FPS is like Madden with guns

I LOVE Xbox Live Arcade. That's all I play, Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, Pinball FX 2, Trials HD, alot of the Namco classics, etc. Hoping to upgrade my blu-ray player to a PS3 so I can play HOTD 3 and 4 when they come out.

The only thing I need is a 4 way arcade stick (or someone to point me into the right direction of someone who mods sticks)to play the old arcade games/Pac-Man CE DX the right way and I'll be set

I hope you didn't hurt yourself jumping on that blackhawks bandwagon. I often here people complaining about current generation games sucking. I was addressing a reason to this which is to the repetitive nature of over hyped and over advertised games. I have no problem with sports games but every time I walk into gamestop it seems that half of the display boxes are the new madden/ncaa fb game or basketball game coming out. 
 

I come from all walks of life and play everything from NES to the 16 and 32-bit games to XBox and PC past and present. I must agree that this gaming generation era sucks the big one. I have my reasons:

1.) Barely any original gaming music lately
2.) Games come with gaming pass to prevent used games market. I hate this, especially for PC games!
3.) Achivments are nice but most people judge you on just that.
4.) Capcom is shit. Nuff' said.
5.) Nintendo doesnt want to release J-RPGs, despite fan approval. If it wasnt for gamestop doing something nice for once by putting in the money for publishing rights for Xenoblade we wouldnt of gotten it here in the USA. Just hope they release Last Story and Pandora's Tower as well.

6.) Massive hardware problems with Xbox (who somewhat fixed the problem many years later, better late than never I guess?) and PS3.

You know those are all valid, logical points but you know what? People have been saying "this generation of gaming" sucks since forever.

This may be incredibly hard to believe, but there were people saying "this gen sucks" in the NES era, the 16bit era, etc etc etc. I was shocked back then, but they had perfectly valid, logical points to back up those opinions too.

Don't get me wrong, I love the 8bit and 16bit generation with all my heart... but this is just like anything, music, movies, etc etc. People just love to put "their generation" as the benchmark of what's good. It generally seems that the people who can see the value of something regardless of where, what and when it came from is the exception not the rule.

In terms of modern games, the last game I really enjoyed was Space Marine on the PC.

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I know this is real pertinent to the discussion, but just thought I'd give a little update to my post from earlier: I'm playing Nier and that game kicks all kinds of ass. So far it only has two problems: 1) It's possible for enemies to juggle you by using an attack that knocks you off your feet - this happens ALL. THE. TIME. but just means you need to use some strategy when fighting; 2) it's possible to spend forever trying to catch a type of fish you need to advance in the game and not be able to b/c you're fishing in the wrong spot (I cheated and looked up online a guide to how to fish, so I didn't waste more than ten minutes on this). Seriously, anyone that likes action-RPGs should check this one out. It has a nice blend of Western and Japanese style to it, the storyline is really interesting and not super cliched, and it's just really fun.

It's still kinda sad how tough it is to find a good RPG these days, but I'm just glad they still exist.

I love my PS3, that being said there are lots of modern games that I have trouble enjoying. Arkham City is an example of a game that I thought they put alot of time into but I just couldnt get into, same with GTA IV, Fallout, and Oblivion. I tried all of those for many hours but just found the games boring but filled with stuff to do, it just wasn't fun for me. Modern FPS games I don't understand either, I loved Half Life 1 and 2 though.

Little Big Planet, Ratchet and Clank Tools of Destruction (not that terrible all for one game), Portal 2, Marvel Vs Capcom 3, LBP2, Uncharted 1, 2, 3, and Beatles Rockband I love though. The Uncharted and Little Big Planet games are my favorites of the current generation.

Basically the thing that makes NES, SNES, Genesis, GB, and even PS1 so much fun is that the majority of the games you just turn on and play. It is easy to start and get into those games and just play around with it. There was no cutscene, tutorial, boring first few levels, distracting side missions etc. No extraneous garbage to mess with you. All the focus was put into the game itself. Thats why it's great to see games like New Super Mario Bros. and Sonic Generations where you can just start playing the game (although the latter does have some cutscenes but not when you first start it up).

Since every week game studios close down, everyone tries to "play it safe" by making generic games which end up failing, instead of just trying to make something new or super polished. It's not their fault though, after having to make games with HD graphics and programming them the costs get into the tens of millions, it can be difficult to make a straight forward game now-a-days. The early 2000's was the last time where you could have people start up small companies and release full titles on the consoles. The videogame industry is becoming too much like the movie industry. Having to make isanely huge risks and you either have to be a smash hit or you fail.

Also modern Nintendo is a joke, you know it's true.

I don't think current games are bad, just different. It's the natural evolution of video games. I still like to remain optimistic, and look forward to what the future brings.

Haha this made me laugh

I wouldnt' say current gen games suck, well, alot of them do. Thats beside the point. Games of today simply lack the charm and allure that alot of the games of yesteryear held. It was easy to come across a good game quite frequently during the retro days of NES and SNES. Truly good games and somewhat few and far between on current gen consoles, sometimes going months at a time without having anything worthwhile to purchase.

Just some late night thoughts:

1) 75% of games suck on pretty much every console, past and present. Lots of them are licensed, lots originals. Looking at the NES, there were tons of horrible games. But there are brilliant classics as well. At least now you can go online and find out if it'll be something more along the lines of what you'll like.

2) Yes there are a lot of shooters right now. In the 80's there were a ton of platformers. In the 90's there were a lot of platformers, fighting games, and RPGs. Remember when console shooters were revolutionary and innovative in the 90s? Sometimes I get bored with all the FPS games, but I realize it is a relatively new style of gaming compared to fighting games or platformers. Give it time and it'll settle down.

