Thoughts on the Next Generation of Gaming?

[habicore_5150]

title says it all...as does this little write-up here
Say hello to the brave new world of console gaming | Games Blog - Yahoo! Games

with companies trying to combat piracy with their new upcoming consoles
to DLC shenanigans
(pay $60 to get half the game, and pay a lot more to get the rest of the game [including stuff that's already on the game, but was 'locked out']. instead of simple stuff like $5 for a little side mission that doesn't really go along with a games storyline, or $2.50 for a games OST, or whatever)
to companies doing ANYTHING they can to ensure that people have a BRAND NEW game
and many others i don't feel up to listing here...

how do you think the next generation of gaming is gonna be, according to some of you gamer guys out there?

[Gabe_LTD]

Originally Posted by habicore_5150

(pay $60 to get half the game, and pay a lot more to get the rest of the game [including stuff that's already on the game, but was 'locked out'].

....KKKKCKCKKCCKCKKCKCKCKCKKCKCKCKCKKCKCKCK
That makes me WANT TO pirate Games.
hell If this comes out Im gonna Buy it, because Im a consumer whore.
then Im going to pirate The .... out of games...

[ArkaneDemon]

My favorite era of gaming is from 1993-2005, I'm set for life, .... the new stuff if it costs an arm and a leg

[JStraitiff]

Im not attracted to new games the same way im not attracted to new pixar movies. Im sure they all look pretty but their storylines are not that great and gameplay isnt that great. I remember the n64 and gamecube where it was hard to find a bad game. My friend has been trying to get me to buy an xbox 360 for years and really the only game i have interest in is banjo kazooie nuts and bolts.

[flint757]

Originally Posted by JStraitiff

Im not attracted to new games the same way im not attracted to new pixar movies. Im sure they all look pretty but their storylines are not that great and gameplay isnt that great. I remember the n64 and gamecube where it was hard to find a bad game. My friend has been trying to get me to buy an xbox 360 for years and really the only game i have interest in is banjo kazooie nuts and bolts.

It's nothing like the original setup just in case you thought that.

I think there are games and what not worth having today, but it is ridiculous how there new pricing structure works. The first response hit the nail on the head. People don't like being hassled if I paid you good money I want the product. If they aren't careful they will push people into more piracy. That being said most companies are focusing hardcore on console because it isn't as easy to pirate as PC games which is a shame because while I love my PS3 I also love PC games.

[SpaceDock]

Next console will use cartridges, try to pirate that bitches.

[habicore_5150]

Originally Posted by ArkaneDemon

My favorite era of gaming is from 1993-2005, I'm set for life

guess i found another classy (dunno if i really wanna say 'retro') gamer on here

Originally Posted by ArkaneDemon

.... the new stuff if it costs an arm and a leg

depends on where you're at
Europeans and Australians have it MUCH worse than we do in the States

gotta take a second mortgage if you wanna get Super Mario DS or whatever

and i hate to sound like that one guy Space, but it'll be a matter of time before someone finds a way to do that

[Rock4ever]

motion sensor control = BS

I swear I'd have more fun with half of my wii games if I could just use the classic controller. I dont have kinect or move and i refuse to buy them.

IOS games = BS

I'm thinking of stuff like infinity blade here.

[Origin]

PC is the only future way for me, personally. Maybe Steambox since it sounds like an interesting take. If it went open source I'd shit. But basically.. digital delivery is my favourite way of getting games; interesting sales and constant access to a huge library of games have resulted in me not pirating anything for years now and buying/experiencing more games than I ever would've noticed otherwise. If you give me a good deal (not 60 goddamn dollars for what could be a turd, for example) and proper support, I'll totally pay. I just don't see any point in paying for a less powerful computer in branded housing, that can only read certain discs, that you can't swap parts in and out of. ....And then I hear about THIS shit.

A big problem as I see it across all platforms is that the more pirating they try to suppress, the more frustrated pirates they'll get after people are done trying to jump through the bullshit hoops that keep getting added on and useless, intrusive proprietary interfaces like GFWL and Origin, just to name examples on even my favourite platform.
Make me be online the entire time I'm playing a SINGLE PLAYER game just to be able to save? That's ....ing asinine. I'm going to wait til it's cheaper to give you less or just not play it. Even having to register my game online to play pisses me off; it's completely unnecessary unless I'm trying to play multi. I registered when I bought the goddamn thing, piss off and let me play it.

