The Gaming Industry

[Tonci87 163]

It came to my mind that we often discuss the general state of the gaming industry, and why not have a dedicated therad for that?

Let´s kick it off with this video

They got quite a few good points there and indeed many games have beeen made fit for the mainstream gamers and future proofed. Did it do them any good? Mostly not.

I´m hapy to see that some long forgotten genres are making a nice comeback. Especially horror and Space games.

What do you think of it?

[eggbeast 3685]

good vid man

i guess games are like countries... once their budget gets above a certain level, they become ultra-conservative, risk-averse, platitude-spewing, evidence-eschewing, single-tracked crazy places that no-one on the street understands any more.

[chortles 263]

I´m hapy to see that some long forgotten genres are making a nice comeback. Especially horror and Space games.

What do you think of it?

The only thing I actually have to add is my own belief that part of "a nice comeback" is due to a pre-existing drought... because frankly it is easier to stand out marketing-wise when "the mainstream" seems to blend so much more together on the surface, irrespective of the actual quality of the product.

In general though, the key word here is "industry" -- there's nothing special or holy about video games as an entertainment medium that makes the "big name" creation and distribution thereof any less susceptible, which is admittedly why I don't even have any particular animus against any of the big name publishers, not even Activision or EA.

[Sneakson 1]

I don't care much about how the industry looks today.

Since some time last summer I've been writing down all games I've heard about that I want to play including some games I've played but not in a while and the list is up to nearly 700.

They could stop making games and I wouldn’t notice much.

Currently there’s absolutely nothing on the horizon that I’m anticipating other than more Souls and MGS5.

We’ve had some really bad years in gaming now and apparently more are on the way. Next year is a good candidate though because it’s usually one year after a new console generation that the good stuff starts coming hopefully.

This mainstream wave that's brought millions of people into gaming has turned the industry indeed into more of an industry where many entrepreneurs see their chance to earn big money.

I believe it’s a transient issue though.

In 10 years hopefully everyone will be as bored of silly Atari-quality games on their smartphone as I am and then we’ll have a utopia where you can discuss hardcore video game critique with your neighbours. Mainstream gamers transitioning into hardcore gamers eventually seems quite natural to me.

One sort of issue with App-generation games I believe is micro-transactions but I can’t really find any argument to fault them with. You enjoy something, you pay a small amount of money for it. The bigger issue I believe is exposure. Millions of people pay a buck each for some crappy game that arguably doesn’t deserve the attention as much as some games with a bigger developer effort behind them simply because they see it and the other games they don’t. The App Store has basically turned the world of exposure upside down where advertising and bribing magazines suddenly doesn’t matter.

I doubt the new generation of gamers spend more money on micro-transactions than we spent on good old games back in the day. The issue is that the money doesn’t quite end up where it belongs.

I believe the big name developers should make a move to convert the mainstream hordes into hardcore. Maybe establish gaming stalls in major cities where anyone that hasn’t tried a serious game before can come try it and that sort of thing.

“Welcome to gaming†instead of “For the gamersâ€.

Edited April 17, 2014 by Sneakson

[Beagle 684]

Games simply lack soul nowadays and I feel my concern about games is decreasing rapidly currently. It's liek youre playing the same game since 10 years over and over again and graphics turned from blocky over realistic to fantastic like under LSD influence....because visual realism is not the goal anymore rather it is "enhanced overrealism" that has nothing in common with the real world (flares and bloom and shining light effects everywhere) Another problem to me is the simplification of games to make them more and more convenient...and boring in the same way. It's liek a common idea that games shall not be hard to play because frustrated gamers are bad customers. Another thing I don't like is the shift to mainly online gaming. The problem with online gaming that is pushing me out of online gaming is the gamers attitude. They are mostly only playing along if youre lucky, but not together.

