Retrogamers Your Thoughts on Todays Games? (Xbox, PS3, Sega, AI)

[User1771]

So people who owned a Atari 2600 or a NES or a Sega Genisis or if you are really retro an old Pong console what are your thoughts in todays games in terms of:
Sound
Graphics
Consoles/Console Wars
Controllers
and
PC games
What are your thoughts on these kinds of things?

I know I kind of like to ask these kinds of questions a lot but the topic is kind of fascinating.

[Dd714]

Originally Posted by STB93

So people who owned a Atari 2600 or a NES or a Sega Genisis or if you are really retro an old Pong console what are your thoughts in todays games in terms of:
Sound
Graphics
Consoles/Console Wars
Controllers
and
PC games
What are your thoughts on these kinds of things?

I know I kind of like to ask these kinds of questions a lot but the topic is kind of fascinating.

Yeah I did it all - the Pong game, the original Nintendo, and then the Genesis, moving up to the Playstation platforms. I was there at the beggining, still am as time permits.
I have no nostagia where old games are concerned. Most of them sucked, Atari at one point was so bad they were throwing out useless games into landfills. Sound and graphics of course were basic, and you were limited to side-scrolling type play. But really the most frustrating aspect was being unable to save a game, so you were limited to replaying through levels you had already played dozens of times before to get to the next level. Many games were simply unplayable past the first level or two.
Nintendo's "Legend of Zelda" solved this issue somewhat with a little battery inserted into the catridge which allowed one to save game (or some used passwords that allowed one to access another level). So I see Zelda as a turning point in gaming technology.
Another turning point I think is when the technology was advanced enought to move out of side scrolling one deminsion into 3d - about the time of the first Playstation. That is when gaming started to get much more immersive and fun for me. And by then also game saving was a common feature. Then you got multiplayer via internet, which was another breakthrough.
Console wars - meaningless to me. All the systems are competitive and have pluses and minus to them that appeal to different segments. Most of the games released right now are released for both PS3 and Xbox, with very little difference in quality although you will constantly see comparisons between different fan-boys. Meaningless discussion.
PC games - now this is a bit different as I do have some preferences for older games. There are still some I play that were published in the 90's. This is a personal preference as I prefer historical-based strategic simulations where graphics and sound are not a priority, historical accuracy or AI is. Also I prefer turn based games I can play on a laptop. The problem with PC games is the latest always requires new and better hardware to run them on - better video cards, faster CPUs. I like "The Total War" series as much as the next guy, but I will only go so far to upgrade my desktop, and forget about playing it on a standard laptop.
Upon recollection their are a few old Nintendo games I remember that I would not mind repurchasing: "Mike Tyson's Punch Out", and a hockey game that I cannot recall the name of. The hockey game was just fun to play with another player, the Mike Tyson game also - probably a game worth alot of money now as this is before Tyson's misbehaving days before he became a pariah for advertisers. You fight a series of boxers until you got to Tyson, who's sprite was like 3 times as big as your small screen character. I think his fist was bigger than your character.

[Chango]

I've grown up with games too, starting with the original Atari.

This is one subject where I mostly look forward; sometimes I'll watch bits and pieces of old games I played as a kid on Youtube for nostalgia but it will be a cold day in hell before I actually want to play Pong or Super Mario Bros again.

I can't wait for the day when games are practically indistinguishable from reality, and that day isn't far off. Just look at Halo 4!

[User1771]

Originally Posted by Chango

I've grown up with games too, starting with the original Atari.

This is one subject where I mostly look forward; sometimes I'll watch bits and pieces of old games I played as a kid on Youtube for nostalgia but it will be a cold day in hell before I actually want to play Pong or Super Mario Bros again.

I can't wait for the day when games are practically indistinguishable from reality, and that day isn't far off. Just look at Halo 4!

I believe that this is going to happen sometime by 2020. I'm also excitted for Virtual reality to come back again.

[fireandice1000]

I'm not one of the first gamers but I'm a veteran like some others here and I want to share my thoughts on how the gaming industry is faring.

First problem: gaming nowadays seems to focus more on fancy graphics and sound. Even the music and sound in some games isn't great; I've heard music in some games that, while the music itself sounded good, didn't fit the game at all. Also, some game plots don't make sense. I've seen bits of Final Fantasy 13 and it comes across to me as being very watered down in comparison to previous Final Fantasies.

Second problem: too much online multiplayer crap. I don't play online games since most of the online gaming community is a bunch of pricks. I know I pissed off some people saying that but that's my opinion. I prefer the games where you could play with your friends and family in your living room in REAL life without the outside world pestering you.

Third problem: cookie cutter games. It seems like all the games now have the same plot and layout...too many of the wannabe Marine type of games now. Not everyone wants COD or Halo or Rainbow Six or whatever else they came out with.

Basically, the average video game now is a military/shooter game played online with great graphics, costs $60 new, and has no real meaningful plot. Game libraries from the 128 bit era and further back had much more variety of games if you ask me. Gaming now seems like it's sold out like many industries in America.

