210°

Has Gaming Actually Gotten Worse Over The Past Few Decades?

Huzaifah from eXputer: "Some among us believe that gaming is worse now than it has been in decades. But the truth is that now's a better time than ever to be a fan."

CrimsonWing6942d ago

Gee let’s look at how many games and brand new IPs came out on PS1. Now compare that to now. I’d rather go back and play Parasite Eve, Xenogears, Resident Evil 1-3, Metal Gear Solid, Breath of Fire 3-4 than pretty much most sh*t out now.

Eonjay42d ago

I have to disagree. There are more indie/non AAA devs now than ever before. There are more games now than ever before. What you are describing is the increased costs for AAA games, along with their growing complexity that is causing longer development times (as well as financial realities that are based saved for another conversation). This is not however indicative of consumer choice. There are not fewer games, there are much much more. I am constantly indicated with good game to chose from. I can't even play them all.

Abear2142d ago

Same here, my backlog is full of 9/10 games.

CrimsonWing6942d ago

More shovelware. I’d take any of those PS1 games over most of the indie stuff out there. The point I’m making is look at the output and for the time, big budget developed games, from major publishers. There were also waaaay more experimental games and risks being taken… now, aside from the over abundance of amateur or indie made games, we get like how many in comparison? Sorry, but I’m not an indie game fan. Some are good, most are not anything I’m interested in… just a preference thing.

Tacoboto42d ago

If you think gaming is genuinely worse now or is in a persistent quality decline, I'd question why you'd even be spending the time online discussing the hobby or industry. Especially after 2023 and what we've got in 2024.

It's rose-tinted glasses looking at where we are now and saying the industry 20 years ago was better.

The choppy inconsistent framerates. The extremely expensive N64 carts. Proprietary expensive memory cards. Movie tie-in games for every major release that were almost always the worst - Id rather play Hogwarts Legacy than even touch one of the 7 Harry Potter movie games. A non-existent indie scene. No VR. Unavoidable tech issues of the era besides low performance (jiterry textures, minimal draw distance, bad/non-existent lighting, voice over quality).

Endless $50 4-8 hour games with similar mechanics. $60 if on N64. Multiple annualized wrestling games alongside the annualized sports games. Your favorite games got full priced sequels faster, but that's because console games hardly got post-release support, at least until 2003-2005 on Xbox with map packs in certain XBL games (idk what PS2 did).

H942d ago

Bad games then: fun ideas that don't work well
Bad games now: Souless repetitive predatory crap
Average game then: copying the trend with a fun little twist
Average game now: Souless imitations
Great games then: genuis ideas and execution while likely being a new IP
Great games now: Genuis ideas and execution in a long running series

In short it was all about ideas before, that's why horrible Ps1/2 games are more fun to play than Movie-Game with Ubisoft elements #3453123567

solideagle42d ago

This generation can be summed up in Remakes/Remasters because all companies ran out of new ideas

chicken_in_the_corn41d ago

It isn't a lack of ideas. It's opposition to anything new. Gamers want old game resold to them.

8bitAssassin41d ago

Naw!!! We're still in the culture vulture age, we're gamers are told what to like as opposed to finding out what they like for themselves. The persistent b.s streamer who plays nothing but shooters, and whatever GameStop forces you to get Pre-Orders for.

I actually like a lot of Remakes/Remasters still coming. The pricing on some is what kills the drive buy them.

We are in a shallow post covid slump where companies hired an abundance of at home workers to get projects out. You have people who think one game has to equal the next. Then you have those that think all games should be on one platform, and that is the complete dead zone of gaming.

Everyone SHOULD step outside of their comfort shell in this hobby.

GoodGuy0942d ago

Yes and no. There are the good ones and bad ones. Originality is obviously tougher, monetization is focused on, games are taking longer to finish, etc. We still definitely get great games though...with a few crappy ones in between. Gaming has gotten even bigger then ever which has it's goods and bads.

gold_drake42d ago

it depends how u look at it.

we've had plenty of bad games even bk then. ha.

i think whats changed, is that devs jump on a thing that worked for one or two games and do the same, regardless if it works for their games or not.

thorstein42d ago (Edited 42d ago )

Exactly. The term "shovelware" came to prominence during the Wii era.

Although, I do remember the Nintendo Seal of Approval meant something for the NES.

Then again, Atari 2600 had ET.

MaximusPrime_42d ago

Exputer has been providing terrible random opinion pieces lately. It's getting so poor, this is why I didn't bother approving.

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270°

Why Is No One Making AAA Horror Games Anymore?

Saif from eXputer inquires, "Despite the everlasting popularity of the genre, why hasn't there been a good AAA horror game in a while now?"

Jin_Sakai1d 12h ago

Because the gaming industry is obsessed with live service games.

Rynxie23h ago

Because he touches himself at night to characters like lady Dimitrescu.

Crows9020h ago

You're the one still thinking about her

Rynxie20h ago

@crow

Did I give away your secret? It's okay, if you sit on your hand and numb it, you can pretend it's her playing with your little stick.

