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« on: September 01, 2006, 04:06:41 AM »
It's fairly rare that I do rant posts, mainly because getting in an angry mood is against my nature! But I wanted to create a more serious topic for my 10K post, so a rant (though hopefully somewhat humorous) is what you get!
I was first introduced to the world of videogames with the NES back in 1989. Considering I was only three years old, I don't really remember much (okay, ANY) of the time I spent playing Super Mario Brothers, though I have a feeling I spent a lot of time falling into pits and even possibly running into the very first goomba in World 1-1. "Hi, Mr. Goomba, how are you today?" "I am doing quite fine, Mister Mario. May I warn you that your current momentum and trajectory will cause us to collide?" "Oh, how careless of me!" *falls off screen in undignified manner*
I received my SNES a few years later, and by this time I was old enough to remember my gameplay experiences. I recall plugging Super Mario World into the system and becoming instantly enveloped in a vast, colorful world of mystery and excitement! A cute dinosaur companion? Cool! A cape I can fly with? Wow! This is the earliest memory I have of gaming, and I cherish it to this day.
By this time, I was not quite yet the Nintendo fan I am today. In fact, I played my Sega Genesis as much as my SNES! (Only God knows why...) Fast forward to 1996. I recall talking to my dad about the new Sony Playstation, and that's where my gaming life turned around forever. He brought up that there was a new Nintendo system coming out at the end of the year, the system which would, of course, end up becoming the Nintendo 64. On September 30th, I picked up my preordered system from Toys R Us, brought it home, plugged in my copy of Super Mario 64, and was completely astounded. I was moving my beloved Mario around in a three-dimensional world! I probably spent a good half-hour just running around the princess' front yard, completely in awe. I also recall long-jumping into a wall multiple times (quite possibly more than 20) because I thought it was funny. Oh dear...
Anyways, those were good memories. Or at least, I think they are good memories. Nostalgia can be a very dangerous thing! But going back and playing these games reveals that most of these games that I enjoyed as a kid are still enjoyable today...
Now we are entering a new generation of systems once again, but this time around there's a foul stench emitting from it. This would be the masses of generic games trying their best to be edgy and "realistic." Sadly enough, this seems to entail having a space marine for the hero......and he's bald......and he's angry for some reason....Did I mention that these heroes are bald? What is with next generation games and bald space marines? Is Space Marine Academy that stressful that your hair just falls out!? Or maybe the aliens ATE their hair! A MOTIVE! The space marine is out for revenge because the aliens stole his hair! Someone write that one down, it'll be a classic someday...
Whenever I go into a topic on a Playstation 3 or 360 game these days, all I see are posts like "Whoa, looks awesome!," "That bump-mapping is the ****!," or "HUR HUR THAT GIRL HAS PERFECTLY ROUND BOOBIES." Meanwhile, I'm sitting here at my computer shaking my head in disgust. Do you remember when we played videogames for the gameplay? Some people don't, and by "some people" I mean the "gamers" that have Final Fantasy [insert number] and/or Metal Gear Solid anywhere near their Top 100 Games. How am I supposed to play bump-mapping? How am I supposed to play bloom lighting? How am I supposed to play polygons in general!? Sure, visuals can be used to set an atmosphere, but we've already hit the peak of processing power we need to create outstanding environments; just look at games like Wind Waker and Killer7. Even developers don't know what to do with this new-found processing power found in next-gen systems. "So the textures are still pretty horrible, and the characters don't really look that great, but hey, we threw in a couple hundred of the same character model! NEXT GEN AM HERE!"
Yet another problem in games that appears to be getting worse: storylines. By this I don't mean the addition of generic storylines, but the fact that developers feel the need to chuck one in as an excuse to make a shallow game. Oh sure, your game can have a GREAT storyline, but if the game sucks then what is the point? All in all you could compare it to watching a movie and having to stab yourself to keep the film rolling. The story shouldn't have to carry the game, PERIOD. This is why games like Super Mario Brothers and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat are so great; the developers come up with a "storyline" like "Donkey Kong is off to become King of the jungle" or "Uh oh, Princess Peach was captured (again), better go save her!" so they can concentrate on the actual meat of the game.
Oh, and Aeris dies...
Next: Cost. There was a time videogames were really expensive. I recall purchasing Super Mario RPG for $80. EIGHTY BUCKS! Thanks to the compact disc, videogames have been at a fair price for this past generation. Oh, what, not anymore. Thanks to the "power" of the next generation consoles that are the 360 and PS3, game prices are back on the rise. As if $60 dollars were bad enough, Kaz Hirai (RIIIIIIIDGE RAAAAACER!) stated in an interview a few months back:
"...generally speaking, over the past twelve years or so, there has been a consumer expectation that disc-based games are maybe $59 on the high end to $39 on the low end. So, what I can say now is, I think it would be a bit of a stretch to think that we could suddenly turn around and say 'PS3 Games now $99.99.'"
What is this crap? "Our games will not be $100" is hardly comforting when gamers are used to paying HALF that price for the past five years. It also doesn't help that your console is TWICE the price of your last console. It also doesn't help that the reason it's that expensive is because you are trying to shoehorn in a bunch of multimedia crap that no one wants. Oh, and did I mention that Ken Kutaragi believes that they will HOLD their current marketshare, if not INCREASE it?...Hahahahaha...ha...*shakes head*
It also amuses me when characters like ruby_onix pop into a cost discussion, post a picture of Metal Gear Solid 4, and try to argue that a pretty (old man Solid Snake? Errr, scratch that...) picture is worth selling your house for. So what separates Metal Gear Solid 4 from Metal Gear Solid 3? "Ooooo, oooo, I know Bill, pick me, pick me! The answer is: more cinematics!" That certainly will be worth paying $600 dollars for, oh boy, can't wait!
So, anyways, I'm pretty tired of ranting. I anticipate, or rather, hope for developers to take advantage of the possibilities of the Nintendo Wii. I hope that Nintendo has shown them that story and visuals should step down and allow gameplay to step once again into the forefront. I hope that I can experience a new form of gaming that is not sticking me in the middle of World War II for the billionth time, or racing down the streets of Tokyo for the billionth time, or leading a bald space marine through an alien ship for the billionth time. I hope that developers can learn to innovate not only in gameplay, but in art design, which is considerably more important than the number of polygons the team can push. And I hope that most of you, if you've even read this rant all the way down to here, feel the same way! ^_^
(Phew, typing out long posts is hard...I don't see how Ian does it... =\ )