OnlySP.com writes:
'The current console generation is home to a number of initiatives that see earlier games lumped under the prestigious banner of Classics. The respective online stores of the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 feature subsections for the games on their predecessors, while the HD Remaster efforts (at least on the PS3 in PAL regions) carry the title of Classics HD. Most consumers see it as convenient branding to better distinguish them from more modern products, but when you consider the nature of what has historically been termed ‘Classic’, one might begin to consider this mass cataloguing, irrespective of quality, as sacrilegious. With this feeling at the forefront, the question coalesced: “What defines a Classic?”'
OnlySP explores the question as it applies to video games and whether the classification should be granted as indiscriminately as it has been to date.
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I think it is mostly story oriented games. As graphics and gameplay show their age, but story doesn't.
I'm talking about Bioshock, Heavy Rain, The Darkness, Alan Wake etc. Those will definitely be remembered as classics. Although, I'm not sure how long after the games release it can be called a 'classic' lol. I'm a bit confused on that front.
Techs specs may improve but it doesn't make old Sega games seem hideous, it just makes some other developers seem hideous, whether they have a great story in them or not.
As for gameplay, that depends on how the original compared to different genres of the time in the first place.
For me it nearly always comes down to who made the game - and if they created it especially for one console, preferably their own, that probably gives them extra points as well.
For my personality a classic is always a bit quirky in some way- but probably not in a self consciously pretentious way unless it is done with a wink.
It is almost certainly to do with the personality/history of the people or studio making the game and, in some cases, the console that they are making it for. I'll give it to Bioshock, for at least the first game, Heavy Rain - OK. Alan Wake- Probably at least the hallmarks of something classic there, from the makers of another classic series Max Payne 1 and 2 (but 3 is not quite the same kind of classic to me). Little Big Planet, yes. Jet Set Radio Future on Xbox. Paper Mario- The Thousand Year Door. Luigi's Mansion was a classic to me - something different. Silent Hill 3. Metroid Prime... I can go on.
What most of them have in common is a belief in exploring quirky situations, chnaging you a bit and putting you through the mill. They're all Alice in Wonderland remade really.
I completely agree with you. I didn't want to write too much in my first post, but I think in general it is games with epic stories.
It isn't exclusive to that though. It could be that the game-play was wacky and imaginative, or just over the top fun. Portal for instance. Quirky, funny and original.
It's too hard to say which games are more deserving of this 'classic' status, as everyone will have different opinions.
I'd suggest Beyond Good and Evil myself. Love that game.
The Little Mermaid 2 if you go by the EU store on PSN.
-_-
I dont know what it is with this generation, but there is not much i would call a classic. Maybe its because i grew up on the Snes/ps1/ps2 or the severe lack of good quality Jrpg's especially from Square enix. Or the over saturation of fps games.
That's all that matters. That's why can appreciate art that's thousands of years old. For games? I'd say anything 10 or more years older that people still play and love qualifies as a classic.
I hope that everybody who has made all the videogames that have given me so much pleasure can feel how relevant they remain to me and others, no matter what sales they got.
Grim Fandango
Vagrant Story
System shock 2
FF VII
SotC
MGS1-4
Uncharted 2