Thinking about the "Nintendo Nerd," as well as various other things, a question came to my mind. Do people have more fun playing videogames now than they did 20 or more years ago?
Case in point: Metroid.
This is the game that many people think of when someone says "NES." It is generally considered to be one of the best games on the console, and I bet right at this moment there are dozens of people playing it. It offered so much to gamers; a large environment to take one's time to explore, great controls and gameplay and a (if just vaguely) interesting story. But do these people who love this game only do so because they view it through the glimmering haze of nostalgia? Is most of their enjoyment derived from their golden childhood memories of their times with the game?
Maybe, maybe not. Within recent years, the surge of emulation and services like Gametap have brought these games back to fruition. Whether or not these utilities are mainly just used who played the games "way back when," and not kids who weren't even born when this game was made, the opportunity is still there for them to. And I know I enjoy them.
I know I say this with a bias. I was around when the NES at least was still somewhat popular. I didn't play Metroid, but I did play more than a dozen other games on the system when I was young. I've played Metroid and other NES games in recent years and still enjoyed them; on the other hand, at one time, it was all we had.
Let's move up to today. If the first programmers who coded such games as Frogger or Pac-Man (games where you merely controlled the direction of your character) saw the myriad of game types and ideas we had today, their heads would spin. MMORPGs where people communicate to a network of hundreds and thousands of others, playing with a huge list of spells and abilities, synchronizing with each other in complex patterns. Games like Guitar Hero, where you pick up a faux-guitar controller to activate samples within the game to create the feeling that you play along with a song, expand the idea of what you can do in a game. It seems like your average adventure epic (like God of War) features approximately a hundred different things for you to collect, so that you can unlock new cheats and characters and game modes and endings.
And the graphics! Far, far from the fuzzy pixels on a blurry screen, we have character models consisting of millions of polygons. Many, many games produced today are 3D, and many of those are made with the attempt to make it look as real as possible. They get closer to succeeding with every year.
Some might say that because of these vast differences that lie between the games of so long ago and today, that you can't really compare them. But they're all produced, and they're all played for the same reason: fun. And that is why we spend money on them.
So, with all of this said, are games more fun today than years ago? I'd like some perspective from everyone. Is it fun for younger players to play games from before their time? I think it is safe to say that older players enjoy today's diversions. But can they say that they're as enjoyable as they used to be?
Case in point: Metroid.
Maybe, maybe not. Within recent years, the surge of emulation and services like Gametap have brought these games back to fruition. Whether or not these utilities are mainly just used who played the games "way back when," and not kids who weren't even born when this game was made, the opportunity is still there for them to. And I know I enjoy them.
I know I say this with a bias. I was around when the NES at least was still somewhat popular. I didn't play Metroid, but I did play more than a dozen other games on the system when I was young. I've played Metroid and other NES games in recent years and still enjoyed them; on the other hand, at one time, it was all we had.
Let's move up to today. If the first programmers who coded such games as Frogger or Pac-Man (games where you merely controlled the direction of your character) saw the myriad of game types and ideas we had today, their heads would spin. MMORPGs where people communicate to a network of hundreds and thousands of others, playing with a huge list of spells and abilities, synchronizing with each other in complex patterns. Games like Guitar Hero, where you pick up a faux-guitar controller to activate samples within the game to create the feeling that you play along with a song, expand the idea of what you can do in a game. It seems like your average adventure epic (like God of War) features approximately a hundred different things for you to collect, so that you can unlock new cheats and characters and game modes and endings.
Some might say that because of these vast differences that lie between the games of so long ago and today, that you can't really compare them. But they're all produced, and they're all played for the same reason: fun. And that is why we spend money on them.
So, with all of this said, are games more fun today than years ago? I'd like some perspective from everyone. Is it fun for younger players to play games from before their time? I think it is safe to say that older players enjoy today's diversions. But can they say that they're as enjoyable as they used to be?
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