20+ y-olds, the luckiest generation of a gamers?

CyberGhost

I was just thinking,

Guys/girls that are 20 somethings right now, are the best and the luckiest generation of gamers, cause games grew up along with them.

When you were kids all the best games were made primarily for kids, Mario, Street Fighter, Island Anventure... And as you grew up, so did the games, they got more serious and more adult, now you have Call of Duty, Battlefield, Halo3, Gears of War, Metal Gear, Deus EX....

There are lots of games for kids today, but that takes a backstage to more adult oriented games, when back then Mario was the cream of the crop. And most of the kids usually play more serious games too.

If you are a hardcore gamer and love games you surely must appreciate being born in the right era of gaming.

Creamy Goodness

some of the games you've mentioned that are adulty games now, are quite ****e tbh, mainly call of duty and halo3.

i get what your saying though, gamers in their 20's were the luckiest as the caught the time when gaming was getting really popular in the late 80's early-mid 90's.

i wouldn't really class mario games as for kids, sure it's kind of a shoe in to have kids playing them but by christ some mario games aren't exactly easy to play, i still have troubles with some levels and i'm 22

my youth was spent play tetris, mario 1/2/3/4, sonic 1/2/3, road rash, streets of rage, street fighter II etc. the thing all these games have in common is GAMEPLAY; which is something i think is being put on the back burner behind graphics.

now it's not gameplay as such that sells, it's the oohh look it's nice and shiney factor.

robby^5

Never actually thought about that but yeah it is somewhat like that, games were pretty much kids only and as our generation grew up the industry grew with us, this is probably because we were the generation that made Nintendo a household name

Although I think being introduced to the gaming industry right now is a great time to start gaming. Young kids are being introduced to the Wii and DS and hopefully it will foster a love of gaming and the idustry and culture only continues to grow througout the generations.

pablomakaveli

When you look at the crappy games they make for kids these day's (Disney games seem to be the worst)it makes me glad i grew up playing the likes of Mario and Sonic.

All the best games nowadays are more aimed towards adults so im lucky there as well.

Retr0gamer

Can't really agree. While we are getting a lot of great games at the moment I still don't think it can match the golden 16-bit era (including PCs golden era) for sheer quality games getting released. They also missed out on the vibrant social arcade scene.

I also think that games really haven't matured at all. The games you mention like Halo 3, GoW etc. may have adult content but are either utterly childish or trying too hard to be pretentious. There's very few games out there you could truly class as mature, bioshock or shadow of the colossus, but they don't come along very often and it's the same as a few years back. The last two games I played that I could classify as mature would be Chibi Robo and Valkyria Chronicles and both games had very cartoony visuals.

All the best games nowadays are more aimed towards adults so im lucky there as well.

I think the games companies know that about half the GoWs and GTA's are getting sold to the under 18's market.

noodler

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Can't really agree

No way!?



And I bloody warned you about VC so you're watching the Meryl/Johnny cutscene from MGS4 again!

projectmayhem

pablomakaveli wrote: »

When you look at the crappy games they make for kids these day's (Disney games seem to be the worst)it makes me glad i grew up playing the likes of Mario and Sonic.

All the best games nowadays are more aimed towards adults so im lucky there as well.

Old school Disney games were great though.

I am lucky to have witnessed the birth and (somewhat) maturing nature of the industry that, in 100 years time, could be a bigger money spinner then music or movies combined, given that games has embraced all of the technologies for distribution available.

I wouldn't say I'm lucky to be 20+ enjoying games. I would just say I'm lucky to have a job with such an expensive interest...

Bubs101

I was a kid when all those games were out and all I wanted to do was play Duke Nukem and GTA. If anything we were super unlucky

Retr0gamer

noodler wrote: »

And I bloody warned you about VC so you're watching the Meryl/Johnny cutscene from MGS4 again!

Nooooo!

pixelburp

Games may have become more "adult oriented", but I don't believe they are in the least bit "adult" taken in general across the media. If anything they're more adolescent in tone than ever & have gone backwards. From the glorification of violence & gore, to the racial and gender stereotyping, gaming in the mainstream eye I think has become the denizen of the "fratboy" as it were & when you have trailers advertising the gore (witness Band of Brother's developers positively salivating over their gore system) something I believe has gone seriously wrong with the medium & the gamers within.

This isn't by all means true in totality though & gaming can be adult and mature (Bioshock & Half Life 2 + exp packs springs to mind); but I do sometimes wonder if the negative press games receive from conservative commentators isn't at least a little justified. There was a time when gaming seemed to have been broadening its horizons - look at Deus Ex, the Thief Series, System Shock 2 etc - but this trend has stopped and gone in the opposite direction. Cheap visceral thrills reign supreme now - now we have Cliffy B posing with a chainsaw.

