Next Generation Consoles Are they really?

There are a lot of new consoles out: Ps2, Xbox, Gamecube, Gameboy Advance, and they've all been given the title as next generation, but are they really? I own 2 out of four of these consoles, and my sega cd and saturn. And I find myself playing them more often rather than my Ps2 or gameboy advance. All the new games that are released nowadays just don't have that sort of atmosphere that that other games do. Like Guardian Heroes and Nights, and Lunar and Panzer Dragoon, you know most of saturn and sega cd games. And all that Ps2 and Xbox have are a few games that are acceptable to my taste, and I always end up never playing any of them again. Man im rambling on too much here, does anyone else feel this way?
 
It would seem likely to come to the conclusion that I am getting old, but im only 16. I used to say that often to ppl who only liked retro stuff, but I started to realize how fun retro gaming actually is. Btw, I dont condemn my Ps2 and Gba, I just don't play them as often as I used to, ever since I bought me a Saturn.
 
There are a lot of new consoles out: Ps2, Xbox, Gamecube, Gameboy Advance, and they've all been given the title as next generation, but are they really?

Not anymore. Now that they've been released, they're current-generation. Next-generation consoles are the PS3, XBox 2, Gamehypercube and Gameboy More Advanced.
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All the new games that are released nowadays just don't have that sort of atmosphere that that other games do. Like Guardian Heroes and Nights, and Lunar and Panzer Dragoon, you know most of saturn and sega cd games.

I could be wrong, but I think that video games are subject to Sturgeon's Law, and you're just remembering the good ones. Saturn and SCD had their share of awful games.

Man im rambling on too much here, does anyone else feel this way?

Sort of, but only to the extent that arcade-style gameplay seems to be a dying breed. A few companies do a brilliant job of carrying the torch (Capcom, SNK/Playmore, Takumi, Raizing, Treasure, Konami/Mobile 21 Studios to an extent), but I fear that it's becoming unprofitable and may die in the not-too-distant future. Also, it seems like it's become unpopular to make really difficult games - when I play some games, I get the feeling that I don't really have to practice anything or learn anything to win, I just have to keep playing. It's kind of a weird feeling.
 
Ah yes the speculation of death to the arcade scene, I feel the same on that topic, although I like to disagree with it, but evidently it's apparently true in some cases. It think Sturgeon's Law is partially correct, but not entirely. It's kind of scary to think that games can improve graphically and all(PS3, etc.)dont you think?
 
I think that since gaming became a true mass-market industry a lot of the magic has gone. I also don't get as much time for games now with work getting in the way, but I do believe that while graphics have advanced an unbelievable amount in recent years, gameplay has not, and in many ways has gone backwards. In the old days someone would have an idea, code a game and people would buy it, now clueless marketing twats dictate to developers what kind of game can be profitable. This in my opinion is strangling the industry. It's very rare these days that there is an original game, as from a marketing point of view it's easier to sell another f*****g sub-standard Tomb-Raider clone than it is to make a truly original and innovative game. I don't think the ideas have dried up, it's just that nobody will fund them, seeing it as too big a risk.
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I think that of the current crop of consoles the GBA is the only one that really manages to capture any of the feeling of how games used to be before the eye candy and bandwagon jumping 'cool' gamers took over.
 
I still play my Dreamcast above all the other consoles out now, quite simplyu because it has a LOT of better games than the 3 current consoles...

PS2 and XBox for me have a few classy titles, then a mountain of crap... Gamecube has more class games, but thats only cuz of Nintendo, they also have a mountain of crap
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The Dreamcast seemed to get some of the best 3D games ever and I just stick to that
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I also love my Dreamcast.
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I wasn't including it as a next gen console, although HH has a good point - in terms of games it is MILES ahead of PS2, Xbox and GC, and will be for quite some time yet.

After all, specs mean nothing at the end of the day. A console is only as good as it's games.
 
It's interesting the way in which the console maket has changed over the years. Think about it - when the original PlayStation first came out, everybody was overawed by the graphical quality. There was nothing that could touch it. It was a year before the PC was fast enough to be able to run Wipeout.

Nowdays, most PC's absolutly smoke anything a console can do, yet the market for consoles has only grown. Console developers these days are forced to produce the most flashy games in the shortest time period, in order to stay ahead of PC counterparts. In fact, then number of graphically intensive PC games seems to have dropped significantly over the past few years. Most games are variations on the Diablo stype RPG, or C&C style RTS games.

