Games you're currently playing?

[astcell]

I haven't seen a good game since Atari's Missile Command.

[h3adrush]

Counter Strike Source
Battlefield Vietnam
Kingdom of Loathing

[kiji]

MG solid 3(Replay)
Need for speed Underground 2
Call of Duty

[MidnightViper]

I haven't seen a good game since Atari's Missile Command.

It's good that you're retro, but you're going to have to get out more. There have been hundreds of good games since that title was released... if not thousands.

And it's really nice to see some old-school hardcore Final Fantasy fans here. I saw that someone had been playing FF 2 (excellent game). I'd have to say that my favorite old school (well, kinda mid-school) Final Fantasy game would have to be FF 6, then comes 7 and 9 -- those three being my top favorites.

[astcell]

It's good that you're retro, but you're going to have to get out more.

I'm not retro, I'm old. Don't ask me what I paid for PONG, I think it was like $129, and it wasn't even in color!

[Hyperonic]

Mortal Kombat Deception

[KeLviN]

the only game i play regularly:

www.neveron.com

[lucifex]

All I really do is play go at http://kgs.kiseido.com/.

here I am: http://kgs.kiseido.com/en_US/graphPage.jsp?user=lucifex

[skroo]

It's good that you're retro, but you're going to have to get out more. There have been hundreds of good games since that title was released... if not thousands.

Problem is, that's a subjective measure. In my case, I never really grew up with games consoles - the only one I had (and still do) was the Vectrex, and don't currently own one newer than the Atari Jaguar (which I picked up a couple of years ago to help round out my Atari hardware collection). Computers were a lot more interesting to me because while they could play games, they could do a hell of a lot more besides. And arcade games usually won out on that score anyway, since a) arcades still existed, and b) the games were better than the home translations.

Add to that the fact that in the last 20 years we've seen very little innovation in the game industry, and there isn't much I haven't already played in one form or another. Yeah, graphics may be flashier, but we're still stuck with several basic genres (first-person shooter, RPG, puzzle, driving, fighting, etc.) and not much improvement in gameplay.

What it boils down to is that if you're over a certain age, there's probably not a lot of appeal in most current game titles. They're largely a case of 'been there, done that'.

[Dauthi]

Eh, I beleive currently it's been
KOTOR II (Star Wars Knights of The Old Republic)
Halo 2
COD (Call of Duty)

[d3ad1ysp0rk]

Unfortunately for me, theres this thing, where I'm poor, and at the same time, am drawn in by those new "flashy" games. Meaning 1/2 the games I play nowadays are demos.

Games:
Halo 2
Battlefield 1942
Soldat

Demos:
Half-Life 2
Need For Speed Underground 2
Call of Duty
Doom 3

[pirateday]

I haven't played anything in a while, but when I do there are some old favorites I like to dig up:

Master of Orion 2

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSX)

Final Fantasy 1 (great on an emu where you can increase time passage, makes thos e battles less hassle and leveling up much quicker)

on the (semi) newer side Warcraft III Tower Defense maps give me hours of enjoyment and Tron 2.0 was fun when I went through it.

and lastly I fired up Puzzle Bobble 2 on MameX last night.

[Voltage Spike]

Add to that the fact that in the last 20 years we've seen very little innovation in the game industry, and there isn't much I haven't already played in one form or another. Yeah, graphics may be flashier, but we're still stuck with several basic genres (first-person shooter, RPG, puzzle, driving, fighting, etc.) and not much improvement in gameplay.

That is such a cop-out response; you could use the same argument to apply to anything at any given time. Computers haven't seen any innovation, they have simply gotten faster. Stories (film, books, plays, video games) haven't seen any innovation since the time of Greek Democracy.

In our society, ideas tend to evolve rather than coming about as the result of spontaneous innovation. I think it is ridiculous to write off such improvements simply because you think they are not happening fast enough.

As for the gameplay, do you really believe that almost everyone has somehow been tricked into playing games that are not fun? There are plenty of "classics" collections floating around right now, and yet people continue to buy newer games as well. Is their popularity the result of a multi-billion dollar mistake, or could it be that you simply don't enjoy games anymore? I'm willing to bet that the main reason you enjoy the classics is simple nostalgia; you remember having fun with that game in the past and the impression lives on.

The most amusing aspect is that you enjoy games from an era when copying was at an all-time high. The technology was so limiting, and budgets were so small, that many companies were forced into making cheap knock-offs with a different color scheme and more decorative arcade cabinets.

I considered posting a list of innovative games here (Pikmin immediately springs to mind), but I'm not sure what good it would do.

