8 - Thoughts About the State of the Videogame Market Mar 07, 2011 12:57AM PST

So here I am on my 8th blog, at a videogaming website, and just now beginning to address my thoughts that directly pertain to videogames.  Suffice to say, this is somewhat reflective of my current interest in videogaming as a whole.  Don't get me wrong, I still play.  I recently finished Mad World, Link's Crossbow Training, consumed all things Dead Rising, and am vigilantly working towards a 100% score at Super Smash Brothers: Brawl.  The thing is there's nothing new that excites me, and it's been that way for a while.  In some ways, I was let down by this generation of consoles.

I eagerly anticipated this generation of gaming.  HD graphics.  Motion controls.  Improved online interface.  I couldn't wait to exprience this, and I bought a 360 and Wii early in their cycle.

Things started well enough.  Wii Sports was a party game sensation.  Halo 3 and Gears of War were played regularly.  Mario Kart Wii delivered a fantastic 12-player online experience.  The first 2 years of this generation were the most enjoyable years of my gaming life.  Then things started to change.

My first grievance is with Xboxlive.  Does anyone understand how it's leaderboard works?  Why do some players with worse stats rank higher than others?  It doesn't make sense to me.  

Then came the cheaters.  Leaderboards were hacked.  Modded systems made their way onto the playing field.  People began messing with their router to glitch a game and notch a cheap victory, or leave at the last second to avoid a loss, or worse, credit me the loss when I was ahead.  And let's not forget those wacky glitch exploits.  Players I know who never used exploits were getting their records reset, undue punishment from their game developer overlords.  This ruined the experience for me to the point where I can't take it seriously anymore.  Why get excited for an online experience when I know it's going to get warped by exploits that throw off the balance?  

The motion control market which started strong on the Wii with Wii Sports and a handful of other games eventually went under-utilized.  The Wii went the route of Nintendo's handhelds, getting dumped with subpar shovelware, guided by the Wii's superior market penetration filled with parents who buy cartoon brand name items for their kids and new gamers who don't properly research a game before buying it.  I'm sure many b-rate developers made a killing on the Wii.  But where's the next motion controlled killer app?  Did Nintendo already give up on that?

As the videogame market became more lucrative, the business itself has changed.  To meet the bottom line many companies merged or were bought out by the likes of EA and Activision.  The market is dominated by these wannabe monopolies, and in my opinion it's stifling the spirit out of it.  Due to this, I am honoring an active boycott of both EA and Activision.  I can't blame everything on the publishers, though.  The market is what it is, and we live in a capitalistic society.  There's always going to be people with money to spend, and some of that will be on crap games.  So be it.

Another factor that plays in my waning interest is the fact that the bar for quality has been set tremendously high.  In older generations we had better graphics, sound and playability to look forward to in the future.  As it stands now, there isn't much room for improvement on a technical scale.  How much better can the graphics and sound get?  The market of 3D visuals is in its infancy, but will it be enough to generate interest in the next generation of consoles?  Will there even be a next generation?  The main area of improvement is now in ideas, and, from I've seen, it's the simpler indie game developers who are carrying that torch.

Having said all of that, I can't fathom a day when I completely lose interest in videogames.  I'm actually pretty excited to try the 3DS.  I have hope for 3D gaming.  Maybe I'm too much of a perfectionist, or too distracted by poor market standards to appreciate the recent masterpieces that have come along.  Maybe my personal standard of quality is too high.  I just think that the current generation could, or perhaps should, be better than it's been.

Edit | Delete | Unpublish

• 
• Share it:
• E-mail it
•  1

Comments (2)

• 

• I feel it too

  Posted: Mar 07, 2011 12:00AM PST by  BrokenH
  

  I'd say my time spent with the PS2 was my favorite era in gaming. Once I got to the Xbox 360 I was a tad put off by dlc schemes,rushed games riddled with bugs,and having to pay for Live. True, it isn't always thorns. There are some great titles still dotting the lanscape. It's just the business side of gaming screams "greedy cash grab" with more frequency now than it did in the past.

  Flag | Reply | Delete

  • 

  • I hear you

    Posted: Mar 08, 2011 12:00AM PST by  Raised_on_Nintendo
    

    Honestly, I'm a bit hypocritical in my stance against monopolies as Nintendo held one during the days of 8-bit gaming.  They ruled it with an iron fist, employing strict licensing guidelines for anyone releasing games on their system.  I think competition is a good thing, and it's allowed for faster increase in quality.  If Nintendo had it's way, we may very well be stuck in a previous generation of consoles as Nintendo milked out every last penny that they could.  

    I agree with the dlc cash grabs.  There are too many map pack, weapons packs, etc that could easily be included on the original disc.  That's why I'm very choosy about what games I buy nowadays, and a major reason why I stick with Nintendo.