Console Hype: Past & Present

[AngelCityOutlaw]

Maybe a thread like this exists already, but I've already typed all this out:

How many of you out there are actually excited for the new generation of video games? Specifically the new Sony and Microsoft offerings. Do you usually totally geek out when new video game consoles are on the horizon? Do you feel the same kind of hype you did in past generations? Any bizarre rituals you do in anticipation? Also, any fond memories of anticipating past console releases?

I remember I was beyond stoked for the Gamecube when I was around 11 years old. I didn't get one when they launched, but I saved all my euros and allowance money to buy it. I remember talking to another fourth grader at school about how excited I was and he told me "Oh, that's soooo gay. You should buy the Xbox instead." That kid was a dumbass. Gamecube was epic.

[lazygecko]

Don't think I've ever really been hyped about an upcoming console. I just get one once it has accumulated a decent enough game library. Starting after the decline of the Dreamcast though my interest in console gaming was rapidly vanishing. The last console I even owned was a Gamecube and that didn't recieve a lot of play time apart from a few first party titles.

With the 360 there was a paradigm shift in the console industry as western, former PC devs moved on to the platform and pushed out the Japanese dominance to near irrelevance. Now most of what's being offered on consoles are just watered down versions of what I used to play on PC over 10 years ago. I mainly enjoyed consoles on the side because the Japanese games offered a genuinely different experience, but as they regressed to the domestic market most of them have just turned too niche for my liking. So I don't see any point in owning a console any longer.

Edited June 29, 2013 by lazygecko

[Annie Felis]

It's kind of hard for me to get excited over something I don't have the time to do much anymore. I was excited for consoles and the games on them back when I was in college, because despite having a job and classes I didn't have much else to do and had a lot more free time. When I was newly-married and didn't need to work anymore and spent most of my time gaming, I was even more excited for what games were coming out on PS2 and Gamecube, and how PC gaming was gaining speed.

By the time the PS3 came out, I was still a bit enthusiastic, but by then I felt I had been running on a gaming treadmill since 2000. Despite all the graphical upgrades, it was more of the same. Games had not changed much, at least the types of games I played. Sandbox games were still sandboxy, and Pokemon was still the same game it was back in high school. JRPGs were the same trope-laden railroad. FPS games on consoles were still less enjoyable than on PC. I don't care about anything Rockstar makes anymore. I quit Pokemon. FF12 was my last Final Fantasy game, unless you count the Chocobo's Dungeon for Wii, and I've pretty much given up on playing FPS games due to the shithead communities populating their servers.

I got old. These things aren't new to me anymore, and while it's fun to go back and play Symphony of the Night or Shadow Hearts for the nostalgia I can't say I'm that excited for anything new coming out. The last thing I actually got excited for was Ni no Kuni, and the game was a bit of a disappointment for me. At this point, it doesn't matter to me what comes out on PS4 or Wii-U. Once enough mildly interesting titles accumulate for these consoles, I'll buy them and probably put in a few hours here and there. If not enough interesting material comes out, then nothing of value is lost and I won't bother.

Besides, I have a little kid. What I can play is severly limited, especially since he's super-sensitive to what's happening in a story. I mean he cried when DeLoco burned the forest in Skies of Arcadia (and so I stopped playing). I don't think he could handle something emotionally-laden like The Last of Us or Tomb Raider. I usually spend my gaming time playing things he likes to watch, like Mario 64 or World of Warcraft, and I let him mash buttons and keys in those games a little just so he can participate. Once you have kids, you're not the same kind of gamer.

[liquid wind]

I'm more apathetic towards console gaming now than I have ever been, I might get an Ouya solely for the purpose of giving Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo the finger, but I'm not convinced it's going to do anything for me that Steam isn't already doing

[Meteo Xavier]

I'm more apathetic towards console gaming now than I have ever been, I might get an Ouya solely for the purpose of giving Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo the finger, but I'm not convinced it's going to do anything for me that Steam isn't already doing

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is whats really dragging down gaming today.

I don't mean to put you on the spot or anything, Liquid, but this is as good an example as I can find. It's not just weird business practices or tired franchises or mainstream VS non-mainstream or indie vs whatever, a major section of whats wrong with the gaming industry today are the gamers.

Some of you as old as me can remember back in the 8bit and 16bit days of gaming - what was your whole approach to gaming? Did you over-fucking-analyze every single console and controller and title and company legacy to death before it was even released, or did you see a game on the video rental shelf that you never played before and said "hey, I haven't played that one yet, let me try it."

You know why games used to be "good" 20 years ago? Because you didn't go into each and every one of them with a fucking volume of gaming history and precedent and expectations before playing it, you just played it because you were CURIOUS. That's it. Now 20 years later, you spend more time debating company practices, technology, current trends, franchise fatigue with other gamers than you do any actual gaming. Every gamer today thinks they're an industry expert. What, you suddenly know what EA and Square-Enix and Nintendo and Microsoft should be doing just because you read a bunch of articles on the internet? Well, why aren't you fixing the industry already then?

