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How are you feeling about the gaming landscape currently?

entremet

entremet

Member
A few major things have happened in gaming this year, Nintendo looks to be on rebound on the product end with the Switch, the growth of the GaaS business model, and Japan releasing some excellent software at the beginning of the year.

Microtransactions are growing, see NBA2k and Destiny 2 and the indie continue to put out interesting projects that would not be possible through traditional funding means.

My biggest concern is Capcom. I'm excited for Monster Hunter World, but it seems they're very conservative, outside of RE7. They just remind of Konami of the last generation, waiting for the shoe to drop and maybe do other things.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the industry as a consumer. I have enough games to play and look forward to. I'm loving these smaller and cheaper AAA experiences, Uncharted The Lost Legacy, Dishonored Death of An Outsider, and HellBlade. I hope this becomes a viable entry as the 60 dollar versions of these games are just too long honestly.

Regarding VR, I'm waiting for Gen 2.

But I'd say I'm rather optimistic about the industry right now. My tastes are being catered to and I'm not without want.

What about you?
 
A

Anno

Member
About as good as I ever have. There's a lot of scummy stuff out there and that sucks but there are so many great games that aren't involved in anything shitty that it's easy to avoid if you want to.
 
C

Clarkus Darkus

Member
Traditional gaming for me is now just same old same old, New Fifa, New Cod etc.... 4K HDR and graphics themselves have reached a point where they all look similar.

PSVR is the only thing that gave me the wow back into gaming, Resident Evil 7 in VR was truly immersive and playing Farpoint in VR has made Destiny 2 seem such a step back.

Gaming on a TV will always be the norm, But when i want fun and new experiences in gaming i turn to VR.
 
C

catpurrcat

Member
I am disappointed. We have had the best year but there are far too many full priced "half releases" that lock features and story lines begin DLC or season passes.

Luckily EB in canada has had a couple of double trade in deals which turn these short half games into rentals.

Then alternatively you have full fledged masterpieces like Persona 5, BOTW, and Horizon. The Yakuza games. Lost Legacy (half game is half price!)

I've transitioned to solely role playing games, fighting, and sports, the latter two have recently fallen for the micro transaction trend.
 
S

Serenitynow

Member
I've definitely been more invested. Mainly just gaming on my Switch these days. I have a PS4 but only a handful of games for it. I had way more games for my Xbox 360 last gen. I don't pay for online on PS4 so all this GaaS crap means nothing to me other than the amount of games that could potentially interest me will keep going down and down. I'm looking forward to VR when Nintendo does it. Not saying that as a fanboy, I just truly believe in their current stance, which is VR for gaming will take off when it is cheap and accessible, convenient to use, and has killer apps that are games, not experiences, that can be played for extended periods of time.
 
K

Kaako

Felium Defensor
alr1ght said:
Exploitative and gross for the most part
Click to expand...
I still love it but damn if this ain't the truth. Seems like the majority of the workforce is slaving away finding new ways to milk their potential customers to the last drop.
 
E

esmith08734

Member
It's solid. Things have gotten a little carried away, if that makes sense. The simplicity from last generation is certainly missed. I don't necessarily dislike the incremental console upgrades and I do think games have never been better.

My biggest complaint, I guess, is games are trying to do too much lately. I don't mean anything political by that - I am talking strictly gameplay. I think games lost a bit of simplicity this generation and I am a bit sour on.

It's basically why I like Nintendo the most.
 
Hale-XF11

Hale-XF11

Member
Brand new AAA single players games for $20-30 are making me feel pretty good. That and I still have a backlog of games to play, which means I'm probably not gonna run out of great games to play anytime soon.
 
K

Kiddy Dong

Member
This is simultaneously the best and worst year for gaming.

Sony and Nintendo (especially Nintendo) are absolutely killing it in terms of quality games releasing. Indies are also having a banner year too it seems.

On the other hand, this is also the year where we passed the tipping point on gacha style microtransactions and loot boxes. As long as they remain wildly profitable they are going to continue to spread like a plague to more titles in the future. Personally I believe loot boxes to be the worst thing to ever happen to gaming.
 
