Golden age of gaming?

silvine

Interesting article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7107144.stm

r3nu4l

Very nice although I feel that the late 1980's, early 1990's were also a golden age simply because of the vast number of games available. Games were cheaper to produce so there were more of them...even if a lot of them were rubbish

Also, many companies were more willing to take a risk in developing new types of gameplay.

I think that we are unfortunately going to see less and less titles that are completely innovative simply because of the economic fallout of producing a poor-selling title. I hope I'm wrong

All of the above said, while I loved my Commodore 64, I wouldn't swap my PS3 for one today

Morlar

I think early to mid 90s were a golden age for gaming - nowadays is a bit of a golden age for games too imo.

AntiVirus

Now is the golden age for games

Sarky

Thanks to emulators, that Golden age has never really gone away.

The Real B-man

AntiVirus wrote: »

Now is the golden age for games

+1
Agreed

Creamy Goodness

imo

late 80's early-mid 90's - golden age for gameplay.
noughties - golden age for graphics and sequels.

whiskeyman

now is the golden age for game developers / profits etc...
Late 80s and early 90s was golden age for gamers imo.

Stephen

Yep, the Commodore Amiga days were the golden age for me

L31mr0d

now IS the golden age of gaming, and here's why I think so. We are pretty much the first generation to be brought up on games. We will raise our kids to play games also. A golden age of anything is when something that was previously on the cusp of being accepted suddenly becomes fully accepted. Our children will grow up with video games being as normal and as expected as TV is now.

Q_Ball

L31mr0d wrote: »

now IS the golden age of gaming, and here's why I think so. We are pretty much the first generation to be brought up on games. We will raise our kids to play games also. A golden age of anything is when something that was previously on the cusp of being accepted suddenly becomes fully accepted. Our children will grow up with video games being as normal and as expected as TV is now.

I'd actually say the opposite and that the 80's & early 90's were the golden age because videogames were so new and only begining to come into their own with the first few generations of consoles/pcs.

How often have you played a game and wished you could erase it from your memory and play it again. To children today, videogames ARE as normal and expected as TV. To us golden oldies, they were brand new and magical. We remember what it was like before they were around and after they became widely available.

I'd compare this thinking to the "golden age" of cinema, when movies went from niche to mainstream apeal in one generation.

*edit* just to add:

from wikipedia (yeah i know but it has the most in depth definitions of the metaphor i can find)

A golden age is often ascribed to the years immediately following some technological innovation. It is during this time that writers and artists ply their skills to this new medium.

If you start with pong, move to the games available in early arcades and finish in the early "home computer" era you can see the golden age of videogames. You can blame the current generation of home gaming on the Atari 2600

AntiVirus

L31mr0d wrote: »

now IS the golden age of gaming, and here's why I think so. We are pretty much the first generation to be brought up on games. We will raise our kids to play games also. A golden age of anything is when something that was previously on the cusp of being accepted suddenly becomes fully accepted. Our children will grow up with video games being as normal and as expected as TV is now.

Bang on! I showed my 10 year old nephew Jet Set Willy and Space Invaders and he just laughed at them. He lost interest in them in under 2 minutes and wanted to race me in PGR.

Golden age my ass!!

sprinkles

Define the term golden age?

Early 90's saw the introduction of the mainstream home entertainment - new concept and radically changed our lives (and that's not an overstatement)

Mid - late 90's was definately less influential imo, just building on the foundations set by the nes and the mastersystem/megadrive and no real leaps in focus - graphics etc got better but no real change in formula (I'd say the introduction of the rumble pack was the only real leap forward in gaming in terms of interaction witht he media - again I'm not refering to specs of machines or 3D graphics here).

Naughties saw on line games come to the forefront. Xbox Live was a massive leap forward. It became easy for the average Joe to play game on line for the first time. It opened up a whole new focus for game developers.

Now we're building on that but it's such an expansive area.... we have the classics available on all main formats for download, we can play new versions of old games on line against our mates/randomers and we have access to movies/music/downloadable content which means our game consoles are no longer just that, they're entertainment hubs.

Then you've the wii and ds view on things. Would your Mam and Da have entertained the idea of playing a console 15 years ago? Now they will. The age profile of gamers has radically changed because of these 2 consoles and based on that I would say that this is in fact a Golden Age for gaming.

CiDeRmAn

Scarily it depends on what age you are, when it was that you first got into videogames, the monent when you got that console Christms morning or from your confo money or whenever, that time you hastily ripped the box open, plugged it all in, beat off you brother/sister/mum/dad who was trying to help you and finally pop in the cartridge/tape/disk and watch the console logo followed by the dev/publisher and finally the ingame menu asking you to simply press START.