3) I'm always interested when people complain about music in today's games. Composers now have the ability to overcome the limitations they were strangled with in past generations. We have everything ranging from 8 bit throw back music (VVVVV) to fully orchestrated masterpieces. There is no limitation anymore on the possibility of composers and sound designers. Sure, a lot of games have the generic military themes and the Hans Zimmeresque arrangements, but I absolutely think as a whole music development for games has come a significant distance in allowing for freedom of expression and creativity. Listened to the music in Bioshock? How about Braid's beautiful violin parts? VVVVV 8-bit tunes? Did you take a listen to the sound design for Amnesia or Dead Space? Did you note the brilliant diversity in Skyward Sword? How about the dynamic development of composition in Portal 2 that may be among the best in exemplifying the advancement of audio engines in gaming? No love for the somber and epic music from Shadow of the Colossus? I mean, I've toured as a musician and work at a gaming company doing audio and building music games. Hands down, I can't think of a time where the majority of games have had music this diverse and as moving.

4) I don't like the hand holding most games have now. Controls and gameplay concepts should be developed through good level design, not by sitting through tutorials and reading annoying text. That's something that could use some improvement.

5) Overall though, I feel like modern games are still pushing the boundary and going new places. Just look at the indie scene that is thriving with innovative content! My only concern is when companies try to compete with Hollywood. I want my games to be games not a million cutscenes and limited gameplay! But overall gaming has to go somewhere. Do we still want 300 platformers released a year? How many JRPGs do there need to be? Same goes for shooters. Times change, games change and what is popular changes, but that isn't bad. Some gamers may refuse to change, but there has to be progression, even if you think that the progression sucks. And despite what a lot of people say, I really think a lot of development in the industry has happened in the last 10 years.

Some modern current generation games don't suck, it's gaming in general that sucks IMO. From the over saturation of shooter games (which is kinda dieing down, thank goodness) and shovelware, to downloadable content, to buying stuff that will become vaporware, to annoying kids swearing and crying online cuz their parents are idiots, to having ads plastered all over my dashboard, to not having what I want as far as customization (we are in control somewhat, but not being able to revert back to older dashboards/styles really ticks me off) to hardware being faulty in a matter of months, to having to sync and resync/signing in and out on a controller, to replacing wireless batteries... it's a mess!

Adding my two cents to this fascinating subject: I don't think new games "suck", per se, but there is definitely a frustration factor when it comes to the controls. I think the SNES ( and possibly the PS1) was the saturation point, Now it seems that in order to play most games (only most) you need to remember 55 different actions for 102 different button presses.

What about the saying, "You're never too old to learn"?

My brother is a few years younger than me (27), I'm 33, we kind of have this battle/debate about old games vs new.

-I joke his ps3 is a super computer. The NES never froze up like that. Blowing on cartridges to work, there's kind of a charm to it. Wasn't there?

-Old games had real MANUALS! I think its sad there's no manuals anymore. Games after 2003 or 05, seemed to have merged into this Multimedia movie experience. Everything is trying to be a movie. Cut scenes, voice acting, etc.

-Old games didn't have to be sensations to be successful! I think there's a lot or pressure now to be a mega hit. Look at the old games that developed their own following. There was less emphasis on graphics, more on fun and story play.

One of the problems with modern games, they all look the same. I.e. the racing games, fps, etc. It seems like there was more variety in the 80's and 90's.

Would Duck Hunt be made now? Paperboy? The first few years of nintendo had an awesome mix of games....side scrolling, adventure, sports, like Tysons Punch Out.

Music now is technically better....but if you can still hum the theme of mario or link, it means it made an impact. I dont know, I think it depends on what you grew up with.

I don't think that all current gen games suck, but I definitely feel like this generation of games has lost me. I'm not interested in 90% of what comes out, but the stuff that I am interested in ends up being fantastic. This is the first generation of games where I don't feel like I'm ahead of the curve... I don't care to be - there are too many bullshit factors ruining gaming for me... with the constant system updates, DLC, Online Passes, Online in general, rampant hardware failures, waggle mechanics etc.... i'm just tired of it all. I just want to sit down, put in a game and play it, without worrying how much extra shit I am gonna have to buy to play the full game or worry about how long the update is going to take before I can actually play the damn thing.

<./rant>

I know, right? Star Fox 64 3D makes the original look like a near-perfect masterpiece thanks to unnecessary tutorials, break reminders if you play for over 30/60 minutes, terrible voice acting for a few characters like Faclo and Leon in the remake (Nintendo might have ruined them!) Really, Lyssa Browne voice acting for an 18 year-old male named Slippy Toad = half-bad voice in the original! (Remake Slippy voice was slightly better if at all.), and to top it off, you can't turn the voice acting OFF! That forever will tick me off and give Star Fox 64 3D about 7 to 9 out of 10.

10 examples?

Game makers are lazy now and push out untested and incomplete games because they can fix it with DLC. Of course they never do fix most problems, like Fallout.

It's EXTREMELY hard to find a good current generation game. This Mario-rip off proves it



So yes, most current generation games aren't any good in my opinion. And a non-Mario platformer is likely unoriginal.

EDIT: Sorry for the necropost.

I'm honestly curious how these 5-years-dead threads get brought back to the surface like this.

Current generation threads suck.

Sadly that'd be me not paying attention to dates.

OOOHHHHHHHHHH