So yeah, older, 20 something gamers like myself got to grow up with games while they still had the last vestiges of innocence attached or the lack of pressure to recoup the massive investments meant developers could stretch their creative muscles & not pander to crass exploitation gaming.

K.O.Kiki

I'm finding it harder & harder to find games I want to play -- maybe I'm becoming very jaded, but all the "big" releases seem to be brown shooters built on technology and not vision, or "casual" software (which is just cover BS for "sub-par, one-shot gameplay").

Someone help me find something exciting again, and show me where the small, innovative developers are being given a shot.

Benzino

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

show me where the small, innovative developers are being given a shot.

They are not being given a shot. This is the price of success. Back in the late 80's and early 90's, games could be made for a relatively small price and make a nice profit. Therefore risks could be taken with new ideas, delays could be made to improve a game before release without the risk of going out of business (in most cases anyway).

However, as the industry has become more successful, the standards and cost of production have gone up, and publishers are very reluctant to invest money into a game that may not sell. Bioshock is mentioned in every "top X FPS" list, hell in every "top X games ever" list, but yet they had huge trouble getting a publisher to back the game. One publisher called it "just another f***king FPS".

And to be honest, there is very little reason for publishers to do so. Look at LittleBigPlanet, psychonauts, Mirror's Edge. All innovative in their own way, but haven't performed the greatest in terms of sales.

It's a clique at this stage, but if we want innovative games or just games with good gameplay, we need to stop buying the crap thats thrown at us every year.

Just by 2cent anyway.

Dirtt_Diver

Spot On!!

pixelburp

Benzino wrote: »

And to be honest, there is very little reason for publishers to do so. Look at LittleBigPlanet, psychonauts, Mirror's Edge. All innovative in their own way, but haven't performed the greatest in terms of sales.

But in those circumstances, the blame can be laid squarely at the feet of the marketing departments & release schedules. It comes back to my point about the safe bets of tits & gore; no publisher wants to take a risk. LittleBIgPlanet is a flawed idea anyway & hardly the source of mega sales, but the other two suffered from 0 publicity for the former & the latter was released in a crowded time of the year. Ok, Mirror's Edge didn't live up to its potential, but it never got a chance to.

Kernel

I've still got great memories of waiting around the Atari 2600 with a mate for Bruce Lee to load up for a two player marathon. I've been a gamer since the beginning of games more or less, and I think that's a lucky thing!

John

I remember playing Batman, Michael Jackson's Moonwalker and some barbarian beat 'em up on the C64 before getting my own NES. Never owned a SNES/Megadrive but enough friends did for me to have plenty of fun on them. I was only remarking today how different games are whilst playing Resistance 2 on the PS3 and comparing it to Duck Hunt.

fugazied

Dude I am amazed by how little my younger cousin is amazed by some of these games. He's 15 now, and occaisionally when he visits I'll have a few games of COD 4 with him. I'm 30 now, so I grew up on Amiga, Commodore 64 and real old school consoles. COD 4 scenes are jaw dropping for me, games like bioshock still blow my mind. My cousin thinks they are 'ok'. Can't wait to see the kinds of games that are jaw dropping for him as he grows up.

noodler

I think my first ever memory is Terminator 2 on the C64. I got one for my communion.

Loved that game in all its 9 level glory, of course loved the film too.

Anyone remember the creatures series of games? You were a member of a weird ehh. creature-like race and had to save one of your brethern from torture and death in each level, usually you had a number of humerous things you had to do on a level screen to free him. Kind of like a more bloody and cruel version of mousetrap.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatures_(Commodore_64_game) is the link but no screens there.


EDIT: Heres a screen from Creatures too. Memories

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatures_II:_Torture_Trouble

CutzEr

So you assume that only adults play these 'adult games'?

Roffle.

Kids play them, teens play them, not just adults

Infact, I'd say more teens play them than adults.

I'd say the younger ones are in a better age than the 20- year old ones..



Have your blimm'n 8bit games, we get 1080p HD.

Blahhhhh.

CyberGhost

fugazied wrote: »

Dude I am amazed by how little my younger cousin is amazed by some of these games. He's 15 now, and occaisionally when he visits I'll have a few games of COD 4 with him. I'm 30 now, so I grew up on Amiga, Commodore 64 and real old school consoles. COD 4 scenes are jaw dropping for me, games like bioshock still blow my mind. My cousin thinks they are 'ok'. Can't wait to see the kinds of games that are jaw dropping for him as he grows up.

