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Introduction

Origins

Continued

Denouement

Rubang's 2 cents:

This is from 2001.  It's been seven years and seems to have only gotten worse.  I think it will get worse before it gets better, but I do honestly believe that at some point it will get better.  Both film and comic books (the 2 other young art forms which I feel have very similar history to video games) had some really horrible studio periods.  Films and comics used to be subject to way more censorship than they are now, and their markets have expanded in every possible direction, so we can have horrible blockbusters and still have indie films, we can have superhero comics, underground comics, and "graphic novels."  I think forcing the market to expand insanely fast like Nintendo's doing right now will eventually help games get the same respect that "graphic novels" and indie films now get.

I think it's gonna be a while before we can stop all the horrible game "journalism."  But at least the new image of a gamer is now somebody dancing around and waggling and doing yoga instead of somebody practicing a murder simulator or a flight simulator to shoot up a school or crash planes, like certain recently fallen enemies wanted the world to believe.

As the market expands in all directions, and people (trolls and CEOs alike) realize that new markets aren't replacing old markets, but actually complimenting them and expanding each other, people will realize that companies don't have to devote all their resources to one type of game, and if they do, a new developer will grow out of the ether and replace them, and games will be made for everybody in all genres on all systems and trolls will crawl under their bridges and starve to death.  I believe in a future where not only gaming gets respected just as much as other art forms, but game "journalism" as we know it falls apart and is replaced by actual art critics rather than corrupt paid-for fanboys, and I believe in a future where gamers get respected with the good games they deserve!!!

I wouldn't go so far as to call the current generation a dip in gaming in general. Sure, people long to the familiair and simpler times of Mario and Sonic. Their heroes as they used to be out of nostalgia (smg of course is no smb) or they want the what I call wackiness back. Surprising titles that pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable. I'll admit, browsing through screwattack's video game vault there was a lot of creativity during the 80's and early 90's.

But we are already pushing there again. With Wiiware in full swing and Xbox Live arcade doing great we can see original titles popping up constantly. Even classic platforming is back, as are 2d shooters.
The old heroes are still here, only in a new coat. And I still get the same nostalgia-rush when taking my first leaps with Mario.

Perhaps 2001 was different, at least to console-gaming (I had locked myself up with first C&C Renegade and then Battlefield 1942 - and didn't rely on those so-called cockmongers) but in general now I can look at what is currently going on in the gaming scene and still think it gives the 80's a run for their money!

Yeah in 2001 all I played was StarCraft and guitar and "chug the whiskey" and I didn't even know who Penny Arcade was. I'm somehow still getting nerdier as I grow older, which I didn't think was possible.

I think downloadable titles with cheaper devkits on all systems are an amazing leap in the right direction, but I think they're going to be victims of less marketing, fewer people with internet-connected consoles, and fewer developers that care enough to bring back the crazy amounts of creativity they used to use.

It's just a contest of who can push more pixels and push more advertisements into review scores.

But yeah, I'm more into gaming now than I have been since the 3rd dimension shook everything up way back when.

@Rubang:

I will focus on you're second paragraph. But I think that Wiiware/Xbla are merely vehicles to test the water. Sure, most devs of downloadable games will hope for instant succes and a lot of attention but more likely a remotely succesful or marketable game will be put on disc. Ikaruga comes to mind. Perhaps someone get's smart and dumps a selection of 'm on disc. This basicly ensures a lot of creativity being pushed our way, besides the "blockbusters".

But you are right considering that not a lot of advertising goes into the downloadable games. Devs should thus focus on word of mouth... And hope they can survive to go on to the disc space.

Yeah I kinda agree. I personally don't like FPS. Too bad platfomers are dying. But there are still lots of good RPGs!

The same way that the "hardcore action" movies of the 80's (Predator, Aliens, Terminator, ...) were huge - then died out, as they ended up as 'niche' movies - the same thing will happen to the hardcore games from our era.

They are being replaced by "mass market" titles (crap like Big Mammas House).

The old titles will always remain as "well known brands", and will end up with sequels popping up every 5-10 years - if not spinoffs, which may target more mass markets (i.e. AvP...).

The new casual market is only starting to be tapped into, this will last a good 10-20 years before any form of saturation hits. I don't know if they will actually do it, but I can only imagine what sort of sales Nintendo could have with a game like "WiiSports II" (or whether they leave that for the Wii II launch).

The reaction from the hardcore is the same - yet its always dollars that do the talking. Some hardcore will survive, and some will die out.

1. Grafix Whores

2. Online Whores

These two have gotta go.

Pfft, this thread needs more screenshots... and it's only 720p at 30fps, what's up with that? 

Seriously though, it doesn't matter.  The stupid will go bankrupt, the smart won't.  The end.

I still base all my friendship decisions on whether or not people know what it's like to be turned into an eggplant in Kid Icarus.

I think it's amazing how something from 2001 is even more true 7 years later.

While I don't agree with the second comic, the third and fourth are spot on. It seems like the need to fill the internet with gorgous screenshots has trumped the fact that there needs to be good gameplay and fun in a video game. I avoid playing games online to avoid the "cockmongers". All the 12-year-olds shouting obsenities while playing Halo have completly turned me away from online gaming.

On a side note, Penny Arcade is great. I visit their site all the time.