L

Lime

Member
Games as service are pushing me completely away from mainstream AAA games. The inherent nature of multiplayer, loot boxes, and constant updates put less emphasis on the things I like: narrative, atmosphere, themes, characters, ambience, quality over quantity. The thing that AAA Games going for them is the pretty graphics, which really amaze me though and it’s incredible what artists across the world are able to achieve.

Of course, the indie and middle tier is where it’s at (the last couple of years at least).
 
Daymos

Daymos

Member
Zelda and the switch have brought me back to Nintendo and the way gaming used to be with cartridges and single player game experiences. I don't like games as a service, multiplayer-required, nor microtransactions in the least so I've nearly given up all gaming other than the switch, 3ds, and classic virtual console games.

I feel there's enough of a niche for me though. I'm in to classic jrpgs like octopath traveler, I'm interested in mario and xenoblade2, and there's tons of great stuff on 3ds (just got metroid 2 of course). I'm happier than I have been in years really.
 
Laieon

Laieon

Member
I think it's the best it's been in a very long time. I've played more games this year than I have the past 3 or 4.
 
S

Surfside

Banned
I think the current landscape is pretty good.
I feel there is enough variety in games now, that anybody will find something that suits their taste.
This wasn't the case a few years back, where many genres lied dormant and the indy scene was in its infancy still.
As for microtransactions, well they seem to be a needet evil. And if they help in not splitting the community, as most publishers make their money in selling you cosmetics and not map packs, i'm okay with them.
The only problem i have is that most pubs don't give you a way to buy items directly. No you only get a chance to aquire one via rng. And that i find pretty scummy.
 
R

RRockman

Banned
Metroid came back

Sonic came back

Zelda 1 type openness came back

SM64 type gameplay came back






But Capcom slammed the door in Megaman's face.


It's bittersweet.
 
O

orava

Member
bc3DFhj.jpg
 
T

The God

Member
I'm concerned about the future of consoles

New boxes at least every three years with growing game budgets, developer crunch and the continued encroachment of microtransactions

It doesn't seem promising. Currently I guess things are okay.
 
J

Jintor

Member
sure wish there were less giant racist/sexist manchildren in it

other than that the games are damn good this year and the osts, too
 
T

Theblackrain

Member
I'm angry at the proliferation of loot crates/boxes and microtransactions especially in full priced, single players game.

I'm disappointed in the apathy of the my fellow gamers who either don't care or defend the bad practices of multinational publishers.
 
Fbh

Fbh

Member
I'm happy.

Lots of amazing games have released over the past few months and there's more comming

Japanese games seem to be in a new type of golden age with stuff like Nioh, Breath of the Wild, Persona 5, Nier, Yakuza and more all released within like 6 months. And best of all, all of these games seem to be selling well.

Nintendo is finally back in a really good place and have released the console I allways wanted them to make (handheld I can also play on the TV).
 
C

Cerium

Member
entremet said:
My biggest concern is Capcom. I'm excited for Monster Hunter World, but it seems they're very conservative, outside of RE7. They just remind of Konami of the last generation, waiting for the shoe to drop and maybe do other things.
Click to expand...

Unlike Konami, Capcom doesn't have "other things" to fall back on.
 
D

DriftingSpirit

Member
I am liking the AA type titles. Ratchet and Clank, Crash, The Lost Legacy, Hellblade, etc... I don't have much time for bigger titles now so these smaller, quality titles do me well.
 
B

BlueSparrow

Member
Love the rise of the $40 games, there were a lot of games this year i expected to be 60 but turned out to be 40. This is a wonderfull price slot that i feel has been untouched for quite some years.

I try to steer clear of games that dive too deep into micro-transaction culture. I just stopped buying them, at least it feels like i'm doing something to go against it by just not giving them my money.

I do however like the idea of paying slightly more for a special version of some sorts that let's those people play that game a couple days early. It would seem to me this is a pretty decent alternative for getting more money for a game from the people who would gladly spend it without ruining the actual game itself.
 