If the next generation of gaming is not exciting, you mostly have yourselves to blame for it. I don't doubt there is some shady stuff, stupid ideas and lack of gameplay focused titles out there, but thats been true since before Mario even existed. That was going on WHEN games were what you remember as "good" and you still enjoyed the hell out of them anyway, didn't you?

Bottom line: throw out your ridiculous expectations and open your minds again. Remember you're a gamer to enjoy games for what they are, not debate the industry with other self-proclaimed experts on the interweb.

[liquid wind]

Fair point that 20 years ago I wasn't overly concerned with Microsoft trying to monitor me 24/7 via kinect or Sony's long history of anti-consumer behavior(or in those days Nintendo monopolizing the industry like gangsters) - that's part of getting old though, you become responsible and have to consider what you are supporting.

This is still a separate issue however from the fact that I don't think the next generation of consoles is hype worthy to begin with, Sony and Microsoft are going further down the road of producing watered down PCs and Nintendo is also going further down the path that made the Wii a disappointment for many of us. Beyond Nintendo trying to throw the most unergonomic and unintuitive controllers imaginable at us, there isn't much that makes the console experience unique or desirable at this point.

I also do still make a habit of playing games at random, particularly on steam I'll buy anything that looks kinda interesting when it's on sale, but I also have a lot of 360 and Wii titles that I bought on a whim or recommendation that I didn't do any research into. I've acquired more 360 games in the past year than I ever owned for PS1, almost as many as I had for SNES, I have to say my experience with those consoles was much more enjoyable. I may in fact be a bitter old man but my lack of appreciation for present day mainstream game design certainly isn't for lack of exposure.

[jnWake]

I think that the only console I was really hyped for in my life was the N64. But that was probably because I was very young and the jump from 2D to 3D simply blew my mind.

Now I only get hyped when Smash Bros. appears. I only bought a Gamecube and a Wii because of that. I have to admit that some of the Wii U games coming soon are hyping me a bit (same with the 3DS, but I've never bought a portable). PS4 also seems fine but I don't want to risk buying it too son, faulty consoles and all.

[Brandon Strader]

I'm excited about what PS4 and Xbone means for PC gaming

Console-wise, ps4 at launch.

[Argle]

Last console I really was jazzed about was the Gamecube. And I was in my 20s when I got one, so it wasn't childhood nostalgia. Honestly, I don't seem to get into many games these days. Video games directly competes with music as a hobby, and music usually wins lately. But honestly, none of the new consoles is remotely interesting to me. Even my enjoyment of certain Wii games is tempered by my dislike of the controller.

[Brandon Strader]

My enjoyment of a game to some extent hinges on the quality of the soundtrack, I think gaming and making music goes hand in hand, especially where remixing is concerned... gotta make room for both if you can.

[Final Kingdom]

I've never been excited about the consoles per se. The games are what mattered to me the most. If there were games that I really liked and/or were exclusive to a certain console, I would buy that console just for those games. I'm looking forward to the PS4, but I'm not bouncing off the walls because of it.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

My enjoyment of a game to some extent hinges on the quality of the soundtrack, I think gaming and making music goes hand in hand, especially where remixing is concerned... gotta make room for both if you can.

I know most games purely by soundtrack. I actually don't really like playing games much anymore.

The most I played of any video game until recently was various fighting games until I realized "Wait a minute, being good at this game really achieves nothing." Also, gamers always give me hell for usually playing single player games with a strategy guide or walk-through open. Why? Because I don't want to spend hours trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do or where I should go next and/or how to beat some boss to see how the story goes. I just want to play through the story =/

[Brandon Strader]

My mommy helped me get through a dungeon in Eternal Sonata because I couldn't find a rope in the level to slide down, it was too hard to see. She looked it up on GameFAQs.

[Chimpazilla]

I was gonna skip the Wii U because it just doesn't look that spectacular. But with HD Wind Waker coming out soon, and a new Zelda game sometime in the future, and Xenoblade 2, looks like we'll be getting one. Whatever console the Zelda games are on, that's what we will have here, absolutely.

Oh, and nothing wrong with strategy guides. Helps make the most out of your game, and gets you unstuck and moving forward again. And mommies are darned helpful sometimes, too. So says my 8-year-old son. ;-p

[AngelCityOutlaw]

My mommy helped me get through a dungeon in Eternal Sonata because I couldn't find a rope in the level to slide down, it was too hard to see. She looked it up on GameFAQs.

I tried to play video games with my mom once.

Turned out she can't stand all the moving lights and passed out.

My grandpa played a lot of video games with me though. His favorites were Medievil and Medievil II. If they ever make a third game, he'll buy a new playstation.