Everything used to be better - not for videogames!

[zmeston]

[In the case of the buggy and generally sucky Enter the Matrix, George Orwell's idea of "doublespeak" from 1984 is in full effect (and borrowing from Lendy's statement): "Money=quality" (meaning EtM sold like hotcakes so you KNOW some pug nosed exec is going to try the same manuever in the future with some hot property without a thought about actual quality).

In the future? Game companies have been shipping licensed games without quality gameplay for more than 20 years, dating back to E.T. on the 2600, which, like Enter the Matrix, sold very well.

It's foolish for a developer to worry about quality with a licensed game, anyway. The main concern is using lots of audio/visual assets from the property -- which Enter the Matrix most certainly did. Even if a developer attempts to inject original gameplay ideas, the licensors will shoot down those ideas to "protect the brand." There's no need to waste time and energy on a licensed game that will sell based upon the popularity of the brand, not the quality of the gameplay.

-- Z.

[The Clonus Horror]

Yeah, with all the great socio-demographic marketing research, soon video games will be McDonaldized, and we will be be TOLD what to play! YAAAAAAAAAY? Either that, or all of our games will be in Spanish.

Not a racial dig there, but you all should pick up a copy of the book "The McDonaldisation of America"...the author escapes me at the moment.

[lendelin]

First, Yoshi you lil' critter, you never mentioned that you're involved with DP! After all them years (well, weeks, ok) I have to learn about it? I feel like a wife learning the truth about her husband.

I agree with Dennis and others who say that this is not a competition between game eras. I feel the same way. A good game is a good game. Period. No matter when it was made, under different conditions, great gameplay and games can always be enjoyed. However, I think it's a puzzling Q to ask if the last twenty or thirty years was for the better or worse for the games and the industry. Imagine a game developer twenty years ago and today. The turf changed, the games changed, the industry changed....for better or worse????

Regarding Enter the Matrix: Absolutely agree. A bad, hyped game framed by movie sequences which harks back to the worst times when a movie license was a recipe for a crappy game which makes profit. (read my letter in GameInformer, vol. 124, p.16, signed Klaus, Milwaukee) But don't forget guys, we also have Spiderman and EAs Lord of the Rings. As I said, premature releases of bad games who make profit still exist, but not as many as to the worst Atari times due to the fierce competition.

I wrote the post for three reasons: 1) There were never so many "good" games offered mixed with absolutely top hits than in the last two years. 2) There is a fundamental economic restructering within the videogame industry going on because it becomes professionalized. 3) The mythology build-up about the founding fathers of videogames sometimes blurs our perception of the present. Don't get me wrong, mythology build-up is great and necessary because it's a result of a success story. Classic gaming conventions, the research about the history of games, the well deserved reverence to Ralph Baer and Nolan Bushnell, the more and more developing videogame collection scene, the hall of fame in which the roots of videogames are celebrated is a must and there is a need for it; but don't let this romantic feeling coupled with selective memory get in the way of acknowledging that the present is a paradise for gamers and developers alike and that there is progress in overall game quality.

I don't agree with the argument that present games are too different from let's say 8bit games and therefore they can't or shouldn't be compared. This is besides my point. I made an assessment if game quality overall improved. Comparing is the bread and butter of thinking, we do it all the time. If it is impossible or a sin to compare games, then game developers and we players commit this sin daily. Who didn't compare the new Metroid Prime with the SNES Metroid?? Developers compare the games they're working on with previous games, prequels, and games of the same genre all the time. If it's possible to compare a present game with one released two years earlier, then it's also possible to compare games which cover a time span of 15 years. To say that games of a certain time are just "different" and unique, that technology changed so much, 2D vs. 3D etc., to say that games are dependent on technological conditions of their time and our perception and expectations is certainly true, but it doesn't say much; and if it is true that basically nothing changed so much in gameplay (same old, same old) - with which I disagree - then it should be even easier and an invitation to compare games and give an overall assessment of quality development.


