6 Most Ominous Trends in Video Games

[Guest Ricky Downtown]

http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-6-most-ominous-trends-in-video-games/

 

thought this was worth posting, it's an article about the future of videogames. guy sounds pretty spot on to me.

[Blir]

guy sounds pretty spot on to me.

 

That's because he's David Wong and he wrote one of the funniest books I've ever read.

[jules]

wow great article. this got a hearty lol from me:

 

That is, like two erect pixel dicks about to fuck a snake wearing a George Lucas Halloween mask. But every player knew what it was trying to look like, because we had all seen lightsabers before.

[Meadows and Labyrinths]

"I'd still be playing Final Fantasy III if they'd sold DLC for it."

 

ain't that the fucking truth.

 

great article, thanks.

[kaini]

"I'd still be playing Final Fantasy III if they'd sold DLC for it."

 

ain't that the fucking truth.

 

great article, thanks.

 

DLC back then was

 

spot on article. the only one i disagreed with was the gunsights one. it's fucking ALWAYS been like that more or less since FPSes started to exist.

[Meadows and Labyrinths]

fucking lol

 

[Guest underscore]

 

It sounds like the best of all worlds, until you realize the technology is so half-baked you can only use one of the new controllers with the console -- there'll be no such thing as multiple pads for multiplayer. Though they did make it clear that you could use the pad and a stylus to draw a dong on the face of your game characters. So there's that.

 

 

very good article. parts like the above are pretty lol/sad!

[Suffocate Peon]

Downloadable arcade games like Braid, Limbo and ilomilo are what I'd like to see more of in the future. They're all puzzle games that aren't satisfied with being only just a 'game', they want to tell a story, create characters, a world and style all of their own. They're adventure platformers as well. The visuals and music are a big part of what I enjoyed most about these games. It helps set them apart from the videogame world. Something like Castle Crashers is a videogame made by videogame geeks, whereas Limbo feels like a game made by artists first, gamers second, and if they weren't making videogames, they'd be making other forms of art. Videogames need artists to enter the medium and use it to express themselves in a way only videogames can allow them to. But gamers are kind of immune to videogames that have pretensions of being something more. They tend to cut straight through the inflated style and only see the gameplay mechanics underneath. Like with Killer 7, it's one of the few games that feels like one mind expressing itself through videogames, but it still can be distilled into What You Do To Play The Game. You hold A to run, stop and shoot things. How linear is it, how long is it, how good is its gunplay, how challenging is it. They miss the point a bit. But for a lot of gamers, completing the game is the point. Hence why Nobi Nobi Boy exists, I think.

 

Xbox Live marketplace is like a shop open 24 hours a day in everyone's living room/bedroom. I think I read that Limbo sold 300,000 in the first few months on sale for £10 (1200 points), and Braid sold a similar amount but over a longer period. I think those are great figures. There's a website that tells you how many copies a game has sold, and the majority of them (full price Xbox 360/PS3 games) are around the 250,000-700,000 mark.

 

I really think in 5-10-15 years time something like Limbo will be seen as a classic (if it's not already) and will be held up as a title that was quietly influential. I mean, I hope there's people who play Limbo, see that it sold 300,000 at £10 with relative ease, that it was independently made, uncompromising, 18-rated, bleak and are massively encouraged into thinking it's possible to do the same. Literally every game ever made can't seem to just exist without the player's input, Limbo is a game that just begins, and asks nothing of you except your curiosity. I love the idea that a game like this can be made and then released to such a huge audience. These games will appeal to some people if they can just have access to as many people as possible. There's games like Super Meat Boy and N+ that I'm not really interested in because of the immediate challenge of them. Of lots and lots of increasingly harder levels. Like with Super Monkey Ball, when you fail its your own fault, but they still fall under the category of videogame with levels, lives, an end game. I prefer Limbo because it's more of an adventure, and there's so few of them. It's a game that genuinely surprises you in ways few games ever have, and one that makes you wonder what else will happen as you progress. I could play games like it forever.

 

Braid is ingenious and would likely have never been made in that way had it not been for its creator, but something like Limbo, with its dark monochrome, understated, detached industrial vibe i think would have been applied to videogames eventually as it had been to animation.

 

Everything else about videogames gives me a headache. That's another good thing about the marketplace; you can just go there whenever and see what's new is out. You can avoid all the other shit that plagues games. You don't even have to walk into a Game store and die a little more inside just to see what deal they've got on.

[Bubba69]

Downloadable arcade games like Braid, Limbo and ilomilo are what I'd like to see more of in the future. They're all puzzle games that aren't satisfied with being only just a 'game', they want to tell a story, create characters, a world and style all of their own. They're adventure platformers as well. The visuals and music are a big part of what I enjoyed most about these games. It helps set them apart from the videogame world. Something like Castle Crashers is a videogame made by videogame geeks, whereas Limbo feels like a game made by artists first, gamers second, and if they weren't making videogames, they'd be making other forms of art. Videogames need artists to enter the medium and use it to express themselves in a way only videogames can allow them to. But gamers are kind of immune to videogames that have pretensions of being something more. They tend to cut straight through the inflated style and only see the gameplay mechanics underneath. Like with Killer 7, it's one of the few games that feels like one mind expressing itself through videogames, but it still can be distilled into What You Do To Play The Game. You hold A to run, stop and shoot things. How linear is it, how long is it, how good is its gunplay, how challenging is it. They miss the point a bit. But for a lot of gamers, completing the game is the point. Hence why Nobi Nobi Boy exists, I think.