Hmm... I'm like your younger cousin, I rarely ever get truly blown away by a game these days... it's like "hmm yea it does look good, ok".

I used to be in awe with some games in 8-32 bit era. I was amazed by Robocop vs Terminator, by that Mickey Mouse game on Sega, blown away with Mortal Kombat 3 the first time I saw it, 3DO was considered lifelike, the first Need For Speed, Sega rally. The first time I saw Tekken 2, I was in a shock, in a total shock just how good it looked.

These days... nothing, sometimes I wish I could have that old feeling about the games, but I simply don't.

Jazzy

im 24 now and started with a nes in 1989. i really think that yes, i am indeed lucky as ive played pretty much all the classics (not including spectrum & c64 cos i dont really think they were as good as the nes generation. but they did pioneer a lot of the scene in the day).
i dont think there is any games from b4 i started that im jealous that i didnt get to play off the bat.

the best era of games tho was the 1997/98 years.
zelda oot
starcraft
mgs
ffvii
half life
goldeneye
gta
castlevania syotn
ultima online

all those are pretty much the games that shaped wat we play now. 94/95 wasnt bad either actually. when did civ 2 come out? i seem to remember it stealing ages 13/14 on me

lazlo

pixelburp wrote: »

Games may have become more "adult oriented", but I don't believe they are in the least bit "adult" taken in general across the media. If anything they're more adolescent in tone than ever & have gone backwards. From the glorification of violence & gore, to the racial and gender stereotyping, gaming in the mainstream eye I think has become the denizen of the "fratboy" as it were & when you have trailers advertising the gore (witness Band of Brother's developers positively salivating over their gore system) something I believe has gone seriously wrong with the medium & the gamers within.

This isn't by all means true in totality though & gaming can be adult and mature (Bioshock & Half Life 2 + exp packs springs to mind); but I do sometimes wonder if the negative press games receive from conservative commentators isn't at least a little justified. There was a time when gaming seemed to have been broadening its horizons - look at Deus Ex, the Thief Series, System Shock 2 etc - but this trend has stopped and gone in the opposite direction. Cheap visceral thrills reign supreme now - now we have Cliffy B posing with a chainsaw.

So yeah, older, 20 something gamers like myself got to grow up with games while they still had the last vestiges of innocence attached or the lack of pressure to recoup the massive investments meant developers could stretch their creative muscles & not pander to crass exploitation gaming.

This is completely true. I think the steady rise in the number multiplayer online games has also dented the progress that was being made by games in a more artistic/mature sense. I'm not sure whether this due to player demand or if its a industry reaction to increased piracy or maybe its just the natural progression because of better communications technology. One thing is sure: World of Warcraft does not have the depth of Planescape Torment and most serious PC Gamers would still play System Shock 2 or Deus Ex over almost any of the homogenised shooter/adventures out there today.

lazlo

CyberGhost wrote: »

Hmm... I'm like your younger cousin, I rarely ever get truly blown away by a game these days... it's like "hmm yea it does look good, ok".

I used to be in awe with some games in 8-32 bit era. I was amazed by Robocop vs Terminator, by that Mickey Mouse game on Sega, blown away with Mortal Kombat 3 the first time I saw it, 3DO was considered lifelike, the first Need For Speed, Sega rally. The first time I saw Tekken 2, I was in a shock, in a total shock just how good it looked.

These days... nothing, sometimes I wish I could have that old feeling about the games, but I simply don't.

Donkey Kong Country on the Snes knocked the eyes out of me and everyone I knew when I was a kid.

I remember thinking the Tasmania game on the Mega Drive was the best looking game ever (sometimes, I'd rent out the Mega Drive for a weekend, had a NES at the time).

It just looked so cartoon-like and well-animated, in a way games I had been playing never did. Good game to play too

Dustaz

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

some of the games you've mentioned that are adulty games now, are quite ****e tbh, mainly call of duty and halo3.

i get what your saying though, gamers in their 20's were the luckiest as the caught the time when gaming was getting really popular in the late 80's early-mid 90's.

i wouldn't really class mario games as for kids, sure it's kind of a shoe in to have kids playing them but by christ some mario games aren't exactly easy to play, i still have troubles with some levels and i'm 22

my youth was spent play tetris, mario 1/2/3/4, sonic 1/2/3, road rash, streets of rage, street fighter II etc. the thing all these games have in common is GAMEPLAY; which is something i think is being put on the back burner behind graphics.

now it's not gameplay as such that sells, it's the oohh look it's nice and shiney factor.

+1 . Gonna bump this because its precisely what i was gonna post when i read the OP.

Dustaz

Benzino wrote: »

And to be honest, there is very little reason for publishers to do so. Look at LittleBigPlanet, psychonauts, Mirror's Edge. All innovative in their own way, but haven't performed the greatest in terms of sales.