The bitterness extends into spite, it becomes physically easier and far less trying of one's patience to just download and burn the damn thing, aaaand then people see first day DLC, or worse, DLC containing content that was already in the game, which is unacceptable, underhanded predatory bullshit. I can understand why all these companies have the problems they do. I refused to buy SR3 for the latter reasons. Not downloading it either, because I don't, just not going to even try to try.

Sorry for the unwarranted rant, I may have gotten off topic. Basically I think the hardware developers have been shooting themselves in the foot the last few years, and are about to use a gun with a hell of a kickback to try it again.

[fwd0120]

I haven't really been fond of the video game industry direction for quite a while. I have been isolated out of being able to keep up due where I live and the low infrastructure.
A little backstory here, my parents were always geeks that kept up; they dumped thousands of dollars into computers in the 80s and 90s, and were back on the internet when you had to type IP addresses into DOS and only knew about websites by word of mouth and need-to-know communications, and were part of some pretty awesome internet pioneering things. In the 90s we got 2 first gen playstations, wore the first one out , kept up with gaming well, got all of the first 4 tony hawk games as they were released et cetera.

Now, fast forward to today - I have not really been into video games almost since the last gen was release... just not feelin' the love.

Now here is where my story gets a bit different than everybody else, but these are still valid flaws in the system, and I would be an avid gamer still if these were fixed... well, 'fixed' isn't the right word, because there is little to undo it.

Where I have to live... and don't laugh.... we are stuck with Dial-up...yep... good 'ol 56k.... Cable companies will refuse to reach the extra couple hundred yards, satellite has horrible ping, and I had a nasty policy related experience with a wireless card.... and todays service plans have a stiff 5 gig cap, which does not work for me.

So with that in mind, once Steam got a foot-hold in the industry, I haven't been able to get games at all. Don't get me wrong, steam is perfectly fine for those that are able to do it.... but think; pirates are always going to be a step ahead, and legit guys in my situation can't install the game!
The fact that I needed to basically download 18 gigs for one game, and then have to update and sign in each time (even in offline mode I still had to initialize steam), it just does not work for me. Therefore, I am unable to get most of todays titles.

The next brick in this wall, for PC gamers, you have to be really serious about your hardware. I just have not been able to keep up, since I am into music now, any money towards computer upgrades, goes into music gear upgrades. New(er) games are basically useless on my current system, regardless of settings. Double digit Frames per sec for a new game? Yeah right. I remember when games were made much more accessible, and I could I could take games even with great graphics to a standard computer anywhere and play it! ... oh yeah, I can't take my games to other peoples houses anymore because of license stuff.... oh well.

As far as console games, there are only a few titles I really care about, but to me, they don't really build on themselves the way they used to. Call of duty and Halo are all still fun - but if I'm playing with my friends, I won't always gravitate towards the latest version.

I am not a fan of motion games.... I don't even want to get into that rant.

Because of the internet deal, I can't have access to PSN and stuff, so I haven't even bothered getting a PS3, no titles there I would enjoy more than I have on my PS2.

Really, I'm not proving any of the points I am trying to make... I am even missing most of them, but either way, "the system" has crippled my ability to play, or at least enjoy, gaming.

Originally Posted by Gabe_ESP

That makes me WANT TO pirate Games.

This is pretty much how I feel. It feels like video games are being run by the health care folks.

Originally Posted by ArkaneDemon

My favorite era of gaming is from 1993-2005, I'm set for life, .... the new stuff if it costs an arm and a leg

Not even considering price - This to me is the best era. I couldn't care to have any game before or after this time.... well, I do love the sims 3 and the old lucasfilm (not lucasarts, they were called lucasfilm games back then) combat flight sims.

[/rant]

[flint757]

I would like to note that using the motion controllers with PS3 is phenomenally accurate. I can even use it quite well with FPS and is very enjoyable. Don't diss it until you try it and obviously get used to it (awkward at first). I don't know about X-Box's version, but the Wii motion sucks balls so don't use that as a base. The sports games are a load of fun on ps3 with motion. If you turn your wrist the character does too etc.