Some pointed to the danger of conformity among games because development costs are so high which means that firms have to play it safe, or more in a cultural criticism trend, the "McDonaldization". That's only half of the truth. Sure, high development costs ensure an overall improvement of game quality and tends to make more conform games because of less risk- taking; but that's only half of the story!!! The fierce competition compel developers to offer something new, offer new experiences in lots of ways in order to set yourself apart from the rest of the pack BECAUSE more so than ever a good game can go unnoticed among so many good choices; and the prospect of incredible profit if you get one top hit (Grand Theft Auto, Final Fantasy X, Gran Turismo 3) which can make a firm financially sound for years to come doesn't hurt either. Again, competition is good for innovation; and there will be always games which offer something new and will be a commercial success, and there will be always sleeper hits.

No, it's not a disadvantage that videogames became big business and professionalized; the tremendous success story of videogames and it's resulting professionalization "only" comes with a more structured environment, market considerations, planning, more people involved developing games, game testing, and responsiveness to the market. Granted, 20 years ago game developers had overall more freedom to explore, faced less pressure, but this didn't result in more innovation or overall great games because the competition was less.

Game developers learn, from game to game, from year to year, from decade to decade. Right now it videogame paradise, we are spoiled with great games. However, the market is overheated, and will at one point calm down.

[lendelin]

@Yoshi, zachM, and others: I completely agree about Enter The Matrix. It's bad for the touted "revolution" between the movie and game industry in every aspect; becasue this game unfortunately sells well,other developers will follow the recipe "make a bad game, hire famous directors, neglect gameplay, and still make a profit." This game and its success is disadvantegous for the industry in every aspect.

What really bothered me were the hyped, distorted and shizophrenic reviews of this game in mags. GameInformer and Nintendo Power were just terrible, they explicitly recommended to buy a bad game becasue of the movie sequences!! That's plain awful. (only GamePro got it right) Gameplay is key, gameplay is key, gameplay is key, not movie sequences, graphics or sound. Movie sequences, graphics, and sound are merely very important( !) tools for gameplay, nothing more and nothing less. My evaluation of overall game quality in the last thirty years is also based on this belief.

[MarioAllStar2600]

it's so hard to find a good game with good replay value nowadays.

[Isometric_Bacon]

it's so hard to find a good game with good replay value nowadays.

It's because new games are more driven on story/progress today. As technology has advanced people have become used to extensive games that actually go somewhere, are story based, and the player works towards an eventual goal.

Gone are the days of arcade games and classics, where the main objective was to simply get the highest "score." The majority of today's generation are simply interested in passing all the levels, scoring whatever bonuses they can, and generally just progress through a game untill they get bored of it and purchase another title.

Whilst the modern genre of games is terrific, they're becoming more and more "scripted" (for lack of a better word) in that they have the same/or similar events happening each time you play, which turns off alot of people from replay value. This is probably why the recent "revolution" of gaming into this whole "free to do what you want" GTA style is becoming so popular. It's fun, and it creates a new experience everytime.

A good example is Splinter Cell. Awesome game on it's own right, but most casual gamers will run through it once, kill the guards in a certain way, and once it's over... it's over.
Sure, there are plenty of ways you could replay the game... try not to kill anyone, just incapacitate etc. But for the casual gamer, this isn't really a driving force anymore, and they'd much rather get into another game.

Myself however, even though i'm a product of the (relatively) new generation. (Born in 1985, Gamer throughout the 90's) I have a very wide taste in videogames. I still play all the 80's classics (Dig Dug, Pacman etc.) and I enjoy them just as much, if not more sometimes than modern games. Not only just for nostalgia reasons, just because they are generally well written games that are still fun to play today. Sure they might not have the depth of say, Halo. But there's something so addicting about trying to get past that damn level in Ghost's N' Ghouls that I can't put my finger on.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

I love retro gaming but I'll be the first to admit the gaming industry has only gotten bigger and better. The genres aren't limited today that much either, how about Catherine? Or Katamari? There's lots of RPG's still released, 2d platformers still live on, tons of puzzle games like Bejeweled and all that, the regular FPS games, hack n slash games, I'm not seeing the limited genres today. If anything gaming has gotten bigger and better.

