Why are there only Three Video Games?

munk

I like shooting zombies, WWll ****, and Axis villians, Space creeps, German Zombies, etc etc as well as anyone. Driving fast and avoiding crashes, racing across various landscapes, including alien and spacescapes, and shooting zombies while I drive. I like flying different ships, aquiring new weapons systems, and going to planets filled with ****.

I love post apocalypse earth, killing more zombies and space creeps, selling a few people into slavery, and laying waste to Mad Max world punks and villians.

I admire handling a sword or bow, hacking and slashing zombies, serfs, knights, demons and space creeps. It's OK with me if my character has the Key by special providence or birth to free an entire people from evil, assume my birthright, and kill a few more WWll **** and the space creeps they've fallen in cahoots with.

I won't play Sims or anything duplicating the life I have now, because I spend enough time in the real world, and doing that seems non productive. There aren't any WWll ****, for instance. Sponge Bob and Mario are OK, people are certainly entitled to play them, if they tire of killing space creeps while waiting for the next expensive edition of Halo to come out, shorter in playing time than the shortened chapter of last year...

I'm informed 3 D is coming, is here, and movement programing where you can stand in front of your screen and swing your arms wildly, while killing WWll **** and driving a space ship to a counter dimension universe where the South won the war beween the States. When you travel from town to town, or planet to planet, will you run in place or do you get to sit down?

Is this it? The graphics improve, they appease us with 3D, and you can swing your arms and legs....while playing the same three games? Maybe the kind of game I'd like can't be done. The program would have to interact with the player, the software effort would be in artificial intelligence mimicry. Games like Oblivion and Two Worlds made progress in this regard. Ego Draconis and Fable also tried. But I think we've reached a dead end, or at least a culdesac. Every new crop of kids will love shooting bad guys and driving outragiously through any universe, but it's hard to see how these activities will remain attractive for a lifetime. Marketers know the prime ages are in the young and young adults, usually male, though the market has expanded to other subgroups like ladies and old geezers like me. Why, my dear late Mother enjoyed fragging a few aliens and zombies too.

But I can't get over the sense we're being conned, being served Big Macs in a world where a Rib Eye steak is available. Movies and television surplanted literature to a great extent in the last century and this one will see the rise of the Game. Young serious composers make their mark in these games, as do writers and programers. But where is the Steinbeck, the Hemmingway, the Tarentinos? Where is interactive Art? Where is the masterpeice made for adults, a Game so intense tears come to the eyes, where is the potential in this field?

Someday, and I hope to live long enough to see it, the new Dickens and Twain and Hunter S. Thompson's will be making Games that are as far from shooting space goons as the Bible is from cave drawings, but it aint here yet, and it's not even on the horizan. A free market will take what the traffic will bear. Right now, there's little incentive to invest in a risky venture when the emerging formula is still financially lucrative. They'll give us Zombies until we vote with our pocket books. Don't get me wrong; there Will Always Be a Place for smacking down the Undead, but this media has so much more to offer, and I think it's a damn shame we're so far away.

I'm 54, and one of the few envies I have of future generations, possibly many younger forum members here now, is the ascendance and realization of the Game and what it will become. The potential is giant.
Well, gotta go now; there's some Goblins I have to take care. Thanks for listening.

mhardy6647

One word. Pong.

munk

Pong is simple and pure.

yepimonfire

you mentioned **** 5 times

Demiurge

There aren't only three video games, but yes, its true that game companies like any other cater to what the market demands because that's what sells.

mmadden28

What console do you have? XBox Live has some pretty cool HomeGrown games you might want to check out, esp for a twist of the norm.

Otherwise try the latest craze: Dig Dug, or Pac Man--Or perhaps Frogger

munk wrote: »

...
I won't play Sims or anything duplicating the life I have now, because I spend enough time in the real world, and doing that seems non productive....

So does that mean that you feel more productive with non-Sim games? Or that your time spent in the real world seems non-productive?

munk

I do know some people who feel the same as I. My 14 year old son, for instance. But I raised him playing Doom, (against the parental advice available at the time) and his tastes and abilities are of course leaving me in a backward age. I was raised on Black and White TV and books.

