Comments on: Consoleation: Irreconcilable differences

By: Alv

Alv — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 06:28:00 +0000

Most people saying games need to grow up, actually grew up with games. That is they used to play mario on the snes etc, but as they have grown up, matured, settled and have jobs and families their tastes have changed, and what they deem ‘fun’ has changed. Natural part of growing up mate. Evidently, you still find jumping 8-bit pixellated characters on screen trying to beat nintendo-hard games still fun. That’s your prerogative, but most if us have moved on somewhat, and I’m all for the more mature voices in the industry trying to push away from the formulaic mindless fps, angst and identity-crisis ridden, badass hero saves the world, and violence-for-its-own-sake games that dominate the industry these days. Journey and Walking Dead were magical experiences and I took away far more from those games than the normal teen oriented fare, or going ‘retro’ in your case. Long may these innovative types of game continue to be made.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 08:13:54 +0000

Glad to see you still putting up articles, Peter. I find it ironic that David Cage thinks the industry needs to grow up, when Heavy Rain is so full of plot holes and red herrings that it turns laughable by the end. Even though this generation will probably be my last, I still can find enough old school experiences on the current systems to keep me invested. For example, I’ve been playing the hell out of Resident Evil 6, and it reminds me of why I started playing games in the first place. It’s a great time, and I think it was skewered by critics for all the wrong reasons. I’ll even go as far as to say it’s the most “fun” I’ve had with a game in the last year or so. Anyway, hope to see more articles from you in the future.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 20:05:32 +0000

I can understand the point: while I find myself increasingly drawn to art games like Journey and Braid and others (like the new island game Proteus, which looks amazing), I also want to be able to have more traditional gaming experiences that are less about art and more about fun.

But Peter. I think that out of a kind of fear, you might be misreading the point of the people you mention. I don’t think they’re arguing that the maturation of games means that ALL games must be like Journey; the reality is that games like Journey are still technically an extremely small minority, and many gamers are unaware of or simply do not play them. The vast majority of successful, attention-getting games are still games in the very conventional sense–and to those who seek artistry/narrative from games as opposed to only fun, that feels extremely limiting. And to those (in some cases older players) who equate fun games of that kind with immature Hollywood blockbusters and long to see more works in the medium that are analogous to the films they appreciate as mature adults, the expansion of the medium beyond that is important.

(See recent Gamespot interview with Jonathan Blow for a good discussion of this–it’s now an issue more than in the past because gaming now more than ever needs to please multiple generations of gamers who in many ways have different wants and different experiences with games).

But I don’t think their goal is to switch positions and create a video game environment in which art games dominate and there is virtually no space for traditional fun games–their goal is to create more room for art games and to allow games in general to develop more into a medium in which fun/entertainment is, instead of the only or main mode, one of many.

I think in many situations, when a dominant paradigm is being challenged to make room for other possibilities, the initial reaction of those who support the dominant paradigm is to react to the shift by imagining that they are now being pushed out or oppressed–but usually the reality is that they are simply losing total dominance as others (in this case other genres) begin to win some equality.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 18:58:00 +0000

I see what you’re saying here, but have you considered that the “fun” games you’re looking for might be in the mobile space?

Everyone poo-poos the Android and iOS games, but those are the simplified games that the console market seems to be running away from. Part of it is simply maturity, but let’s face it, a lot of it is because these games are so expensive to make. Justify that $60-70 game with academy award-nominated actresses, deep storylines, heavy use of motion-capture and super HD graphics.

That leaves the likes of Nintendo and some stubborn third-party console developers to keep making games that are just bright, colorful and twitch-based. The source for these games is shrinking in the console space. The place to be, if you want new games and not keep replaying old games, may be mobile.