A

Ahasverus

Member
It's getting scary again, but I think that always happens halfway through a generation when publishers start wanting more money.

It's still better and more varied, healthy, than it was at this point last gen, who took so many studios from us because people only wanted dude bro brown shooters.
 
A

Ascheroth

Member
I don't like the trend with lootboxes, microtransactions in single player games and the shift to GaaS.

But the majority of the games that employ those don't appeal to me to begin with, so it doesn't really affect me all that much.

The mid-budget and indie-tier games have been killing it.
 
SmokedMeat

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
Worried. Especially when I'm seeing well made games fail to gain an audience. These things costs a lot of money to make, and failing right out of the gate isn't good.
 
hemo memo

hemo memo

Gold Member
alr1ght said:
Exploitative and gross for the most part
Click to expand...

Yeah sadly the marketing teams at these companies are impressive in coming up with anti-consumer creative ideas to squeeze as much from you as possible.

On the bright side, we’re getting really good games.
 
K

kadotsu

Banned
I take a look at the big publishers and I'm left with a profound feeling of indifference and boredom. EA is the safest it has ever been on a high budget. They focus on multiplayer, which I don't care about but they are draining their audience via post purchase monetization, which I dislike.
Activision will ride the a small wave of nostalgia titles in the next years thanks to Crash but generally they are also in the market of creating high budget monetization machines.
Ubisoft feels like a publisher that tries to bring some freshness to the GaaS industry but they often stumble in post launch support. They are also clumsy/borderline malicious with monetization.
T2 has R* and Firaxis, which I care about. They don't monetize the singleplayer, so they are fine with me. If I liked MP I would loathe them. Same with Bethesda, but I hope their mod bullshit fails.
WB is the worst.

Even with all that ranting I still am loving the current state. Almost all Jp. pubs had a great year, their scummy practices are mostly on mobile and they are finally pumping money into console games again. I simply don't have enough time to play everything.
 
J

jacobs34

Member
The microtransactions have pushed me out of playing a lot of big name titles. I'm an absolute die-hard hoops/2K guy but I can't buy 2k18 in good conscience given how pay to win that game has become.

The amount of great indie games right now is pretty staggering. You could honestly only play smaller titles and never run out of fun games to play.

I think Nintendo made a super cool console, and is making some of its most exciting first part games that we've seen in over a decade.

I thought the beginning of this year was really incredible. Having games like Nioh, Yakuza, Nier, Zelda, and Horizon all come out so close together was amazing.

The halfsteps that Sony and Microsoft are making in their hardware development seem baffling to me. I've never thought about putting together a gaming PC until Microsoft announced the Xbox One X.

Outside of microtransactions and console hardware, I love where the gaming industry is at. The variety and diversity of games coming our right now is the number one thing the industry has going for it.
 
T

The ๖ۜBronx

Member
Games are getting better, players are getting worse. Or they're just more noticeable now. Or my tolerance levels for toxicity or elitism have fallen as I've got older. I don't know, I just find the games I play to be better and better but find more and more things within the community I disagree on. Thankfully there's a large pushback on toxicity, racism, elitism and the like but I still see it frequently. Doesn't affect my enjoyment of games but is sad to see.
 
B

Bobo Dakes

Member
Impossible to keep up with.

I own a Switch and already have a backlog.
Samus Returns and Pokemon Gold on the 3DS and possible Ultra Sun later this year.

I'm struggling to keep up as a single adult. Shoutout to parents who are able to keep this hobby.

As for the industry itself, game development is still a thankless job. I'm a fan of some devs/pubs, skeptical about others.
 
U

UpDownLeftRight

Banned
There's nothing Destiny 2 does with mictostransactions that we haven't already seen before. GAAS on the other hand is getting worse. At this rate it won't be long before I just stop playing games if they continue to go too far down this road.

They're expecting too much ongoing investment now and if it continues to worsen I don't think I'll want any part of it. I'm okay with a few of them, but it's seeping it's way into everything now.
 