Steam is awesome for sure it does suck that ISP providers aren't willing to reach everywhere. Something your family can do is see if you can get the people in your area to maybe pay them an incentive to lay the line down. Better than not having it.

I do find the graphics in the PS3 to be sub par though especially compared to my computer, but there were some games I wanted and I couldn't get 3D to work properly so I took the plunge.

I had been told that both X Box and PS3 actually have hardware in their gear that isn't even activated so that when they hit their threshold they can give you an update and bam speed increases without any kind of hardware additions. Really crappy, but I guess for them it is cheaper if it's true...

[The Reverend]

There are so many things wrong with where video games are heading. Consumers blame devs/publishers, and in turn the devs/publishers blame pirates, used/rental game services, or both. What both sides seem to overlook is that there is merit in both standpoints, and that if things keep going like they're going, the popularity of video games could take a long nap.

The video game industry is huge now, finally able to honestly call itself an industry. As such, publishers have gone from being people like us to people like them, dollar signs in their eyes and investors to keep satisfied. It's fascinating, really. Technology rapidly improved, leading to larger and larger teams needed to create them, leading to more and more impressive games, leading to larger audiences, leading to larger profits, leading to larger teams, I'm sure you get the drift. Single games make more than some movies, these days, and require just about as many people to make.

From the consumer standpoint, I still want the stack of boxes filled with dozens of hours of entertainment. I understand the reason why game companies would want to cut out the used game market, but I think they're underestimating the audience who plays games that aren't Call Of Duty.

[flint757]

Originally Posted by The Reverend

There are so many things wrong with where video games are heading. Consumers blame devs/publishers, and in turn the devs/publishers blame pirates, used/rental game services, or both. What both sides seem to overlook is that there is merit in both standpoints, and that if things keep going like they're going, the popularity of video games could take a long nap.

The video game industry is huge now, finally able to honestly call itself an industry. As such, publishers have gone from being people like us to people like them, dollar signs in their eyes and investors to keep satisfied. It's fascinating, really. Technology rapidly improved, leading to larger and larger teams needed to create them, leading to more and more impressive games, leading to larger audiences, leading to larger profits, leading to larger teams, I'm sure you get the drift. Single games make more than some movies, these days, and require just about as many people to make.

From the consumer standpoint, I still want the stack of boxes filled with dozens of hours of entertainment. I understand the reason why game companies would want to cut out the used game market, but I think they're underestimating the audience who plays games that aren't Call Of Duty.

Oh god if another COD gets released I'll shit my pants. i don't understand why people buy it. I hear people claim it is for the multi-player, but all the other games multi is still available. If everyone as a group could just say enough I'll stick with this I think they'd quit that shit.
/rant

Oh also ya i agree with you. It isn't "entirely" CEO's, project leaders, developers, directors, etc. fault in most industries. The biggest party to blame are investors who's only stake in anything they do is the money which they want to see multiply ten fold. Of course others have fault too, but this is speaking very generally...I hate stakeholders, but that's how our world goes round now-a-days.

[Rock4ever]

Originally Posted by flint757

Oh god if another COD gets released I'll shit my pants. i don't understand why people buy it. I hear people claim it is for the multi-player, but all the other games multi is still available. If everyone as a group could just say enough I'll stick with this I think they'd quit that shit.
/rant

Oh also ya i agree with you. It isn't "entirely" CEO's, project leaders, developers, directors, etc. fault in most industries. The biggest party to blame are investors who's only stake in anything they do is the money which they want to see multiply ten fold. Of course others have fault too, but this is speaking very generally...I hate stakeholders, but that's how our world goes round now-a-days.

I dont know about PC/PSN, but iirc in general COD matchmaking on XBL is removed or diminished somehow around the time the next COD is due to hit.

[Rock4ever]

Also, I really hope they go to digital distribution. I think it will force me to spend less on titles I would otherwise take a chance on.

However I can also see that reaction being hurtful to gaming. People will more likely get their fix with games from established franchises and developers. Which means developers and publishers will be less likely to take chances on something that isn't established.