And thats what makes retro gaming so charming. Would a 1956 Corvette have the amount of charm today if cars were still built with that simplicity? The fact that gaming has evolved so much makes plugging in a Genesis controller that much more charming. Hey remember when controllers had wires??? Remember being 8 and trying to beat Ninja Gaiden?

Plus, do people expect technology to just stay in 1988? Video gaming would be dead if it stayed at that level.

[Tanooki]

Only a fool would expect the 80s never to die, but I think it's fair to say there needs to really be room for both types because they're widely different even if they go over the same general themes. Aside from no buttons, a lot of tablet games fall into the 80s and 90s mold of stuff and mix it with modern depending what you buy, and same can be said for the download/indie type stuff on whatever you use (PC, 3DS, PS4, etc.) The only argument I can think for better is you at one time never had to fight with a crappy camera and have a constant need to stop and look around as it was all straight up about the game play, not game play + dicking with the way you view it and see around within.

Duke Nukem 2 or Duke Nukem 3D. Same game in spirit, total different style.

[celerystalker]

I don't mind games changing, even if I don't enjoy them much by comparison nowadays. I just wish that in addition to new games, maybe someone other than indie programmers would work at developing and evolving old concepts and templates that still have a lot of room for growth. Some things I'd like to see:

A full-blown Castlevania: SOTN-style game with 2-4 player local or online play. Not like Harmony of Despair, but rather with different starting points and characters with different skills who could lower ropes for one another or trade weapons... access switches in different parts of the castle.

A JRPG with 2D 1 on 1 Street Fighter-style battles where equipment actually reflects on your sprite, and experience gives greater vitality, defense, and unlocks new specials. By the same token, evolving the concept of Little Ninja Bros. or Super Ninja Boy into something more playable.

Take a game like Armada for Dreamcast, but let me land and explore Gauntlet or Alien Syndrome-style, too.

I just feel like there's still room for growth in older frameworks and gameplay, and it'd be cool to get to play old 2D style games with the kind of scope their original technology limited instead of making yet another FPS, sandbox game, third-person shooter, or western RPG.

[Flojomojo]

I don't mind games changing, even if I don't enjoy them much by comparison nowadays. I just wish that in addition to new games, maybe someone other than indie programmers would work at developing and evolving old concepts and templates that still have a lot of room for growth. Some things I'd like to see:

A full-blown Castlevania: SOTN-style game with 2-4 player local or online play. Not like Harmony of Despair, but rather with different starting points and characters with different skills who could lower ropes for one another or trade weapons... access switches in different parts of the castle.

A JRPG with 2D 1 on 1 Street Fighter-style battles where equipment actually reflects on your sprite, and experience gives greater vitality, defense, and unlocks new specials. By the same token, evolving the concept of Little Ninja Bros. or Super Ninja Boy into something more playable.

Take a game like Armada for Dreamcast, but let me land and explore Gauntlet or Alien Syndrome-style, too.

I just feel like there's still room for growth in older frameworks and gameplay, and it'd be cool to get to play old 2D style games with the kind of scope their original technology limited instead of making yet another FPS, sandbox game, third-person shooter, or western RPG.

Get on mobile (iOS and to a somewhat lesser extent, Android), Steam, and Kickstarter. Indie developers without a lot of development money are mixing things up in interesting ways, many of which will never make it to consoles. Terrific indie games come out for the Vita all the time. Humble Bundles deliver lots of curated fun for as little as a dollar per week.