The upshot of this is that the story lines and depth of new console games suffers. In "the old days", there was no competition (except old nintendo/sega rivalries) and all graphics were fairly crap. Developers were rewarded for creating compelling gameplay. This sadly doesn't seem to be the case anymore...

I'm not too sure if the above makes sense, or is relevant, but I tried
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Good night zzz
 
Nah, I don't think PCs have anything to do with it... I think that companies are producing exceptionally poor games attached to a liscence, then watching them sell to poor saps who don't know what they are getting into (See Simpsons Wrestling) No-one seems to care if it has good gameplay... if it has a recgnisable face on the front it's a big seller
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Sad but true HH
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Originally posted by Curtis - In fact, then number of graphically intensive PC games seems to have dropped significantly over the past few years.

I think part of the reason for this is that the market has expanded a lot, and now there is a 'lowest common denominator' affecting PC games, i.e. What's the point of writing for a top-end PC when 50% of your potential customers still own a PII-400 with a Voodoo 3?

Originally posted by Curtis - when the original PlayStation first came out, everybody was overawed by the graphical quality. There was nothing that could touch it.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who would disagree with that, there was a certain other 32bit console released a week or two before the PSX, and is in many peoples minds still the better machine!
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I think the ratio of good games to crap ones probably hasn't changed too much down the years.. Thousands of games released for the Megadrive and a minute proportion that are very good. I can only speak for PS2 (Gameboy Advance is coming though..) but there are some fantastic games that I've bought recently (Devil May Cry, Tony Hawk 3, Virtua Fighter 4, Wipeout Fusion etc etc).. ExCyber is right to say that a lot of games are more of a test of endurance than skill now, but that's not always true. Devil May Cry is a very modern game, but extremely hard to complete and get a good rank on, even in normal difficulty.

I think the thing I miss is games giving you scores.. That way you had instant replay value.
 
I really don't think it's true that companies in general favour quantity over quality now more than they used to.. Have you seen how many games were released for systems like the NES and Megadrive? And probably 95% were terrible. Every time a new film came out there was a shoddy license or seven.
 
Yes, there were a lot a ugly games for Nintendo and the Megadrive, but you have to remember the audience they were aimed at. For the most part, these systems, especially Nintendo, were aimed at adolescents. Today's gamers market is dominated by adults, people who started with the earlier systems and are still gaming. Daddy holds the purse strings and if they can grab him as a user, let the cash flow begin. Sure there are a ton of little ones gaming. But the vast majority that I see are 14 - 40. An awful lot of the games for these consoles are also mindless shooters. Kill'em all and relieve that stress! Another indication of their target audience. Plus, note the number of games that are rated T or M as compared to those rated E. Most are T and M.

I still love love and play a lot of the old games such as Astroids, Galaga, Galaxian ect. Simple graphics can equal simply fun. As of this time I have no plans to buy any of the newer consoles. I have a DC and GBA, but they are the newest systems I have.
 
I'm not saying it's better now at all, just that it's pretty much the same in terms of what you get. You can find the quality if you look for it. I'd just as soon play Tempest as something 'state of the art', who cares when the game is made so long as it's good. I don't think we should complain, we live in an age where we can play all games, new and old (and often the old ones will be far cheaper than they were at the time). We should be grateful, not whine about the 'good old days'.
 
To some extent you can blame the womb raider clones for a lot of this. They have taken the place of what my beloved platform game format did in 1982-1996. Everthing was made into a platform game by shitty companies like Ocean and Acclaim and the games just sucked ass. I mean I played them and beat most of them (count it up in the mid-hundreds now) but a lot of the games were just shit. I mean look at Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel, The Addams Family, Robocop 3, etc. Every crasppy TV show and movie made it into a platform game and it was usually a poorly constructed dull game engine that wasn't much fun to play.

If you look at the 3D free-roaming adventure games that's exactly what they've done. The problem is, they're just not as music fun as the fast-paced action and tight controls of a linear platform game. Working with the handicaps of your character to time all your jumps perfectly, the vast number of powerups, etc was just so much better in the platform game than the 3d free-roaming adventure.
 
When you start putting hard-drives in my VG consoles, I lose interest
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I totally agree that today's 3-D platformers suck,
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If I have to memorize a 30 page manual and then practice for 2 months just to get the character to jump to the left, then I say no thanks
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