That is the golden age, for some it's the Vic20, the Apple IIE or the Atari 2600.
For others it's the Sinclair Spectrum or the C64.
For even more it's the Atari ST or the Amiga 500.
For some it was the Sega Megadrive or the Snes.
12 odd years ago it all began for them with the Playstation, N64 and the Saturn.
For more, perhaps, than all that went before it was the PS2 and the Xbox that opened new realms of delight.
Now for many its the first time playing on the new HD set with the PS3 or 360, or perhaps taking over the telly in the kitchen with the Wii that has really switched them to gaming goodness.

As a rather seasoned gamer I reckon we've never had it so good, with the 360 and the Wii still confounding expectations with games like Mario Galaxy, Metroid Corruption, Halo 3 and Gears of War, a future for the PS3 full of promise, with games like Uncharted finally showing the world just how good Sony is at crafting great games, and games on the horizon like No More Heroes and who knows what else, I think we may very well have never had it so good.

Mantel

For me the golden age was when genres where created and sent forth to multiply. They sure did and now that golden age has got some middle age spread going on.

Oman

itll never be the golden age of gaming because golden age suggests its the best and therefore cant get any better but gaming will always get better

Master-Decoy

Yeah I'd have to say that emulators and ROMS(insta-ban?I think not) are a god send,theyve managed to keep those age old titles from becoming extinct! I mean there's some bloody good gameplay to be had! Me and a mate hooked my laptop up to a 32" high def with about 200 roms to go through! It was wicked! SO many classic titles! Flashback kept us going for about 2 hours without needing to change games!

The music industry is dead,long live computer games!:D

L31mr0d

Q_Ball wrote: »

I'd actually say the opposite and that the 80's & early 90's were the golden age because videogames were so new and only begining to come into their own with the first few generations of consoles/pcs.

sure, you are correct from a technological point of view but i'm talking about a sociological point of view, in that computer games have previously been viewed as either a waste of time, the past times of the introverted and anti social and a detriment to society. Much like the way your grandparents would of viewed TV, whereas this generation views TV as a necessity rather than a luxury. The generations that held these views about Video games are dying off now, our children will grow up in a society that classes video games as an equal past time to watching a movie or tv show.

thelordofcheese

The golden age is usually whenever you started playing games, for me the 16Bit era (well, i started with an atari2600 ages after it stopped being popular, cheers da!) but depending on how old you are and when you started gaming that can move about.
I'm sure there are kids out there who think Sonic Adventure is the pinnacle of the Sonic Series. And that makes me cry.

Anyway, i don't think we're in any sort of a golden age, except maybe in terms of graphics. Portal and Mario Galaxy are great games and all, but a few good games in short sucession that have risen above the general medocrity don't really make for a golden age.
Then again, i'm viewing my megadrive years through rose tinted glasses....

callaway92

sick of games tbh...the PS2 was the golden age of gaming.now it is dull...like a million WW2 games...racing games with no damage...oh yes..how great is that

o1s1n

callaway92 wrote: »

now it is dull...like a million WW2 games...racing games with no damage...oh yes..how great is that

Now for me, you just described the Playstation era

16-bit FTW!

CiDeRmAn

Emulation is well and good, but there is nothing better for playing say, flashback, than a Megadrive and a copy of the game, also serves to help with the rose tinted glasses effect, as you blow on the contacts in the hopes of the cart working this time!

Sad when younger gamers refer to Medal of Honor Frontlines as "the first MOH game", makes me feel, kinda old!

Great to see the likes of Nintendo brush off the Mario Bros. series and make New Super Mario Bros. and a whole new generation of Mario fans, Hooray!

Jazzy

1998

DingChavez

This comic seems to be relevant:



Although 1990-2000 WERE the best!

Mikeyt086

97-98 for me. I was only 8/9 at the time, but a sleepover 4 player multiplayer on Goldeneye and round robin indoor tournaments on FIFA 98 was the greatest thing ever. EVER.

Vyse

For me it was the mid to late 80's. Shinobi, Outrun, Golden Axe, Afterburner, Spyhunter, Pole Position............................ All I ever wanted was my own araced:D

cozmik

parsimonious........... that's a nice word.

Sqaull20

callaway92 wrote: »

sick of games tbh...the PS2 was the golden age of gaming.now it is dull...like a million WW2 games...racing games with no damage...oh yes..how great is that

Agree with that....

There isnt a game out today, that captivated me the way the original tomb raider and resident evil did....Those games were new,fresh,revolutionary, I still play games now but its not the same...

The mid 90's was the peak for me, everything has went down hill since Zelda64 imo....

Retr0gamer

For me it wad the 16-bit era. 2D gaming perfected and a very strong arcade scene. A great time for PC games also since there were loads of experimental 3D games during the era.