We have it better than any classic era could ever dream of ... we have two active and vibrant big-name handhelds, three big-name consoles, two aged but still-interesting consoles, myriad tablets and phones that can do amazing things, and if you still want to play old games, you can get a handheld or a laptop computer for around $200 that can easily play anything up to and including Dreamcast and Windows games. That's about $88 in 1984 money, and $133 in 1996 money.

We have network and storage options that can transmit and keep thousands of games for pennies a day, and multiplayer communities around the world so there's always someone to play with. If you're really lazy, you can just watch people play games on Twitch and YouTube. If you want to create your own games, development tools like Unity are powerful and cheap, and don't require multi-thousand dollar development workstations. Somewhere in the middle is the rich modding community, who have remade games like Skyrim into anything they want it to be.

Real VR is coming soon, but even so, we have large, cheap, high resolution flat panel displays, a plethora of good wireless controller options, surround sound, and great tech everywhere. A single $30 microSD card can hold the entire MAME catalog in addition to all the Star Wars games on GOG.

Anyone who complains about "games these days" just shows a lack of imagination and exploratory spirit. The technology and innovation behind even the worst MMORPG of 2015 is way ahead of anything we could have imagined in the age of Colecovision. If you don't like what you see, go make something better, because it's never been easier to do so.

[YoshiM]

Now as I'm waiting for a computer to rebuild I can type this out.

After a little over a decade, the game industry has seen many changes. As I mentioned in an earlier post, video games have become a part of mainstream life as a valid form of entertainment along with being an overall lifestyle from fashion to language. Since this original post we've seen two game generation changes, a shift in the delivery of games from physical to a mix of that and digital distribution and a new way to get our game on thanks to what has become a staple of everyday life for many: smart phones and tablets. During this time we've also seen the return and rise of the “garage”, now called “indie”, developers which have brought a tsunami of titles that hearken back to the games of the past to new concepts that address can address our emotions or make us aware of different causes or issues. The PC, after being hailed as a “dead platform”, is now seeing a renaissance in the game world thanks to said indies and the distribution center known as Steam.

From the games side of thing, it is now essentially a “whatever you want, it's probably out there” type of environment. It's mind boggling what one can find, from your usual evolutions of your favorite titles like Super Mario Bros to games that look and play like they came from the 80's to games that can only be classified as “experiences” like Uncharted, BioShock or Journey. There are even games that for those gamers that have certain, well, fetishes showing that the boundaries have all but disappeared.

From a social aspect gaming ranks up there with talking about the weather, sports or politics. For me growing up as a young teen during the NES days, you couldn't really talk about games with your peers in school as it was seen as kind of a “nerdy” thing to do. Of course the preps and the jocks played but you wouldn't get a confession out of them other than the deck was their sibling's. This could also be a phenomenon from where I lived so everyone's experiences may be quite different.

With all these things going for gaming, you'd think I'd be dancing in the streets. After this original post I really got into the Xbox and then the 360 when it came out. I didn't play classics all that much anymore, sticking to the newer stuff, consuming what games tickled my fancy. I was thinking Lendelin was right-gaming was better in the modern era.

Then I changed my mind....

Games now having to be patched on the day you buy them. SYSTEMS needing patching the first time you use them. Options that came with your game system being changed or removed whether you wanted that or not (the X360 Blade menus, Wii MP3 playback-if I recall and the PS3 Alternate OS option to name a couple) and if you don't, you can't use your machine online. Anonymous gamers online that have no tact, sportmanship or even a clean mouth. Then the media...oh man, the MEDIA! Since when did video games become so...so...DRAMATIC?! So, I dunno, Hollywood? Read gaming journalism from yesteryear and then read today's so-called articles-night and day difference. Thanks to them we start hearing about the real “cream of the crop” of gamers-the swatters, “GamerGate”, those who send out threats to developers and such, forcing them to escape with their lives.