G

GamerJM

Banned
It's fine, but it's hard for me to come to grips that mid-tiers aren't coming back in the way I want them to (with full retail released games with a quantity on the level of PS2 and early gen 7 era). The average quality of what I'm buying might be higher than ever though, there's enough out there to keep me happy.

Like everyone else said microtransactions and whatnot are gross but I'm able to avoid that with what I play for the most part.
 
Z

Zushin

Member
I'm kinda of burnt out on gaming TBH. Only Wolfenstein really excites me atm. Can't seem to get into many games these days.
 
C

CanUKlehead

Member
I'm now getting real tired of microtransactions and day one updates. Not entirely sure how they became expected necessary evils.

Also, possibly related, in general, I feel this generation overall has kind of sucked compared to the previous ones. There have been a few good (even great) games, but overall, feels like we should be swimming in more modern classics the last 4 years. 2017 has saved it sonewhat, but are the big games this fall still the same franchises from half a decade ago (CoD, Mario, Assassin's, Forza/GT)?

Just my opinion/perspective. Felt like I could've not had a 'next gen' console til last year and I would've been fine.

*shrugs*
 
1

120v

Member
entremet said:
My biggest concern is Capcom. I'm excited for Monster Hunter World, but it seems they're very conservative, outside of RE7. They just remind of Konami of the last generation, waiting for the shoe to drop and maybe do other things.
Click to expand...

they just aren't in good enough financial shape to appease 'fans' at the moment. we all want DMC5, Dragons Dogma 2, mega man, ect but they have to be conservative. maybe MHW will hit big worldwide and next gen can free them up a bit

difference between them and Konami is they're not cutting and running from the industry
 
D

DeadlyParasite

Member
Not nearly enough interesting singleplayer experiences as there used to be. I have no interest in games as a service so I'm pretty much left to play nothing these days.
 
Z

Zackat

Member
As a primarily PC game player there is an embarrassment of riches. Lots of great games that I can play for free. SFV being crossplay with PS4 is the best thing. Indie games are as interesting as ever.

I am feeling good about gaming right now.
 
L

low-G

Member
I feel it's possibly more 'spread out' than ever.

No platform is really dominating the games department, no company is really dominating quality games.

There were favorites I played this year on many platforms. My first dabbling in modern VR.

There's more and more strength and quality behind indie games. Japan is continuing to make a small comeback in influence across the board. China is starting to enter the gaming equation more (especially in VR).

I don't know if I'd call it a 'time of change' cuz things are always changing, but things are less uniform and predictable than ever, I'd say.
 
2

21x2

Member
Despite the undeniable quality of a lot of AAA games, I can't help but feel that part of the industry is really hitting a stale point. The PS4/XBO library feels a lot like a polished up version of last generation. It's hard for me to get enthusiastic about it. Of course there are games that break this pattern, like Mario+Rabbids, but mostly I feel like I've seen everything. Even new IPs fail to catch my interest for the most part - Anthem is the most "been there, done that" thing I've ever seen.
Microtransactions and preorder bullshit makes me angry and disgusted by the medium, but the staleness of AAA is in some ways worse, because it makes me apathetic.

But, that's just AAA-land! Thankfully there are indies and Nintendo, and they're what keeps me interested in the medium now. Indies keep breaking new ground with interesting gameplay, art styles and storytelling, daring to explore new stuff that the AAA behemoths won't risk their dollars on. The Switch is amazing, and when a new interesting indie game is announced the first thing I look for is a Switch version. If there is one, that's what I'm going for. Nintendo has had an incredible year and they only look to continue excelling, single handedly putting out both better and more diverse games than the entire AAA competition.
 
Petrae

Petrae

Member
Microtransactions pushed me away from two games I had strongly considered buying (NBA 2K18, Samus Returns) and stand out like sore thumbs on other games that I did buy (Madden, NHL). Seeing a shitton of already-available DLC for Xenoverse 2 on Switch is also incredibly disappointing.

Greedy industry is gonna greed, I guess, and it's only going to get worse from here.
 
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