I can't keep up with him killing zombies. I don't even try anymore. Probably many of you are like this- your fingers go over a controller a little faster than I can track.
As for mentioning **** Five TIMES- that was supposed to be funny. You can always tell when your writing is below par when you have to explain a joke!! I'll try to do better next time.

Guys, I'm glad to be alive in the age of the video game, I just believe the potential is much much greater.

Yes, I have an Xbox360 and even an old Xbox. Before that, I played computer games. Carter and I are going to invest in a computer just for games again.

Right now, for the consoles, I think Bethesda makes the best games- for me anyway. I know there are many computer only games that I haven't tried in the last few years since we got the Xbox. And there's still a bunch of Xbox 360 games downstairs I haven't got to yet- like Red Dead Redemption.

I started on an Atari 52 while in my late 20's- We've come a long way, but I think we're being sold down the river. Movies too- a production hollywood film has largely canned dialogue, but the visuals get better each year and the soundtrack louder.
I want to see a Tarentino writing scripts for games, I want to see genius. This is coming- there are well known composers who started in games and now do movies and any other venue. Just like a well known classically trained composer, Ennio Morricone, who started in the pop culture of his day, Western films, 50 years ago.

All that being said, there will always, and I mean always, be a place in America for relaxing and killing zombies.
Good clean mindless fun.

The lid hasn't even come off this genre yet.

decal

Good clean mindless fun.

Mindless being the key word about the whole subject.My opinion,nothing more.

Ricardo

decal wrote: »

My opinion,nothing more.

This is starting to sound so familiar.

Have a nice day. I know I am.

munk

I wasn't fair to Sims. A book or movie is an escape, so are games- to each his own. If the game is good, the genre doesn't matter.

I hope I live long enough to see what comes out of this medium. These 'games' are going to be the new art form.

Fallout New Vegas is coming soon, that'll be interesting.

fbm211

Games are cool.Hell,I have a gaming PC and love playing need for speed most wanted,oblivian,Freelancer,DRAGON AGE,etc.

Hey all,WHATS A GOOD DIRECTX 10 GAME OR DEMO... SO I CAN FINALLY SEE WHAT ALL THE HUB-BUB WAS ALL ABOUT?

All in all I prefer a good book.

mrbiron

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_DirectX_10_support

Here is what appears to be a short updated list but you can find most of these games for cheap. Unless you use Torrentz

I would suggest you pick up Crysis and jack the graphics to the rafters!...even though its a couple years old, it'll still tax a system and put a tear in the eye

mudwrx

Have you ever played the original Myst?

Now that was quite a game. No killing zombies, racing cars or even fancy graphics (although the graphics were, and still are in my opinion, beautiful). However this game totally had me addicted when I played it. It has a great story filled with suspense, and of course mystery.

If you have not checked this out yet you can get it cheap now-a-days, they have it on the consoles too I believe.

mrbigbluelight

mudwrx wrote: »

Have you ever played the original Myst?

If you have not checked this out yet you can get it cheap now-a-days, they have it on the consoles too I believe.

For $19.99, you can get the 3 original Myst games ( Myst Masterpiece, Riven, and Myst III: Exile ) on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Myst-10th-Anniversary-DVD-Pc/dp/B0000AFWWH/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Great games but some of the puzzles can be pretty challenging ( nice way of saying they can get you PO'd pretty good ). Best enjoyed, IMO, if you take your time and don't barrel through them at Mach 10 just to get to the end.

nedh84

munk wrote: »

I wasn't fair to Sims. A book or movie is an escape, so are games- to each his own. If the game is good, the genre doesn't matter.

I hope I live long enough to see what comes out of this medium. These 'games' are going to be the new art form.

Fallout New Vegas is coming soon, that'll be interesting.

