Top 5 things in gaming history that pissed you off.

[heybtbm]

I think the worst idea in the history of video games is just starting to rear is ugly head...

Downloadable Content

Oh...you bought $59.99 retail version of the game? Nope..you only bought the "silver" edition. The "gold" version with extra levels, characters, etc will be an additional $29.99...only available on Xbox Live/PS Online/Nintendo Wi-Fi (etc.)

It's coming.

[davepesc]

I mostly like gaming, that's why I do it, but some things I don't like/miss

1. The loss of pack-in games. "I just spent $300 and all I can do is play a music CD through my TV!" A game, memory card and 2 controllers should be standard.

2. Final Fantasy VIII: No game that penalizes you for using magic should ever be called Final Fantasy.

3. Sega Saturn: I never bought it until just recently, but I was Sega All The Way up until that. I jumped to the PlayStation.

4. Bad cameras: I'm not a 3-D hater, but there is nothing more frustrating than an otherwise fun game ruined because you can't see what the hell you are doing, which leads me to,

5. Dark games: I understand that caves are dark, but like in the movies, you need to be able to see what you are doing. I've played games where I had to slide my character back and forth against a wall just hoping to find the door/passage.

[tssk]

My worst thread.

1. Everyone blaming Sony for the death of Sega.

Were they instrumental? Yes. BUt Sega only had itself to blame. I knew a few Sega fans who after buying the MegaCD and then the 32X only to see support for them disappear really quickly vowed never again.

2. Nintendo acting like small gods.

Yes they resurected the industry but didn't they just know it. Read Game Over by David Scheff if you want a good overview.

3. The death of the arcade.

Again caused by greed. I can even pinpoint the exact moment this happened. The moment when Sinistar had it's difficulty skewed upwards at the request of management thus making it harder. This decresead the ammount of time a gamer would spend playing as they would get killed off pretty quickly. It also decreased it's performance in the arcade when word got aroound about how nasty the game was. Flow on effect was that it wasn't ported to other systems.

However this new model prevailed to the point of players now buying 'time'. You might not be skilled but you could buy your way to the end of the game.

Playing Taito Legends recently I noticed the difference in play balance between Operation Wolf and Operation Thunderbolt. Skill will get you to the end in one game but not the other.

The upshot of this? The rise of the net cafe. If you are buying time why not spend your dollar wisely? For one five minute game of Time Crisis 3 I can buy two hours of Counterstrike or Battlefield.

4. The death of Commodore. It was slow and painful, even zealots like me had to admit it had become hopeless.

5. The unofficial blackbanning of games journo Stuart Campbell. Sometimes telling the truth doesn't set you free, it gives you lots of free time.

[Teknik_SE-R]

2. People lament the passing of the Dreamcast and quite often rant about the stupidity of the American consumer for not buying it. However, I consider myself stupid for buying both a 32X and a Sega CD when they first came out to the tune of hundreds of dollars. After that,and the failure of the Saturn, I vowed never to be suckered by Sega again. I suspect the majority of the people who refused to buy it felt the same way.

D

I am right there with you. I have always have had a personal bias against SONY as a whole, and never bought a PSX because I thought they should keep their asses out of the industry (I felt the same way about the XBOX when it came out too :D) This is funny, cuz I don't know where I'd be without 3xtreme (for nostalgia reasons), jet moto 1-3, tony hawk, twisted metal 1-3, gex 1-3, or GT 1 & 2. All in all, every console has their attributes (that's one of the reasons why I collect) but things would sure be alot simpler if the industry could keep it down to 2 consoles at a time.

anyway, Sega was my #2 followed by atari. all others were not worthy (excuse me SNK loverz, I wan't that hardcore at the time). I wanted to buy a dreamcast, but after seeing the failure of the 32x and SegaCD peripherals, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I could see their demise from a mile away (same with atari). I didn't want the industry to shift away from sega to sony, but it did. To this day i still dont know what the cart slot is for on the back of the saturn (memcard? 32x slot? expansion slot?)

as for the memory card comment. I think that memory cards are great when it comes to going to a friends house to play my saved games. however HD/memcard combo is the best idea. quit making me buy perphs!!! a HD/memcard slot and 4 player ports, that's all I ask.


my 7 complaints:

1 entrance of large corporations sticking their asses in the market (I know, I know) x_x

MY reason for including this is because if Sony or MS never got involved, I think gaming would still be gaming. It isn't that fun anymore if you ask me. go look up 'game' in the dictionary. the primary definition is:

" activity engaged in for diversion or amusement "
OR
"any activity providing entertainment or amusement, a pastime."

I'm not amused or entertained anymore. I'm bored, frustrated, and serious. Games require too much involvement. I don't want to have to deal with 20 min cutscenes, a 3 day learning curve, or online competition.

whoever mentioned "minutes to learn, lifetime to master" got it right. I don't want to come home from 10 hours of work and be frustrated, I want to come home and relax. Pretty much anything made before 1999 I can just plug in and play and relax.1999-2002 was transitionary. and 2003 and up pretty much killed the fun in games for me.

I also think the entrance of big "money making machines" also led to the demise of niche genres like point and click, and 2D. game companies had to compete, so they had to go for big profit and dropped the niche genres... oh yeah, the list...

2 horrible evolutionary structure of the GB family- it took BigN over 10 years to put a backlight in the damn thing, and they still had problem. Atari and Sega did it right the first time.

3 nintendos outrageous industry moves (repressive exclusive rights, n64 carts, gamecube minidisks, VB, BACKLIT SCREENS) I almost think they do some of these things in spite of the industry standards. (perhaps the revolution controller is their next spiteful move, we'll see i guess) way to commit suicide guys.

4 Atari's horrible marketing of the jaguar and lynx, and Atari's downfall pretty much every decade! We had our chance for cont. overlays in a new gen console, deep gameplay, and an awesome handheld. oh well.

5 The fall of sega as a major player in the game industry

6 the demise of arcades. Cart ports will never equal their arcade counterparts, partly because of the atmosphere of the arcade, and partly cuz of the game designs (controls, seats, displays, etc)

7 too many consoles competing at the same time (IMO a contributor to "the great crash O' 83") meh, oh well. that's business for ya

[Ed Oscuro]

1) SONY PLAYSTATION = SEGA DEATH yeah thats right sony, wanna see my boom stick???
yeah, damn them for not giving those wonderful Sega CD titles a chance :roll:

Well, one thing I don't like is that the SMS failed, but Nintendo's hardware in 1983 was lightyears ahead of Sega's (Casio's and Atari's as well, for that matter). It was great at the time and stuck around for the long haul. Since then, there really hasn't been a repeat of this where one company had hardware that much better than the competition.

[Richter]

- Early DC death
- The move to 3D. Not because of the death of 2D, but because the move introduced bad camera angles and controls
- only 2 controller ports on the PS2
- the Saturn keeping some of the best games in Japan
- Nintendo's console decisions:
- removing the Component support from the GC
- piss-poor support for the GC 'Net adapters
- the GBA NES releases being only 1 game a cart
- N64 keeping the carts, when the other's moved on

[sabre2922]

#1. The death of the art that was 2-D gaming :(

#2. The premature demise of Segas DREAMCAST= 70% Segas fault, they dropped the ball with 32X/Saturn etc, before releasing what is STILL the greatest home console in History and 30% fault goeas to both casual and avid gamers buying into Sonys Hype machine for PS2 :roll:
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/weblogs/upload/50/1702268425438bceb80dd2e.jpg

#3.Nintendos fall from grace after the SNES because of thier overflated Egotistical ways from the fuck up that was the partnership with Sony and the SNES/original playstation add-on to the decision to release the N64 with the outdated cartridge format that nearly crippled the systems true potential and a SHITTTY fisherprice controller.

#4.the Cancellation of the greatest U.S. gaming magazine EVER GAMEFAN :bad-words:

#5. Reading Segas comment of how "SATURN IS NOT SEGAS FUTURE" in the pages of a shiny new GAMEFAN Magazine back in the day the golden grial of game mags for hardcore gamers in the U.S.
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/weblogs/upload/50/1536907832438bcfffc00ad.jpg

[Jorpho]

2 horrible evolutionary structure of the GB family- it took BigN over 10 years to put a backlight in the damn thing, and they still had problem. Atari and Sega did it right the first time.

Not quite. It just took them over 10 years to release such a model outside of Japan.

http://www.vidgame.net/NINTENDO/gb_light.htm

[evildead2099]

I think the worst idea in the history of video games is just starting to rear is ugly head...

Downloadable Content

Oh...you bought $59.99 retail version of the game? Nope..you only bought the "silver" edition. The "gold" version with extra levels, characters, etc will be an additional $29.99...only available on Xbox Live/PS Online/Nintendo Wi-Fi (etc.)

It's coming.

I get the rational behind your argument, but I don't think it's fair to attribute it to downloadable content.

As far as PC games go, almost all the features that have been added to the games I play have been free. Unreal Tournament inspired a bunch of mods, and although Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year edition was published in order to give newcomers to the world of UT immediate access to these mods, they have always been available for free, legal download over the net.

As far as console games go, downloadable content was supposed to (and still can, conceivable) spare consumers the cost of having to pick up "special editions" of the very games they already own (DO YOU HEAR ME, YOU MONEY GRUBBING FUCKHEADS AT E.A. ?!? :angry:).

When Mortal Kombat 3 came out as a first-generation game for the PS1, EGM commented on the fact that it lacked the bonus characters & backgrounds which had been implemented into the recently released Ultimate MK3 coin-op. EGM hinted at the possibility that Midway might release a cheap memory-card peripheral to spare those who buy copies of MK3 from having to buy entirely new copies of the updated edition (UMK3).

The proposed memory card upgrade didn't happen, but had the PS1 been wired to the net & bundled with a hard drive, there would have been no need for players to wait for midway to create, distribute, and market that upgrade: they could have just downloaded it themselves.

Possibilities aside, the point is the 'sepcial editions' / upgrades of games predate downloadable content. All one has to do is look to all the Street Fighter IIs and Maddens as evidence of that.

[evildead2099]

entrance of large corporations sticking their asses in the market (I know, I know) x_x

MY reason for including this is because if Sony or MS never got involved, I think gaming would still be gaming. It isn't that fun anymore if you ask me.

I agree with you there. Although I have bought consoles from two non-game companies (Sony and Microsoft), I feel that I do not enjoy most of their games as much as I enjoyed the games that were repsective of consoles made by 'real' gaming companies. Some might say that my opinion is contingent upon the changing nature of videogames as a whole, and while that may be true, I'll maintain that with respect to 1st party games, Sega and Nintendo are, in my opinion, untouchable.

By the way, here's 2 other things I should've added to my list:

Sony's bogus promise of a "revolutionary" PS2 online network.

No more pack-in games, no more pack-in 2nd controllers (especially considering how much more expensive consoles have become).

[Teknik_SE-R]

2 horrible evolutionary structure of the GB family- it took BigN over 10 years to put a backlight in the damn thing, and they still had problem. Atari and Sega did it right the first time.

Not quite. It just took them over 10 years to release such a model outside of Japan.

http://www.vidgame.net/NINTENDO/gb_light.htm

oh yeah! I remember reading a mag about this back in the day (1996/7?) and how the US didn't get it, but it wasn't that great and Nintendo should just come out with a color gameboy with a light! LOL!

now that's technology! indiglo! woot! woot!

[retroman]

when Golden Axe 3 for the Genny was cancled...i was very pissed...being a huge Golden Axe fan ...i have it now..but then,,i was very upset

[Tanis178]

i'd just like to point out that first off i'm not a sony fanboy, having said that any hatred for sony should be directed at nintendo, they are the ones who convinced sony to build the playstation in the first place and we unable to market a better seller, anyway here's my list in no particular order

1. death of arcades in NA as we know it
2. M$'s stingy backwards compatibilty policy, no splinter cell 3? wtf?
3. getting a bastardized "doki doki panic/mario" game instead of lost levels.
4. Link is never the same character one game to the next, same name same suit different guy lol
5. no online gran turismo 4 'nuff said

[swlovinist]

#1 The Fall of Sega- The company is but a shell of its original glory. The several failures AFTER the Genesis have definately hurt one of my favorite companies. Hell, they cant even get a decent compliation right(Sega Classcis Collection PS2 is absolutely awful).