Edited April 17, 2014 by Beagle

[Tonci87 163]

Games simply lack soul nowadays and I feel my concern about games is decreasing rapidly currently. It's liek youre playing the same game since 10 years over and over again and graphics turned from blocky over realistic to fantastic like under LSD influence....because visual realism is not the goal anymore rather it is "enhanced overrealism" that has nothing in common with the real world (flares and bloom and shining light effects everywhere) Another problem to me is the simplification of games to make them more and more convenient...and boring in the same way. It's liek a common idea that games shall not be hard to play because frustrated gamers are bad customers. Another thing I don't like is the shift to mainly online gaming. The problem isn ONline gaming that is pushing me out of online gaming is the gamers attitude. They are mostly only playing along if youre lucky, but not together.

^this

[chrisb 196]

How gaming and the industry has changed since the mid 70's ! :D

Thank god for that.. ;)

I can still marvel at what I see in games. Its given me decades of enjoyment, so I'm not going to complain too much. Provided it keeps me entertained and my body doesn't give up on me, I'll be around video gaming (on pc, of course). :)

Gaming @ 90, wonder what that's like..

[Beagle 684]

Gaming @ 90, wonder what that's like..

Chess and Blackjack!

Currently I have found a few new activities that take all the time I sapans in frotn of the PC. Historical Reenactment für Musseums and Canouimng and Wild Water Rafting.

I have no money left for games and the required new hardware because both hobbies are quite expensive. And on top of it... my lady friend doesnt think it is very atractive for a man agend 40 to sit in front of a PC playing games.

Edited April 17, 2014 by Beagle

[soulis6 24]

Games simply lack soul nowadays and I feel my concern about games is decreasing rapidly currently. It's liek youre playing the same game since 10 years over and over again and graphics turned from blocky over realistic to fantastic like under LSD influence....because visual realism is not the goal anymore rather it is "enhanced overrealism" that has nothing in common with the real world (flares and bloom and shining light effects everywhere) Another problem to me is the simplification of games to make them more and more convenient...and boring in the same way. It's liek a common idea that games shall not be hard to play because frustrated gamers are bad customers. Another thing I don't like is the shift to mainly online gaming. The problem with online gaming that is pushing me out of online gaming is the gamers attitude. They are mostly only playing along if youre lucky, but not together.

This only applies though to large budget, AAA (which is a made up buzzword), big studio games.

The truth is that now the large majority of the interesting, innovative, and just fun games are being made by small and indie studios. Anyone play FTL last year? Miles better than almost anything released by big budget studios.

There's still some good stuff in big studio games (Dark Souls, Dishonored), but it's few and far between and most large studios are taking as few risks and possible and just pushing polygons.

@Sneakson, it sounds like it's kinda your own bad if you're writing down games that sound interesting but never playing them. The truth is that right now at this very moment, there are more interesting, unique and fun games being released then any time in history. While it's hard for a lot of medium sized studios right now because of the collapse of publishing and inflated visual requirements of console games, for PC devs and for consumers right now, things are very good and only looking to get better.

If you're not finding anything you want to play or that looks exciting to you, you might be looking in the wrong places.

[ProfTournesol 956]

Historical Reenactment für Musseums

What era ?(sorry for OT)

[Beagle 684]

What era ?(sorry for OT)

1760-1785

[Tonci87 163]

Absolutely awesome video that really explains one of the things wrong with this industry.

[Janez 534]

It seems that every "industry" on this planet of ours has quite similar issues, doesn't it.

[Tonci87 163]

Yeah, they don´t want to just make money, they want to make all the money!

[chrisb 196]

If you think what is said in the video sums up the industry, I think that's naïve, there’s plenty out there if you look. It’s a kids view of the world in general to think that every developer is the same and big business spoils everything.

Where big business crawls in, there are twice the amount of small business (devs) trying to make better more forward thinking material. We know that, we’re on a forum of one of them, are we not..

[chortles 263]

Yeah, they don´t want to just make money, they want to make all the money!

Or more likely, you risk getting tossed out if you don't promise to your shareholders "make all the money"... hell, recently WWE's stock price plummeted when they declared a million-WWE Network-subscribers goal for the year yet didn't reach it this month, despite the Network only being around since late February and already being around/over two-fifths of the way to the yearly goal as of this month. :rolleyes:

[Tonci87 163]

If you think what is said in the video sums up the industry, I think that's naïve, there’s plenty out there if you look. It’s a kids view of the world in general to think that every developer is the same and big business spoils everything.

