190°

"Joie de jeux" - Are games as fun as they used to be?

In an age of Achievement hunters and Trophy whores, it’s easy to say that video games as an entertainment medium have lost their luster. It’s much harder to back up that claim, but the question remains: have we lost sight of what makes video games fun?

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theblunderbusters.com
Software_Lover3764d ago

I don't think so. The internet has ruined the fun factor for me. Everything has to be so serious and if it doesn't have a huge budget then it isn't taken seriously.

Too much hype for mediocre games.

frostypants3764d ago (Edited 3764d ago )

Go back and play those old games. There's a reason you don't play them much anymore. They were fun for their day but with a few exceptions, they are significantly less engaging than what is put out there now.

I'm all for nostalgia but c'mon. Hell, look at the explosion of indie development. The indie gaming scene was borderline irrelevant until recent years.

3764d ago
JokesOnYou3764d ago (Edited 3764d ago )

kakano I disagree with you but I recognize its your opinion. I'm not really nostalgic, Doubledragon, Shinobi, all the way up to Perfect Dark were all great games of their gen, but I don't want to play them now= I want new experiences that incorporate new gameplay, bigger environments, and better graphics....it's the same reason I don't care much for so many of the generic cell phone games and 90% of indie games just don't excite me.

Well what's the world coming to when I agree with frostypants?

Uhm I think games are every bit as fun and more so as in the past but YES a big problem is we get waaay too wrapped up in the technical details at times and of course the devs today are relying too much on post release patches, don't get me wrong small tweaks to fix these complicated next gen games after release is now par for the course and welcomed but bugs, glitches, and downright unfinished games is BS.

So imo we need to just enjoy great games if they are indeed great, and devs need to do their part by making the best product they can at launch.

Tetsujin3764d ago

@ frosty

The indie scene has been more "vocal" and more recognized in the recent times (thanks to the internet), however they've been around since the NES days, and maybe even earlier.

@kalkano

I'm in the same boat; I've noticed playing a lot of older games (especially NES) and that's after purchasing a PS4. I'm sure I'll get a lot of hate, and someone will probably argue I don't even own one, but I've seen myself lately going back to older games, at least until MGS 5 GZ and Strider gets released. I just noticed a lot of games today are so worried more about the unimportant that they forgot what makes a game good - story, replay, fun factor, and catering to your fans.

toddybad3764d ago

I disagree. The reason modern games are less FUN is that they didn't necessarily require engagement before.

Modern games are determined to draw you in a present an all encompassing vision - and there are plus points to that - but it does detract from just having blind fun because you're almost forced to care what happens if you make mistakes.

That said, Resogun does show how to do it properly and does bring fun back into gaming. I've moved from the 360 to PS4 and this is the most fun I've had in years just playing without caring.

3763d ago
fendernow3763d ago

You really make no sense. First you went making a case against playing old games and then the second paragraph states that you are all for nostalgia.

I think you should go back and check your head. Not trying to start a fight with you but seriously, you just made no sense.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 3763d ago
Tetsujin3764d ago

I miss the risks devs took back then; making a lot of legendary games we still sometimes play. I also blame the "follow the leader" approach a lot of devs use today, especially with the over saturation of 1/3rd person shooters.

frostypants3764d ago (Edited 3764d ago )

But some of the most innovative games of all time have also come out in recent years. Demon's Souls was possibly my favorite game of all time...it changed what the meaning of "multiplayer" could be and went so far as to intentionally block mic communications in order to achieve its vision. Limbo was also a great game, who's closest approximation would have been "Another World"/"Out of this World", which came out 20 years earlier. It brought back a genre of side-scroller that had been criminally neglected for decades. Or look at Fez...very innovative (let's not let the fact that the developer is a preening emo douchebag get in the way of that).

The massive publishers will be a bit more risk averse because there's so much money to be made now. But the smaller devs are still out there and still doing crazy new things.

zeal0us3764d ago

Back then they gave you a complete game and made sure the game wasn't bug infestation or glitch horde.

frostypants3764d ago (Edited 3764d ago )

@zeal0us, clearly you weren't playing PC games back in the day. Glitchfest releases have been a problem since the dawn of time (see: every Bethesda game...EVER). They just didn't show up on consoles until recently. At least today you can just hop on the internet for a patch and get it in minutes. In the old PC days, you'd have to either find the patch on somebody's obscure dialup BBS system and pray to god you weren't downloading a virus, or pony up for AOL or Compuserve and get it there. And the download took f*cking forever. As in, start it and come back in several hours...if it was a small patch.

I'll say it again: people are letting nostalgia get in the way of objectivity.

zeal0us3764d ago (Edited 3764d ago )

I have to say it was the dlc, pre-order dlc, day 1 dlc and patch that ruin for me rather than the internet.

It is like most modern games has become too dependent on those things. Half the time it got me wondering whether or not I'm getting a complete game. I don't even buy games at launch anymore because of this. I rather wait for the game to get fully patch, decrease in price or for a GoTY edition to come out.

3764d ago
zeal0us3764d ago

True the internet is require for DLC but however it doesn't stop a developer for slacking off and releasing bug fest game. Just look BF4 upon its release that game was plague with problems

I still like getting on the internet watching videos of gameplay, reviews, previews and etc. You can enjoy/like the internet and despise how some publishers and developers use dlc as quick cash grab. Not mention how day 1 patch have made some publishers more bold to release un-finish product.

3763d ago
Beastforlifenoob3764d ago

I agree Indies are great
INDIES FTW!!!

The reason i prefer indies is because 1.) they are more originial (usually)
2.) they dont DLC rip you of
3.) There graphics may not compete with todays AAA but there always fun.

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vikingland13764d ago

When I was a kid any game was fun because it was new tech. And now that I'm older I like more story driven games. But they are fun still or I wouldn't play them still . To say whether they're more fun is too hard to decide for me.

frostypants3764d ago (Edited 3764d ago )

I look at it this way: back in the day when I was playing stuff like Contra games, I imagined how cool it would be to play that but in a first person perspective. Today, we have games like Battlefield (let's get into BF4's glitches). We're living the dream gamers back then could only imagine. Playing those old games is amusing for a little while, but in the end they have nowhere near the depth or visceral feel. I think people let nostalgia get to them too much.

There are some old games that when they came out, they blew our minds, and when we go back to play them we remember that feeling. Doom, for instance (probably the biggest example for me). But if you put Doom in front of someone who wasn't there to play it at the time, they'd experience it very differently. They'd just see a really limited, pixelated FPS that for some silly reason couldn't do true multi-story architecture maps.

toddybad3764d ago

But sensible soccer is still the best multiplayer football experience ever. Just far more fun against a mate than anything FIFA can deliver.

There are examples in every genre.

KyRo3764d ago (Edited 3764d ago )

While I still enjoy gaming, it's nowhere near as fun as it used to be for me. To much is shown before hand these days and with the dominance of online gaming, games have become more competitive than fun.

I used to love online gaming but getting right back into single player games now days because that's where the variety it, not shooting someone with a gun part 6383237.

frostypants3764d ago (Edited 3764d ago )

Good point. And I think in less story-driven games, co-op is the way to go. We need more Diablo and Borderlands type games and less competitive FPS's (because honestly, only about 5% of them are worth playing).

vikingland13764d ago

I'm just starting to play online co op and loving it. My 1st game that I enjoyed online co op was Diablo 3.

IC3_DEMON3764d ago

Developers aren't really on their A-Game anymore. Today it's more about pushing as fast for as much as you can. End of the day bugs are overseen and the consumer "has" to put up with it.

The fun factor is than taken away if I have to be the one testing the game instead of playing it.

willie323764d ago

For me, the online competitive games have ruined the fun for me. I can only play these games in small doses. The fun really exists in the coop community games. These games remind me when my brother and I would play split screen Twisted Metal 2 all night long.

Software_Lover3764d ago

Twisted Metal
Goldeneye
Mario Bros (nes)
NBA Jam
Contra

It's like after the ps1/N64 days gaming, and the culture, just died. The ps2 had some good games, but it still wasn't the same.

willie323764d ago

The games that I am pumped for this next gen are games that have a heavy emphasis on coop. I expect these games to be good fun.

1. Division
2. Dying Light
3. Destiny

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130°

Razer Kishi Ultra Review - Full Size Fun

The friendly folks over at Razer recently sent us their full size Kishi Ultra mobile gaming controller, and this thing didn't disappoint.

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terminalgamer.com
160°

Ranking the Devil May Cry Series

VGChartz's Mark Nielsen: "Upon finally finishing Devil May Cry 5 recently - after it spent several years on my “I’ll play that soon” list - I considered giving it a fittingly-named Late Look article. However, considering that this was indeed the final piece I was missing in the DMC puzzle, I decided to instead take this opportunity to take a look back at the entirety of this genre-defining series and rank the entries. What also made this a particularly tempting notion was that while most high-profile series have developed fairly evenly over time, with a few bumps on the road, the history of Devil May Cry has, at least in my eyes, been an absolute roller coaster, with everything from total disasters to action game gold."

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vgchartz.com
VersusDMC5h ago

First to last for me...3,4,5,1,2.

VersusDMC4h ago

Me leaving it out should be telling of my thoughts on it. Better than 2 as a DMC game.

Still a good game though.

Friendlygamer5h ago

3,1,4,5 to me, never played 2. 5 gameplay is amazing but level design was really disappointing to me, just a bunch of plain arenas, the story felt like a worse written rehash of the 3rd and the charater models looked weird ( specially the ladies ). Another problem with 5 was that there was not enough content for 3 charaters so I could never really familiarize with any of them

monkey6024h ago(Edited 4h ago)

2.
Dmc.
4.
5.
1.
3.

God DMC2 was an awful game.
And in case this isn't obvious it goes worst to best

Yui_Suzumiya3h ago

1 and DmC. The rest are unimportant.

DarXyde2h ago

Order changes depending on your focus. I tend to focus on gameplay/fun factor, so...

5, 3, 1, 4, 2.

I really didn't like 4 but commend Dante's weapon diversity. The retreading of old ground was pretty unacceptable to me.

But even then... Still more enjoyable than 2 for me

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80°

Unicorn Overlord is a tactical RPG masterpiece

Vanillaware's tactical role-playing game Unicorn Overlord is a beautiful mix of old mechanics and new-age graphics, with over 65 unique recruitable characters and a rich storyline.

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knowtechie.com
jznrpg5h ago

I have the game and downloaded it going to start it tonight and play it on the Portal.

NotoriousWhiz3h ago

Enjoy. This game is so much fun and so addictive.

jznrpg1h ago

I heard great things and I am a fan of most Vanillaware games so I’m looking forward to it. Waiting for my kids to fall asleep and I’m good to go

hard joe16m ago

the only rts that worked for me
other titles didn't