Oh, and I appologize for this rant. People talking about the "good ol' days" of $topic always get to me (selective memory is a wonderful thing).

[skroo]

That is such a cop-out response; you could use the same argument to apply to anything at any given time. Computers haven't seen any innovation, they have simply gotten faster. Stories (film, books, plays, video games) haven't seen any innovation since the time of Greek Democracy.

Sure, if you really care to take this way beyond the point I was trying to make.

As for the gameplay, do you really believe that almost everyone has somehow been tricked into playing games that are not fun?

No, actually, I don't. What I do believe, however, is that the points of reference of what constitutes 'fun' for someone in the 30+ age bracket are going to be a lot different than those of someone 10 ot 15 years younger. I didn't grow up with consoles capable of fairly photorealistic 3D gameplay; consequently, my expectations are considerably different than those of the current generation of gamers.

I'm willing to bet that the main reason you enjoy the classics is simple nostalgia; you remember having fun with that game in the past and the impression lives on.

That certainly is part of it, but not all. I also appreciate things like the work that was done with comparatively little computing power, or the fact that someone had to come up with and implement the idea in an era where there were virtually no guideposts for games, or even the socialogical aspects behind the games. Without arcade games, computers wouldn't be the appliances they are now - they made it possible for people to use a new, scary technology they didn't understand for something that they could relate to: leisure.

The most amusing aspect is that you enjoy games from an era when copying was at an all-time high.

That completely makes no sense in the context of what we've been talking about so far. Are you talking about bootlegging of arcade games, or piracy of home software? Sorry, but your point is lost on me here.

The technology was so limiting, and budgets were so small, that many companies were forced into making cheap knock-offs with a different color scheme and more decorative arcade cabinets.

Uh, no. Many companies chose to bootleg existing games. There's a difference between stealing someone else's product and trying to enter the market on the merits of your own products. Saying that they were "forced" into making cheap knock-offs is very inaccurate.

I considered posting a list of innovative games here (Pikmin immediately springs to mind), but I'm not sure what good it would do.

*Shrug* You can post it, but the simple fact of the matter is that I (much like many others in the same age bracket) don't care. Re-read what I wrote earlier: I never said that there was *no* innovation in the games industry, merely *very little*, and that more powerful graphics engines don't necessarily equate to better games. Further, you appear to be discarding the fact that much of this seems to be a generational issue. Out of curiosity, I'm wondering what your age is - for comparison's sake, I'm 30.

Oh, and I appologize for this rant. People talking about the "good ol' days" of $topic always get to me (selective memory is a wonderful thing).

Which is fair enough, but you'll notice at no point have any of the advancements been dismissed, simply questioned in terms of overall achievement. And I actually agree with you about wearing rose-coloured glasses when viewing the past - after all, if the past were so perfect I'd still be using the Atari 800 I've got in the closet.

By the same token, I believe it was George Santayana who famously said, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Looking at the past 15 years of videogame design and development, they seem toi be content to keep rolling out the past in ever-flashier packaging.

[TheCotMan]

By the same token, I believe it was George Santayana who famously said, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Looking at the past 15 years of videogame design and development, they seem toi be content to keep rolling out the past in ever-flashier packaging.

The secret to technical marketing in games and other areas:
Take an old idea, and add enough variation to make it appear "new" and "different" and then sell it to the masses.
Consider computing history: Terminals (centralized computing), PC (decrentralized Personal Computing), "Thin Client" technology and Citrix (centralized computing once again), heterogeneous environment (the worst of both worlds)

This happens in games, it happens in "Office Productivity Software" (word processor/spreadsheet/presentation/database) and it even happens with DB Vendors as they shift focus for optimization in their products.

It even happens in movies... remakes and sequels! Take something popular, repackage it, and re-sell it with slight variation when you convince consumer it is actually "new."

And then there are stories... How many stories of today resemble in part or whole, the workds of Shakespeare.

Why do this? PROFIT with much less risk.

Some "recent" innovation in games in order of how innovative:
"Sim" games (SimAnt, Sim City, RollerCoaster Tycoon, application of complex modeling etc.)
New Puzzle Games (Tetris)
Adventure game stages (Text -> Graphics -> 3D graphics -> FPS)

Almost no innovation:
Personal Pets (interactive pets that you "play" with and provide virtual food/care-- people have had pets long before, and played with them before PC)
Conquest games (Consider "Risk" is a board game predating Home PC)
RPG (Adaptation to storytelling, just interactive)
driving (people were racing cars and horses before we had PC)
fighting (boxing predates PC, etc)