[Yac]

I started my gaming "career" with the Atari 2600, followed up by an Amiga 500+ and a ton of PCs, ending with a powerful gaming rig I currently have.
Quite honestly I don't get the complaining that games back then were great and new games are crap, if anything it only shows imo that those stating this have a limited knowledge of the topic.
Nostalgia is a powerful force, but don't let it control you
In my opinion, the main thing that changed, the main reason for misconceptions like this is the scale. When we had only a handful of companies producing games, many started by people that actually loved what they were doing, with the field almost unexplored, it was easier to spot a really good game. Games were created out of love, not for profit. Now, with multiple big businesses, the genres established, there is a ton of games that are made the other way around. On the other hand, there is the thriving indie games scene. There is Kickstarter, with numerous ambitious projects in the making.
Out of the 126 or so games I had on a cartridge on my Atari2600, only a handful were actually playable. The rest were broken in some way. I remember buying a used Amiga with over 100 3.5 inch discs, there were maybe 3 or 4 games on them I liked, the rest was horrible. What does it say about the quality of games back then ?:>
Graphics - apart from indie games (that are somewhat a new thing), good graphics became necessary. But not because it's the "most important part" of the game. It sometimes is, true, but generally it's just a necessity. Unless you produce a certain level of graphical quality, the chance is you won't make money on a game.
Also decent graphics doesn't necessarily mean there is no plot - Witcher 2 might be the best example here. It is one of the most beautiful games I've seen and at the same time, it has an amazing and surprising plot, full of memorable characters and choices you make that really influence the game world. For example depending on who you ally yourself with in act 1, act 2 is a completely different experience with completely different locations and NPCs.
I could rant here all day, sorry for the lack of coherency but this is a topic I know quite a bit about and it's too broad to cover in a single post. Maybe if I had several hours....So I'll end here for now with the intro movie to Witcher 2 since I used it as an example.

[st33lcas3]

Originally Posted by Dd714

But really the most frustrating aspect was being unable to save a game, so you were limited to replaying through levels you had already played dozens of times before to get to the next level.

Batteltoads was the worst! lol

Actually, that is what I don't like about today's games. It's almost too easy. With the old games you had to be careful, it made you work at beating the challenge. It made you a better gamer. If you died, you had to start over from the beginning. It also gave you a choice of restarting or coming back to it later. Most of the time I would leave the game and go do something else, then come back to it.

Now, if you die you re-spawn and continue with the game. You can literally spend hours or days playing a game by simply restarting from wherever you died. It takes some of the challenge away and makes gamers lazy. Yes there are some games where the ability to save and re-spawn do help, but not all games need this feature even though they have it.

[Velvet Jones]

Originally Posted by STB93

So people who owned a Atari 2600 or a NES or a Sega Genisis or if you are really retro an old Pong console what are your thoughts in todays games in terms of:
Sound
Graphics
Consoles/Console Wars
Controllers
and
PC games
What are your thoughts on these kinds of things?

I know I kind of like to ask these kinds of questions a lot but the topic is kind of fascinating.

I still play classics more that anything new, despite owning a Wii, PS3, and X Box 360. New games just don't thrill or hold my attention anymore. I think the fact that they've become so realistic is actually the reason. I used to be so drawn to games because of the developers ability to create an alternate reality using such limited hardware. Now that challenge is mostly gone. Only games that still interest me on newer systems is probably sports games and the occasional shooter. On the other hand, I still love certain classics. I have a dozen emulators on my PC plus the real things(500+ 2600 carts, 100+ Intellivision, and probably 100+ misc Colecovision, NES, and MasterSystem carts. I also have hundreds of computer games on disk for Apple II, Amiga, c64, and Atari 800). I probably play certain games every week. Choplifter and Karateka on the Apple II, Asteroids on the Atari. I also love to pull out Defender on the Crown on the Amiga, or Ultima IV on the Apple. To me new games lack heart. Older games were often a work of love by one or handful of developers. Modern games are souless productions by mega entertainment companies.

[Wadym]

In due time at me was Sega, then Sony1, could play all night long as some of them couldn't be saved Now have a powerful PC, but games on it aren't present. Is couple of tens old disks, but to setup games not so interestingly Maybe later, later...

[cjg5]

I started with the NES back in the late 80s and early 90s. Mario and Zelda. And Sonic on Sega Genisis. Also had the SNES not long after. Loved all of them. Super Mario Brothers 3 and Zelda 1 were perhaps the best games from that era. I also really enjoyed Bomber Man. And Mario Kart. And Jackal! Just to name a few.

Games these days just lack the feel of the old games. Some of them had too much of a difficulty drop. Some didn't transition well into 3D, and I much prefer their 2D counterparts. (Others got better in the 3D gaming world).

I sometimes replay the old classics, some of them even if for nothing more than the nostalgia.