This is not what I expected the future of gaming to go. While it's the best its ever been, it's also become the ugliest. The fan wars of Atari or Nintendo vs. Sega have nothing on what goes on today. Many of the popular games, at least for me, seem so “ho-hum” where you just plod forward. Then when you do find something you might like, beware reading about it because more than likely the article that's previewing it will give up a spoiler that can ruin what the developers have crafted as “an experience”. An article I read about Metroid Prime 3 did that to me when you face off against Ridley for the first time. Took the impact right out. Or a certain part of Call of Duty Modern Warfare while you are playing a character that is escaping the area in a helicopter-the emotional impact was lost.

Of course, this could all just come down to me. I've had a lot of changes happen to me in the twelve years since I first posted in this thread. I still love the history of our great hobby but it's hard for me to delve into the modern. It's too big, it's too much. My time goes elsewhere and when it comes to games, I tend to sit on the sidelines and watch my kid and my girlfriend's kids play Smash Bros on the Wii or serve up some justice playing TMNT on MAME with the OUYA.

And that's my 2 Zenny on this..or has inflation raised it to 4?

[YoshiM]

I'm on a roll...with other threads being brought back up, I looked up a few members I'd correspond with to see if any good threads came up and this one was a classic. Not quite legal at seventeen years old and the servers did go down when I rose this puppy back from the dead. Eh, what's a little more Reanimator juice in this husk's veins....

Reading back, I thought I'd be more flip-floppity on the topic. I found, as I age, REALLY want to see and like the new hub bub because, just maybe, I'm an old stick in the mud that just doesn't like new things because they are new and likes to yell at kids from his rocking chair on the porch (well, I do like to yell at the kids, but, that's another story). The PS3/360/Wii era was pretty special for me in regards to games. I could enjoy them offline, with people online (even bought two different copies of "Battlefield 1942" for Xbox 360 and PSN to play with different folks), on a boat, with a goat, etc. I even dabbled more into PC games like "Dear Ester", "To the Moon", "Batman-Arkham Asylum", "Amnesia", "Rocket League" and the usual short foray into an Elder Scrolls game (as I never seem to get far before I just peter out). Then I moved to portable because my gaming time at home, heck, my COMPUTER time at home, is very short. I tasted the retro-goodness of "Shovel Knight", ripped through "Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds", played some "Blaster Master: Zero", dabbled in some Vita titles (like the Killzone game to get my FPS fix....then my elder kids wanted to play "Legend of Dragoon" and I haven't seen my Vita since, which is OK).

However, what gets the most attention in my sparce gaming time? "The Legend of Zelda" (beat the first quest), "Zelda 2: Adventure of Link"(just got past the Island palace), started up "Super Mario World" (never really played it). I bought an N64 and a flash cart to play Super Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, Goldeneye 007. I scrounged up a CRT TV that was in storage and found how much nicer it was to play real hardware on its intended display and how much better I played on it (I CRUSHED the second dungeon in "Kid Icarus" as opposed to dying a lot on the NES Classic). I still do play some games from the early 2000's, like Metroid Prime Hunters on my DSi XL (I don't like playing DS games on my 3DS-just doesn't look right).

With Humble Bundles I have tried more "indie" stuff. I got through "A Short Hike", which was Animal Crossing light. It was cute but ultimately I had to get to the end as I didn't want to wander anymore. Games by Fued keep my attention, like "Burger Lord", as it's a neat twist to a classic game that still LOOKS classic. But the hotness like "Papers, Please", "Overwatch" and such....I can't say I'm drawn. I have a rig that can play that stuff but the glitz, the buzz, the push doesn't thrill me. Add to the fact that the game you play months from now is not going to be the same game you played at the beginning puts me off. With my beloved Animal Crossing seemingly heading in that direction, I'm not buying a Switch anytime soon.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

I feel like period between about 1998-2009 was a sort of "golden age" for video games. I find the history of video games in the earlier days to be highly interesting; how they were technically designed given the more limited hardware, how they were marketed and how the industry developed. But as for as the games that are most fun to PLAY, I find that the late '90s to late '00s has the highest concentration of just outright fun experiences. When this thread was created 17 years ago, we were right in that golden age. Don't get me wrong, I like plenty of games older than 1998 and newer than 2009.

