I used to really get into Nintendo games, but then I started playing similar titles from other companies and it really hit me hard. I started playing games like Ratchet and clank, Jak and Daxter, and just recently Beyond: good and evil. They follow a similar premise as some of my favorite Nintendo titles, but it just seems like they connect better with more of an audience range. Nintendo just seems entirely too geared for young people. I KNOW I KNOW /receive hell for saying that, but it's like Disney and Dreamworks/Pixar for me. Disney was all about fantasy magic and the enchanted disney kingdom blah blah blah (Nintendo), but when Toy Story came out, it had the whole appeal of animated magic, but it was FUNNY, they had plenty of material that children just wouldn't understand, yet still appealed to them. Pixar films and the Shrek series are movies that I can enjoy and not feel "kiddish" for watching.

Surprised how many people have said Bethesda here. They're my favorite RPG maker now, although that isn't saying much sinec I don't like any RPGs in the first place.

I'll just harp one more time on the fact that openness/interactivity is in direct opposition to story telling, and Bethesda is yet another excellent case to prove the point. Oblivion and especially Morrowind are the most open ended RPGs I've ever played, and they also happen to be the least coherent in terms of storyline.

You're all going to have to pick one or the other, I think. People seem to use the term "linear game" as a pejorative, but this also allows developers to tell a story. Do you want open games, or story driven games? Because the more open games get, the less story driven they will become.

Surprised how many people have said Bethesda here. They're my favorite RPG maker now, although that isn't saying much sinec I don't like any RPGs in the first place.

I'll just harp one more time on the fact that openness/interactivity is in direct opposition to story telling, and Bethesda is yet another excellent case to prove the point. Morrowind and even Oblivion are the most open ended RPGs I've ever played, and they also happen to be the less coherent in terms of storyline.

You're all going to have to pick one or the other, I think. People seem to use the term "linear game" as a pejorative, but this also allows developers to tell a story. Do you want open games, or story driven games? Because the more open games get, the less story driven they will become. 

Surprised how many people have said Bethesda here. They're my favorite RPG maker now, although that isn't saying much sinec I don't like any RPGs in the first place.

I'll just harp one more time on the fact that openness/interactivity is in direct opposition to story telling, and Bethesda is yet another excellent case to prove the point. Oblivion and especially Morrowind are the most open ended RPGs I've ever played, and they also happen to be the least coherent in terms of storyline.

You're all going to have to pick one or the other, I think. People seem to use the term "linear game" as a pejorative, but this also allows developers to tell a story. Do you want open games, or story driven games? Because the more open games get, the less story driven they will become.

Edit: fine, you admitted you were wrong. Let's just move on.

@Griffin:

1) You are basing your opinion on Valve as a company off an EA port of a PC game. Good show sir.

What interactivity? There were no real consequences for anything you did in Oblivion. At worst you go to jail, but most of the time you could just steal a bunch of stuff and no one would ever know. How dull can a game get? An RPG game with no real consequences or results for your actions has no purpose. Why not just sit there and move stuff around on your computer desk?

As far as the actual gameplay goes, the dungeons were repetitive, the combat system was awful and dull, and the world was an empty lifeless mass of green.... except those damn wolves.

Or you can strike a nice medium like BioWare, you story-hatin' cat-mod.