 

Xbox Live marketplace is like a shop open 24 hours a day in everyone's living room/bedroom. I think I read that Limbo sold 300,000 in the first few months on sale for £10 (1200 points), and Braid sold a similar amount but over a longer period. I think those are great figures. There's a website that tells you how many copies a game has sold, and the majority of them (full price Xbox 360/PS3 games) are around the 250,000-700,000 mark.

 

I really think in 5-10-15 years time something like Limbo will be seen as a classic (if it's not already) and will be held up as a title that was quietly influential. I mean, I hope there's people who play Limbo, see that it sold 300,000 at £10 with relative ease, that it was independently made, uncompromising, 18-rated, bleak and are massively encouraged into thinking it's possible to do the same. Literally every game ever made can't seem to just exist without the player's input, Limbo is a game that just begins, and asks nothing of you except your curiosity. I love the idea that a game like this can be made and then released to such a huge audience. These games will appeal to some people if they can just have access to as many people as possible. There's games like Super Meat Boy and N+ that I'm not really interested in because of the immediate challenge of them. Of lots and lots of increasingly harder levels. Like with Super Monkey Ball, when you fail its your own fault, but they still fall under the category of videogame with levels, lives, an end game. I prefer Limbo because it's more of an adventure, and there's so few of them. It's a game that genuinely surprises you in ways few games ever have, and one that makes you wonder what else will happen as you progress. I could play games like it forever.

 

Braid is ingenious and would likely have never been made in that way had it not been for its creator, but something like Limbo, with its dark monochrome, understated, detached industrial vibe i think would have been applied to videogames eventually as it had been to animation.

 

Everything else about videogames gives me a headache. That's another good thing about the marketplace; you can just go there whenever and see what's new is out. You can avoid all the other shit that plagues games. You don't even have to walk into a Game store and die a little more inside just to see what deal they've got on.

 

I can't wait for The Witness http://the-witness.net/news/

[kaini]

yep, the witness is going to be amazing. the one thing the article managed to ignore was the elephant in the room - games like braid, VVVVVV, and especially minecraft. things are actually changing.

[david]

""If you want a vision of the future, imagine SecuROM slapping your face with its dick -- forever." -George Orwell"

 

lol..

 

great article

[Suffocate Peon]

wait

 

 

Jonathan Blow's new game?? I'd not seen that. I hope saying it reminds me of Myst is not an unfavourable thing to say...I never played Myst

 

Says in one of the blog entries that it'll have around 400+ puzzles, sounds good. I hope it'll have plenty of visual character given that it's 3D, and the music will be as lush. Last Guardian and this for 2012, that'll be enough for me.

[Ego]

I hate the casual games market, ridiculous monetization schemes, unimaginative blockbusters and games focussed only initial appeal. But it has become big business so that part of the industry will always exist. Games have always been shit for the most part (even with good intentions, it's just not that easy to create a good game) but there has always been plenty of good stuff. Aside from the games I anticipate, there are tons of games that take me by surprise every year.

 

And let's not forget all the good things these new times have brought us. Money hungry middle men can now be cut out because of online distribution, mouth to mouth works really well on the web, content-creation tools, middleware licenses & information have become cheap and readily available etc. I'm rather optimistic about the future of games.

[Guest Gary C]

Great article.

 

I must stop getting swept up blockbuster games. I bought Black Ops last year and only ever played the very underwhelming single-player campaign. I often buy new FIFA titles, but never really enjoy them. I won't buy another.

I was let down by LA Noire. It's a bit cool, but the story goes missing and it has little replay value.

I couldn't even get a handle on Red Dead Redemption. GTA4 was great a few years ago, but the downloadable content was lame.

 

I'm only waiting for Arkham City this year. Arkham Asylum is probably the best game I've played in the last 10 years. It's a game I can get behind as it involves characters and a story that I genuinely want to explore. The concept isn't anything new, but it's being developed with genuine heart.

 

But yeah, the best games I've played on my 360 have been (in no particular order) Braid, Castle Crashers, DeathSpank, Limbo, Monkey Island(s) and that Dorito's Wipeout-style game (lol).

 

I promise to stop getting swept up with blockbusters.

[Guest Iain C]

Cracked is blocked at work, anyone want to do a copy-pastaroo?

 

Anyway, the worst trend in gaming is pre-order/day-one DLC and being forced to buy a brand new copy of the game to play it online. Eff that.

 

I must stop getting swept up blockbuster games. I bought Black Ops last year and only ever played the very underwhelming single-player campaign.

 

Yeah, I bought Blops on day one, played through the single player out of obligation - and it totally sucked. What was I thinking?