#2 Nintendo forgetting its adult gamers. I love the company, but boy has it forgotten me. Nintendo while making excellent child friendly games everyone likes, totally has shunned the gamers that made it millions. I am thankful for games like Metroid, but Nintnedo continues to live in denial that millions would love to buy their system if it was not for their lack of understanding that ADULTS PLAY GAMES TOO. . Nintendo you have forgotten me :( .

#3 Atari and almost everything after the 2600. From turning down Nintendo to making horrible systems like the Jaguar, I still wonder what Atari would do if they could do it all over again. The 5200(horrible controllers), the 7800(excellent but 3 years on the shelf), and the Lynx(software support sucked). I can only hope and pray that Infogames does something with the Atari name that does it the justice it deserves.

#4 Near death of cart systems- After the DS, I can say that cart systems will be nearly dead. Going to flea marts and thrift stores will not be the same, and definately will be harder to find games that will play.

#5 The current state of Gaming- as a whole, I am very dissapointed with the current state of gaming, and the very lack of creative development that seems to be spreading in making a video game. Add millions of dollars just to make a game, along with advertisements galore and you see just why current game shelves are loaded with shitty games. While I applaud the innovative titles that are out there, the industry as a whole needs a serious wake up call.

[drewbrim]

5. Death of The Turbografx 16/CD/Duo. If more of those imports were released over here it would be no where near this list.

4. Arcades being light gun and driving games almost exclusively.

3. Many have touched on the dominance of EA, but I'll take a different direction and mention the lack of unique sports titles. Other than Mario blank (insert random sport here), I can't think of any sports titles that aren't just copies of each other. They don't have to be gimmicky like the Mario titles either. Remember Baseball Stars, Double Dribble, Mutant League Hockey, World Court Tennis, and TV Sports Football? All unique, and all fun.

2. RPG's being so ridiculously easy. Are there any that are even hard to beat anymore (other than the endurance test of sitting in front of some of them for 50+ hours). When you were playing FF7 how many times did your whole party actually die? 5 times maybe? And it's probably only that high if you decided to take on a weapon or two. The sense of accomplishment just isn't there anymore. If you don't know what I'm referring to, ask someone who's beaten Phantasy Star and they'll explain it to you.

1. Games being on multiple platforms. Most probably see this as a good thing but back when I was young this was one of the most fun things about the console wars. Comparing lineups, making fun of a fanboys choice because they didn't get to play (blank). During the days of the NES and SMS there were only a Handfull of games that were on both. Double Dragon, Shinobi, Rampage, California Games, and Paperboy immediately come to mind. I'm sure there were a few more but you could probably count them on 2, maybe 3 hands. Even though the SNES and Genny had many "shared" games, I blame most of those on EA sports titles and movie/tv/toy tie ins (aladdin, spiderman, etc..). But if you wanted Final Fantasy, Final Fight, or Mega Man, buy a Nintendo. Jealous you can't play Shining Force, Strider (the real version), or Toe Jam and Earl? Then you know what to do. Again, I know that many enjoy this, and I'm not oblivious to the appeal. I just think today's consoles have lost some of their individuality.

1a. Seeing Sonic on anything other than a Sega console :shameful:

[its_hey_ma]

2 major complaints of mine:
1. Game length. I hate paying upwards of $50 for a game I can finish in 10 hours. While I understand 80+ hours is alot to go through to finish a game, I still want to feel like I got my money's worth.
2. Price of older games. The fact that games like mega man x, x2, and x3 together go for over $100 on ebay. I actually enjoy playing these games, but can't bring myself to paying over $50 for one of them (I have a hard time justifying it on brand new titles). They should make the originals for collectors, but gh type ones for us who actually play them

[Teknik_SE-R]

1. Games being on multiple platforms. I just think today's consoles have lost some of their individuality. :shameful:

agreed, but I revert back to the fact that there are too many consoles out at one time. That and the market is different. its not like it used to be. there are no mascots to speak of anymore, and 3rd party companies are too smart to be completely exclusive.

no one has a good enough hold on the market to pull in 3rd party and create 2nd party companies.

not to mention that right now its just this overwhelming bombardment of releases, and games arent as revolutionary as they were in the day. now its just rehash after rehash.

"want a diferent game?" (company X pays 1000 graphics monkeys to draw up a different hero and scenery overnight) "plop! there you go!"

If companies would would spend more time developing unique games, exclusivity MIGHT become important again

[sabre2922]

#1 The Fall of Sega- The company is but a shell of its original glory. The several failures AFTER the Genesis have definitely hurt one of my favorite companies. Hell, they cant even get a decent compliation right(Sega Classics Collection PS2 is absolutely awful)


While I agree with you that Sega is basically a shadow (pun intended) of its former self once again I have to DISAGREE with your statement about the Sega Classics collection-IT WAS A COLLECTION OF THE SEGA AGES REMAKES FROM JAPAN AND MOST OF THEM ARE DAMN GOOD TOO especially the better than arcade perfect Virtua Racer,Fantasy Zone and Space harrier are all good remakes sure Golden Axe was half-assed (I actually like it) but Outrun is good as well as Alien Syndrome and Columns both plays and looks fine. Now the others arent worth mention but those alone make the collection worth having for any Sega fan IMO.

[Sanriostar]

Some of this is Greek Chorusing, but it's still my opinion:

Death of Dreamcast
The death of Arcades
Losing Vector monitors
the "Now Out for everything but Gamecube" Phenomenon

And last but not least...

The Takeover by Satan^H^H^H^H^H Jack Trameil of Atari Corp.

