Shinobis and Monkeys and Pikachu Oh My!!!
I'm told that articles like this have been published innumerable times but I thought I'd put up my side of the omnipresent discussion. Well, as any normal sentient lifeform with an IQ above 100 can probably guess, I am a gamer, and I have been since the time of the majestic Sega Mega Drive 2. And as I beared uncomfortable witness to the evolution of games since Shinobi and Contra:Hard Corps...I cannot help but notice how both our own and game-developers' perception of video games has strayed almost beyond the ominous point of very little return.
Nowadays, with the advent of high-technology, our impressions of a game are based solely on its graphical power. The gameplay is more oft than not forgotten in what I can only call the darkest recesses of our very souls; resting comfortably between the memories of stealing from parents and the fact that you were once in love with Pikachu of Pokemon fame. One has to merely look at the popularity of Doom3 and the great expectations reared towards the next-generation consoles to prove my aforementioned hypothesis.
Of course, not all developers are alike. Companies like Valve, Maxis and Double Fine Studios are constantly attempting to push the boundaries of gameplay into new and bed-wetting heights. But I believe the greatest changes will be brought on by the independant game enterprises. For example, Counter-Strike is the most popular online game [witholding MMORPGs] since its inception at the hands of an independant programmer. Yes, it had started as a mod for the Half-Life game in 1999 and had catapulted its way to stardom like some kind of an extra-terrestrial mother-ship. Now it is the greatest piece of gaming software available, brandishing waves upon waves of players like some great Sword of Illumination, lighting our way into what games should be like.
So, the culmination of my great and long-winded rant is this. Next time you're playing a video game and the visuals had stolen your attentions and jaded you for decades to come, look away from the fantastically-rendered monsters and strangely proportioned females, and play the game. 9 out of the ominously obvious 11 [hahah] times, chances are that it is a wolf in sheep's clothing, in other words...a cheap 2 dollar watercolour instead of the Rembrant of the gaming revolution that you were thinking of it as.
My video games rants are far from over, child. Be sure that I shall return to open your eyes to exciting and fresh genres the likes of which the Phoenix of Gaming shall rise.
As for me...I think I need to play through The Secret of Monkey Island one more time.
Ciao.
Nowadays, with the advent of high-technology, our impressions of a game are based solely on its graphical power. The gameplay is more oft than not forgotten in what I can only call the darkest recesses of our very souls; resting comfortably between the memories of stealing from parents and the fact that you were once in love with Pikachu of Pokemon fame. One has to merely look at the popularity of Doom3 and the great expectations reared towards the next-generation consoles to prove my aforementioned hypothesis.
Of course, not all developers are alike. Companies like Valve, Maxis and Double Fine Studios are constantly attempting to push the boundaries of gameplay into new and bed-wetting heights. But I believe the greatest changes will be brought on by the independant game enterprises. For example, Counter-Strike is the most popular online game [witholding MMORPGs] since its inception at the hands of an independant programmer. Yes, it had started as a mod for the Half-Life game in 1999 and had catapulted its way to stardom like some kind of an extra-terrestrial mother-ship. Now it is the greatest piece of gaming software available, brandishing waves upon waves of players like some great Sword of Illumination, lighting our way into what games should be like.
So, the culmination of my great and long-winded rant is this. Next time you're playing a video game and the visuals had stolen your attentions and jaded you for decades to come, look away from the fantastically-rendered monsters and strangely proportioned females, and play the game. 9 out of the ominously obvious 11 [hahah] times, chances are that it is a wolf in sheep's clothing, in other words...a cheap 2 dollar watercolour instead of the Rembrant of the gaming revolution that you were thinking of it as.
My video games rants are far from over, child. Be sure that I shall return to open your eyes to exciting and fresh genres the likes of which the Phoenix of Gaming shall rise.
As for me...I think I need to play through The Secret of Monkey Island one more time.
Ciao.
posted by Shampad | 6:24 AM
1 Comments:
Well...if you read the post a little carefully...i DID mention VALVE studios [they made the half-life series].
And i am aware that Halo has awesome gameplay, but the company that made them is a subsidiary of Micro$oft...and i would rather not mention that Sithspawn here.
Cheers
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