Where big business crawls in, there are twice the amount of small business (devs) trying to make better more forward thinking material. We know that, we’re on a forum of one of them, are we not..

That´s basically what the video was about.... Did you even watch it till the end?

[chrisb 196]

.. Did you even watch it till the end?

No..:p;) first minute of the rubbish, if that..

[Tonci87 163]

Another interesting video

Topics:

Beta testing and early access.

AAA, what does it mean today?

PC vs. Consoles.

[Sneakson 1]

Games simply lack soul nowadays and I feel my concern about games is decreasing rapidly currently. It's liek youre playing the same game since 10 years over and over again and graphics turned from blocky over realistic to fantastic like under LSD influence....because visual realism is not the goal anymore rather it is "enhanced overrealism" that has nothing in common with the real world (flares and bloom and shining light effects everywhere) Another problem to me is the simplification of games to make them more and more convenient...and boring in the same way. It's liek a common idea that games shall not be hard to play because frustrated gamers are bad customers. Another thing I don't like is the shift to mainly online gaming. The problem with online gaming that is pushing me out of online gaming is the gamers attitude. They are mostly only playing along if youre lucky, but not together.

Communication in online games is a massive barrier. Works well in MMORPGs but some games such as DayZ really should have mic requirement servers.

How gaming and the industry has changed since the mid 70's ! :D

Thank god for that.. ;)

I can still marvel at what I see in games. Its given me decades of enjoyment, so I'm not going to complain too much. Provided it keeps me entertained and my body doesn't give up on me, I'll be around video gaming (on pc, of course). :)

Gaming @ 90, wonder what that's like..

Mid 70s? :p That's essentially the conception of the industry. The industry has changed quite a lot since the 90s even.

Whatever happened to the demo? I haven't played a demo since 2008.

This only applies though to large budget, AAA (which is a made up buzzword), big studio games.

The truth is that now the large majority of the interesting, innovative, and just fun games are being made by small and indie studios. Anyone play FTL last year? Miles better than almost anything released by big budget studios.

There's still some good stuff in big studio games (Dark Souls, Dishonored), but it's few and far between and most large studios are taking as few risks and possible and just pushing polygons.

@Sneakson, it sounds like it's kinda your own bad if you're writing down games that sound interesting but never playing them. The truth is that right now at this very moment, there are more interesting, unique and fun games being released then any time in history. While it's hard for a lot of medium sized studios right now because of the collapse of publishing and inflated visual requirements of console games, for PC devs and for consumers right now, things are very good and only looking to get better.

If you're not finding anything you want to play or that looks exciting to you, you might be looking in the wrong places.

Yes, mostly I'm saying that what the big companies are doing currently does not concern me... the only announced games I'm currently anticipating are basically Watch Dogs and that new Civ Alpha Centauri-style stand-alone...

But nowadays there is also a lot of indie shit going on and they also doesn’t interest me too much.

“Indie†is just an excuse to be a mediocre, unoriginal coffee break game without depth or complexity. Indie SHOULD mean creative freedom. Instead we get games like Spelunky that really aren’t any more complex than Canabalt…

I miss the games that challenge you in any way.

I just have not seen that many good indie games. Only massive critical acclaim for crap like Sword & Sworcery that depends entirely on its mildly attractive visuals despite being minimally playable and ending within an hour. Minecraft may be a great modelling tool but I’ve never been able to play it for long because of the truly awful game mechanics. Spelunky is cute in a sense I suppose. But most indie games I don’t care much for at all. I’d love to see more construction set style games and creative tools.

Dwarf Fortress is one indie game that I immensely appreciate and that I will definitely spend more time with when I have the time. I’ve only had time to scratch the surface but to me it seems more complex than any other game ever. The way you can run entire cities where each individual has his own emotions and needs and everything is exquisitely detailed down to the level where individual organs can be damaged in combat. According to everything I’ve heard about it it’s truly immense.

Unfortunately it’s unique and I would only say some other roguelikes come close in terms of complexity.

Edited April 24, 2014 by Sneakson

[jeza 5416]

Ahh Tonci I see we are a fan of mr Sterling also (should check out podtoid) :)

This one for me: