Gaming and feeling old. *article*

Thought I'd try writing a small article on my thoughts about gaming at the moment, and maybe get some feedback or start up a bit of a discussion. Whatever, here goes nothing.

Having been practically raised on videogames, I feel like I'm pretty well versed when it comes to gaming chatter. I began my "career" around Christmas 1998 (or maybe 1997) with the spectacular N64. Needless to say, I was hooked from the start. I had all the classics - Mario 64, Goldeneye, Mario Kart - all from a time branded the "golden days of gaming" as I've seen on more than a few forums.

People often tout games like Mario Kart as one of the best. It was an original idea, and the power provided by the N64 helped it reach an almost legendary status, providing hours of fun to millions of gamers worldwide. As a matter of fact, I can say with a fair bit of confidence that I adored every game I owned back then - Mario Tennis, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron - they were all (to me,) incredible.

Which brings me to modern gaming. I currently own an XBox 360 with many of the latest blockbuster games (Call of Duty, anyone?). In contrast, many people seem to have an innate dislike of most new games - critics and jaded gamers alike feel that the industry has become too repetetive, with scores of what feels like the same games flying off the shelves. People complain that these are the death of originality, with every new game drawing all too heavily from giants like Call of Duty or being just another faceless Final fantasy copy.

I have to admit I've started feeling the same itch. It's hard for me to play a game without feeling like I've been through it all before, like I know what's waiting for me around the next corner - all the while, echoes of childhood heroes - Mario 64 and Goldneye - whisper of a golden past.

So as I lay, half drunk on my bed from another University-aided assault on my liver, for some reason thinking about games, an interesting thought crossed my mind:
"Old games are kinda shitty."
Perhaps I should explain. If you were to have someone who had never played games before play two highly praised games from the past and the present (let's say, Goldeneye and Call of Duty: MW2) they'd probably say that new game was far better than the old one.
My point being, we're all looking at the past with rose-tinted glasses. Think about it, the contols for Goldeneye were clunky, the graphics were kind of bad and it was goddamn impossible to aim at anything accurately, which was what made tiny fast charaters like fucking Oddjob such a dick move.

In comparison, Call of Duty is easy to control. Aiming is precise and smooth, certain scenes are breathtakingly beautiful and it's easy enough to leap around the map like you're goddamn Jackie Chan. You could make the old vs new matchup with said gaming noob and I guarentee, new would beat old almost every time.

The reason people like myself look on past games so fondly is due to something I'd like to call "First kiss syndrome". Ok, it sounds melodramatic but hear me out: we all remember our first girlfriend/boyfriend, and even if it was ridiculous, silly and probably not a very good relationship, we still look back fondly. Nowadays, it's easy enough to feel like everyone's the same, and that very few people seem to stay in your memories as much as your first did.

My point is, people are living in the past. They spend so long chasing that feeling of discovery and wonder at their first star on Super Mario 64 that unfortunately to be able to appreciate what they have now. The same way that people will constantly measure every boy/girl they meet up to their first love - nothing compares.

With this in mind, I do realise that certainly there are a few crappy copied games out there, that are dull and uninspired but there is no reason we should ever discount incredible games like Call of Duty or Battlefeild because it's not Goldeneye - that's ridiculous. The dicoveries of the past should not be used to belittle the awesome, awesome things we have now.

Except Mario Kart 64. That shit's golden. Timeless.

Hope this made somebody think, comments are appreciated and please, be nice.

I'm kind of in a half agreement and half disagreement. I agree it's probably true that we can be too nostalgic and cynical about new games and not giving them a chance. There are plenty of games that get brushed of nowadays as being just a clone just by judging their cover. Though sometimes, it does not help when companies make their games look that way.

Though I disagree not that old or new suck but that older games do have a different feel then newer games do to game mechanics and styles. I believe older games had different look graphically do to limitations in the era and also how they used their colors.

Also game layout has an affect due to older games tend to have a more open and non scripted levels that challenge the player. I think this all relates to the idea that older games were made with exploration, challenge and reward type design. Today's games tend to be made with gratification, movie experience, and easy of play. Games tend to be made more linear, focusing on scripted movie events, and games made much easier where you can just breeze through. Plus you got achievements and trophies being a huge focus today that are always clearly known and easy to get without trying. Older games by contrast have their rewards be secrets hidden with the feeling you found it to be the reward. Sometimes it counts towards something.

Those are my thoughts personally

Yeah I do agree I was a bit too harsh on old games, the whole thing was a little bit rushed, but I think it came out ok, and made some sense.