MaximusPrime_1d 12h ago

Good for me, I have no interests in horror games

-Foxtrot1d 3h ago

Even when they do it's first person trying to copy Outlast, Five Nights, P.T etc

I think the Dead Space / RE2 / RE4 Remake and the Evil Within 2 showed you can have a good story based, third person survival horror game.

jeromeface1d ago

remakes is another good reason

thesoftware73023h ago

Calisto Protocol was also fun with fantastic presentation.

FinalFantasyFanatic16h ago

I feel like we haven't had much in the way of horror games for years, I think it became rare after the PS2/PS3 gen. Maybe i'll pick up that Crow Country that recently came out, that looks good.

Venoxn4g14h ago

Crow Country needs some more love.. and more exposure

Redemption-641d 1h ago

Because outside of a fee games, most don't sell that well

Crows9020h ago

So in other words...AAA publishers don't have creativity or passion for games.

CrimsonWing691d 1h ago

Didn’t we have Dead Space Remake and Resident Evil 4 Remake last year?

thorstein1d 1h ago (Edited 1d 1h ago )

Among others

And isn't Dying Light 2 a horror game?

Scissorman1d ago

And Alan Wake 2 and Alone in the Dark.

on_line_forever8h ago

I like Alone in the dark but it's not AAA game

richardmmorales16h ago

We also had The Quarry and The Dark Pictures The Devil In Me.

Show all comments (49)
150°

N64: Recompiled — Creating Native PC Ports Is A Godsend For Game Preservation

"In a time when companies don't care about preserving games, I have high respect for the creators of projects like N64: Recompiled." - Hanzala from eXputer.

gold_drake3d ago

it is, i might be finally able to play Snowboard kids 1 full screen ha.

purple1012d ago

il beat you to the ski-lift,

framerate on snowboard kids was shocking, do you remember./?

talking of shocking framerate and kart racers style games,
Sony had a gem on ps3, with 'Modnation Racers' but again, framerate was so terrible, still fun though, indeed, when is drifting sideways not fun, the answer is never. we have not seen enough of that game, technically some people made race tracks/games in dreams and little big planet etc, but its just not the same,!!! grrrrr

morning rant over.

here, relive some ,memories. https://www.youtube.com/wat...

itBourne2d ago

The load time on ModNation where also excruciatingly long... But man oh man I wish that game took off more, so much fun! Could turn off garbage rubber banding, I had karts with 100's of stickers to design some crazy cool stuff, custom tracks. Fantastic undeappreciated game

gold_drake1d 23h ago

SK1 had a fairly good framerate. sk2 maybe not so much ha

Redgrave1d 23h ago

Some food for thought:

Would you donate your physical copy of a really rare/expensive cartridge (Conkers's BFD, Bomberman 64 Second Attack, Ogre Battle 64, the two Castlevania titles, etc) to those managing this project for the greater good of getting them preserved online for all to experience at some point?

UltimateOwnage1d 23h ago

As long as it meant they never took money from Patreon and invited a DMCA takedown / lawsuit by Nintendo to take it all away. After seeing the whole debacle with Yuzu I now question how long any of these teams can maintain game preservation efforts through emulator development, or otherwise.

franwex1d 20h ago

I mean. They may borrow them…

Profchaos1d 17h ago

Is it realistically needed though I would not personally give anyone my old carts for games that are already persevered and easily available online

Inverno1d 23h ago

The snippet of ray tracing at the end of the og trailer was low-key amazing. I found out thanks to Nerrel who also made a texture pack for MM, and i can't wait to see how much more great this game will be in the near future. With model swaps, ray tracing, retextures, and a more quicker process than decompilation, it's gonna bring new life to N64 games.

Profchaos1d 17h ago

There might need to be a bit of clarification recompilation is not the same as decompilation.

This is basically a container to excite the rom within but allows for all sorts of beat additions and tricks like new lighting effects such as ray tracing to be added.

But decompilation would ultimately be king as it allows for a widespread porting capabilities and uses the assets from games to build a native install for PC or whatever the target system is e.g Mario 64 for PC or sonic mania for psvita / wii

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70°

How EA & Xbox Are Defining Gaming's Bleak Future

Xbox and EA have recently made baffling moves that define how bleak the future of the gaming industry is with major companies at the helm. Ryan Bates from "Last Word on Gaming" posits in this op-ed that maybe it's not ineptitude, but intention.

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lastwordongaming.com
Profchaos5d ago (Edited 5d ago )

Name someone that isn't trying to look us these days maybe cdpr.

Take two, ubi and yes even PlayStation are pushing us to own nothing and be happy with our live service ad injected games on a sub so they can raise prices at will and take access away when they see fit.

If it keeps up I'll be a full time retro gamer and this industry will be crashing hard

As rediculas as it sounds we need government reforms to defend consumer rights

gold_drake1d 13h ago

i can tell you that the government or any government has our backs on this. the glo al trend goes to digital.

wait until money is digital only. we are already on the way there.