I have recently started this blog in order to vent some of the ideas, realizations, and qualms that I feel over the gaming industry as a whole.  I am tired of all these companies presenting games in order to fulfill deadlines, make profit, and most importantly, cater to mediocrity.  What happened to making games for the love of gaming?

Let us begin with the age of the “next generation console”.  The introduction of the now current three industry “Big Dogs” has created a mass monster that is continually eating away at the gaming cake.  Overall, the idea for the next generation consoles has been to incorporate gaming into the masses, spreading out the possible market share of these consoles.

The console who has most successfully climbed the mountain of public adoration is the Nintendo Wii.  Released slightly after its competitors, the Wii has brought casual gaming to an entirely new level, and its release has brought in millions of gamers trapped in slumber by the Triforce.  All of these people rave over the Nintendo Wii as if it is some miraculous gift from a divinely ordained gaming “god”; however, the sad truth of the matter is that people are unable to realize the true purpose of the Wii: to dumb down gaming in order to make it accessible to the general public.

Most of the games enjoyed by Wii owners (yes I am one as well) are quick fix or party oriented games.  There is nothing present to even remotely cater to the hardcore or even non hardcore gaming community.  The pathetic attempts of the Wii to hide the fact that it is a casual gaming system only are overshadowed by the sheer number of people I hear talking about it on a daily basis.  I was recently sitting in a classroom during summer school at my university, and I was appalled to see a group of elitist sorority girls talking about playing Super Smash Brothers.  The irony of it was, they had no clue whatsoever how to actually play the game, and they were delighted more by the idea of consuming alcoholic beverages than playing the game.  Not only this, but they spoke of the hopefulness of bringing boys over to play with them.  Apparently, gaming is being used as an aphrodisiac these days.  Maybe Nintendo should change their advertising to fit all the single nerds out there.  “The Nintendo Wii:  Our Mediocre Games are Made, You get Laid”.  It has a nice ring to it.

I shouldn’t only pick on the Wii, the other two consoles are just as guilty as it.  Particularly, the Xbox 360 has brought down gaming just as much as its contemporaries.  First let’s look at the primary problem with the system:  you are continually worried your $400 investment is going to spout the three rings of doom.  The first time it happened it was almost as heartbreaking as when I discovered Raiden was the primary playable character of Metal Gear Solid 2.

Since when have gamers had to develop ulcers because they are afraid their system is going to spontaneously explode?  Does Microsoft have some under the table agreement with the fan distributors in order to generate profit?  Did they get together and decide “Hey, let’s make a crappy system that breaks all the time, offer free repair for it although the gamer himself must wait over a month for its return, and finally advertise on a plethora of ‘fixes’ for this.  We will make millions alone off of the fans!”  The sad fact about it is, the Xbox 360 is the platform of choice for most hardcore gamers of today.

This is the true depressing point of the industry, with the induction of gaming into popular pop culture, publishers have followed the “desires” of the general public.  This desire can be summed up in three words: Blow $%#@ Up.  People want to be the hero, save the day, and most importantly, find the rocket launcher in order to completely obliterate their buddies.  This trend can be seen in the hundreds of first person shooters (FPS) out on the market or currently in the development stage.  Developers know you want one thing, and one thing only, and they have no problem catering to this mass crowd.

I honestly can’t blame them.  When games sell millions of copies just because you can blow something up in a “new way”,  there is a huge margin of profit for mediocrity.  This is exactly why we see the eventual downtrend of games because people continue to buy and support mediocrity because they can blow things up.  Not only that, but they can do it in a matter of minutes after booting up their system.  So, not only can you save the world by being the Master Chief (or his hundreds of copycats), but you can do it instantly.

As if the “Blowing $%#@ Up” category weren’t enough, there exists yet another genre of games catering to the new gaming population, Sports.  If you don’t want to melt your friend’s face, you sure as hell can slam dunk over him.  Or you can spend hours designing your playbook on Madden in order to feel like your the accomplished coach all of us will never be.  Seriously, sports gaming offers just another quick fix for the masses.  People will buy it simply to be their heroes they see on TV every Monday night (O wait sorry, every Sunday thanks to John Madden).  As the saying always goes, if you can’t blow their faces off with a rocket launcher, score a touchdown.