Leading up to about the early 2000s, technological progress made games richer and more fun experiences with each passing generation. The OP touches on a lot of good points showing the evolution of the video game industry up to 2003. Up to that point, each new generation offered something substantially new, something that made games that much better. By the early 2000s, graphics had gotten good enough to where, while not photorealistic, they were good enough to make well-detailed, rich, engaging environments, and the 3D no longer looked muddy and low-detail like it had just a few years earlier. Game budgets were big, but still small enough that even midsize studios got their games on PS2/Xbox/GCN discs; "mainstream" and "indie" weren't quite so separated. It was a creative golden age. Best of all, when you bought a game, it was all there. No patches (except on PC), no online requirements, just a disc, a system, memory cards, and a controller.

What advancements have we really had since about 2007 or so? By the Xbox 360/PS3/Wii era (the tail end of the golden age, in my opinion), we already had graphics and sound that looked pretty damn close to what we have over a decade later in 2020. We've hit a law of diminishing returns on that front. After decades of moving forward, I feel like things really were better for video games in the 2000s than they are today. In the "golden age" online multiplayer was a thing, but it was a facet of gameplay, something extra that could add to the experience of some games. Today it's gone too far, with some games even requiring part of them to be downloaded, even if you have the disk. Many games have been created with the online experience being the ONLY thing considered, completely ignoring the single player experience (the new Battlefront II being an infamous example). There seems to be little creativity in mainstream video games, what with the budgets ballooning from big to ridiculous.
On top of that, mobile gaming. Phones are good for simple experiences like Candy Crush, puzzle/word games, etc. But mobile gaming has killed off handheld consoles (except for the Switch, which is a hybrid), indie gaming studios which ARE producing unique content produce a good chunk on mobile. I'm sorry but I don't want to play long, complex, narrative driven games on a fucking phone with a touch screen.
Not everything about the video game world of 2020 is bad, but it's a definite decline from the past.

[Gameguy]

On top of that, mobile gaming. Phones are good for simple experiences like Candy Crush, puzzle/word games, etc. But mobile gaming has killed off handheld consoles (except for the Switch, which is a hybrid), indie gaming studios which ARE producing unique content produce a good chunk on mobile. I'm sorry but I don't want to play long, complex, narrative driven games on a fucking phone with a touch screen.

The thing with mobile phones is that instead of playing games on the go, I'd rather just watch something on youtube or browse the internet instead of actually play a game. Are people really playing games portably anymore? At least compared to before portable internet existing?

[YoshiM]

Lendelin: My working on the N64 section for DP never came up, plus I'm not one to toot my own horn. I don't think anyone in the community knew I had an online arcade either (it fell with Xoom).

Anyway, I think I don't have much ground to stand on about a market saturated with "good" games. I've been jaded waaay too long and seem to be stuck in a funk with most modern games not making me want to get my game on. It doesn't help that a string of games I rented for various modern systems stank while I bought games for my SNES I never played before and I had a blast. So that's perhaps skewing my view.

I WILL say, though, by stepping away from the Sony camp and looking at its competitors things are starting to get more interesting. Specifically I point this towards Xbox. It has its share of ports, but more interesting titles are starting to arrive. I've already mentioned KOTOR, which is a unique CRPG experience. Splinter Cell was a delightful surprise, as was Gunvalkrie, Morrowind, Otogi, Halo, and now upcoming games like Fable are showing that at least SOMEONE isn't resting on their hands and going with the rest of the flock. It's also a haven for FPS games and I'm such a sucker for a good FPS.

[lendelin]

"Isometric Bacon" pointed out that for years now the overall trend goes towards more complex and lengthier games at the cost of replay value. Absolutely true. I think this explains exactly the attraction of older games as a variety and niche to the current games. I'm sometimes amazed that some of my students know Joust or the first NES Castlevania, and when I ask them why they play these games it always comes out that they love their simplicity and straightforwardness. It would be very interesting to have reliable and specific socio-demographic data about these playing habits.

I doubt, however, these kind of games would be any commercial success today; development firms couldn't survive; as a niche offering, ok, but in a time with very different tastes and fast value change "our" games wouldn't stand a chance. I don't know how well Contra Shattered Soldier and Ikaruga did, but even a game like Super Mario Sunshine with a low ‘cool' factor didn't meet Nintendos sale expectations.

Yoshi, we are also a bit shizophrenic. We want something new and go back to the old. On the one hand we demand innovation and fresh ideas all the time and lament about their lack in current games, on the other hand we go back to very well known games which are twenty years old. Not a lot of gameplay innovation there when I play my old Metroid. Maybe there is a lack of innovation in us which rivals the lamented lack of innovation of the current games; or maybe we just cling to the values which these games represent in looks and feel and don't want to change.

I think that one additional aspect makes the current offerings of games better than the past, that is the responsiveness of the industry. We have not only the "cool" splashy flashy effects games with great gameplay value like Devil May Cry, Onimusha, and Final Fantasy X, but also games like REZ, Contra Shattered Soldier, Pikmin, Metroid Prime, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Everblue 2, Zelda WW and many others which take the needs of the so called ‘old school gamers" into account by reviving 2D gameplay or capturing the atmosphere of prequels. Yohi, as you said yourself, there are some great games on the Xbox, and the industry realized that profit can be made by satisfying our needs. Additionally, we can get a PS2 Gradius 3 and 4, or FF Origins because we can fondly look back at the incredible success story of videogames.

My point is, these offerings wouldn't be so varied and of this quality if the industry wouldn't have professionalized and became market oriented to such an extent (which comes at certain costs for sure). Prospects of big profits combined with a competitive environment(!) results in innovation, and we shouldn't demand from the present more than from the past, neither should we put the present under much more scrutiny. Only one market situation would spell doom - that is the situation of the industries crash in the 80s when a game earned big profits no matter which quality it had. Game developers and hardware manufacturers are as greedy or profit-oriented as they always were - but as a general rule they have to offer us something good before we give them our money.

[YoshiM]

::Sprinkles the contents of a musty bottle over the ground then raises his hands to the heavens, the sleeves of his tattered robe sliding down to reveal his arms and hands surrounded in a nimbus of blue, crackling energy::

"ARISE!!!!! COME FORTH FROM THE DEPTHS OF TIME LONG FORGOTTEN!!!"

Ok, this is probably the most necro of necrothreads ever but I was waxing nostalgic and found this thread deep in the abyss of the DP forum's past. A lot has changed in the game industry over the last twelve years while some trends stayed the same. What are some of the current members thoughts? I know I'll probably post my revised ideas when I can use a real keyboard.

I wonder if I will burn in some electronic version of Hell for delving this deep into the forum pile.....picking through the bones of lost posts....

[Nesmaster]

About sums up classic and current for me.

[Gentlegamer]

::Sprinkles the contents of a musty bottle over the ground then raises his hands to the heavens, the sleeves of his tattered robe sliding down to reveal his arms and hands surrounded in a nimbus of blue, crackling energy::

"ARISE!!!!! COME FORTH FROM THE DEPTHS OF TIME LONG FORGOTTEN!!!"

Ok, this is probably the most necro of necrothreads ever but I was waxing nostalgic and found this thread deep in the abyss of the DP forum's past. A lot has changed in the game industry over the last twelve years while some trends stayed the same. What are some of the current members thoughts? I know I'll probably post my revised ideas when I can use a real keyboard.

I wonder if I will burn in some electronic version of Hell for delving this deep into the forum pile.....picking through the bones of lost posts....

If the sever goes offline it's your fault.

[YoshiM]

If the sever goes offline it's your fault.

You just HAD to say something, didn't you?