The title was confusing.

Malstrom is right.

Sony and MS can copy Nintendo's technology, sure, but they can't really follow Nintendo when it comes to game software, I mean games like Wii sports, Wii fit, those were things that really only Nintendo could think up, sure now you'll probably see Sony and MS try and copy those games, but its too little too late, and there really is no sign that they'll be able to do any better next gen as far as the games are concerned.

Huh, three out of those industries are dying. Music, tv and movies are all in decline, and the desperate milking of franchises is a part of it. Look at "Lost" for an example.

Also, games companies don't have to milk. If that were true, Nintendo would have annually recurring franchises. Nintendo usually wait a couple of years at least to bring out a new game in a direct series, longer for the really big series. They do rehash too much, but they don't do it in such quick succession as has happened to Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero, and will certainly happen to Call of Duty. And they're the most successful company, so to say that games companies have no choice is false.

Except Nintendo has a skill at keeping their games feeling fresh, even if they are like the 10th or 12th game in a series, of course they do better in the 2D realm than with 3D games, but most games would be better as 2D, or 2.5D rather than 3D

Also it wasn't so much milking that is doing in movies, music its ignoring the desires of consumers and treating their customers badly, charging high prices, etc., as a result they drove more consumers to piracy and towards services like Netflix and Redbox and itunes, services that don't result in big profits for the music and movie companies.  The willingness of the TV industry to adopt things like Hulu will probably allow it to survive even as the move and music industries decline.

The game industry needs some quality control. Too many people just dumping crap everywhere and a lot of garbage hits the shelf. Even with the prospect of down loadable games being profitable most developers arent willing to even bug test for the cheaper to develop stuff either.

Another thing thats killing the industry is its obsession with graphics. Yes graphics are great but if the budget forces developers to hope this game sells or bust IS NOT A GOOD BUSINESS PLAN AT ALL. Would it kill most developers to make lower polygon made models with high res textures?

Lastly its everyone has an obsession with copying anyone who succedes by once again saying ""PUSH THAT SHIT, THAT A WAY!"" Making original games doesnt seem to gather any support from publishers or the gaming press either.

Basically we've fitted nicely into the same steps the comic book industry got to where it is now. Not willing to cater to anyone else except nerds, even if its willing to bankrupt the company then eventually bought out by film studios due to spending not making back profit.

Well imposing quality control won't work, but either companies will have to make better games or a lot are going to die out, the quality of games and the high price is why there is such a strong used games market.

Also its not about just making original games, but making games that consumers want, the whole thing with Devs trying to create the games they want rather than what the market wants is a big problem. Most of the market doesn't want cinematic games, which is why games like Wii sports, Wii fit, and Mario dominate sales, these games either have a very flimsy or no story at all, yet they focus on creating gaming that people want and creating social gaming environments.

This going with hand in hand with some real shady business doesnt help either.  Developers purposely over hyping games or making real shitty downloadable content (or even just unlocking things already on the disk!)  has really killed my enjoyment and hype for games lately.

Also it doesnt help when the gaming community supports developers for bad game designs also. 

I'm not too knowledgeable on PC gaming history. Is it really that bad compared to where it was before?

There are still plenty of games, aren't there?  I guess you could say it is not as influential anymore, but it still seems fairly healthy.

I'm pretty sure you could say the same about the movie and music industries. When something big comes out, it's milked, copied, and exploited til death do it part haha. The main problem with it happening in gaming though is the amount of people that plays video games compared to those who watch movies and listen to music is nowhere near the same size. Thus when it happens in gaming, the effects can be dire.

I do think this is a problem facing gaming, but fixing that problem isn't going to solve anything. You need to solve the problem that puts gaming apart from mainstream buyers. Expand the industry, and that problem can almost resolve itself. Will bring more companies in, more ideas, and more competition. But if the industry can't expand, saving that old portion can't hold it up. Bring in more gamers, more buyers, and you will get more companies, more ideas, more competition. It's really that simple Malstrom haha.

I'm one of those people who are old enough to remember the following names: Starflight, Star Control 2, X-Com, and Ultima, among others.  15-20 years ago, these were considered to be the apex of PC games.  In some ways, these games have not been surpassed.  Starflight and Star Control 2 gave you giant galaxies to explore with interesting plots, Star Control was astonishingly well-balanced for the number of ships it incorporated, X-Com was an incredibly compelling turn based strategy game that often led to One More Turn syndrome, and Ultima...  well, if you haven't ever played Ultima 7 Part 1, you really owe it to yourself to give it a try.  One of the finest open ended RPG series to ever exist, before Origin was bought out and ground into the dirt by EA Games.

Compared to these classics, it feels like games that are coming out today are nothing more than newer iterations of the formulas that work, with better graphics and little else.  In that, PC gaming feels like it has stagnated in recent years.  I acknowledge that some of those refinements have led to some truly great games, like Call of Duty 4 and Supreme Commander, but I just can't find any game that brings back the feelings evoked by the classics.  Maybe I'm just older, and I just don't have the time to get sucked into games like I used to before university, and maybe it's just part of growing up to lose interest, but there isn't much I wouldn't give to rediscover the "spirit" the old games had, for want of a better word.