[Goodwill Hunter]

1. Blatantly misleading cover art... Whether it makes a crappy game look good or good game look crappy, it all comes down to false advertising. From having only cutscene artwork on the back to hide atrocious graphics, or making Mobile Light Force look like a Charlie's Angels game, I hate it all.

2. Sequels, Sequels II, Sequels III, Sequels the Return, etc... It's not so much that I'm opposed to sequels (with the possible exception of Army Men...give it a rest 3DO!), as it is the rarity of a sequel that meets, let alone exceeds, the quality level of its predecessor. Is it really that hard to add a new storyline, levels, characters, etc., but leave intact the gameplay, difficulty level, controller mechanics, etc. that made the first game such a hit?

3. In the same vein, but on a more personal note, Driver 2, Driv3r, and I'm assuming Driver 4... LEAVE TANNER IN THE DAMN CAR! Your franchise is NOT GTA and doesn't have to be...just let me enjoy true mission-based driving again! Did I mention I really love the original Driver?

4. Funcoland's ending the distribution of price sheets... Before the internet, Ebay and DP, I lived on those compact info sheets I could carry in my wallet (after trimming off the borders, that is). They let me know what games to pickup at rummages, thrifts, Blockbusters, etc. for maximum trade in value at Funcoland, where I built much of my NES through Saturn collection with those yellow credit slips. At one point, I was walking around with $600.00 in Funco credits in my wallet (yes, I still have a Costanza wallet LOL ). This and the tossing of the NES display boxes heralded the decline and eventual fall of my favorite used game store.

5. Goodwill and others discovering Ebay... My last 2 gripes are more about collecting than gaming, but the two are tightly intertwined for me. What bigger joy was there than walking into a Goodwill and finding a 2600 sitting on a boxful of carts with $4.99 written on the side! Still happens, but now is the exception rather than the rule. Bargains are still out there, but the $4.99 Duck Hunt/SMB cart is much more likely to be seen than the previously mentioned 2600 box.

Rich

[Jorpho]

The Takeover by Satan^H^H^H^H^H Jack Trameil of Atari Corp.

^H ? I've never seen it in this context, but I get it, and I like it!

[chaoticjelly]

1) Ultima Online 2 being canned

[Kepone]

1. The death of Atari
2. Death of the Dreamcast
3. The XBOX and how overrated it is
4. Nintendo and their bullshit practice of controlling all the content in their games
5. Sony and their lack of quality control

You could say that I distribute the shit evenly between all companies mentioned.

[Iron Draggon]

1: Sega dropping out of the console biz / Early death of the Dreamcast

2: Rise of 3D / Fall of 2D

3: Game mags in the 90's BITCHING about "OH GOD, do we really NEED yet another SHMUP?" while simultaneously RAVING about "HELL YEAH, it's yet another fighting game, WOOHOO!" Thanks for killing my favorite genre with your biased statements. Now explain to me how it's true that "If you've played one SHMUP, you've played them all" while it's not true that "If you've played one fighter, you've played them all". Street Fighter II Turbo Championship Edition anyone? No? How about Super Street Fighter II then?

4: Most of the best Saturn games left untranslated and unreleased outside of Japan / regionalization / territorial lockouts / Sega of America / all of the above SUCK ASS

5: The Genesis fails to compete with the SNES anymore after the Saturn comes out / Sega lets Nintendo end up winning the 16BIT wars due to lack of competition during the last years of the greatest console battle of all time.

[Sanriostar]

The Takeover by Satan^H^H^H^H^H Jack Trameil of Atari Corp.

^H ? I've never seen it in this context, but I get it, and I like it!

Old net UNIX joke. The only way you could backspace in the days of PINE and telnet was to Ctrl-H, and that's what it looks like if you type it.

More history that pissed me off:

The various cancellations of Sam & Max, and Star Control games.

[prismra]

I have a sixth to add.

Disappearance of Point and Click Adventures
King's Quests. Space Quests. Hero's Quests. Police Quests. What happened to my quests? I loved those games. Everybody I know who played them loved those games. So why did they quit making them?

Preach on brother!

Don't get me started on Lucasarts...

[Ackman]

1] Hl2's Steam :angry: TIE with EAs blatant Cash cow and systamic ass raping of smaller companies....

2] Double Dragon 3 Arcade :angry: :angry: :angry: :( TIE with Capcom blantant whoring out of Mega Man X and Zero.... 1 good, 2 okay, 3 crap, 4 crapper, 5 crappest zomg

3] SMB2 WTF POS has nothing on SMB imho :roll: TIE with Fifa/madden/gta/tween *&%^&$# crowd being catered too so *&^* real gamers

4] Ulimate Spiderman omfg :angry: what a POS game the frustration makes me want kill someone. TIE with majority of PC gamers 2003 ethos that only RPG/RTS/FPS matter or are decent genres

5] Starforce Splinter Cell CT PC the less said the better... had to reformat my pc got finally got it working played a while and then it bombed out again and spazed my whole system SF support says

[Jumpman Jr.]

In no particular order:

The delay of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Company's deciding to make games on discs so they will be cheaper

Sega

In my opinion, the Atari 2600 overpowering the Intellivision and not letting the Intelly reach its full glory

The demise of the Dreamcast

[Teknik_SE-R]

The Takeover by Satan^H^H^H^H^H Jack Trameil of Atari Corp.

^H ? I've never seen it in this context, but I get it, and I like it!

Old net UNIX joke. The only way you could backspace in the days of PINE and telnet was to Ctrl-H, and that's what it looks like if you type it.

More history that pissed me off:

The various cancellations of Sam & Max, and Star Control games.

I didn't catch on until this post. I deal with this every day on campus!!!! bksp=^H........ ^H=bksp argh! :angry:

lucas arts has done some stupid things over the years

[fishsandwich]

5. PAL games that won't run on my damn television.

4. The failure of the Sega Saturn in the United States.

3. No release for Comanche, FX Fighter, and Starfox 2 (all for the SNES.)

2. The Sega 32x CD.

1. Piece of shit Atari 5200 controllers. The whole things! The joystick, the rubber buttons, the keybad, all of it.

:angry:

[RickHarrisMaine]

I don't know if I have 5, but here goes.

