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[zenspider]

I think there are still tons of important things happening in gaming, but the attention is really going the other way towards business.

Maybe not my best example, but there are a magnitude of more bytes on how bad Anthem is than, say [insert under the radar gem here].

That being said, if New Donk City didn't meet your epic Mario experience criteria, that's on you.

 

[Breakage]

Gaming lost its cultish experimental vibe. Back then gaming was that thing you did on the side, perhaps in secret because it was shunned by most ordinary people (even during the popular PS1 and PS2 eras). The games that came out reflected this ethos. The adverts reflected it too: remember those bizarre early PS1 and PS2 adverts, the original Xbox adverts, and those GameCube “cube” adverts? Everything had an “alternative world” feel to it.

Things started changing as consoles slowly became lifestyle devices. Now the the big games are Hollywood-style emotional “cinematic experiences”, politics has a greater influence, the iconic boot animations have been replaced with minimalist Apple-style colourless logos, and the hardware adverts are all about that "better with friends” stuff.

 

[Jagz]

There's still many great games coming out of Japan: NieR Automata, Yakuza Zero, Persona 5, Zelda BotW, to name a few.

 

[ROMhack]

I think there are still tons of important things happening in gaming, but the attention is really going the other way towards business.

Maybe not my best example, but there are a magnitude of more bytes on how bad Anthem is than, say [insert under the radar gem here].

That being said, if New Donk City didn't meet your epic Mario experience criteria, that's on you.

New Donk was hands down the best level

 

[Fbh]

It's a hobby. It's no the most important thing in my live but it's something I enjoy very much and I'm happy to dedicate some of my free time to .
I've just lost some of the "hype" surrounding games. 10 years ago I would get really hyped about new releases, I would count the days until the next anticipated game would drop and it felt like an event.
Now there are still plenty of games I'm looking forward to but I've lost that "OMG I can't wait to be there day 1 !!!!!" excitement for them.


Then again I feel like as I get older I've lost a sense of explosive excitement for most things so it's definitely not just a gaming related thing

 

[Ceadeus]

Ah yeah, with the end of the winter in sight i just unplugged my ps4. I can play coûter striée on PC and newly released black desert for xbox but that's about it.

I got to go to the gym more often because I'm about to enter the army in months to come.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

I think there has been a gradual loss of novelty, and this is common to all entertainment mediums. When I was a kid, Power Rangers was a big thing. The show itself was crappy, but the prospect of a live-action, sci-fi superhero TV show aimed directly at kids was novel. Pokemon came out around that time and also exploded in popularity. It was one of the first serial TV shows aimed at kids (whereas before most shows were episodic with a very loose overarching plot). Nowadays, neither of those things are novel. Kids shows are plentiful.

Remember that back in the days of Atari, IBM, C64, and NES, moving things around on your screen was hella novel. Nowadays, we are surrounded by screens. The novelty has worn off and the game's merits must stand out.

Personally, I'm loving gaming now more than ever, but I'm also playing a broad range of old and new games.

 

[Maguro]

I think there has been a gradual loss of novelty, and this is common to all entertainment mediums. When I was a kid, Power Rangers was a big thing. The show itself was crappy, but the prospect of a live-action, sci-fi superhero TV show aimed directly at kids was novel. Pokemon came out around that time and also exploded in popularity. It was one of the first serial TV shows aimed at kids (whereas before most shows were episodic with a very loose overarching plot). Nowadays, neither of those things are novel. Kids shows are plentiful.

It's interresting that all those stuff came from Japan. Why are the Japanese so good in creating things that we like?

 

[ROMhack]

It's interresting that all those stuff came from Japan. Why are the Japanese so good in creating things that we like?

Making up for something, I think.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

It's interresting that all those stuff came from Japan. Why are the Japanese so good in creating things that we like?

Without going too much into it, I think it was a combination of their high craftmanship (which meant the product tended to control well, run reliably, and so forth) plus the imitation of our own Western pop culture. When people think of Japanese gaming in the 80s and 90s, most franchises that come to mind are based on Western tropes as seen through the Japanese cultural paradigm. There is very little of the weeaboo "Japanese culture" that permeated the late 90s onward.

This strange East/West fusion was something unique and special to experience firsthand in the days prior to the internet.

Asteroids and Defender already had space ships. Why did Gradius and Raiden become popular?
Pitfall and Mountain King already had platforming. Why did Super Mario and Sonic become popular?
Zork and Ultima already had RPG mechanics. Why did Final Fantasy and Pokemon become popular?

 

[iconmaster]

You don't have to be excited about gaming, of course.

I'm in my forties and it feels like a golden age. Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, Red Dead Redemption 2, and indies are putting out quality titles like never before.

