Look Familiar

[DragonmasterDan]

The PS3 doesn't really look like a Duo R or RX. The Goldstar 3DO and PS2 similarity is far more compelling.

[lord_cack]

I think that the thing about the Videogame industry now isn't so much that it's not as good as it used to be. It is just different.

I mean there may not be as many games that will be fun to play 10 years from now. But, like in the movie industry there will be games that you will never forget. Example, I may not ever play the original Final Fantasy VII again (now a remake...I could do that), but that story will stick with me forever.

The videogame industry has shifted to a more interactive, more cinematic experience. Alot of games now are about the story. Which in its own way is great. It is almost as if the videogame genre of entertaiment has split. There are games that are made to be fun with no other point than that. Katamari Damacy, Gradius V are a couple of examples of games like that. Most fighting games fall into this category.

Then you have a number of games that are intended to be, like a movie, a format for telling a great story. This doesn't really promote creating games with a great replay value. Metal Gear Solid series never kept me coming back to play them again and again but the story is very intriguing. A lot of newer console RPG's are like this as well. Designed to entertain on a certain level but more so designed to give the user a story, not a game particularly, that will stick with them.

But there are a few games out there that keep me coming back. But, the new key element that gives games replay value is "online options". I mean the online mode of Ratchet and Clank Up your Arsenal was incredibly fun. Take away the Online mode from Halo 2 and you have....well it is still a great game but no better than Half Life 2 or Doom 3.

So I think that as Online gaming merges more with contemporary gaming then the industry will regain some of what it has lost. Also, I think that the Nintendo Revolution will grab a big chunk of the market just based on the ability to play NES, SNES, N64, and Gamecube games on one machine. I am assuming that the Revolution has NES, SNES, and N64 emulation capabilities built in and you purchase and download ROM's. But either way I think that feature alone has sold me on the system.

[Shadowdancer]

...

Well said; I agree.

On topic, the first thing I thought when I saw the PS3 was "That thing looks like a Duo."

Right down to a shortage of controller ports, lol.

Anyway, system design matters little to me.
Show me the games!
...and the price tag.

[nodtveidt]

As usual, Microsoft will roll out the FPS clones, Sony will roll out the sequels, and Nintendo will roll out the cash cows. Microsoft will continue to bribe 3rd party developers and lock in exclusive contracts, Nintendo will keep its alliances strong with the same boy's club mentality it has had since the NES, and Sony will continue to have the widest range of genres available. And once again...Sony will win in both the US and Japan, with Nintendo taking close second in Japan and Microsoft taking close second in the US. Nothing changes but the sequel numbers. Are y'all ready for the 50th Mario game and the 500th FPS?    

[xolik]

Psssht. Get with the times, man! Obviously what's next is a Mario based FPS. Seesh!  

[lord_cack]

As usual, Microsoft will roll out the FPS clones, Sony will roll out the sequels, and Nintendo will roll out the cash cows. Microsoft will continue to bribe 3rd party developers and lock in exclusive contracts, Nintendo will keep its alliances strong with the same boy's club mentality it has had since the NES, and Sony will continue to have the widest range of genres available. And once again...Sony will win in both the US and Japan, with Nintendo taking close second in Japan and Microsoft taking close second in the US. Nothing changes but the sequel numbers. Are y'all ready for the 50th Mario game and the 500th FPS?    

I won't disagree but I would like to pointout your hopeless negativeism. I think this new generation will offer some interesting things that will make the industry fun again. Plus, TOTALLY BACKWARDS COMPATABLE WITH NES,SNES,N64....if only to have all the Zelda games on one machine its worth it.

[nodtveidt]

I have watched the industry take a nosedive in the last five years and have wondered why it's been able to prosper beyond what even seems realistic. Then it hit me...the majority of people LIKE the endless sequels and the cookie-cutter game factories that spit out a new title every month or less. But then another point also came to mind...I remembered a lesson learned when I was a teenager, which was that companies do not produce games for the sake of the gamer; they produce games to make money. This being said, they cater to the masses. The masses WANT the stream of boring clones and sequels. So, we get that stream of boring clones and sequels. I guess I'm just old-fashioned or something.

Actually, I might end up picking up this new Nintendo console if it can deliver on these promises. I haven't owned a Nintendo console since the SNES simply because of zero interesting software (Pikman was almost worth buying a GC for...almost). It just makes me wish NEC would re-enter the console industry with a machine backwards compatible with all their previous machines...alongside Nintendo's new offering, we'd see a real revival of the old school.

[lord_cack]

I enjoy the industry now. I like each succesive sequesl generally. GTA:San Andreas was much better than Vice City (which was better than GTA:3), Ratchet and Clank 2 was better than RC, Halo 2 was better than 1. I could go on.

But, I think it bares repeating, the industry now is almost an entirely differenent entity than it was. It is more cinematic. To support a core audience that has ADHD ( thats a joke...sorry if I offended anyone with ADHD). No I just mean that gamers don't want to struggle through level after level of any type of game anymore. They don't want to have to restart the ENTIRE game because they only had 3 lives....wussies. But, they came up during a different era in gaming.

I think it is easy for us to glorify the "old days" because we as retro gamers (I assume I can use the term "we" considering where I am) enjoyed the types of games released then more than the style of games released now. But, the sequel game has been around since the NES days (6 Mega Man NES games) slapping together cookie cutter games has been around nearly as long.

I mean how many Super Star Soldier/Blazing Lazers did the Turbo have. There where AT LEAST 7 Sonic the Hedgehog games released during the Genesis era. Which lead to a Mascot gaming frenzy, Rocket Knight, Aero the Acrobat, Earthworm Jim, Bubsy, Impossimole. How many 2D fighters were released after Street Fighter II and on how many different systems, Strip Fighter II, Fighters History ect.