[WickedSymphony]

Originally Posted by flint757

Oh god if another COD gets released I'll shit my pants.

I hope you're not wearing a pair of pants you like because the next CoD game has already been announced.

[flint757]

Originally Posted by WickedSymphony

I hope you're not wearing a pair of pants you like because the next CoD game has already been announced.

Ya I figured there would be. It seems COD franchise would be better off with DLC packs instead. It's the same game different locations. What amazes me most about it is the fanfare. People will wait in lines for the next one which is just crazy to me. i would never pay full price for a COD game.

[vampiregenocide]

The new online codes and shit are a pain in the ass, but then I don't tend to play games online unless they're games I particularly want to. I tend to buy new games unless I don't like the look of them enough, in which case I just borrow them.

I think increasingly in recent years, the gaming industry has become increasingly stagnant and money driven. The COD franchise has meant many developers tried to do their version, ripping it off. we're left with a gaming industry comprised of sequels and rip-offs, with little room for ingenuity. They're making games they know will sell well on looks and not on quality.

The money side of things has become even more prevalent with the prices of DLC getting pretty high in comparison to what you get, and companies creating content to hold back and then selling after release. Just sell me the whole ....ing game, don't sell me an incomplete game and then lock some of the material on disk. And actually create new DLC, not just bits torn from the campaign.


I am looking forward to the technological aspects of the new generation, and what good developers will do with it, but I know that if this generaion is anything to go by, then gamers are only going to end up getting ripped off more.

[habicore_5150]

Originally Posted by vampiregenocide

The new online codes and shit are a pain in the ass, but then I don't tend to play games online unless they're games I particularly want to. I tend to buy new games unless I don't like the look of them enough, in which case I just borrow them.

I think increasingly in recent years, the gaming industry has become increasingly stagnant and money driven. The COD franchise has meant many developers tried to do their version, ripping it off. we're left with a gaming industry comprised of sequels and rip-offs, with little room for ingenuity. They're making games they know will sell well on looks and not on quality.

The money side of things has become even more prevalent with the prices of DLC getting pretty high in comparison to what you get, and companies creating content to hold back and then selling after release. Just sell me the whole ....ing game, don't sell me an incomplete game and then lock some of the material on disk. And actually create new DLC, not just bits torn from the campaign.


I am looking forward to the technological aspects of the new generation, and what good developers will do with it, but I know that if this generation is anything to go by, then gamers are only going to end up getting ripped off more.

im kinda hoping that next generation of gaming, a lot of us gamers don't get ....ed over with all of this "DLC done WRONG" stuff or whatever they're gonna throw at us

also would wish that some developers would actually sit down and actually work with their own game instead of playing the "Me 2!" game by cloning a popular franchise (CoD to name a few) and rebranding it and calling it their own game

same thing goes with the whole online passes bit. wish they at least drop online passes all together and give us the full game, single player AND multiplayer

Originally Posted by flint757

It seems COD franchise would be better off with DLC packs instead. It's the same game different locations

i agree with that segment there on doing DLC packs for the CoD games

(i know im probably gonna get some flack for this, but .... it)
wish they would have done the same to some sports games, like the Madden games
sure, same concept as always, just play some good ol' fashioned FOOTBAWL!
and with each new release, its just a copypasta with a couple of new things added to it

Originally Posted by flint757

What amazes me most about it is the fanfare. People will wait in lines for the next one which is just crazy to me. i would never pay full price for a COD game.

honestly, if i was into playing CoD games, the most i'd pay for a copy of a CoD game would be about $20 for it, not $60 according to "today's standards"

i think they really need to lower the price on a LOT of games as well
bring it back down to the $15 - $35 area

[ZEBOV]