I actually loled out loud when I read the sims joke munk. We all have different senses of humor too haha.

munk

Careful. The slumbering underbelly of the sims crowd must not be awakened.

obieone

What sux is, that there hasn't been that 'WOW' game for several years, i.e. 'Crysis'.
Seems that the gaming indusry has slowed down significantly.
Maybe it's just my perception, but I thought we used to get several 'it' games every year. Now we're lucky to get one?

tommyboy

obieone wrote: »

What sux is, that there hasn't been that 'WOW' game for several years, i.e. 'Crysis'.
Seems that the gaming indusry has slowed down significantly.
Maybe it's just my perception, but I thought we used to get several 'it' games every year. Now we're lucky to get one?

Yeah I agree. There hasn't been a game that has "wowed" me in a long time. The only one that came close lately IMO is Portal, but it is way to short to warrant that. Too short to even be sold by itself(at least on consoles)

It doesn't mean I hate most of the new games (I've played mw2 mp for like 10 days:o), it just seems the originality is not there as much anymore. But I guess after 30 years, loss of originality is to be expected. Or of course I just don't play that many different games (which is kinda true;))

hockeyboy

I loved Limbo on XBox. Download it for cheap and have fun. This is a very unique game and a real break from the other stuff out there. Here's a link to get a look

http://www.limbogame.org/

Bobsama

Taking a look over my Steam games library...

1) AaaAAA!! A Reckless Disregard For Gravity--Indie game, basically BASE jumping on drugs.
2) Alien Swarm--Formerly indie game, just a top-down shooter.
3) Altitude--Indie game, fly a plane and play simple games.
4) Assassin's Creed--Major game, repetitive assassinations.
5) Audiosurf--Indie game, an old-style driving/racing game with levels based upon your music.
6) Bioshock--Major game, kind of creepy shooter killing mutants & ****
7) Buccaneer--Indie game, a little top-down game where you captain a pirate ship and shoot stuff.
8) CSS--Major game, all about online play.
9) CSS Beta--Same as above.
10) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion--Major game, set in an entirely fictional past where you hack up or just shoot random enemies with spells.
11) Evil Genius--Indie game where you build an evil lair and defend it.
12) Fary Cry 2--Major game which is actually a bit boring and plays like a cheap action movie. One-man-army syndrome to an extreme.
13) Freedom Force--Comic-book inspired indie game.
14) Freedom Force: The 3rd Reich--Comic-book inspired indie game. Killing (more?) ****.
15) Frontlines: Fuel of War--A "modern" objective-based shooter.
16) garry's mod: A Source mod which blends Source games (TF2, L4D, HL2, CSS, etc.)
17) GTA 4: Major game which was actually fun. Basically a criminal with nothing to live for.
18) Half-Life 2: Major game, post-apocalypse where you shoot aliens.
19) HL2: EP1: Same as above
20) HL2: EP2: Same as above
21) HL2: Lost Cost: Random tech demo
22) Hitman: Codename 47: Assassinate people for fun and profit
23) Hitman: Blood Money: The same
24) HItman 2: The same
25) Killing Floor: Kill zombies co-op #1
26) Left 4 Dead: Kill zombies co-op #2
27) L4D2: Kill zombies co-op #3
28) Mount&Blade: Indie game. Fictional feudal era, "skill-based" hack-and-slash.
29) Mount&Blade: Warband: Indie game. Stand-alone expansion of the above
30) Osmos: Indie game where you try to become the biggest molecule.
31) Overlord: Be evil.
32) Overlord: Raising Hell: Be evil EP.
33) Overlord II: Be evil sequel.
34-36) Penumbra: Horror.
37) Portal: Phun with Fysics. And cake.
38) Red Orchestra: "Accurate" WWII shooter.
39) STALKER: SoC: Original STALKER.
40) STALKER: CS: Sequel
41) Civilization III Complete:
42-44) Civilization IV & EP's:
45) Sniper Elite: "Accurate" WWII sniper shooter.
46) SW:KOTR: Random Star Wars game.
47) Team Fortress 2: Online co-op for fun.
48) Tomb Raider Anniversary: Lara Croft's awesome fictional bosom goes on adventures.
49) World of Good: Indie game.