 

If you want a good FPS on the 360, the best I've played is Battlefield Bad Company 2. You can probably pick it up quite cheaply second-hand and it's got the best team-based multiplayer I've ever seen on a console, hands-down.

[Guest Coalbucket PI]

Cracked is blocked at work, anyone want to do a copy-pastaroo?

 

Anyway, the worst trend in gaming is pre-order/day-one DLC and being forced to buy a brand new copy of the game to play it online. Eff that.

 

I must stop getting swept up blockbuster games. I bought Black Ops last year and only ever played the very underwhelming single-player campaign.

 

Yeah, I bought Blops on day one, played through the single player out of obligation - and it totally sucked. What was I thinking?

 

If you want a good FPS on the 360, the best I've played is Battlefield Bad Company 2. You can probably pick it up quite cheaply second-hand and it's got the best team-based multiplayer I've ever seen on a console, hands-down.

i saved it as an awkward pdf to read at work, its got too many pictures for a copy paste

The 6 Most Ominous Trends in Video Games.pdf

[chim]

Good article, but kind of unrealistic, granted that it is because it's trying to be funny and paint this ominous scenario. Last 25 years in gaming have definitely not just been about graphics. If you've been around gaming for a while you know that every time shit starts to turn stale someone makes something completely unprecedented that reshapes the industry. The problem right now is that the last time that happened was Modern Warfare.

 

The sequels thing is stupid, because while the absolutely biggest games (on shit like e3) will always be money-pumped sequels, there are more games around than ever before. the indie biz is huge but there are also more "big" games. Just beause shitty kinect games are coming out doesn't mean all other games in the industry suddenly disappear. What's so ominous about star wars kinect? Is this the first time this guy sees a shitty movie license game?

 

The securom and dlc shit is pretty spot on but good developers & publishers will always be sensible. Believe it or not, there are more publishers than EA out there.

[Guest Iain C]

Cracked is blocked at work, anyone want to do a copy-pastaroo?

 

Anyway, the worst trend in gaming is pre-order/day-one DLC and being forced to buy a brand new copy of the game to play it online. Eff that.

 

I must stop getting swept up blockbuster games. I bought Black Ops last year and only ever played the very underwhelming single-player campaign.

 

Yeah, I bought Blops on day one, played through the single player out of obligation - and it totally sucked. What was I thinking?

 

If you want a good FPS on the 360, the best I've played is Battlefield Bad Company 2. You can probably pick it up quite cheaply second-hand and it's got the best team-based multiplayer I've ever seen on a console, hands-down.

i saved it as an awkward pdf to read at work, its got too many pictures for a copy paste

 

It seems like every day you come closer and closer to being my favourite WATMMer.

[lumpenprol]

If you've been around gaming for a while you know that every time shit starts to turn stale someone makes something completely unprecedented that reshapes the industry. The problem right now is that the last time that happened was Modern Warfare.

 

say what? Minecraft is "reshaping the industry" a lot more than Modern Warfare. I think Modern Warfare reshaped the industry as much as Killzone 2 or Uncharted...a very well-crafted genre game, nothing more.

[chim]

If you've been around gaming for a while you know that every time shit starts to turn stale someone makes something completely unprecedented that reshapes the industry. The problem right now is that the last time that happened was Modern Warfare.

 

say what? Minecraft is "reshaping the industry" a lot more than Modern Warfare. I think Modern Warfare reshaped the industry as much as Killzone 2 or Uncharted...a very well-crafted genre game, nothing more.

 

Well yeah but i was mainly talking about the absolute mainstream, cs type of online shooter etc.

[Blir]

Did Modern Warfare shake up the industry though? I must be so out of touch. I never got along with it because it was just the old Call of Duty games in a modern setting. Fucking boring series man.

[chim]

Did Modern Warfare shake up the industry though? I must be so out of touch. I never got along with it because it was just the old Call of Duty games in a modern setting. Fucking boring series man.

 

It wasn't a revolutionary game but a popular one which is what i'm talking about, it's not inventive but it did old shit in a new way that everybody approved of, it did influence alot of game design these days and shitloads of people play MW2 and Blops. Pretty much every mp shooter these days seems to be following the same xp levelling bullshit, load-out customization etc. I'm not saying MW did it first but the whole package, the balancing of all these aspects into a solid MP game with a near cs-scale level of popularity as well as a new theme, that isn't easy. As everybody got bored of WW2, modern battles will get boring and something will replace it. Everything is just copying cs anyway. The point of my first post was to just chill, games have gotten shitty before.

 

And don't bring up minecraft, only shooters are real games.

[Guest Adam]

You can craft a bow in minecraft and shoot animals and zombies.

[chim]

You can craft a bow in minecraft and shoot animals and zombies.

 

Yeah and I can slap girl bottoms in DNF but that doesn't make it a virtual spanking sex-a-thon game.

[Guest AcrossCanyons]

I think the worst things about modern gaming are day 1 DLC/on disc DLC (so many fucking games are guilty of this. good ones too) and series' that have a new game every year. I actually really enjoy the Call of Duty franchise but fuck. There is no need for a new one every year. I'd rather they saved up the little advancements they make between each game in the series and make one bigger better game 2 years down the line.