Sports gaming, while it has never appealed to me, does have its place.  The primary problem is, at least for me, the “fun-factor” of the game is generally overlooked in order to provide true “realism”.  I admit, am not a sports gaming fan.  I enjoy these crazy things called “fun games”.   However, if you feel that scoring that game winning touchdown after two hours of flipping through your playbook in order to beat that twelve year old over Xbox Live is fun, then sports gaming is definitely your cup of tea.  And, game developers know this.  They regularly release these yearly installments of the same game with some new added gimmick to make you drop another $60 on essentially the same game.  It’s pure genius.

The Sony Playstation 3 is guilty of most all these faults found in the 360, with the exception of the breaking.  Apparently Sony could not cut a deal with fan distributors.  While Sony does bank on the FPS and sports craze, they stay a bit more elitist claiming their system is technologically superior with its Blue Ray capabilities.

First of all, no one knew what Blue Ray was until about a year ago, and second of all, Sony has been trailing third in the console race for quite some time now.  The reason for its poor sales?  A better made system and games not catered towards the mass idiots.  A recipe for disaster if you ask me.  That is the sad state of the gaming world, we praise mediocrity while slamming quality.  Sony, while not completely innocent, has attempted to cater the most to its demographics from the Playstation2 era, to its own peril.

Clearly the head of SCEA should realize that in order to be successful in the commercialized world of gaming today you need one of three things.  You need to dumb down games so all the sorority blondes can play, you need to design bigger imaginary guns that your competition (I’m still waiting for a WMD launcher to replace the rocket launcher), or you need to sign the next big athlete to grace the cover of your Madden recopied edition, I mean 2009.

With all this taken into account, I fear for the future of gaming.  As long as we continue to embrace this mediocrity, like the overwhelming sales of Madden another recopied game, and disgrace quality games, such as Mass Effect, we will continue to see our industry fall to the masses.

Something needs to be done about this.  Some one needs to realize that EA cannot just buy every company and make it crappy.  Microsoft needs to realize that game systems need to work.  Sony needs to deliver some more dumbed down games, and Nintendo, well Nintendo is fine as is considering they are the leader in console sales.  I weep for what is to come.

That’s all for now.

-The Gaming Guru

If anyone you’re anything like me, you have gamed for almost all of your life. If you’re one of the older generation, your Childhood was filled with scores of memories sitting in front of your television. The screen would light up, and a joy would overcome the heart. We were serenaded by the sweet sounds of annoying jumping sound effects as well as poorly orchestrated theme songs, and we ate it up like kids at a candy store.

As the original gaming generation grows older, the industry continues to change around us. Gone are the days of simplistic, yet annoying, boss fights. Save codes (if you don’t know what these are you aren’t part of this generation) are an archaic technology, and the brutally unforgiving games of old (MegaMan X brings back memories) can no longer stand toe to toe with the new age of gaming. But, where has the industry taken its ideology?

Gaming today presents us with pretty graphics, engaging battle systems, and hordes of enemies for us to mow down. With the continually changing technological time bomb that is our society, gaming has severely altered its face. It is undeniable that people, especially as they grow older, are unable to devote the hours we put into games in our childhood. Work, marriage, family, and life itself have taken over our passion, yet the gamers of new and old still crave the same adrenaline rush. Therefore, games have been catered towards a new audience, an audience that no longer wishes to spend hours on a single boss. The same audience that wish to only play for 20 minutes at a time. People that have what the real world calls “lives” (I know, it’s a term I myself only learned recently).

With this new change in audience from the hardcore to an entire market of new gamers, the industry has altered the games being released dramatically. Games are being developed that put you right into the action; instant gratification is a must. Games are designed to be shorter, easier to beat, and overall more enjoyable from the casual standpoint, which is a severe turn from games of old. No Mario does not count. It wasn’t that hard back then, and it isn’t hard today. If you must see an example of what I’m talking about, go dust off the old Game Gear and play Sonic 2. You’ll soon succumb to the pain we masochistically brought on ourselves (when Sonic games were actually good).

