For us older gamers, games are certainly not as good as they used to be. Games have gotten a little better as far as visuals, physics and the like but at the same time, the value of games have gone down. Especially games that include dlc for things that aren't necessary (additional weapons, costumes, etc.) that could have easily been included in said game for free or the purchase price.

One thing I forgot to say in my post...I like Handheld games nowadays overall (3ds, Vita) A LOT more than older handheld systems' games.  I like a lot of Independent games and like the whole movement for that a lot too.  My statement quoted above was mainly about AAA console and PC releases.

yes they are. If people back then,played the games we have today they'd probably have a heart attack.

Todays games are lame. In the old days reflexes, brain and hand eye coordination where tested to the extreme. Anybody ever get to lap the game 13 times round on Nemesis (Gradius) will know this ;)

no its not just part of growing up its because the games became shitty.

Do you like RPGs? Play xenoblade when I played it I felt like I was sitting in front of my SNES and everything was fine.

Todays games are usually overpriced they are made for dumb people (everything has to be explained) to repetitive to linear (goldeneye/perfect dark stage design VS modern shooter "corridors") focus to much on VISUALS etc.

Todays games are made for dudebros and people who want to be cool (thanks to PS3 and 360 gaming became cool) not for gamers anymore because there is simply more of them out there.
Even a COD producer/dev said in an interview a week or so ago that (most) people who play COD are not gamers they are people that play COD and maybe FIFA/Madden so called mainstreamers.

He added that when he asks people if they play games they always say "no just COD and or Madden/Fifa"

The reason why games are "bad" now is because they are not supposed to be real games.
Its like Transformers. It's a popcorn movie its not art or a masterpiece.

Well said.

1983 M.U.L.E.
1984 Tetris
1985- something not as good
;)

For the most part, no. I know I sound like one of those bitter old men who claims everything was better back in his day, but I truly feel this way. Most modern games just are nowhere near as fun to me as many retro games, with a select few exceptions (Minecraft, Starcraft II, a select few Wii games, Gears online). Just feels like many games of the modern era have been watered down immensely to make way for more horsepower. and not that horsepower is a BAD thing, it just should never be the number one priority over the gameplay. And that is what it seems most developers are doing these days. As a result, we tend to get these games that look very pretty, and lean heavily on having this epic story, but are hugely lacking in actual freedom in gameplay, are super easy and hand-holdy and feel more like walking through corridors of interactive films.

Both, there is a shift in genres. RPG's in particular are getting worse, while shooters and action adventure games are getting better.

When I look at old RPG's like Final Fantasy IV-IX and compare then to stuff like Final Fantasy XIII, the retro games were just better. Sure XenoBlade was great, but PS1 had XenoGears and Chrono Cross. Sure have have gems like Fallout 3 and Mass Effect 3 now, which are great, but there were just more quality RPG's in the past then there are now, Remember Chrono Trigger?

Now for action/adventure, I don't think we're getting better, but we're getting more high end games. Ocarina of Time will always be for most the best Action Adventure game, but this gen we saw Uncharted 2 & 3, We saw 2 Mario Galaxy games (opposed to 1 Mario 64 game), two more Zelda's which were nearly as good, we have like 5 Assassin's Creed games, and Portal 2 is also great.

Shooters are getting better, Doom on SNES/PC was pretty horrible compared to any Halo/Call of Duty game, but to be fair Halo 1 and Call of Duty 4 will always be the best of the series IMO. Also while GTA IV and V are sandbox games and not shooters, they have improved gradually since the PS1 and even PS2 days.

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So a bit of both, RPG's are dying, shooters are getting better.

Also handheld games are getting more plentiful, I remember Final Fantasy Adventure on GB was pretty lame, especially compared to something like Bravery Default. While Pokemon Red/Blue, Link's Awakening, Metroid II, and Super Mario Land were good, new iterations are just as good if not better, but now we have more stuff to pick from like Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing, and even Uncharted.

This is right on the money!