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Doom 4: End of the Game Industry?


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Although he comes across as something of a crybaby, I do agree with him. The industry has gotten oh so stale. Most of my life I've been a pretty hard-core gamer, but you know what? I just don't enjoy it at all anymore. I haven't bought a game in god knows how long, because its all the same crap. Recycling the same conventions that have been used and abused for 15 years at least. I understand that first and foremost, game developers are running a business, and not making a work of art, but there isn't even a slight glimmer of originality out there. It's just one big graphics pissing contest over the latest and greatest shading and lighting effects.

The last game I remember buying was (unfortunately) Half-Life 2. And although it wasn't a bad game, it was the same old crap with pretty graphics. Now, with that said, the gaming industry isn't going to collapse any time soon. It continues to grow year after year. People keep waiting for "the big moment" where people get fed up and don't buy any more games, but people never get tired of mediocrity, for some reason. How else can you explain sitcoms? Or reality TV? Or...disco.

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I think WAY too much emphasis is being put on fancy graphics these days and not enough on gameplay, replayability, or even sometimes AI. I don't really care how pretty a game looks if it's boring to play it.

For me some examples of this are the first two Splinter Cell games. They were fun to play the first time, but they really got old. It didn't require any real skill or planning, basically just 'enter an area....see a pipe....climb the pipe....sneak up on a bad guy....knock him out....go to next area....repeat'. (I haven't played the latest Splinter Cell, though, which is supposed to be a lot less linear.) I played each ONE time.

Another one for me was Doom 3. I played through the first couple levels before I got bored and quit. Sure it scared me, but it got repetitious.

I'm not saying that there aren't some games that don't get it right. I don't know how many time I have played against even just the bots in Battlefield 1942 and really enjoyed it. They do a pretty good job of fighting you. (although not as good as in Universal Combat. The first time I tried to dog-fight with an AI enemy fighter it took me about 10 minutes to finally hit it).

I guess my point is graphics can only take a game so far. Pretty soon the graphics will reach a point where more developers will concentrate on gameplay and AI, and I think that is when things are really going to pick up and get interesting.

Just my .02 though.

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AI is one of the last areas in games that needs to be addressed. In the future the quality of the AI, I think, will be what differentiates the games. My hope, is that they use the AI to improve the gameplay, not to improve how cool the description on the box looks.

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I'm old so what do I know, but i think games are just fine. I mean my generation played friggin' Pong for days on end! I think that peoples expectations are too high and that they would enjoy games a lot more if they did something other than play games all the time.

There are more type of games, more platforms, more titles and more people playing games than ever before. I think a lot of Gamers dont feel special anymore cause they are no longer the fringe, but the mainstream. I mean to say the games are limited to a few types is like saying movies are dead becuase all we have are comidies , dramas and tragedies. For every Porky's there is a Raging Bull., and for every Drake and 99 Dragons there is Halo, or Half Life or Civilization. In this life there are more strikeouts than homeruns, but we always remember the homers forever.

I still feel wonder and awe when I play a great game and the AI does something unexpected. I still remember planning my first combined aerial and ground attack on a Gammulan colony, or the first time a German threw a grenade back at me after I chucked at them in MOH. I love games but when I get bored or frustrated I puy em down and play with my kid, or read a book, or go fishing or do paperwork from the office, until I get the overwhelming urge a few days later to go down in my dungeon and lose myself again for a few hours.

I guess I'm saying that I dont see a great problem , that I love games and that I feel bad for people who have lost interest. That just leaves more for me in the used section of the local gamestore.

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