know if Wii will change ("disrupt the market" - see the Wiikly) the gaming industry or not, but it's clear that it is something very different. Some gamers don't like change, but it's important to think that the regulars you see on websites and forum only account for a small proportion of the public. There are people who like games but don't visit gaming websites. There are lapsed gamers, and of course the non-gamers.

 

I don't care about power as long as the games look decent and are fun.

I can wait for HD. It's only a higher resolution, I've been using HD on my PC for years!

Gaming needs a change. It's becoming stagnant.

 

As a gamer, I embrace the Wii!

[Phube]

Hear-hear, agree 99%!!!

[pedrocasilva]

Welcome back fierce, I agree with most of your points, specially that gaming isn't cheap, that's because gaming is a hobbie, so it's not needed for survival, it's aimed at people who have money to spend in the first place.

 

Now... I think it can be expanded, since most people in developed countries won't buy videogames not because they lack money, but because they lack time, or feel overwhelmed by it.

 

On the other hand lots of youngsters buy consoles just so they aren't social outcasts, because everyone and his brother has one, that only sells PS2's though (and GBA's in the past and DS's to a certain extent I suppose).

 

I accept the price of the software being what it is on curect gen consoles, but I certainly don't want it to raise, that's important, although it's a hobbie, it should be expensive, but not that expensive, otherwise we'd just be loosing possible buyers and turning it again into a "elite".

 

Nintendo's goal was never a elite though, since the NES launch, it was even called Family Computer (Famicom) in Japan, thus their enphasis on family has always been there, thus... Wii is the next natural step for Nintendo, just as their Wii games are.

 

Our userbase is not out of problems though, most Nintendo fans buy Nintendo because it's Nintendo, and 90% of their games library is Nintendo (1st, 2nd party) or exclusive, bad games tend to flop thus third party's often sell less on Nintendo console, and will get lazy on Nintendo ports or even drop it, every generation, it's a full circle. This is what keeps the market there for Nintendo games and home consoles though.

 

This is why Nintendo needs to expand again into a bigger public, because in order to maintain the third party support and expand it (thus making the console a raging sucess) they need people to buy those games, the public that buys the ultimate Fifa <insert number> every year is of course the general/casual public.

 

On the graphics side... I think a curent gen game can be spectacular graphically, and a next gen one can be just average. Graphic power is good in order to deliver experience, envolve the player, but in the end the biggest part of that experience is gameplay... said this... I think Wii has enough graphic muscle, and even bigger gameplay abilities (by far) that's her strong point.

 

Nintendo felt obligated to do something diferent though, since they didn't want to go into a console war to see how much money they could loose, like Microsoft and Sony are going.

 

Also Nintendo does software and they know well what a increase in development costs implies, and they didn't want to loose share of the profits and shrinking the market further.

 

Who is right and who is wrong? Nintendo is right business-wise, it wouldn't be a business if the company didn't earn money. Microsoft is trying to overbook the market with cheaper prices because they can loose infinite amounts of money, and know it might pay off, and dragged Sony into their close-rane fist-fight (or we could say Sony dragged herself), it might turn either way, but the one who is putting more at stake here is Sony, since Microsoft can loose any amount of money without blinking, Sony can't, infact they are is worse position to loose money than Nintendo is (much worse).

 

All in all... this is abnormal times we're living on, it's not normal business sense to loose money in hardware throughout a whole generation (and Xbox lost 6 bilion dolars instead of turning a profit), in the end it seems Nintendo is the only sane brand here.

 

I hope they succeed because of that. Otherwise no brand would hold it's own against Microsoft, because they have infinite pockets. I'd rather root for Microsoft than Sony though, because Sony has been with a monopoly for too long, it's getting to their heads and they're damaging the market.

[DCK]

I'm not all for this 'eat anything Nintendo gives you attitude'. I feel Nintendo has done not much effort to maximize their competitiveness and technical performance and that's dissappointing and it deserves to be said. Better graphics is always a pro, but I agree that graphics don't last anyway.

 

The Wii is still great, I'm very happy with the way it's going, but I keep on feeling it's not the best Nintendo can give us.

[Nintendork]

Nintendo always has been cool, it always has been mainstream.