I've gotten pretty tired of gaming for the most part except for a few games here and there. The main thing that got me tired of it is the lack of originality over the past several years, especially in FPS war games. I love war games, but I get bored of fighting in the same locations in different games. Hell I've fought in almost every battle on the ground and air in World War 2 and as a pilot I bombed every factory in Germany and Japan, nuked Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and even played as Axis pilots and bombed London, Stalingrad, Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, crashed planes into U.S. ships, fought for air superiority on both sides....... I killed several million virtual people in World War 2. It got tiresome after a while. Modern combat got tiresome after only a few games because most of them played the same as the WW2 games that I got tired of. They just look different. The lack of destructible environments in CoD killed my interest in the franchise. It's just retarded that an RPG, which can penetrate about 10 inches of steel in real life, can't penetrate a sheetrock wall in the game.
But Battlefield 3...... that ruined my interest in most war games. I beat the campaign in 4 hours, and the multiplayer SUCKED. There are now only a few war games that I like. Armed Assault 2 (aka Arma 2), which is more of a military simulator than a shooter, keeps my interest despite the not-so-good audio and graphics, but that can be fixed with some mods that I haven't gotten around to installing. Arma 2 is open source, so the mods are almost limitless. I've even seen a Star Wars mod for Arma 2 in a youtube video.
And now I await the release of Arma 3.

[troyguitar]

This digital distribution could be a problem soon. Apparently my cable internet service at my new place here has a 50 or 100 GB monthly bandwidth cap. I could kill that in a week downloading games and patches...

[flint757]

Originally Posted by troyguitar

This digital distribution could be a problem soon. Apparently my cable internet service at my new place here has a 50 or 100 GB monthly bandwidth cap. I could kill that in a week downloading games and patches...

I didn't realize there was a cap. Not sure if I have one or not, but I agree everything is going digital and then they choke your network. It is ridiculous...Politics and business people have ....ed the technological world.

Agree with Madden. There are actually a ton of games that would be better suited with like a $20-30 DLC versus a brand new game. They could even do what games like LoL (League of Legends) does which is you just have to pay to use certain in game features. I'd rather that than paying an arm and a leg for something probably mediocre anyways.

I have started playing Skyrim though pretty fun so far...

[WickedSymphony]

(Apologizing in advance for probably the longest post I've ever written on this forum, but what can I say? I'm nerd raging over the future of games )

There's a pretty big issue in the video game industry these days that's really going to harm the next generation and potentially drive us to another crash in the industry like there was in the 80s. The whole thing has turned into how to .... consumers out of as much money as possible.

For next generation, all these rumors of cutting out used games will hurt them more than they know. Most people I know who currently own a console have said they will just stick to PC from now on if they do that. And yes, I know there technically aren't used games on PC, but PC has Steam which has such good deals that it's often cheaper than buying used or buying new and trading in.

Some people say it could be a good thing and console might start to match Steam's sales, but that's the biggest load of naive bullshit anyone could ever spew out. When they eliminate the used games market, or make it more expensive with online access codes, they remove a huge competitor in prices for games. And less competition has never resulted in a better situation for consumers.

Digital distribution wouldn't even lower the price of games on consoles. Just take a look at PSN - PSP games are still $40, and PS Vita games cost MORE to download than they do to buy a physical copy. The cost of their proprietary memory is so ludicrous ($100/32gb) that it makes downloading games more expensive.

So yea, some people say things could turn out like Steam, but they're more likely to turn out like Origin or PSN where games rarely go on sale, and even then aren't really that great of deals.

Then we have the whole issue with bullshit DLC. Recently Capcom got a lot of shit for announcing that their next DLC for "Azura's Wrath" will be the "true conclusion" to the game's story. How ....ed is it that they're starting to not even include main parts of the story, and the ending of all things, in their games? It's one thing to have DLC that's supplemental to the game's content, but leaving out key parts of the story is just ridiculous.

And that's not even getting to the price of DLC. $5 for one character on a $40 game? $15 for 4 maps on a $60 game? That's absurd for the amount of content you get in the DLC compared to the base game. And on top of that, these types of DLC fragment the community. Anyone play a FPS game without a DLC pack and all of a sudden you're extremely limited in choice of servers? Or you're constantly getting booted out of servers when a new map pops up? Sounds fun!

The sheer amount of DLC is also ridiculous. Has anyone else been turned off from buying a game because you look at the massive list of DLC you have to buy to make the game complete? Might as well wait and hope they put out a GOTY Edition that has all of it on there, or just don't play that game because the base game costs $20 by that point if you're lucky and it's on sale and then you have to spend $30 on DLC on top of that.

