Modern Gaming Media - Generations Apart

republic · January 27, 2013, 11:23:08 AM

I was listening to a podcast, they were discussing Sim City. One of the presenters asked when everyone had played Sim City for the first time, all but one said it was on the Super Nintendo.

It just occurred to me then, that the vast majority of those in charge of reviewing and promoting the games industry are a generation apart from those of us who were there early on. I first played Sim City as Sim City 2000 in 1994 on a DOS 486SX 33MHz, so I already about 5 years apart from the beginning of 'good' gaming which began with the Commodore 64/Amiga/etc.

Could the reason that many old games are not being rethought be the fact that so many simply driving the market have never experienced them?

Martok · January 27, 2013, 02:54:23 PM

I've long assumed that was one of the factors, yes.

Arctic Blast · January 27, 2013, 03:38:48 PM

Quote from: republic on January 27, 2013, 11:23:08 AM
I was listening to a podcast, they were discussing Sim City. One of the presenters asked when everyone had played Sim City for the first time, all but one said it was on the Super Nintendo.

It just occurred to me then, that the vast majority of those in charge of reviewing and promoting the games industry are a generation apart from those of us who were there early on. I first played Sim City as Sim City 2000 in 1994 on a DOS 486SX 33MHz, so I already about 5 years apart from the beginning of 'good' gaming which began with the Commodore 64/Amiga/etc.

Could the reason that many old games are not being rethought be the fact that so many simply driving the market have never experienced them?

I'm not really sure I get what you mean by old games not being rethought?

republic · January 27, 2013, 04:06:16 PM

There are a lot of older game types and mechanics that just aren't around anymore.

Kickstarter has a few projects, but I'm beginning to wonder if Kickstarter will produce more than 10% of the projects that actually get funded. FTL is great, but I'm still waiting on Stardrive and a score of others.

Arctic Blast · January 28, 2013, 04:23:40 PM

Quote from: republic on January 27, 2013, 04:06:16 PM
There are a lot of older game types and mechanics that just aren't around anymore.

Kickstarter has a few projects, but I'm beginning to wonder if Kickstarter will produce more than 10% of the projects that actually get funded. FTL is great, but I'm still waiting on Stardrive and a score of others.

I'm not really sure how many game mechanics have actually vanished entirely in to the ether. There are probably more than a few which evolved in to something else, but entirely gone?

Father Ted · January 28, 2013, 04:54:55 PM

There's also the factor that game-mechanics are to a certain extent driven by the limits of the sophistication of available hardware. The main out-of-fashion mechanic which springs to my mind is the point and click adventure. I think we only had those because that was all those old PCs could manage. Some designers worked wonders within the confines of the genre, but once we could have essentially the same thing, but in high-res first-person who really would want to go back?

Flightsims were a major part of the PC games offering back in the late 90s, but they're pretty niche now. Maybe they were so prevalent because they gave you a first-person view, but covered a chunk of the screen with a static picture (the cockpit), thus easing up on the computer power required to generate that view. Once PCs were able to draw full FP viewpoint fluidly, then FPSs became predominant.

I agree that better technology doesn't necessarily make for better games, but I also think that some game-mechanics were left behind for a reason.

LongBlade · January 29, 2013, 08:52:33 AM

Really interesting observation about game mechanics.

We are now well into a phase that I would describe as "hybrid" gaming.

Games like Supreme Commander exist that allow us to control a small segment of the battlefield, then zoom out to a global view. RTS games are coming on the market that allow us to control the overall action, but then zoom down and jump into a single unit and control it like an FPS. Call of Duty Black Ops II has scratched the surface of allowing us to to play a top shelf FPS but zoom out and control a few squads. Orcs Must Die is a tower defense game from an over-the-shoulder FPS perspective.

All of these hybrid games are doing things that we could only dream about a decade ago.

Does that mean gamers are forgetting their roots? Probably. If you walk into a game store many times kids will have a natural bias against PC gaming. They often don't realize that PCs are more powerful and capable of running more robust games than a console.

