subject: Video Games, Where Is The Fun [print this page] There have been some problems over that past few years with internet bootleggers really hitting the music industry and the movie industry very hard with illegal downloads. This is however not really the case with video games, where these games still mostly get sold in their original versions and piracy is less of a problem. Although there are places where these games can be downloaded it is much harder to get them to work on the respective platforms out there. This has led to consoles like the Playstation 3 and Xbox not really coming under as big a threat as the others.
As the budgets and popularity of games increased, it has been noticeable that the games became prettier, bigger and badder over time. There are a few franchises such as Final Fantasy that have take this to another level. These releases always push the boundaries of the graphical abilities of the systems that they are on and have done so for over a decade. I have always liked this trend, but now that we are getting to the point that the graphics are almost as good as actual movies the challenging game play and fun has went out the window.
I remember playing the super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, still do from time to time, and this is due to the fact that these games are just great. I can still enjoy Mario or Sonic and even though the graphics do not have much in common with the current releases their replay ability and simplicity of controls is remarkable. It takes minutes to play and years to master, and this I do not see in the new releases.
The games coming out now for the most part seem like interactive movies that you only want to play through once. After that there is not much to go and see, as we already know the story and by replaying would simply follow in our old footsteps once again.
It is however unfair to say that all of the new games have fallen into this trap and Grand Theft auto is one of the prime examples. It has become very popular as it is very playable. It has had constant improvements in graphics over the past few years, but the way the game works hasn't really changed a lot. If you play the game you would still be stealing, shooting, punching and running around and try to complete your missions. It is very understandable that you want your product to look good, but personally I think it might be a good idea to spend some of those huge budgets on bringing back more of the fun.