1--Stupid-ass law in Maine that said you had to be 16 to play arcade video games

2--The slow and strangulated death of the Atari brand, from screwing up the 5200 to the 7800 and beyond.

3--Simplicity in the games-I play the classic stuff because the gameplay is better than the modern, hyperrealisitc crap out there now.

4--Nintendo--too damned big for their own good

5--plug and play games....do we really need to have a special plug and play to play Madden 95?

[evildead2099]

Namco keeps yanking my chain with the promise of a new Splatterhouse game every three or so years, never living up to its word. :(

[evildead2099]

1] Hl2's Steam :angry: TIE with EAs blatant Cash cow and systamic ass raping of smaller companies....

What's steam?


SMB2 WTF POS has nothing on SMB imho :roll: TIE with Fifa/madden/gta/tween *&%^&$# crowd being catered too so *&^* real gamers

I strongly disagree. SMB2 (USA) is hardly a "POS." SMB2 is my favourite Mario game, and is one of the most creative, imaginative, trippy games that I've ever played.

[evildead2099]

I don't know if I have 5, but here goes.

1--Stupid-ass law in Maine that said you had to be 16 to play arcade video games

All arcade games, or only the controversial ones (i.e. Mortal Kombat, Carnevil, House of the Dead, etc)?

[Avatard]

1. Castlevania going 3D
2. Metroid going 3D
3. Sony's poor design (they had to resign the PS2 what? 12 times now?)
4. Arcades filled with nothing but modern fighting games
5. 2 player games on consoles with 4 controllers
I'm sorry, but I MUST add a 6th...
6. PACMAN/GALAGA MACHINES! 50c to play Pacman? BLASPHEMY!!!!!

Flack, point and click adventures are still live and well. Play Myst 3 Exile.

[RickHarrisMaine]

I don't know if I have 5, but here goes.

1--Stupid-ass law in Maine that said you had to be 16 to play arcade video games

All arcade games, or only the controversial ones (i.e. Mortal Kombat, Carnevil, House of the Dead, etc)?

This was in the early 80's. All the games. You had to be 16 to even play Pac-Man back then. What a load of crap.....

[Whiskers the Wonder Cat]

No, no. They're doing the right thing with the law. Video games do influence what kids do. You see, if a kid under the age of 16 were to play Pac-Man, he may follow that example and go out in the real world and try to eat people.

:duh: <---Pacman himself, agrees.

[christhegamer]

I would have to say.............

1.) CHEAT CODES. No longer is it an accomplishment to get to the next level. You just need to plug in a stupid code.


Dude, cheat codes are a GOOD thing, ya' dousce-head!!!

er...um...
anyways, the things that pisses me off are...

5). bootleg games
4). stupid clones of a sucessful game
3). the ultra-hardness of some games
2). greasy controllers
1). MICROSOFT AND SONY RELEASING THEIR CONSOLES TOO EARLY!!! :angry:

thanx :D

[Tanis178]

"I strongly disagree. SMB2 (USA) is hardly a "POS." SMB2 is my favourite Mario game, and is one of the most creative, imaginative, trippy games that I've ever played."

hehehe then you've never seen doki doki panic for the famicom disk system, smb2 was a ripoff of that game sent to us because they figured we didn't have the skill level for lost levels, in a way you can say that fuji television's contribution to mario triggered changes to every mario game that came after it

[Teknik_SE-R]

"I strongly disagree. SMB2 (USA) is hardly a "POS." SMB2 is my favourite Mario game, and is one of the most creative, imaginative, trippy games that I've ever played."

hehehe then you've never seen doki doki panic for the famicom disk system, smb2 was a ripoff of that game sent to us because they figured we didn't have the skill level for lost levels, in a way you can say that fuji television's contribution to mario triggered changes to every mario game that came after it

I think everyone knows about doki doki panic. just cuz its a rehash doesn't mean it sucks. hell SMB2jp was a rehash of SMB! I'm glad we got the ddp version rather than a rehash of smb. Without it, we wouldn't have half of the mario related characters we have today!

Who knows! if nintendo wasn't "forced" in the beginning into putting mario in different settings and story lines, we could all be playing a 3d rehash of the original SMB on our gamecubes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!jk

also recall that SMB2us was popular enough (and SMB2jp was unpopular enough) that N released SMB2us in japan as SMB USA , where it was popular, even though it would have been immediately noticed as a rehash.

[evildead2099]

"I strongly disagree. SMB2 (USA) is hardly a "POS." SMB2 is my favourite Mario game, and is one of the most creative, imaginative, trippy games that I've ever played."

hehehe then you've never seen doki doki panic for the famicom disk system, smb2 was a ripoff of that game sent to us because they figured we didn't have the skill level for lost levels, in a way you can say that fuji television's contribution to mario triggered changes to every mario game that came after it

Yes, I have seen Doki Doki Panic.

SMB2 (USA) is not a ripoff, since Nintendo owns the rights to DDP; SMB2 is a HACK of DDP.

The fact that SMB2 isn't a totally original game doesn't change my opinion that it's hella fun to play. Besides, I didn't know there was such a game as Doki Doki Panic when I first played SMB2 way back in the 1980s

[Rob of the Sky]

I don't know if I will have five, but:

1. Video games being blamed for school shootings.

2. The Atari 5200 controllers

3. Halo/Halo 2 being the only multiplayer games people play anymore. When I use to play games with a group of people, we would play a wide variety of games. Now, all people want to play is Halo. It's not like there aren't other games availble, but Halo is the only game play at many of the parties that I go to. And I don't even like the game because I can't figure the game out.

4. Online gaming. As if paying $50 for a game once isn't enough, now some games require you to pay every month to play. If I buy a game, I want to be able to play it whenever I want without paying.

5. The reputation of the Gamecube as a "kiddy" system.

I guess I did have 5 after all.