The good news is that we have folks like Sid Meier's Firaxis who remember their roots and can produce AAA titles using turn-based mechanics. Not everything that is old has been forgotten.

jomni · January 30, 2013, 12:35:19 AM

Consoles brought computer gaming to the masses. Before only a few people owned computers unlike today. We didn't notice since we are part of the few who owned computers. :)

I think the flight sim crowd is still the same crowd back then but with a few newbie joining in at a later stage. There may be less titles as compared to before but the quality is so much better and the games have longevity. Many people are still playing FSX, Falcon 4, il-2 partly due to the lack of alternatives but they must be pretty good to stand the test of time.

republic · January 30, 2013, 08:29:24 AM

I feel bad for a youngster wanting to learn a flight sim. I had the benefit of growing with the genre. I started off with Aces of the Pacific/Over Europe, SuperVGA Harrier, an apache game I can't recall, then onto the Jane's sims, Flight Sim 4.0 on to FSX etc.

I can't imagine a new person going from something like HAWX to DCS: A-10. We don't really have a graduated step like we used to...there are no light sims save for Thirdwire and I fear he is abandoning the PC for mobile.

eyebiter · January 30, 2013, 08:37:52 AM

The Microprose catalog would be a good place to start for modern remakes of classic flight sims.
http://www.listal.com/list/microprose-classic-simulators

Sky Knights, 1943: Pacific Air War, Gunship 2015, M1 Tank Platoon III, F-35 Stealth Fighter, F-22 Strike Fighter...

republic · January 30, 2013, 10:57:03 AM

Great link eyebiter. There was a time when I'd almost buy a game just because it was published by Microprose. They always made my favorites.

fran · January 30, 2013, 04:15:57 PM

Quote from: Father Ted on January 28, 2013, 04:54:55 PM
There's also the factor that game-mechanics are to a certain extent driven by the limits of the sophistication of available hardware. The main out-of-fashion mechanic which springs to my mind is the point and click adventure. I think we only had those because that was all those old PCs could manage. Some designers worked wonders within the confines of the genre, but once we could have essentially the same thing, but in high-res first-person who really would want to go back?

Flightsims were a major part of the PC games offering back in the late 90s, but they're pretty niche now. Maybe they were so prevalent because they gave you a first-person view, but covered a chunk of the screen with a static picture (the cockpit), thus easing up on the computer power required to generate that view. Once PCs were able to draw full FP viewpoint fluidly, then FPSs became predominant.

I agree that better technology doesn't necessarily make for better games, but I also think that some game-mechanics were left behind for a reason.

Would the The walking dead and Sam & Max not be examples of modern point & click games?

jomni · January 30, 2013, 06:43:36 PM

Quote from: republic on January 30, 2013, 08:29:24 AM
I feel bad for a youngster wanting to learn a flight sim. I had the benefit of growing with the genre. I started off with Aces of the Pacific/Over Europe, SuperVGA Harrier, an apache game I can't recall, then onto the Jane's sims, Flight Sim 4.0 on to FSX etc.

I can't imagine a new person going from something like HAWX to DCS: A-10. We don't really have a graduated step like we used to...there are no light sims save for Thirdwire and I fear he is abandoning the PC for mobile.

Agree... Pitty Thirdwire is concentrating on that android app.

Father Ted · January 30, 2013, 08:03:45 PM

I have to confess I don't know anything about "The Walking Dead" video game (I watched a bit of the TV prog), but isn't "Sam and Max" relatively old?

Greybriar · January 30, 2013, 08:48:02 PM

Quote from: Father Ted on January 30, 2013, 08:03:45 PM
I have to confess I don't know anything about "The Walking Dead" video game (I watched a bit of the TV prog), but isn't "Sam and Max" relatively old?

Yes and no. According to MobyGames, Sam & Max Hit the Road was released in 1993. Sam & Max 302: The Tomb of Sammun-Mak was released in 2010. Check out this list.