So, with these new age games catering towards what some “hardcore” gamers consider to be “noobs”, is the industry taking a turn for the worse? Most oldschool gamers, myself included, will tell you that games today are too easy and cater towards the non-gaming community, but in reality, all the industry is doing is adapting to the influx of the “new age gamer”. These “new age gamers” can range from any age range, and all demographics. They include anyone that wants to sit down and enjoy something they cannot do in real life, and these kinds of gamers will play games that are easy to pick up and not brutally unforgiving. They are the epitomy of the social aspect of gaming. “New age gamers” go to social gatherings, have parties for games, and generally only enjoy playing with friends, and by parties, I don’t mean those Goldeneye parties we all enjoyed as kids. These social gatherings usually consist of simple games including Wii Sports, Super Smash Brothers, and Mario Party.

With the induction of these players to the industry, gaming as a whole has simply changed to fit the demographic that it now serves. The “new age gamer” desires only to be mildly entertained as a form of diversion from life. They lack the passion that many of us “Hardcore” gamers so loudly boast (probably a bit too loudly at times). It’s not their fault, however, because they are only treating the medium as everyone treats anything entertaining in the world of today. It is only something mildly interesting, and it can easily be cast aside at the influx of anything even remotely as enjoyable. This is the sole reason that so many developers make their games short, intense, and easily understood. Complexities work against developers. The harder, more complex, or generally less easily accessible a game is, the less it will be accepted by the “new age gamer”. Although this does seem to enhance overall “fun factor” of games today, it detracts from one key item that all gamers (yes all) play games for: Role Playing.

Now before you start foaming at the mouth about how you hate RPG’s and would never play such an abomination as Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, or Grandia, let me explain exactly what I mean by “Role Playing”. All gamers play games for the effect of doing things we could never accomplish in real life, and this can range from entering a fantasy world, saving the world, or simply picking up a gun and blowing our friends up. When we play games, we play the role of whoever it may be. One day I am the Master Chief saving the universe from the Flood, the next I am a simple warrior in a fantasy world populated by thousands of others on the internet, and the final day I am a rockstar playing my guitar for hundreds of people cheering for me. The point is that we all play games to do something different, assume another role.

As games become more and more catered towards casual play, we are unable to immerse ourselves in this role, and inevitably, we begin to view the game as just a fun item that takes up a small amount of time. Yes, for “new age gamers” this second point is exactly for what they search, yet a problem is arising because of this. Developers realize that these “new age gamers” make up a significantly larger portion of the market, and when deciding what changes they must make during the development of a game, they must take into consideration what profits will arise. Although we would all like to believe that developers create games simply for the love of it, we would be naive to assume that they do not wish to have profits. There then arises the dilemma of making a quality game that will most likely not be accepted by the general population or making a game that caters solely to “new age gamers”.

There are quality games that do achieve legendary status amongst all gamers, yet it cannot be denied that generally more poorly made games provide huge sales than quality ones. This can be from a number of reasons ranging from uninformed status of buyers, cheap developers, or better advertising; however, the fact remains that developers must usually decide what demographic they are shooting for when designing a game. Because profit drives business, companies will continue to choose to cater towards sales rather than quality, and this movement of sales is changing the industry slowly before our eyes.

Although it may not be apparent as of today, the game industry has taken a sharp turn towards catering to the masses. While I welcome this new addition to our market share, I am afraid of the changes it will bring forward. I fear that quality games that bring forth a quality story and great gameplay are fast being replaced by cheaply made and mass produced copies.

One of two things will eventually happen. Quality games will continue to be made regardless of their sales and overall acceptance in the population. Developers will realize that their endeavors to make engaging, exciting stories goes thoroughly appreciated by a good size portion of the gaming population. Or, the trend towards catering to the “new age gamer” will continue until it has ruled out all quality game developers through the process of competitive behavior, and this will change gaming from an art to a tacky media of diversion from reality.

That’s all for now.

-The Gaming Guru