And then you have pay to win "DLC". I was almost on board for BF3's new maps because I thought they'd be a fun change of pace from massive settings, but then they announced the paid unlocks shit. The "ultimate" unlock bundle launched at $25, where it unlocks everything for you. In less than 2 days, they bumped the price up to $40. $40 to unlock shit that's already in the game. They said they're doing this because it's hard for newcomers to compete with veterans who've already unlocked everything. Well, how about reducing the xp/kills needed to rank up and unlock stuff? No, why the .... would they do that when they could charge you for it?

Furthermore, everything that comes out these days is rehashed crap that we've already played. I'm totally fine with sequels, but they push out a sequel for every major franchise on a yearly basis and each time they seem to be less and less enjoyable than the previous versions. MW3 on PC? Yeh, we know you PC gamers liked those dedicated servers in BO, but we're going back to the lobby system this time! (Not even touching the fact that Elite still isn't up for PC )

And then of course there are all the bugs in the games that go live at launch. I know games will always have bugs, but we're talking really ....ed up issues here. Anyone else play Skyrim on PC? Was it fun for anyone to mash F5 (quicksave) every 2 minutes because of random crashes? Don't get me wrong here, I love the shit out of that game, but that's a pretty nasty issue to have at launch.

----

I've been playing video games since I was 4 years old, nearly 20 years now, and I will probably keep playing video games for the rest of my life. But all this shit gives me very little hope for the future of video games.

God damn it feels good to vent that all out!

[ittoa666]

I don't like where gaming is going just as much as anyone else. A digital copy is alright, but I'd much rather have a copy in my hands. What if I want to borrow a game from somebody to try out? That's out the window because all of these developers and publishers only care about money.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see another video game crash like in the early eighties soon, and I would absolutely love that. All of these big name companies will die (with only the best standing the test of time), and new, fresh developers will rise from the wreckage.

I honestly think that the only way, besides a crash, for gaming to be fun again would have to be a portable and totally customizable pc console. I have been dying to be able to play the high end pc games but I just can't afford to have an ever evolving super computer.

Maybe I just need to buy a SNES and relive the glory days.

[Asrial]

As a long-time gamer, I feel the need to join in:

Regarding the DLC content costing a ton, I can do nothing but agree to it. Shelling out money to purchase 4 maps that costs 1/3 of the game itself is a disgrace, and I encourage everyone to not buy them! On the other hand, in the case with buying boosts, I do not have a problem with that, which I got explained by my godfather that plays WoW. He purchases gold, because he does not have the time to actually go out and farm it himself, since he has a 9-to-5 job and is going to be a father soon, yet he still wants to play along with his guild of like-minded fellows in the same situation. Why shall you be punished if you want to enjoy end-game content but rather want to shell out instead of spending a couple of days worth time to farm up for it? Same with shooters; You want lategame sidegraded guns? Fine, buy it. You won't get better, but you can have your candy.

Next topic, the brick-and-mortar store contra online distribution.
I agree with the lot that says that the physical copies of the games are far nicer to recieve rather than a payment confirmation in your inbox and a huge-ass file to download. Right now, in fact, I'm downloading "Blur" to my computer. Why? Because the online distribution is usually cheaper, especially thanks to steam and gamers gate. But I also enjoy to purchase a game for my 3DS or my Wii, as a matter of fact, I bought for nearly 120€ worth of games a week ago!
It's nice and lovely n stuffz that you can just plonk in a disk into your system and poof; gametime, but it gets outweighted by the fact that you can just close down a game and open the next one on a pc with downloaded titles.

Internet speed? I got a 2 megabyte connection because I live far away from the city, and yes, it's a bother to get games and I can't even play online if my teen sister decides she wants to listen to Gaga. My father has gone through to the internet distributor numerous times with the message of upgrading the net, with the same response every time: "It's too expensive".
A single cable to multiply the internet connection times 50 is not worth it?! I'm going to call BS on the service providers. Every single service provider that says it's not profitable to upgrade the fiber cables for increased speed is wrong. My flippin' iPhone with a net subscription already runs at 10 megabyte, and that is driven wirelessly!

Phew...

I love the industry, it's just stuck-up designers and horrid kiddoes that demands "realistic shooters" that ruins it.