The Evolution of Gaming

[Bertrum]

This topic is a sore one for me, I really don't know what to say, whether they have improved over all or not, sure certain aspects of games have improved over the years, but certain aspects of games have not improved, or worsened.

Case 1

Here's something that bothers me, compare a SNES Mario game to a N64 Mario game, the difference, blew my mind back in the day, I really was like WOW THIS IS INCREDIBLE. Compare a N64 Mario game to a GameCube/DS/Wii Mario game, and I'm like hmm. 10 years later, and there isn't anything different, the gameplay isn't better, the story isn't longer, the graphics aren't that much sharper, what is the difference?

In this case, I believe that from the 80's to the 90's, gaming improved 100fold, it changed so drastically, it was hard to conceive at the time. From the 90's to the 00's, I don't really see much of an improvement, sure there may be more glitter on the video game case, and the shiny case of the Wii or DS is a nice touch, but generally, there's no difference.

And in my opinion, this doesn't just apply to Mario games, but to Zelda, Sonic, Donkey Kong.


Case 2

I bought Dragonball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 for the PS2 when that game out, and I loved it, if I compare that to early PS1 & PS2 Dragonball Z games, then yes, it has improved drastically, in every way. I bought Raging Blast 2 for the XBOX360 a few months ago, which is the newest DBZ game(apart from the one released later this month). And to be honest, I prefer Budokai Tenkaichi 3, other than minor bugs, everything about BT3 is better, it has more characters, more side stories, and the graphics are pretty similar to RB2.

So from PS1 > PS2 - It improved a lot,
However, from PS2 > XBOX360/PS3 - It didn't improve.

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In these two examples, the problems have been the lack of improvement in the latest generation of consoles.

In my opinion, the golden age of gaming was the PS2 era. The step up from the PS1 was remarkable, in terms of graphics, game play, everything. It was just so much better. The step to PS3/XBOX360 was at the time, remarkable too, however the games really are only more pleasing on the eye, when you get down to the nitty gritty, and take away the glitter of the latest consoles, there's no real improvement. Compare a PS2 Fifa game, like Fifa 2005, to Fifa 2011 on the 360. Fifa 2005 didn't have great online capability like the latest game, but it had a lot more teams, players, everything. Of couse fifa 11 looks better, and there have been some minor gameplay tweaks, but really, over 6 years, there isn't that big a difference.

Other examples of gaming hitting a stand still. Halo 3 is one of my favourite games, of all time, however it took me something like 12 hours to complete it on my first play through, the same applies to Halo Reach. I loved the games, but for the story, not for the actual game play. Another game I equally love, which is a similar type of game, Medal of Honour rising sun, back on the PS2 took me a lot longer to complete. So if a next gen game takes less time to complete than one 5 or more years older, has gaming really improved that much?

Other example. GTA Vice City took me 25 hours to complete if I remember rightly, GTA San Andreas took me like, two weeks. GTA IV took me a week. San Andreas if my favourite out of the 3, purely because the 3 games are the same, only there is more to do in San Andreas, and it took longer to complete.

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So yes, gaming has improved, from Snes, to N64, to PS1, to PS2.. Gaming improved every step of the way.. From PS2 to 360/PS3, gaming hasn't improved.

Anyway I will stop ranting now :x