Video Games Went Down the Wrong Path!

I went to a Retro Arcade over the weekend and had a great time, so much so I realized that today's video games are not nearly as fun. I have said many times that modern video games are just "push button movies". Most code monkeys have no idea how to construct an interesting story because they are too wrapped up in graphics. Modern video games went down the path of better and better graphics when they should have concentrated on better CONTROL!

Case in point and a highlight from the arcade was the Atari Star Wars game.



Simple vector graphics but the feel of the controls was awesome! I had forgot how good it felt, just like piloting a ship, nice heavy grip, and super responsive. The game would lose everything on a home system. Pushing a few buttons would not compare.



My all time favorite from back in the day Tempest! Yes, I have all the Tempest version son console but they are all terrible for one simple reason. CONTROL
To play this game right you need the heavy duty spinning wheel control and then this plays like a dream. I'm ok with the vector graphics and in fact they add to the charm of the game!



The final gem was the Addams Family Pinball machine! I have the Pinball Arcade version on Xbox and playing this real table in person just reinforced that the console versions of pinball are NOTHING like real pinball!

So given the choice do you want better graphics or better control! If I want good graphics I will watch a CGI movie... Code Monkeys cant do good story lines in games. The best story line in a game has already been done in the NES game Bionic Commando...no game can top that ending!

So for me , I will take better control, after all I am a CONTROL FREAK!

get off my lawn!

I dunno, I played that Star Wars arcade game to death (even the one in a simulated cockpit) and it didn't feel at all like piloting a ship. It felt like manning a gunner station on a flying fortress or something. They had actual piloting video games back then and there were glorious (Top Landing, Steel Talons (I still drive my car in a weird way because of the years i played this arcade game)).

Playing Elite Dangerous on my home console really felt like piloting a small starship, super complicated, very automated, yet manual at the same time.

I'm hoping No Man's Sky will scratch that real piloting itch too.

I dunno, you sound like an old man. Today's games are more immersive and that's what it takes to make it feel real.

For modern day video game stories, it's hard to top Mass Effect (I was actually motivated to save the galaxy), Bioshock (Ayn Rand come to life? yes please), Portal 2 actually had a really decent storyline, Red Dead Redemption (you can't top that shocker of an ending), Walking Dead (at the risk of Booth throwing up a vid, I'll admit a cried a bunch at the end of this game)

I'm sure Barnes would have some story words to say about the MGS series too,


I agree about pinball, even when the physics are perfectly simulated, it doesn't compare to the real thing. I hate pinball anyway. At least you're not wrong about everytyhing

Looks like someone hasn't played Spelunky.

Or hell, even Super Meat Boy.

You want control, you got it.

At least you're not wrong about everytyhing

There are many many people in my camp...the retro arcade was packed, Gamestop is now selling retro games, there are 3 retro games shops in the mall near me!
have modern video games peaked? If not, why the return to 8 and 16 bit? Nostalgia? or could it be better game play or simply MORE FUN!!!!

Looks like someone hasn't played Spelunky.

Or hell, even Super Meat Boy.

You want control, you got it.

Played then both, both can be reviewed in one word, CRAP

The*Mad*Gamer wrote:

At least you're not wrong about everytyhing

There are many many people in my camp...

You sound like Trump.

On a relative scale, there's not very many at all . Games industry is expected to be worth more than $100 billion in the next three years. Retro gaming is super niche.

There's certainly something to be said for the simple arcade days. But the fact is, all arcade games are the same note, over and over, since they are designed to snatch quarters from pockets. There's no opportunity to tell a story, even if you wanted to. And I don't think 2 lines of text while the next level of Golden Axe loads counts as a story. Note that I generally don't care about stories in games and really just want to get down to it; but with today's massive memory allotments, I'll take Borderlands over Double Dragon.

I love arcade games and have a mame cabinet in my basement. But it's a different sort of experience.

Steve Weeks -- issuing unsubstantiated, purposefully provocative crank judgments since who the fuck cares when.

Steve Weeks -- issuing unsubstantiated, purposefully provocative crank judgments since who the fuck cares when.

Simply an opinion piece, not a judgment. You saw the author, you are obviously not a fan, so why did you enter my thread? To cause trouble?

Please send hate mail directly to my private email here rather than try to derail this important discussion.

hotseatgames wrote: But the fact is, all arcade games are the same note, over and over, since they are designed to snatch quarters from pockets. There's no opportunity to tell a story, even if you wanted to.

