10 Gaming Trends That Died This Generation

"Gaming tends to go through cycles. Console cycles, patterns in genres and the all important gamer habits are just some of the trends that grip the industry from time to time. Trends rock the industry at regular intervals but, as the name implies, they seldom last any length of time at all."

[Cam977]

Split-screen multiplayer.
Rest in peace.
"Modern gamers" won't know the thrill of competing against your mates in the same room. I miss those times. It is rare that a game is shipped with split-screen mode nowadays.

[gamefiles]

lol ps4 to STILL have split screen. unlike the wiiU

[PeaSFor]

look like someone didnt owned a ps3.

[thezeldadoth]

@gamefiles
Wii U has split screen. Actually it goes a step beyond, in some games one can play on the tablet screen, the other on the tv, so both people still get a complete view of the game. Sonic all stars gave the capability for FIVE people to play, four on the tv, one on the tablet.

Someone disagreed with facts, this site is beyond saving.

[Larry L]

I don't get all the people always saying splt-screen gaming has died this generation. It's such BS and has really NEVER been true. Games right from the start of this gen have has split-screen or couch multi-player of some sort.

Look up a list of split screen games this gen, just google it and you'll get a whole list.....I posted one here like 2 years ago and the list was long then, it's gotten much longer since.

I've been console gaming since the early days of consoles, and I don't really recall any generation having more split-screen games than the PSwii60 generation.

I personally can't read this article because the site just doesn't work on the PS3 browser so I don't know if this was mentioned in the list. But the thing I miss which used to be a common thing for online games last gen but have been almost 100% gone from online games this gen, are public text chat lobbies outside of the private game lobbies.

I know they had some BS sometimes with spammers, but an easy to use mute system always fixed that and those public text lobbies were great for making like minded friends, and even making good enemies. Sometimes I'd just sit for hours getting a kick out of idiots talking back and forth which was not only entertaining but gave a great insight into the human condition.

I really miss public text chat lobbies filled with random people. Good times.

[-Gespenst-]

The Ps3 didn't have plentiful exclusives compared to the Ps2. It only seems otherwise because Ps3 games cost more and were therefore more singular purchases, and also because Ps3 had bigger production values. These things blinded people to the fact that there actually weren't that many games. Another factor is that most of the exclusives were just sequels or iterations in franchises, not standalone, unique experiences. The playstation 2 had over 2.5x more exclusives than the Playstation 3, and they were arguably more diverse.

Versus and Co-op split-screen should be a component in ALL games that have online multiplayer.

I totally agree with his comments about horror. Older horror games creep me out so much more. Most horror games these days just rely on having really generic looking shit jump out at you. I thought Amnesia was good, but I didn't find it scary- it was tense and a bit cheaply jumpy in places, but not unplayably scary like a lot of older horror games. I still liked the Lovecraft vibe though, I'd like to see that in more games.

[vickers500]

Here's the list for those who hate slides.

1.Visual Gimmicks
2.Unnecessary Motion Controls
3.Offline Multiplayer
4.Good Instruction Manuals
5.Portable storage (picture of a ps2 memory card)
6.Horror
7.Handheld Console Dominance
8.True backwards compatibility
9.Plentiful Exclusives
10.Complete packages (referring to games with DLC)

[nintendoland]

wii u has split-screen what are you smoking?

[NeoTribe]

The hell do you mean? Wii u is capable and has split screen games. As well as every console you moron. Its the developers who arnt making split screen games.

[Y_5150]

The only game I've seen with 4 player splitscreen competitive local multiplayer is Call of Duty. LittleBigPlanet does a great job with local 4 player multiplayer though.

[eddvdm]

Sorry but I hate when people give COD merits it doesn't have.

Goldeneye? Mario Kart(s)?

http://www.fpsguru.com/arti...

Good article btw.

[e-p-ayeaH]

Split-screen multiplayer is still quite alive in some games.

online splitscreen multiplayer does have its importance in some of them as well.

[KrimsonKody]

...I miss arcades...
¦,^<

[Transporter47]

I want Split Screen back so much

[StrawHatPatriot]

I wish video games were like normal games. No worries about backwards compatibility, easy multiplayer, etc.

[KShinigami]

Portable Storage? Don't know about other consoles but PS3 can copy games memory to usb and vice versa.

[arronax-1]

Not ALL games. I can remember some games like Star Ocean 4 or (either) RE5 or SF4 that don't allow you to do that.

[kreate]

RE5 doesnt have any problems copying save file to usb.

But this isnt sony doing that to games. Developers are blocking u from copying it. And its a very select few games where u cannot copy.

[ginganinja]

Protected saves wont let you copy them to stop people gaining easy trophies.

If you're a plus member, cloud-saving sort of negates the need for an external physical storage device.

[mydyingparadiselost]

The Wii could too with SD cards. The articles facts are no where near clear or researched.

[USMC_POLICE]

I remember in high school we had gaming club and we played halo and socom on plan for hours after school. It was a blast! Now halo is not as fun and socom was brutally murdered. And I don't think plan is even possible now days on console. Also miss game manuals. Article had so many good points.

[Williamson]

One thing i hated this gen was what seemed like a lack of single player content in certain games. Take soul calibur 4&5 for example, compared to number 3 it didnt even have 1/4 of the single player content.

[arronax-1]

THIS.

[Eyeco]

Or how about 8 hours as the standard length for single player that's long gone. As recently as last gen (PS2/GC/XB) from what I remember bellow 8 hours was considered a rental,12- 15 hours was considered average and 20 plus hours was considered exceptional. Now 4 hours is considered average, 8 hours exceptional, and anything above that is considered epic.

How did we go from from 12-15 hours being considered average to 4-6 hours becoming the industry average, It's freaking annoying, it's lazy, uninspired game development, and is pretty much robbery seeing as these devs go on to charge $60 for this.

It took me 12 hours to beat Fable 2, now while that's one of the longer games I've played this gen, I'm scratching my head and asking myself "isn't this supposed to be an rpg ? doesn't it usually take me 50- 100 hours to beat an RPG ?" it's ridiculous.

[e-p-ayeaH]

The multiplayer plays a big role now in these games that take just about 4-6 hours to complete.

nonetheless there´s still some games that give you plenty to do without needing a multiplayer component.

[Aclay]

I would also add Cheat Codes to this list. They were always fun to experiment with back in the day, but were pretty much non-existent this gen with the exception of PC mods.

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

I loved how some people on this site tried to justify microtransactions in Dead Space 3 when cheat codes did the same generations ago for for free......

[Krew_92]

I agree wholeheartedly with the instructional manuals.

Not in the sense of the article, I don't mind if the manual is small with only one page at least that's something. What I would said is the lack of instructional manuals nowadays. I've gotten some games that don't even have any manuals and use digital manuals instead.

The Vita is a great example. At least in America most, and I mean most, don't even include a manual. The only chance you have of having anything, is if your game requires a dreadful online pass. I know in Japan manuals are included in a lot of Vita games. I think Gravity Rush and Persona 4 have manuals in the Japan versions. I'm sure the American version got nothing (I own them). A game does not look complete without an instructional manual, in my opinion. Digital doesn't cut it for me, and I would hope for most too.

The only Vita game(s) I have that sort of have an instructional manual in the packaging is LittleBigPlanet Vita and Gravity Rush. You can flip the game covers and it reveals controls.

[jhenri]

Am I the only that didn't know that gameboys could have different colored buttons? I'm so sheltered.

[Theangrybogan]

Articles on one page?

[urwifeminder]

Singleplayer lol.

[GamerElite]

lol

[ElitaStorm]

lol