If the hype was to be believed we are amidst a new era of gaming. Journeymen on a wild frontier where Mass Effect developers EA celebrate it’s launch by blasting copies of the game into space. On the Xbox we have controller-less interface Kinect taking us into new realms of interaction: waving our arms around. But In Jay Mansion I have neither.
A lot of the ‘big’ titles pass me by, as does the latest technology. Lately I’ve spent most of my time being a Rainbow in Kindle’s xbox live game: Rainbow Rapture. A game that costs a meagre 80 Xbox points, has one button, and has kept fellow Two Dude’s reviewer Alex and myself thoroughly entertained competing for the high score.
Ah the high score, Remember when achieving them made a game, not the premiss? No one went on about Centipede’s reactive scenery. No one cared if that the surface of the moon in Moon Patrol was green, but I digress. The point is my new era of gaming is playing new simple games like Speedrunner HD, another XBLA game, which once a couple of friends arrived at my flat (yes, I live sans-mum) provided a pleasurable evening of backstabbing.
My point? What exactly defines this new era of gaming? Why is it I watch King of Kong over and over again wishing I was world Donkey Kong champion when surely I should be putting on my Mass Effect 3 Commander Shepard mask and weeping at the cut scenes deep contextual angst. I think the answer is I’m becoming an old gamer. Being thirty I give myself five years before the new “Total Immersion Coma’ is released. A Kinect game which encourages slow breathing, with as little movement as possible, and who’s scoreboard is dominated by Tibetan monks.
I believe the true thing to be celebrated about this new era of gaming is not multi billion dollar games escaping our atmosphere, or Kinect games channeling the essence of the funky chicken, or even my beloved Rainbows. I believe what should be celebrated is choice. Never before has such diversity been offered to us gamers. We can play blockbusters, we can wave our arms around hoping something happens, we can play new and classic arcade games, all on the same games system. We have entered a era defined by choice. You can spend your money on Kinect titles like Kinectimalz and waste away the hours petting a tiger with the co-ordination of a stroke victim, or purchase Pac Man Arcade and go for the world record. You can even buy Mass Effect 3 and become the Shepard of humanity. Personally though I’m sticking with my rainbow and leaving others to the Funky Chicken.
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I stumbled across a similar thing upon trying to review Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. Instead of being absorbed and wowed by the snazzy polished gfx, complex story (and recycled gameplay); I was tempted away by the incredibly involving and slow burning indie number: Mount & Blade: Warband, which can be purchased for a considerable £3.75.
Still not completed Revelations. Sigh.
I think spectacle and wow-factor are starting to bleed away from what makes a good game now. Everyone can have great graphics and not having them just seems lazy now. I hope this is a reason for developers to start thinking about game play more and visual appeal as a great bonus.