You will always get geeky fringes and stereotypes..

 

Ever heard of a PPP room? Porn, Pool and Playstation.. it's what bachelor's these days aim to have.

 

I used to read PlayStation magazine.. back in the days of the PSone with games like Parappa and WipeOut being marginalised as super cool cult institutions.

 

When I was taking a gander through I saw this thing.. it was called an .mp3 player? It was labelled as the next geeky toy from Japan.

Holding a whopping 32mb you could store downloaded music on it.

 

This was the days before iTunes and Windows media player.. I didn't even have a computer.. or the internet and certainly didn't know how to record onto it. But I bought one anyway.. I was a geek.

 

A long time has passed since then.. mp3 is more accesible, it's simplified, it's end to end. Content is there all in one package.

 

It's called iPod. Apparently the youth of today are the iPod generation just as we were the MTV generation.

 

Next generation? I reckon it'll be the Nintendo generation.. it's going mainstream.

 

That's enough reminiscing onto a nice point I thought of earlier in my haze.

 

Bad game design is a plague! even bad game design on the 360 and PS3 will show.

High Definition gaming projects require huge budgets.. and even bigger ones to make it a good one.

As production costs go up.. allocations for good game design will go down..

 

On the Wii there isn't an issue of high production costs because the system is based in standard definition.. more time and money can be spent on great game design- see Metroid and Resident Evil.

 

Bad games show on the 360.. but they will really show on the Wii. (that's you Tony Hawk)

 

Which is why there will be even more incentive and competition between Wii developpers to come up with the next big thing.

 

Look at Contact DS- a game that houses 2 worlds on each screen.. communicating through the player 'Contact'

 

What a genius idea.. I have ultimate faith that the Wii will house more ideas like this..

 

I am beginning to have selective eye sight to the fanboys and people who talk about graphics on this forum.

I've just started using the 'ignore' button for certain forum members.

 

I don't have time for haters and graphics freaks. Design is more important than power has ever been.

 

[darksnowman]

I've been a way for a while, so i thought i'd combine all my posts into a giant, supermassive post, which i call my rant. You know the drill.

 

Where've ye been, back to school? And by the way, its Supermassive Blackhole, dude.

 

Anwyay, what else can be said, alot has been already covered on this topic already here. I may need to think about it a while before making a big post.

 

I liked the days of the SNES when my dad played DKC with me and my sisters played Mario Kart and we took turns in Super Mario Allstars. I got more multiplayer joy out of the N64 but apart from Mario Kart and F-Zero and Mario Footy the Cube has been really just me... no bad thing like considering the games, but still. Making gaming social is a good thing, I mean theres always time for the big long single player games but the laughs and frantic-ness of two player and upwards is great. And I think it could be a great way to get the family together for a while and laughing.

 

As for the haters of what Nintendo may or may not be doing for the next gen... wait til we see the sales figures with the Wii selling in DS proportions - who's gonna be complaining then? : peace:

[mario114]

Attack of the big posts....I find them intimidatting

 

-I agree with what you said Fierce_link, I only play games I think are fun, stuff like clock speeds no longer bother me, looks is all about presenation, which is why I think a game like lttp looks 1000% times better than GTA 3. Gameplay and presentation are what matters.

[Nintendork]

We've lived in a golden age, the teething age and the stagnant age.

From now on it's not going to get much better really.

 

Until Total Recall/The Game come reality.

 

Oh man The Game would be so cool if you could do that.. such the awesome film.

 

I think it would be safe to draw a parallel between gaming and moore's law.

We will eventually get to a point when processors can't get much better.. heat and technology will plateau and mean development of technology will hit a wall.

 

From that point on the focus must pivot from tech to design.

[dabookerman]

Well said, Nintendo is for the poor and for the people who dont want to look like geeks and for kids

 

OH SHI-

[ZeldaFreak]

A couple of things I'll say:

 

1) Innovative controls do not make good games - great graphics combined with great gameplay and new controls should make good games

 

2)Maybe its just be but when the commodore 64 was around the price of the games were about £5. In yesterday's price they were kind of moderately expensive but they were more value for money than most of the last gen and looking into this gen.

 

Thats all