MODERN GAMING IS FULL OF CRAP.
Seriously.
We live in a world where the market is over saturated with crappy casual games and the inevitable COD clones. Clones that put Dolly the sheep to shame, at least her life span was longer than the average Games'.
What happened to the days when games actually energised the Gamer enough for them to peel out of the groove they've carved in the couch and waddle down to buy something decent. Games that had engaging storylines, games so difficult we almost never finished them but that the challenge kept us playing them? (I still have nightmares of trying to finish Sonic 2 as a child... damn you metal sonic)
That's something else... the modern Gamers themselves. I've seen smarter and more socialy adept people on a cranial damage ward, and at least those guys have an excuse. Playing COD and other games online is an almost soul crushing experience, dealing with the slurry of half witted and almost pitiful attempts at insulting one another, normally resulting in a nonsensical string of dubious curse words.
I think i'd rather be sodomised by the tree from Evil Dead. At least Infinity Ward (god rest their souls) and Treyarch had the sense to give us a mute feature.
What kind of gaming world is that for a child? I grew up playing games that promoted persistance, team work and didn't need violance or guns to be entertaining. Kids today are constantly bombarded with peer pressure to get hold of these 18 games to fit in at school, exposing them to a world of violance and an online environment full of mindless agression and cursing, devoid of real co-operation. Desensitising them to the ideas and morality that prevent us from simply killing each other off. (although i am not opposed to the idea of letting societys' less desirable idiots killing each other off for sport, some call it heartless... i call it natural selection.)
If i wanted to do that to my kids, hell, i might as well slap a little lipstick on them and let them go stand on the street corner.
Maybe i'm being a little harsh... not all modern games/gaming is troubled. There are still games out there which break this trend. Valve, for instance, is a company i have a lot of time for.
Games like Left 4 Dead don't have a solid storyline, but one that is given through hints... small touches and inflections, left for the player to piece together. But it doesn't need a storyline, it is kept simple, fun and actually requires team work to complete. (Altough the game has caused me to develope a deep rooted sense of contempt for the AI Director, imagining him sitting in his chair, laughing at me as i get raped by special infected. I swear to god if i get one more Tank in that tunnel of love...)
Team work and comedy is also present in their newest title, portal 2. A game built on making you think outside the box, a co-op mode where you really do need to work with one another (until you deside you'd rather throw them into the goo) and writing so brilliant that wheatley actually caused me to snort cola out of my nose... maybe i shouldn't have admitted to that.
The point is that these games are the exception nowadays, not the rule. Whith new games coming like the eagerly anticipated Brink and (shock horror!) Modern Warfare 3, both looking set to be a possible dissapointment. The types of gamers like myself may well be finding it increasingly difficult to get excited about gaming. I've resorted to reading myself, that's right games industry... YOU'VE DRIVEN ME THAT FAR!
On the Hypochondria front; i have a rash on my thigh... flatmate says it's eczema, google says Malaria. Flip a coin?
To be honest, there are loads of games that are great in todays world, you just need to shy away from the X-Boxs and PS3s.
ReplyDeleteFor example, the Orcarina of Time 3D remake. Thats bound to relive the old glory days of Old School Zelda.
But I do know what your talking about, however, online was always going to bring up a bad rep amogst some people.