I just played the demo of a recently released game Hard Reset which is more old school-sih with big movable area's, different ways of handling situations, fast paced but at your own speed, interactivity and plenty of hidden secrets. This is a lot different in contrast with COD where you can only move forward the same way, less interactivity, being forced to move forward to end some fighting. It gives less incentive to explore or strategies and more about just moving forward where as in hard reset, push forward to early can get you killed and will not end the enemy threat. So I believe that the differences are mainly styles on a spectrum or a xy table. I try to come up with an xy table to show what I mean or the variations.

Aren't we all nostalgic? Back in the days, were life wasn't that hard?

Hehehe, true that! first week of university and I'm already wishing I was a 12 year old again, not having to worry about work or money or caring about anything.
For an 18 year-old, I'm kind of downbeat haha

This is a very well thought out and presented point of view on a topic that should always be at debate. I for one, began my career way back when learning the ropes on the NES with "Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?"...which for the record is an awful place to start for a 5 year old. But I digress, while I admit I am one of the many "old timers" around that can't let go of how much the Super NES and N64 revolutionized the market, I try to keep an open mind for the new titles.

Personally, my main problem with today's games is that too many hop on the graphics bandwagon and forget entirely of the story. Sure, while the newest titles make it feel like you're actually there, they don't do a sufficient job to suck you into the position you're supposed to be filling. For those veterans, do you remember how much emotion you felt in games like Final Fantasy 6 for the entire casts of characters where you could literally feel the pain welling up inside you while you sympathized for their predicaments? Games like Earthbound, Secret of Mana, any of the Legend of Zelda games(mostly LTtP and OoT) where you didn't feel like you were a part of the game itself, but you truly felt in connection with their characters. These games were in a time where graphics simply couldn't create a truly realistic environment, so they had no choice but to spend the time and resources on character development and storyplay.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of new titles that I think are amazing. Personally, I LOVE Bayonetta and both Portal and Portal 2, but I also can't help but think of the clunky old NES, SNES, N64 and their Sega and Sony counterparts that, while they may have had poor graphics and controls, they did the best they could with what they had to create a timeless experience and a timeless era of gaming. All of this also cannot be looked past for how much they shaped our current gaming experiences.

So, I just want to say to all of those people who love to play Black Ops, who love many of the next gen RPGs that may grace your shelves or are on your to do list just asking to be slated off....just pick up a copy of Super Castlevania IV, Super Mario 64, Final Fantasy 1, 2, or 3 or Dragon Warrior for the NES. Borrow a friend's NES, SNES, N64, Playstation, Genesis or the like. Honestly sit down, alone or with a friend, grab a bowl of chips, and enjoy your past. And I promise you that, while you may not be wowed by graphics, it will truly cement itself in your memory and give you an appreciation of what you have.

Again, thank you TriggerHappyStu and all others for shedding some light on a very important issue.

Random summer, I agree with you. I think that is why a lot of new games don't have the same feel as old ones. Not just the story but the feeling of the game. The realistic graphics kind of contributes to it but the game play is much more structured and linear to feeling the same thing each time.

They definately don't. I'm not sure whether this is due to the fact that when I played these games, the whole thing was new to me, and it created this huge sense of wonder and adventure. Also, I was 10 years old.

Newer games seem to be very multiplayer-focused. CoD for example - the "fun" is in being able to beat others. I'm not exactly a professional-standard player, but I'm definately a cut above average Joe when it comes gunplay and moving around the map. Even though I win most of my games with respectable scores, it can still seem alot more like work than anything else, and rather than feeling satisfied I often feel closer to stress than anything else.

The games I feel capture that old feeling of discovery and adventure are as it happens RPGs. For me, the Fallout series is easily the forerunner here. With ruined cities to explore and bandits and everything else to battle and deal with, it's easy to get sucked into the game and lose hours and hours scavenging and sneaking around.

It's quite hard to suggest why new games seem to be lacking in feeling compared to old games, but I'm sure we could get to the bottom of this
Thanks for your continued responses

That old feeling, yeah, I had that several months ago. Seeing this



and remembering this

I'm also thinking that sometimes, the technical limitations of older games actually added something compared to newer games. For some reason, I tend to find old polygon games much more amazing to look at and make me feel impressed compared to newer ones. For example, No one lives for ever and it's sequel, A spy in HARMS way. The sequels graphics don't impress me as much and the atmosphere doesn't feel like the stereotype 60's-ish then the first one. That is not necessarily mean newer graphics equals bad as their are plenty of games that look even better due to their graphical upgrades.

I also think sound plays an important part to as older games didn't have orchestra and seemed more unique to due relying on the limitations of the audio to great interesting themes. Like the Yar's revenge example shown above, that Atari creepy static sound was not in the remake and it kind of feels like it's missing something about it like an overwhelming doom or dread. Now I don't expect it to play the exact same way, but the two games seem so different and that there is no point in this remake to carry the name.

Basically my overall point that it's up to the developers to decide how a game will feel and they chose this modern feel that we know of. They can make their games feel like old school games if they wanted to.