I'm gaming, what else?!

Jyndal

Trainee
CRank: 5Score: 32630

Oversaturation & The Nostalgia Effect

I keep noticing a lot of posts on various forums of people bashing some of the next-gen graphics and gameplay that we've been privy to thus far.

I look at some of these teaser videos and gameplay demos and wonder how the hell anyone could look at this and say they're not impressed. The only possible reason I can come up with is that gamers of the latter generation have become oversaturated with the latest and greatest technology.

From the standpoint of an old school gamer (I started back in 1981 on an Atari 2600 at the age of 5), to see the level of ingenuity and realism that games are achieving these days is staggering to the mind. We have games that cover hundreds, if not thousands, of virtual square miles, all of it packed to bursting with unbelievable levels of detail.

Maybe it's like an old Vietnam veteran that's just killed too many people for death to impress or even stir him anymore. We've seen gaming come to such heights, that those gamers born in the last 15 to 20 years aren't impressed with what's coming down the pipe anymore.

Or possibly, it's simply lamenting the passing of what they were used to.

Anyone who has played World of Warcraft has seen this. You always have those players in the chat going on about the "good old days" of vanilla. To hear them tell it, WoW was just simply better back when it first started up. Well, just to be clear, that's nostalgia talking. WoW wasn't that good in the beginning. BUT, with the coming of newer updates, expansions, optimizations, and so forth, it improved dramatically (at least up til Cataclysm), but it'll never be the same for those that played back in the beginning.

The same can be said for Call of Duty. Sure, it's the same gameplay, the same engine, and the same premise. But whether you're willing to admit it or not, the game has improved with every iteration. It's just that players who got in on the ground floor look back at CoD and fondly remember the hours of fun they had playing with their friends back then. To them the newer games are a joke. But to someone who has never played a single one of them, picking up the newest version is like the greatest thing ever.

Like I said, it's all about becoming oversaturated in the latest, greatest thing, and when you've constantly seen the cutting edge, it starts to look a little dull. Whether it be the next-gen console, or the next chapter in a franchise, people always seem to want something more, when what they had before was less, and they were happy with it.

Sometimes I think gamers need to take a day or 2 to go back and play some of the older titles, just to see how far we've come and be impressed all over again. Or to at least realize that 40 man Onyxia really wasn't so much epic as it was frustrating.

Just my take.

SilentNegotiator4002d ago (Edited 4002d ago )

People are just blinded by nostalgia. Granted we're dealing with newer issues like DRM these days, gaming has still gotten better.

Nostalgia says that games were harder back in the day and today's games are too easy. Reality says that games were poorly balanced years ago with the intention to get you to buy magazines with secrets and tips (which basically also got their game more advertisement, because plenty of people got Nintendo Power), books and accessories with cheat codes, and/or put more quarters into the machine. Lastly, it made their short as a straw games seem longer.

You can find plenty of games, especially on the indie market, that will kill you in unfair ways like megaman did if you didn't cross the exact right place between screens to avoid lasers, require that you go online to figure out cryptic nonsense, and be generally poor balanced.

As for myself, I'll just enjoy these newfangled games with story and balance and pretty/sharp graphics (even if it's just a 2D game like Rayman Origins) and all of those other great things that our games didn't generally have back in the day.

100°

Stellar Blade Day One Update 1.002 Adds New Game+, Removes Offensive Graffiti

Shift Up has released Stellar Blade day one update 1.002 on PS5, and those who preloaded the game should be notified of this update.

cliveo3210h ago

Lol who is offended by it 1 percent of crying snowflakes of course..

blackblades3h ago

What did it mean? Considering I'm in my own world these days.

Christopher46m ago

Hard R is typically a reference to the N-word with the hard r at the end.

Eonjay0m ago

Do you really not know this is about the n-word or are you saying that black people can't get offended because it upsets you?

Christopher45m ago

I can't believe they're censoring this game on day 1. Games just aren't the same.

/s in case it's needed. I'm fine with them making these changes that they might not have known is culturally insensitive to some people in the big ole world. But that's just me.

VersusDMC11m ago

They are censoring something that is deemed offensive by Journalists quoting the offensive term verbatim. They are typing it intentionally in articles while in the game it's a wall texture saying Hard next to a unrelated 3d model sign that says R store. Is it offensive or not? Crazy town.

At least IGN just shows the term with a screenshot of the game. Because it's their "discovery" and to not show hypocrisy in their HUGE vitue signal.
Hard R is the not offensive way to describe an offensive term. Are they going to type "Ha$$ R" or not use the term now?

Christopher0m ago

Oh, hey, I agree with you that IGN and other journalists are dumb. Not disagreement there. But, I think for a game going out to millions of people across the world? It's not something they want associated with them. It's just horrific PR.

Stevonidas31m ago

Pre-order cancelled. They were so close.... then they had to go and bend the knee.

40°
9.3

Stellar Blade Review - A Cut Above | COGconnected

Poised to make its mark, Stellar Blade is a stylish adventure but, will it cut through the competition to soar past comparisons?

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cogconnected.com
80°

Shenmue: Reclaiming the Path is a fan game coming out September 16th.

Shenmue: Reclaiming the Path is a fan game using Dreamcast-era visuals, and tells a new story within the Shenmue saga taking place in both Hong Kong and Guilin. Its expected to release on September 16th.

Inverno1h ago

Something about recreating old school graphics in an era of HD high poly photo realism just hits a spot. I'm not nostalgic cause I mostly played GameCube and GB/A, but it's a visual style that gets over looked even by indies.