[FlufflePuff]

1. The across the board dumbing-down of RPGs. Since FFVII it seems like every RPG that game designers expect to sell well have to be made with a lower difficulty level than games that noone seems to care about (which turn out being the better games in the end).

2. Nintendo shooting themselves in the foot over and over and over and over again. Sticking with carts, no DVD, no HD, pissing off third party developers, no mario-at-launch, etc.

3. Sega CD. Start of a long, painful, downhill slide for a giant.

4. Enix. For not releasing Dragon Quest 5 and 6 in the US.

5. Halo. For being one of the most overrated games in history. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it's not the end all, be all of gaming. To worsen matters, it is the sole reason the Xbox didn't sink in the first year, which would have been a boon to Nintendo, which is the superior gaming company IMHO.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Not ordered mind you...

The Abortion (yeah that's right... I said it =P) of the Dreamcast.

Konami cancelling Policenauts for Saturn... AFTER I've already preordered the game.

Getting ripped of by a friend of my roommate for alot of my favorite games... circa 1998. (All my Saturn & Sega CD games with some Gen/SNES carts that are too painful to mention :angry: )

All the games that are released in other regions that never get released in the States.

Poorly designed consoles... engineered to break to boost system sales... or so it seems that way to me.

[Push Upstairs]

hehehe then you've never seen doki doki panic for the famicom disk system, smb2 was a ripoff of that game sent to us because they figured we didn't have the skill level for lost levels, in a way you can say that fuji television's contribution to mario triggered changes to every mario game that came after it

I've played Doki Doki Panic...and i've known about SMB2 being a "hack"...since well...like 1991. There was a small blurb about it in the "Mario Mania" (i think) book Nintendo released so many years ago.

Frankly, i feel the changes made in SMB2us are welcome. Sure, the games is odd compared to SMB1 & 3, but it was fun.

As for SMB2us and its impact on future games, i have to question that...especially its influence on "Super Mario 3". I believe that SMB3 and SMB2us were probably in development at or around the same time and its more than possible that SMB3 actually had some influence on SMB2us (check out the Princess sprite in both games...it looks the same.)

[Daltone]

1) Disc Read Errors! Why are my consoles all giving up the ghost after a relatively short period of time? This is incredibly frustrating.

2) Adventure Gaming where art thou? I like games with stories and memorable characters (sorry Myst..) and the occasional inventory based puzzle. Why make the new Broken Sword game so damn.. lifeless compared to the early ones?

3) The over-usage of random battles in RPGs. Look, I just want to walk over there, ok? There's no need to make me fight every three steps, I've already killed every monster variety in this area 45 times. Whilst I'm moaning, almost every damn RPG I've played in..well.. forever seems to have basically the same plot and the same types of characters.

4) The immense averageness/badness of Sonic in 3D

5) Crazy video game rating. Don't get me wrong, graphics are important, but if gameplay is awkward or dull or feels artifical in a way that distracts from the experiance then the game does not deserve an 8 or a 9.

[Descartes]

In order of appearance, and reverse order of how angry it made me.

1: 16 bit games considerably less challenging than their 8 bit counterparts.

2: 32/64 bit games watered down even further. Emphasis on aesthetics spirals out of control

3: RPGs being mainstreamed/convoluted beyond recognition by FF7.

4: 128 bit games commercial as all hell, plus the casual gamer's rise to ultimate power. Epidemic influx of watered down remakes/sequels to old series'

5: San Andres, 187 ride or Die, 50 Cent(!!): Bulletproof. Just....wow. America's obsession with a contrived "hardcore" appearance and love affair with corporate finally bled into video games.


On the (very) positive side though, the combination of 1-5 made me research everything I have missed throughout the years. Now that I have withdrawn from up to date gaming, I have hundreds of excellent titles awaiting my attention. I must agree with the person who cited the golden age of console gaming as the years between '80 and '95.

[VG_Maniac]

1. The death of 2D gaming.

2. Microsoft becoming just as dominate as Sony, and even more so then Nintendo.

3. Way to many games are sequals and clones.

4. Death of the Dreamcast/Rise of the Xbox

5. Nintendo can't seem to drop their "kiddy" image.

[Amy Rose]

Since everything I wanted to mention has already been said I want to add:

The death of originality as a whole.

There are NO games I want to buy when I walk into stores anymore. I buy Sonic games and Sega games to support them, but it's gotten to the point that I buy games, take them home, put them on my shelf and... don't play them. Video games aren't exciting anymore. Every now and then an original game will come out, but then the clones come, and the sequels, and it's another dead idea. Sigh.

[smokehouse]

1. The death of 2D gaming (I got your back on that one VG)

2. The crap N64 and Nintendo’s anti CD campaign (The PS1 kicked their ass, HA, HA)

3. The vaporware tease and final death of the SNES CD

4. Gaming going mainstream and becoming “hip” (the death of originality)

5. Microsoft getting into the gaming world (just you wait, it’s only going to get worse)

[Ackman]

"I strongly disagree. SMB2 (USA) is hardly a "POS." SMB2 is my favourite Mario game, and is one of the most creative, imaginative, trippy games that I've ever played."

hehehe then you've never seen doki doki panic for the famicom disk system, smb2 was a ripoff of that game sent to us because they figured we didn't have the skill level for lost levels, in a way you can say that fuji television's contribution to mario triggered changes to every mario game that came after it

I think everyone knows about doki doki panic. just cuz its a rehash doesn't mean it sucks. hell SMB2jp was a rehash of SMB! I'm glad we got the ddp version rather than a rehash of smb. Without it, we wouldn't have half of the mario related characters we have today!

Who knows! if nintendo wasn't "forced" in the beginning into putting mario in different settings and story lines, we could all be playing a 3d rehash of the original SMB on our gamecubes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!jk

also recall that SMB2us was popular enough (and SMB2jp was unpopular enough) that N released SMB2us in japan as SMB USA , where it was popular, even though it would have been immediately noticed as a rehash.

imho it's a POS and it doesn't do the exceptional SMB NES justice.... Tiny Toons NES by Konami should've been hacked instead and it would have sold by the bucketload.