Gosh, I still need to try Dead Cells.

 

[Northeastmonk]

The console/PC side has certainly gotten better. However, I'd be discouraged if I went to a Dave & Busters and it was my first time going to an arcade. There are no fighting games and maybe 1 Pacman machine for the novelty of having a retro arcade game. Its great the games have great graphics, but they aren't as interesting as the arcades I grew up in. I saw an Injustice video game at Dave & Busters and it didn't even have a joystick. It was just buttons.

 

[Maguro]

Without going too much into it, I think it was a combination of their high craftmanship (which meant the product tended to control well, run reliably, and so forth) plus the imitation of our own Western pop culture. When people think of Japanese gaming in the 80s and 90s, most franchises that come to mind are based on Western tropes as seen through the Japanese cultural paradigm. There is very little of the weeaboo "Japanese culture" that permeated the late 90s onward.

This strange East/West fusion was something unique and special to experience firsthand in the days prior to the internet.

Asteroids and Defender already had space ships. Why did Gradius and Raiden become popular?
Pitfall and Mountain King already had platforming. Why did Super Mario and Sonic become popular?
Zork and Ultima already had RPG mechanics. Why did Final Fantasy and Pokemon become popular?

That's a good post.
Take for example Castlevania. In Japanese folklore or mythology there are no vampires. That franchise wouldn't even exist.

I am not so sure about space shooters though..

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

That's a good post.
Take for example Castlevania. In Japanese folklore or mythology there are no vampires. That franchise wouldn't even exist.

I am not so sure about space shooters though..

The rise of anime (which was also heavily influenced by Western pop culture) played a role too.

This poster has absolutely no "Japanese culture", and the only weirdness are the Moai heads. It could've passed as a cheap Chris Foss imitation from a lesser-known sci-fi book series.

R-Type (and a lot of hentai) drew heavy influence from HR Gieger.
CAPCOM's 194x series starred Allied planes whose mission was to wipe out the Japanese air fleet (think about the profundity of that...)
Lots of Toaplan games (Twin Cobra, Fire Shark) focused on Western-style helicopters, planes, and jets.

Japanese gamers were thrilled with Western culture, so it wasn't a one-way street. Western-influenced games sold like crazy over there, too.

 

[Maguro]

The rise of anime (which was also heavily influenced by Western pop culture) played a role too.

This poster has absolutely no "Japanese culture", and the only weirdness are the Moai heads. It could've passed as a cheap Chris Foss imitation from a lesser-known sci-fi book series.

R-Type (and a lot of hentai) drew heavy influence from HR Gieger.
CAPCOM's 194x series starred Allied planes whose mission was to wipe out the Japanese air fleet (think about the profundity of that...)
Lots of Toaplan games (Twin Cobra, Fire Shark) focused on Western-style helicopters, planes, and jets.

Japanese gamers were thrilled with Western culture, so it wasn't a one-way street. Western-influenced games sold like crazy over there, too.

Oh yeah I forgot about those artworks and all that giger inspired stuff, you are right.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

theyre not a bad form of entertainment, but thats all they are and should be.

the industry is far enough along that anyone can find something that tickles their fancy enough. if you cant be satisfied youre either burnt out or expectations are skewed.

I dont know what people expect from them anymore...

 

[BlackTron]

My gaming priorities shifted. In the past, I had no problem hunkering down in front of a TV to play Zelda or Phantasy Star Online for 5 hours, or hunch over my keyboard to play Starcraft all afternoon.

Now, while juggling more adult type shit, I still like games but I don't consider them something that fills massive blocks of time. As a kid I literally had nothing better to do; now it's just something fun to take the edge off. I love Switch because it's so easy to pick up/put down, and adaptable. I like Overwatch because in a few clicks I'm in Quick Play, can have fun with a game, and then move on.

Long, meandering JRP's and campaigns in platformer or FPS games have largely been replaced with local multiplayer games or round-based PC stuff with no time commitment necessary. Of course there are exceptions, but this is the trend for me personally the last few years.

 

[Shai-Tan]

Games in the same or similar genre are all very similar. It's hard to get excited when you've played it all before. I'm hoping tech like VR catches on eventually with a boom period of experimentation and new possibilities, particularly where input/controls meet interaction/verbs

 

[Maguro]

Games in the same or similar genre are all very similar. It's hard to get excited when you've played it all before. I'm hoping tech like VR catches on eventually with a boom period of experimentation and new possibilities, particularly where input/controls meet interaction/verbs

Also design wise.... Everything modern triple A looks like Destiny. Robosuits here Robosuits there. Okay RDR not exactly. But you get the idea..