PixlBit

Before I even opened this article, I knew it was inspired by our discussion on the Rocket Knight review! And I'm proud of that :P  Joey and I were just talking last night about how our last bastion is Contra: Hard Corps, and once we can decimate that game, we can officially wreck ANY 8bit or 16bit Contra with ease, so now after reading this, we REALLY have to tackle it.  Brb, gotta go buy a couple cases of Excedrin - we're going to need it haha.

It really is absurd - and the PS2 had some gorgeous games, look at Shadow of the Colossus - that game was gorgeous!  

I sure hope this generation can eventually get past this whole graphics-porn thing they have going on, because it's getting so old hearing about "Such and Such developer has a new game coming out that uses OMGRAEP Shaders, and can support over 10 quadrillion particles on screen at one ti-IMGOINGTOCUM."  That's why I try and spread the word of the glorious 8, 16, and even 32 and 64 bit eras - because games were about having fun, not inducing the most eyegasms.

And you're 100% correct - developers took WAY more risks on older consoles, because the limitations graphically, sound wise, and memory wise, it forced them to be creative in how they crafted their worlds, and how they told their stories.  Now that devs have essentially free reign with all of the processing power in the world, they waste all of their time polishing turds.  P.S. A polished turd is still shit, just for clarification.

The worst part is that it really is all about money, developers actively try and make games "addictive," whereas I got my girlfriend to try playing FF6 last weekend and she played all the way to Zoso in one sitting purely because she was enjoying it and wanted to play, not for achievements, not to "prestige" (I hate that FUCKING term), and not to unlock some new skin for Locke's Atma Weapon.  There's no innovation going on in the industry - motion controls are a gimmick that has been around since the Powerglove, 3D games aren't new, anyone remember Rad Racer or 3D World Runner?  The industry is stale, and while there are a few indie titles that really capture that retro spirit and create something that's fun without requiring a $300 graphics card, it's not enough to keep my interest.  The 7th generation of games will more than likely be the last one I'm involved in unless there's some sort of renaissance that rekindles the idea of games to begin with - to allow the imagination to flow, to immerse yourself in an imaginary world, fight demons, cast spells, defeat the Red Falcon, whatever it may be.

Are you somewhere in central/southern NJ?

REPRESENT! I fucking love Guilty Gear, because I have a huge hard-on for sprite fighters, and perhaps I-No, but who knows :P  The soundtrack from the Guilty Gear games is so god damn good - it's the ultimate metal-infused soundtrack, beating out even F-Zero X for most brutal video game soundtrack.  I'm going to play GGXX#Reload when I get home now!

I think it'll definitely keep advancing in terms of technology - graphical and processing power and such - but I wonder how the games will evolve with that, whether it'll be literally like playing a movie, or if games are so realistic it ends up being a glorified form of SecondLife.  I'm hoping that the desires of gamers as a whole regress to something a bit more simple, so that games can once again be focused on creating FUN experiences, and not just ones that are pretty to look at.

Hahaha, the Virtual Boy, what a godawful mess.  Runs off of 6 Honda generators, has 14 games.  Problem?

I'm pretty sure that for at least another 10 years, games will continue to focus on looking pretty rather than playing well, and I'm hoping that (eventually) gamers get fed up with sub par gaming experiences.

As for virtual reality, I hope to fuck that shit stays in the annals of history's dark past and never returns.

I love Starcraft so much.  I waited 12 years for SC2, and Heart of the Swarm looks incredible.  I was pumped when **SPOILERS FOR ANYONE WHO HASN'T COMPLETED WINGS OF LIBERTY** Raynor rescued Kerrigan and she was returning to human-ish, and now she's a pissed of psychic with ties to the Zerg Swarm.  Amazing.  Brb, gotta wipe the drool off my keyboard.

Kid Dracula was pretty cool, it's like Mega Man and Castlevania banged and gave birth to a cutesy platformer haha, it was a good time though!

You're very welcome!  It's a great action platformer - really fast paced, killer soundtrack, awesome boss battles, it's even got short, meaningful, and to-the-point cutscenes!  It's easily one of my favorite Konami games.

I know :'( but it was developed by some random studio I obviously couldn't care to remember, and the game feels slow and clunky compared to it's Genesis counterpart, and that's why Konami needs to develop one of their own.