Whut is steam?

Steam is the work of SATAN!? I tell you I waited 8 bleeding hours on a 56k connection before I had to unistall and reinstall with the offline patch....grrrr :angry: :angry: :angry: feck you valve!?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_%28content_delivery%29

[Aswald]

The Crash of 1984. Talk about a moronic, needless death.

[Pantechnicon]

1. Atari being eclipsed by Nintendo in the zeitgeist as the most common synonym for gaming.

2. The shift in arcade game design philosophy from "Game That Tests & Develops Your Skill" to "Insert 2 Coins for 3 Additional Minutes Of Getting Your Ass Stomped".

3. Each successive release season with corporations hyping console X (X-360?), II or whatever as the end-all and be-all of gaming...and the fools who believe it every.single.time.

4. Atari leaving the hardware market.

5. Tie: Wal-Martization of new game shops (Gamestop, EB) at the expense of local business. Speculative/Ebay pricing dominating the game market at the thrifts.

Honorable mention: Sega leaving the hardware market.

[kainemaxwell]

Dreamcast's premature demise...

[smokehouse]

Dreamcast's premature demise...

I hate to say it but the Dreamcast was doomed to fail right from the start. I saw it coming months before 9/9/99 even happened. I don’t know why, I just did.

[MegaDrive20XX]

1. The fall of Sega...the bankruptcy...

2. Seeing Sega grace the names of Nintendo...Mircosoft...Sony...

3. Nintendo's descent into hard-headed pride....no Square...no CD's....no more RARE....

4. Oh I'm sure many have said it, but 2D slowly dying is a big one..

5. The current retro-trend is really getting on my nerves, when kids that are half or 1/4 my age are claiming how good or crappy our games were/are...when they have no clue what it was truly like to be there and live it. I feel annoyed by how many shirts and merchandise to cash in on this...

[alec006]

5 Atari 2600s Pacman,why Atari Why
4 Sony almost destroying Sega,Basterds
3 Ralph Baer not credited for the first video game console till now.
2 Goldeneye Rouge Agent,It ruined the Goldeneye Name :angry:
1 Sonic Xtreme CANCELLED,it would have been a great Saturn Game.

[Jorpho]

The Crash of 1984. Talk about a moronic, needless death.

Needless? That is arguable. Some would say that with so many different systems on the market, running so many games pushed out of the door far too quickly just to make a quick buck, the market was due for a correction of some sort.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Dreamcast's premature demise...

I hate to say it but the Dreamcast was doomed to fail right from the start. I saw it coming months before 9/9/99 even happened. I don’t know why, I just did.

Not hard to do when nay-sayers almost always predict failure or at least plant the seed of doubt every time something new comes along... and then ONCE when it happens they all exclaim "I predicted that!" Yeah, OK... but what is your prediction accuracy ratio or percentage? Not so good is it there Nostradamus?

Not directed at you smoke... but there are plenty others...

[Zilla]

1. The advent of online gaming using consoles. I dont mind playing online with other people but I do fear online only games that I can't go back and play in 5 or so years, not to mention I dont want to deal with incomplete games that have to be endlessly patched. Thats's why consoles> PC in my opinion.
2. It's been said but the Dreamcast needed to stick around longer.
3. Ebay pricing at flea markets and thrifts. So very hard to find a good deal now. People see an NES cart and want to sell it for an arm and a leg. If I have to hear one more guy at a flea tell me Super Mario/ Duckhunt is uber rare and worth 10 bucks I'm gonna snap and make the news.
4. I miss the days when gaming mags seemed fun to read and werent just one review and then 80 pages of ads.
5. Lastly I am very dissapointed in Game stores throwing out game boxes and cases. I remember not that long ago when places like Rhino Videogames wouldnt even take in a trade if you didnt have the box and manual. It's just such a waste.

[Descartes]

5. The current retro-trend is really getting on my nerves, when kids that are half or 1/4 my age are claiming how good or crappy our games were/are...when they have no clue what it was truly like to be there and live it. I feel annoyed by how many shirts and merchandise to cash in on this...

And a big AMEN to that.

[NeoZeedeater]

Mine all relate to many gamers' perceptions of gaming history since most individual events themselves have been covered.


1. People who think the "crash" killed off gaming completely(usually those not old enough to have been playing games at the time). Console gaming did suffer big time but with plenty of amazing games on computers like the C64 and in the arcades there was never a shortage of stuff to play. It was undoubtedly one of the best times ever for innovation in game design. Just look at Epyx, Atari Games, Datasoft, Freefall Associates, Infocom, Nintendo's arcade games, FTL Software, Origin Systems, Accolade, Namco's arcade games, Sierra, Access Software, Ultimate, Activision, etc.

2. Console-centrism. This isn't as big of a problem today but it bugs me when certain gamers refuse to classify computer games as video games. It doesn't matter whether you're playing it on a console, a coin-op, a PC or a portable device; they're all video games and parts of the same history.

3. Nintendo-centrism. First of all, I have to say you won't find many people who are bigger Nintendo fans than me. I really love their games and they have made incredible contributions to this industry. I say this because I have been wrongfully labeled anti-Nintendo before.

There's no denying that the average gamer has a Nintendo slanted view of gaming history, often crediting them for doing things first that were done by others in pre-NES eras. Also, Sega's best SMS games deserve their place in history alongside Nintendo's best NES games but unlike the NES games they never show up on the gaming medias' lists which leads me to number 4...

4. The mainstream gaming media doesn't do enough to teach gamers about underrated older games(not just the SMS like I mentioned but a ton of other lesser known game formats and games). They're the ones in the position to do it and I think they have somewhat of an obligation to do so but since most of them lack the knowledge themselves it's not going to happen.

5. The rise of the pseudo-hardcore douchebag, the kind of gamer that likes to hate on 3d, first-person shooters, GTA, open-ended design etc.. I love old school games as much as anyone but I also see the value in many recent design trends.


Despite all the things I don't like I'm extremely happy overall with gaming past and present. It never ceases to amaze and entertain me.