All games are designed to snatch quarters from pockets, be it through renting of a cutting-edge machine in a public space or by making you purcharse the game outright. It's also hard for me to accept that all arcade games are "the note over and over" and not apply that to every single other game you know?

There are good games in all categories and there are good and bad arcade games just like there are good and bad eurogames, or good and bad economic games. These kind of sweepong statements really don't say much because they don't adress the games themselves as much as the perception we have of them.

Black Barney wrote: On a relative scale, there's not very many at all . Games industry is expected to be worth more than $100 billion in the next three years. Retro gaming is super niche.

While I think you are right, it's true that retrogaming is in vogue and far, far more popular than it might seem at first glance. It's not mainstream or anything, but it's one of the biggest currents in gaming culture and even those that don't play old games speak positively of it.

Tempest is one of my all-time favorite games...when I was a kid, I was preternaturally good at it for some reason. There aren't many arcade cabinets I would want to actually buy, but that would be one.

The thing is Steve, the spirit of arcade games is VERY much alive if you look in the right place. Look at Crossy Road. That is totally a classic arcade game. The difference is that it's now F2P (which is often basically "insert coin" updated to 2015), instead of 1,000,000 scores you get coins and a basic step count, and it has pixel graphics. But more importantly, it's on your phone. Geometry Wars- any of 'em- is very directly inspired by Robotron 2084 and Tempest. I would say that over the past decade, classic arcade style gameplay has made a huge comeback, a lot of it thanks to mobile gaming.

Now, when you start getting into more story driven games...this made me think of an obvious but kind of fine detail about the history of video games.

Back in the late 70s, early 80s video games were very much something that you did OUT OF THE HOME. You went to an arcade for an hour or two on Friday night, spent ten bucks on quarters, and maybe even ate a shitty hot dog there for dinner. That kind of environment engendered more skill-based, high score-focused types of games. The excitement wasn't in the narrative or characters, it was in seeing how far you could get on your last quarter or plugging them to try to unseat ACE from his perch on top of the high score screen.

At first, home consoles tried to bring the arcade home, but in the home setting all of those qualities of arcade games don't work quite as well (at least before online play and leaderboards). Games were still fun. But it was really what was going on in computer games that changed things, and it's probably the "wrong path" that you're alluding to indirectly. Because computer games were built from the ground up to be played IN THE HOME, and that meant that they could take more time to establish characters, stories, settings and more complex gameplay.

But then you had the NES happen, that sort of pushed the arcade-style gameplay into the home with more character, more narrative and more emphasis on "completing" the game rather than "competing" with it or through it.

Moving on into the 1990s, you start to see the shift (especially after games such as Final Fantasy VII) to "experience" games with big budgets and elaborate storylines and multifaceted gameplay. PC games were developing almost separately at this time, digging deep into more and more complex designs that again, were the product of this move from the arcade setting to the home setting.

I guess what I'm getting out, trying to sort this out while typing...is that putting games in the home is what lead to all of the stuff that you don't like.

The*Mad*Gamer wrote:

Looks like someone hasn't played Spelunky.

Or hell, even Super Meat Boy.

You want control, you got it.

Played then both, both can be reviewed in one word, CRAP

I'm going to not only disagree with you here, but take it a step further and say you flat out WRONG on those games, but yeah, I do prefer retro gaming. Though it's not the push for better graphics that has diluted the medium. The desire to infuse games with meaningful stories (which, btw, looking at the medium as a generalized whole, is an entirely failed effort) has lead to "less rock, more talk." Personally, I blame Final Fantasy VII for leading designers into thinking they're film directors.To add insult to injury, stuff like the "sports game" angle that AAA publishers have taken to their top tier franchises has further ruined things.

I actually went to a retro gaming expo over the weekend. It was awesome, huge turn out. Made me happy to see how many people still care about this stuff. I picked up Castlevania III and Bionic Commando for the NES and a copy of E.T. For the 2600. As it turns out, NOT the worst game ever made, he'll, extremely far from it. Another thing the Internet is wrong about.

The desire to infuse games with meaningful stories (which, btw, looking at the medium as a generalized whole, is an entirely failed effort) has lead to "less rock, more talk." Personally, I blame Final Fantasy VII for leading designers into thinking they're film directors

Great comment and totally agree! But may have started before Final Fantasy VII

Back in the late 70s, early 80s video games were very much something that you did OUT OF THE HOME. You went to an arcade for an hour or two on Friday night,

Just had an interesting discussion about this with a friend. Yes, back then you used to eat at home and then go out for your entertainment. Today you go out to eat and get your entertainment at home. Many think this is not a change for the best!

Many think that any type of change is not for the best