It's a clique at this stage, but if we want innovative games or just games with good gameplay, we need to stop buying the crap thats thrown at us every year.

Very good points and to this day i just cannot understand WHO buys the crap that does come out. Movie tie-ins a a prime example. They come out accompanying the summer blockbuster and even from the back of the case alone you can tell the game is utterly terrible yet it still is at #2 in the gamestor charts (I've actually always assumed those instore charts are marketing tools rather than a measure of sales). I just cant understand how they make money.

CutzEr wrote: »

Have your blimm'n 8bit games, we get 1080p HD.

Crap games in High Def are still Crap games

Jazzy wrote: »

i am indeed lucky as ive played pretty much all the classics (not including spectrum & c64 cos i dont really think they were as good as the nes generation. but they did pioneer a lot of the scene in the day).
i dont think there is any games from b4 i started that im jealous that i didnt get to play off the bat.

Sup jazzy

the best era of games tho was the 1997/98 years.
zelda oot
starcraft
mgs
ffvii
half life
goldeneye
gta
castlevania syotn
ultima online

all those are pretty much the games that shaped wat we play now.

All those games were shaped by previous games (with the possible exception of UO i guess). All of them have also been bettered to a certain degree as well. So really, the best time for a gamer is the current time because even though the standard at the moment might not be the best, youve still got the archive to fall back on and the odd gem that escapes the corporate clutches:)

L31mr0d

screw that, sure I love my 8/16-bit childhood, but I'd rather be a teenager 20 years from now than a 40 something year old getting my ass whooped by kids on their virtual 3D gaming consoles.

There was way too much of my childhood wasted fishing for tadpoles, going camping, building treehouses and generally exploring the woods near where I live with my friends. I could of been spending that time gaming in front of a big ass TV I can only dream

Jazzy

ok, ya got me with elite. a friend had it back in the day but wouldnt lend it to us (nes version). didnt matter tho as megaman 2 was better (ooooooohhhhhhh controversial)

and ur right, the games i listed were of course shaped by previous games but it wasnt until the ones i listed came out that their scope was realised. i wrote an article about the 97/98 era back in my prime which i can try and dig up. something tells me tho that its written on one of those virtual magazines which makes it impossible to copy and paste and i need to give directions on how to find it from the link

and yeah, i tend to agree about the graphics part. i think i stopped being wow'ed by graphics when i saw toy story in the cinema

Fartmonger

I think right now is a pretty interesting time to be a gamer. Last year the digital distribution game market really took off. In addition, there were a lot of big-selling indie games in the news.

The lower price of distribution, plus more small developers should be an interesting mix for 2009.

CyberGhost

lazlo wrote: »

Donkey Kong Country on the Snes knocked the eyes out of me and everyone I knew when I was a kid.

Ha, I remember that one, I was super impressed with it too, made me wish I had an SNES instead of Sega.

Also... Lion King and Jungle Book.... man good old times

EDIT: Alladin aswell and Crash Bandicoot the first one.

Weses

It feels good to have grown up playing the classics. We're already starting to get an overflow of newbies who know nothing about the older classics, and think they're sh*t beacuse the graphics are bad.

nix

They dont make games like the used to thats for sure, looking back over systems ive owned in the passed. I used to purchase alot more games than i do now.

Seems to me after the Dreamcast console all creativity and originality went out the window for all later consoles. All games now are the same old boring sequels or reinventions of games from its prior platform.

I used to have to swap games around or rent them when i was younger as i couldn't afford to buy games as easily as i could now. I had to wait for birthdays or Chrimbo's to stock up on games, heck i remember getting Super Mario bros 2 with my communion money, Good times!

And when i had my Playstation my income was a little better and i had like over 100 games for it and loved pretty much all of them..

Now i look at the games for consoles and i couldn't pick a handful of games to even warrant paying the silly price for the consoles these days. Although i was tempted yesterday to buy the PS3, but thats only because i seen that they are releasing the old sega classics on it soon. Like 40 old games from sega on one disc Such as Streets of rage 1,2 and 3, all sonics, alex the kids, echo the dolphin etc... Damn so tempting and an emulator just isnt the same, i might just pick one up.. Atleast i get a blue ray player right ?

I find i can only play online pc games these days, i find pc games are the only platform that can still cater for my gaming needs

So yes we are lucky to have grown up playing all those awesome games, just a shame they dont hit the same game playing standards these days

Fionnanc

i.m 29 and wish we had the totalwar games when i was a kid.
I do miss all the great flight simulators from my younger days. Il2 sturmovik is 8 years old now