So I think its easy for we as retro gamers to point and blame this and that for the reason we don't like the industry now. But, the simple fact is our tastes haven't changed and the industry has.

[GUTS]

^^ Well put, I get sick of hearing people whine about about how much the industry sucks now when the 80s/90s were full of just as much if not MORE sequels and clones (look at how many crappy side scrolling action games were made for the NES for god's sake).  I remember being a kid and trying to find a good game to rent amongst the 8 bajillion shitty snes/genesis games on the racks at the local video store.  For every Sonic or Mario there was a stack of horrible imitators, movie/cartoon licenses, and sports games.

[lord_cack]

But, you know what is funny....Now I actually find myself playing some of those crappy games because I am just so interested in playing retro   Funny how things go around and come around.

[nodtveidt]

And I get sick of hearing how "oh this game r0xx0rs!!!!!!!!111111111LOL!!!!!!!!!111111 BEST GFX EVAR LOL ROFL LOL !!!!!!!!!111111111" when the game has absolutely no PLAY value, let alone REPLAY value. Eye candy doesn't make a game. And sequels have always existed, sure...but nowadays, walk into a gaming store and take a look at all the promos on the wall...a good 95% of them will be sequels (I was in Toys R Us about a month ago...in their electronics department, they had 24 posters up of new games...23 were sequels and 1 was an original game). Back when our retros were the current, those posters would be about 5% sequels and 95% original games.

[GUTS]

You should try more current games out, I find tons of overlooked gems that aren't very popular but are just as good as old school stuff.  Stuff like Ico, Wizardry TotFL, Kingdom Under Fire, Drakengard, Chaos Legion, etc; those are all games I LOVED and consider just as good as my favorites from the 8-16bit era.  You just have to look a little harder to find them.

And on a side note, it would be cool if someone out there actually made a website that had statistics of how many sequels/sports games/licensed games have been released each year since the NES days.  That would be super interesting to see, I have a feeling that the ratios would be pretty close during the haydays of each era.

[nodtveidt]

Awhile ago, a Game Stop in one of the malls here had a demo of some Starfox game for the GC. Was kinda fun for a bit but got boring after awhile...

[lord_cack]

I pretty much stick to specific genre's anymore with games. Mainly RPG's because to me I like the cut scenes, I think that having a ton of cut scenes in an RPG is great. Because it fits into the scheme of an RPG.

Now a platformer or a typical action, there should be maybe one cut scene at the end of each level, if even then. Its called an ACTION game not an AC**cutscene**TIO**cutscene**N game.

I think that this is one of the things that gets on retro gamers nerves the most that the games aren't just games but little cinematic presentations. It is a rare game that comes along anymore that is actually purely a GAME,  just there for the fun of it. This I do understand. But, I think that in the long run alot of new games are entertaining, even if it is only for 1 time through. I think in alot of ways the rewards for these games should be increased. Like getting a ton of unlockable information each time you run through it. Good stuff, like in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Chaos Bleeds you get a bunch of interviews, still photos from the show(sort of lame compared to the video interviews), voice over session videos, and even a comic. Those are some pretty good unlockables. If the made unlockables like DVD Movie Special Features then maybe it would be worth playing through for. Or unlockable characters. But as it is most unlockables are lame.

We live in a fast paced, give me something new, next hot idea, kind of society and our entertainment shows that. But, I like some of it.

[esteban]

And on a side note, it would be cool if someone out there actually made a website that had statistics of how many sequels/sports games/licensed games have been released each year since the NES days.  That would be super interesting to see, I have a feeling that the ratios would be pretty close during the haydays of each era.

This would be great.  I love the idea.

Here are random thoughts on SEQUELS:  Unfortunately, besides being labor-intensive, we'd have a lot of problems trying to categorize certain games (i.e. is SMB 2 -- US version -- really a sequel to SMB?) .... Some games kept the name of a popular franchise, just to sell, like SMB2 (US) and Legendary Axe II (US). It's tough to categorize, because they weren't developed as sequels, but they were marketed in the U.S. that way.

Should we stick with sequels appearing on the same consoles? Or should we be cross-platform (cross-platform would be a more accurate measure of sequels, but it's much harder categorize, since there are different versions of a game, and not everything is necessarilly a "sequel"...)

While many cross-platform "simultaneous" releases, ports and conversions of the "same" game are similar, let's not forget the TONS of games that were recreated distinctly for specific platforms.  Ninja Gaiden on Lynx (arcade) is very different than NG on NES (original, new game).   NG had "sequels" on Lynx and NES... but how do we categorize these sequels?

For example, one of the Lynx NG "sequels" is actually a port of the third NES game.  So shouldn't this be counted as merely a port of an NES game, and not really a sequel to the arcade version of NG that graced Lynx prior?

I don't know.  A distinction between "sequel", "straight port", "recreation", etc.... would be helpful.  Then we'd have a good picture of how often things are recycled and re-hashed.  A high number of "ports" across platforms isn't a bad thing, but once those different "ports" start spawning sequels...

Then there are the clones / "reskinned" engines.  JJ & Jeff totally belongs in the Adventure Island / Wonderboy I universe.  It's not an official sequel, but damn, shouldn't it be counted as a sequel?  Now let's think about all the contemporary games that share essentially the same engine and are "reskinned"....

BOTTOM LINE: Guts, this is an awesome idea. Developing a system for consistently categorizing games is the key.  The list of games w/ a series of "sequels" is daunting, but not nearly as long as the overall libraries of games specific to each platform.