[Howie6925]

the fact that they are not releasing the rest of the five part odd world series. I loved those games.

[Smithy]

5. The rise of the pseudo-hardcore douchebag, the kind of gamer that likes to hate on 3d, first-person shooters, GTA, open-ended design etc.. I love old school games as much as anyone but I also see the value in many recent design trends.

I'd agree with that

[DragonMaster Sam]

Gamestop for ending a good store like Funcoland and putting an end to used trade-ins of old games like NES, SNES, and Genesis. Gotta love corporate Gamestop! :roll:

[McBacon]

Something thats annoyed me for ages, 3D Battle Areanas don't get enough games. I tire of Virtua Fighter, Street Fighter, King of Fighters quickly, but I'll play SSBM and Power Stone 2 for days on end, why are they not recognised as much?

[Hep038]

Lets see
1. People who call themselves "Hardcore gamers"
2. People who call other people "Casual gamers"
3. People who say, "I am not a fanboy" and then post something that would make a fanboy proud.
4. People who use $ in Sony or Microsoft
5. Company A being blamed for being greedy in the video game market, like company B makes game for sick poor kids and I.O.U's

[shoes23]

Loading screens where the progress bar loads to full and then starts over again to load more files. Quit teasing me and let me just play the game. Same goes for loading screens that seem to progress at random.

[CreamSoda]

5. The rise of the pseudo-hardcore douchebag, the kind of gamer that likes to hate on 3d, first-person shooters, GTA, open-ended design etc.. I love old school games as much as anyone but I also see the value in many recent design trends.

I'd agree with that

Couldn't have said it better myself either.

[sabre2922]

Dreamcast's premature demise...

I hate to say it but the Dreamcast was doomed to fail right from the start. I saw it coming months before 9/9/99 even happened. I don’t know why, I just did.

Comments like this make me want to say VERY BAD THINGS :angry:

Hey u sure got that date memorized though dont ya? ;)

[kevin_psx]

I hate to say it but the Dreamcast was doomed to fail right from the start. I saw it coming months before 9/9/99 even happened. I don’t know why, I just did. Comments like this make me want to say VERY BAD THINGS :angry:
DC was doomed. Sega was near-bankrupt when Dreamcast was released. Sega couldn't carry on.


Worst thing about gaming - Hearing my coworkers - people paid $30-40 an hour & can easily afford to buy games - bragging how they steal movies & games off the internet.

I can understand kids downloading - they have no money. But professionals earning $30-40 an hour - acting ike common thieves? Disgusting.

[googlefest1]

i dont know if i can list 5 things becasue i think many of them come from this one action by nintendo back in the day

that policy nintendo had about makeing games only for them -- in the nes area


next thing - i think this new Next gen revolution came way to soon - i think the current consoles have much more life in them

[Aswald]

The Crash of 1984. Talk about a moronic, needless death.

Needless? That is arguable. Some would say that with so many different systems on the market, running so many games pushed out of the door far too quickly just to make a quick buck, the market was due for a correction of some sort.


But look at what's out there now- same thing, and during the mid-1990s, there were how many consoles (this was just at the time of the Nintendo 64 release)?

No, not when in 1983 the New York Times declared videogaming dead. What happened was a bunch of mainly Baby Boomer "experts" deciding this, without consulting young people, which is what Nintendo did in 1985. It was a case of the prophesy fufilling itself, really.

Don't forget- we were smart enough to know garbage when we saw it. The result should've been a "shakeout," with crummy companies going down while the better ones would've done well. In this case, free market selection. But due to the "experts" declaring that the future was strictly in computers, the companies believed it. This is why Coleco tried that disasterous ADAM computer.

[Sailorneorune]

1) I second Rob's statement on video games being blamed for school shootings, adolescent violence, desensitization to violence, etc. (ok, he just mentioned school shootings, but you know...) My developmental psych professor brought up an interesting point: that people want simple answers to complex problems. Maybe this could have something to do with the video game scapegoat issue? Hmmm... ;)

2) Also, having only recently dove in to the Dreamcast's library, I can see why people are taking issue with its death. The Dreamcast has some awesome titles to offer, it just sucks that I have to cross a fucking bridge to get a shot at snagging any of them.

2.5) Local bitch: the Book & Music Exchange in Henderson, KY not carrying Sega anything. Is anyone on DP from this area?

3) Someone else stated the general lack of originality in modern gaming. I've seen a metric shitload of extreme sports titles, 3D platformers, and GTA clones. Something becomes popular, and bam! it's quickly replicated. Some trends have spawned slightly more original takes on the genres (the Sly series has become a recent favorite of mine, and the Mario & Luigi portable RPGs are another personal hit). Now if someone could make a Lunar game that lives up to the first two...

4) The general lack of love for the Gamecube. My little black lunchbox of gaming joy has dominated my TV set since February 2003 when my wonderful boyfriend hauled in a console, spare controller, memory card, and Super Smash Bros. Melee, and quite literally dropped it in my lap (ouch). In the last 2 years, I've built up my collection to almost 30 games (quality over quantity, people, but owning Evolution Worlds may cause some people to dispute my claim). I'm glad that some developers are still helping out the Cube (Capcom, I love you, and thanks for Killer 7, RE4, and the Viewtiful Joe series; Sega, thanks for Skies of Arcadia Legends and the Sonic Adventure ports), and I hope that Nintendo doesn't give up on the Gamecube once the Revolution hits store shelves in '06.

5) On a related note, the Twilight Princess delay FUCKING SUCKS. Not only were thousands of people pissed, but hundreds of preorders went down the drain to reemerge as credit. They better have an awesome preorder item for when I put mine down in February.
Zelda is Nintendo's killer app, so it seems, and I'd love to play this with my cousin before puberty sets in and she becomes a smaller version of that annoying bitch whose name the DP filter has a field day with.

I'm done, I swear.
Sailorneorune

[youruglyclone]

2. Final Fantasy VIII: No game that penalizes you for using magic should ever be called Final Fantasy.


that and pretty much everything Goodwillhunter said

man this thread is great