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The Gaming Industry: Past, Preset and Future. Part 1 of 8
<b>Flickerdown</b> have a great series of articles they are starting. They concern the past, present and future of the gaming industry. Today FD have published part one .. here's a snippet...
[blockquote]The gaming industry today, is not the same industry of yesteryear. Companies have faded, others sprouted up. Nintendo is no longer the leader, Sony was handed that position on a silver platter. Some companies see the success in software sales, while digging a hole financially in the hardware area. Does the past play a role in the future? Nintendo is hoping it does not. Nintendo is the only original giant still alive. Joined by new comers Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo has to play its cards right. Its past fumbles must not haunt Nintendo, and the future certainly haunts Microsoft.[/blockquote]Read the rest @ <a href="http://www.flickerdown.com/stewks/articles.php?articleId=21" target="_new">FlickerDown</a>
[blockquote]The gaming industry today, is not the same industry of yesteryear. Companies have faded, others sprouted up. Nintendo is no longer the leader, Sony was handed that position on a silver platter. Some companies see the success in software sales, while digging a hole financially in the hardware area. Does the past play a role in the future? Nintendo is hoping it does not. Nintendo is the only original giant still alive. Joined by new comers Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo has to play its cards right. Its past fumbles must not haunt Nintendo, and the future certainly haunts Microsoft.[/blockquote]Read the rest @ <a href="http://www.flickerdown.com/stewks/articles.php?articleId=21" target="_new">FlickerDown</a>
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The last FPS that I can think of was Max Payne and Quake 3. Quake 3 really pushed the poly's and graphics technology at a time when 16 MB Voodoo 3's & GeForce 256 SDR's were on the market for $500 USD.
Max Payne definately has to be remembered for its immersive story line, awesome graphics, gameplay features and physics engine. Also, having 3DMark backing a game certainly helps too.
As for RTS's, it's StarCraft hands down. Never has a game been released that's had so much replayability. Being the Game of the year 1998 (I think) and still being played by thousands of gamers to this date from all over the world, StarCraft, a measly 2D isometric game that only needs a Pentium 90 to run pushed the RTS gameplay envelope to the next level, a level that is still unmatched in the RTS's of 2003.
The gaming industry needs to see that kind of revolution again to avoid stagnation. Companies need to start taking initiative and taking a "chance" on their games. Push the envelope. Make PC gaming great again.
As for consoles... well I don't care about them. I'm quite happy with my Sega Master System.
I have a friend that still enjoys Alpha Centauri and Freecell on a 2.4ghz with 1gb RAM that he got from Dell. The thing is capable of so much more, yet he plays Freecell, and Alpha Centauri. I couldn't enjoy Alpha Centauri for my life. I guess I'm the meathead of the gamer cliche since I tend towards twitch games, though I mustly suck at them if I fall out of practice for a week or two.
Back to the original point, reviewers are becoming jaded and biased. Who wouldn't though. As soon as the gaming industry gets really big, all the games go to crap. It's not because there are more developers or more consumers. It's mostly because the great games have already passed, and the other ones arn't here yet. How do you know if you've got a good game? Good question..
Even with HL2's setback, it's still playing the limelight over the other bigname titles coming out. Max Payne 2 is getting a lot of attention right now because it's the first in the line of a year of good games, and it's coming out in this month. HL2, Doom3, Deus Ex 2, and UT2004 (which looks amazingly like Tribes or Halo, if you've seen the most recent video) are going to shake up the fans.
I love games like that, because they're so immersive its addicting... I played waaaaaaaaaaaay too much EQ, but quit before they screwed it up
Sequels.
No innovation. No imagination. No desire to change the status quo. No desire to push the envelope and develop a new game. Expand on the proven technology. Sit back on their laurels and milk the corporate brand for everything it's worth.
Someone should kick Gabe Newell in the bag nice and hard. Someone who had the vision to help create the "Best PC Game Ever" (Half Life) in the first place really needs to sit back and create something truely revolutionary again. Half Life modernized the need for a game to no longer be "find the key, open the door, get the keycard, open the window.." game play. They forced a great story line into the game, which to this day is still not matched in 95% of the games released (Max Payne, StarCraft, WarCraft, Tachyon, Freelancer, Homeworld & Deus Ex being the exceptions).
The gaming industry (both PC's & consoles) need a developer to step up to the plate and release something new. Something unseen. Something that will bring about as massive a change to PC gaming as Half-Life did back in 1997.
As for reviewers, first off people really shouldn't be taking the advice of some 16-year old punk kid on his personal website on whether he (or she) liked the game. Developers don't have to please the little guys. Please the large reviewers (GameSpot, IGN, GameSpy, etc) and it does help sales, but in the end it's all about what the game delivers.
If a game that's going to be released actually delivers on what it promises, people are going to purchase it for its playability, not because IGN says they didn't like it for whatever reason.
//End Rant
Nice... I really think that SimGuy should write a game article for S-M. (hint, hint!)
Hmm... good point, Thrax. That game was quite the hairball. *hack hack*
The game's concept was designed during the era of "find key, open door... get keycard.... open window" gameplay. When your entire staff walks out on the project... TWICE.... and the game is not re-programmed to adapt to the changes and requirements of the gaming industry, the title is bound to suck.
There's only one game on my computer at the moment: BF1942. I like the combination of teamplay fps with the added vehicles. And truely, it's success proves another point the industry needs to get a clue about- It's about gameplay value, not graphics! HL has lasted so long with it's basic look, and BF is in the same boat. They aren't pretty, but they're fun.
Oh, and big ups to Freelancer! That games rocks (even with it's lame cut sequences and voice acting).