I hoped that I would have some news to post today, but since Friday either tends to be new releases, or an otherwise quiet day of the week in the gaming industry (because people want to play games on Friday night, amirite?), which leaves me very little to talk about. Even the papers are keeping quiet.
So I’m going to have to write this from scratch, on personal opinion. I’m going to stick to console gaming, because PC gaming is a whole different kettle of fish, and as such needs to be handled differently.
If you had said to me during the reign of the PS1 and the Nintendo64, that two generations later, gamers would no longer be the kids who have nothing better to do, or geeks that constantly reach for the top score, I would’ve laughed at you. Or asked you what you were smoking, and if I could have some. Yet, this is exactly the situation that we find ourselves in today.
The Wii and DS have, together, changed the idea of gaming from something geeks, children, and people who make money from the industry take part in. Now, a gamer is, quite literally, anyone who plays video games. As much as I would like to criticise the Wii for making ‘the new hardcore’ (as GamesRadar so aptly puts it) people who wouldn’t have bothered with a 360, or even a PS2, I can only commend them, because they have done what was deemed impossible until the Wii’s release. However, this new casual audience were not aware of the amount of shovelware around, and as such wasted money on Wii games that are essentially the same as each other, with a few slight differences. I look mainly to minigame collections for this, as the Wii and the DS seem to be the only bringers of this kind of ‘entertainment’. This in itself has set the gaming industry back at least one generation.
(All generalisations of gaming consoles will exclude the Wii from this point on as, quite frankly, it’s not for the typical definition of a gamer)
Buying a games console is now no longer a matter of what games you want to play. It’s more what experience you want. If you are a big fan of playing online, the 360 is really the only option. If you’re a film buff, have a massive LCD TV, and want to watch Hi-Def content, the PS3 is the only option, since HD-DVD lost to it in the HD-Content war. Buying a games console still weighs the games as a huge section (since exclusivity inevitably brings console sales), but the other specifications are also weighing on the decision, something which was almost entirely absent previously.
The whole idea of gaming has changed since the days of the fifth generation as well. Once again, if someone had told me that I could play against people in a different continent in real-time, I would’ve once again asked if I could have some of whatever they were on. Back then, it was just you, the console, the game and the TV, in a constant slog to finish the game, get the top score, or just have a blast. The integration of the internet into consoles (starting off with the ill-fated Dreamcast) was to revolutionise the whole idea of console gaming, and bring it’s multiplayer onto a par with that of it’s Desktop-based cousin.
Many now take for granted (unless you’re an Xbox Live Member, when you’re constantly reminded that your subscription is about to expire) that when a game is bought, you can just pop the disc into the tray, and go up against people across the world. Granted, there are exceptions to this (Mass Effect, Bioshock and Project: Sylpheed to name a few), and indeed there are multiplayer-only games (such as Warhawk and Team Fortress 2) where your only option is to go up against other people. However, an online multiplayer is often the standard. Games sales can now be broken by the strength (or lack thereof, more aptly) of it’s multiplayer, something that would never be considered before this generation.
Because of gaming’s constant exposure to the media, through high-profile advertisment campaigns, and more intrusive journalists (oh the irony), gaming now has a ‘public’ face, which is seen by all, but only believed by the non-gamers, and those that are casual gamers. The killing of Stefan Pakeerah was, without doubt, the single event that thrust gaming into the spotlight, and even now, has constantly been daubing it with the ‘Irresponsible and Graphic Detail’ brush, continuously having the actual happenings blown out of proportion, or outright ignored (A recent Commons session in the UK proving this), as well as making politicians (Read: Keith Vaz), lawyers (Read: Jack Thompson) or anyone else (Read: Cooper Lawrence and Anne Diamond) believe that they can stand up against this ‘evil’ industry, and win, turning Manhunt, Bully, and Mass Effect, into Raving Rabbids, Brain Training, and Project: Rub (Notice how all the ’safe’ games on physical medium tend to be on Nintendo’s consoles?), gaining public and critical acclaim while doing so.
The state of console gaming today is more as a topic in politics and news than anything else. The name of video games is constantly dragged through the dirt, and it annoys me to see it happen, when I have no voice to defend it with.
Going off on a tangent here, this is the exact reason why I started this site. Every time there is a news story on video games, nobody talks to the gamers. Well, now I have a voice, and when even half the world’s gamers take similar action, then the media will see their folly, and listen to us.
Tags: videogames, politics, xbox360, ps3, wii, ps2, dreamcast, n64, ps1