As crazy as this guy is...

[Demon_Child]

He does make a very good point about the video gaming industry.

http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/games/crash.html

I had a discussion about the video gaming industry and the technological differenced between the games of old back with the Atari 2600 and the NES to the current gaming systems. Along with the difference between the technology from the games of 20 years ago and today, we have also discussed the lack of any significant changes between games that have been made a few years ago and the games made now.

[Achelus]

Not really, at all. Some of his most basic assumptions are false. However, the real problem is that his whole article is his theory. There's no imperical evidence to back up his claims of what is going to happen.

Quick, go get your old 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System.

What? You donated it to a homeless shelter ten years ago? And even they don't play it, some guy using it as a little sandwich-holder? I mean, great games continued to come out for the NES right up until it went out of style. Developers could be making games for it today. So why is it extinct?

Hey go get that record player! THEY COULD BE MAKING VINYL RECORDS RIGHT NOW??? WHY IS IT EXTINCT? Idiot.

Legend has it that a meeting was held, sometime in the 80's, where the gaming industry first realized that gamers simply would not continue their hobby without a constantly-changing game format.
As soon as I read this, I knew his article was going to suck. "Legend has it", give me a fucking break.

I'll just take some tidbits that were most illustrative of showing his cluelessness.
Microsoft and Nintendo both released new machines in 2001 and both failed.
Failed? The very idea is absurd.

Nintendo dropped their price to $99 and marketed it as an ideal second gaming console, having to convince existing gamers to double up for lack of new customers.
Now, everyone knows I'm no Nintendo fanboy, but this was a stroke of genius for Nintendo. The idea that people should only own one console is David Wong's alone. Most gamers I know in real life have two of the latest generation consoles because of exclusive games on each one.

But I'm almost 30 now, worried with mortgages and job stress and coffin shopping. My peers all have their own children, the household toy budget spent on the offspring, not the adults.
Wrong according to any recent study. Keep using stereotypes to back up your crazy ideas.

I'll pop in a DVD because a movie only requires two hours from my busy schedule of work and home repairs and chasing kids off my lawn. Getting to the end of a video game, however, requires hours upon hours of play.
WTF Mates? Video games don't have to be played in one sitting. That's why I don't watch much TV/Movies because I can stop/start a game whenever I want. I can see why some people thought his article was a joke.

I'm going to share a secret with you; the average video gamer isn't big on
fist-pumping competition with strangers. That's the territory of the jocks and the scholarship-clutching Future Businessmen of America members. Among gamers, the Unreal Tournament champions and Warcraft III prodigies and SoCom Seal wannabes are a small, hard-core faction.
This whole paragraph is wrong unless you put "in the past" at the end of it. New technology makes it easier for people to compete against other people, and it's becoming huge.

His whole article looks at how things were in the past, and doesn't make any allowances for how they are changing, or even how they are now.

[Demon_Child]

You fail to realize that there hasn't been any real significant changes with the graphics from the games that are made from 3-5 and maybe eve a little bit longer than that and the games that are made today. Madden 2005 will basically look and play EXACTLY like the 2004 version. Once games had been created with CG graphics there hasn't really been that much of a significant change to the way games had looked graphically like they did back during the time of the Atari 2600 and the NES and so forth.

[SoldierPrime]

I posted this on BF last night to bad you weren't there to discuss :(
As for the Nintendo price, what's that? it was in last? GBA was out selling? I think i hear problems? I have a gamcube myself, but i traded in my dreamcast and I made the mistake of turning in my 64 =[ WWAAA
And as for the move/video game sittings, he already talked about how SW was so repetitive that doing the same thing over and over was only going to be done once in a movie.
Record players are extinct becuase of cds, you can hold a lot more and they are compact, hence the name. Old systems are extinct not becuase of the games but becuase they wanted to add more graphics. Record players are not that extinct, some records have rare music they hold, my dad uses his record player to put music on the computer to burn to a cd.

[Graeme]

Hey now, let's not get too hasty! Let's just take a look at Nintendo's advances!

I've heard that they were planning something top secret . . . *whispering* Don't tell anyone, but apparently they're going to make gamecube available in bubblegum pink, tonic teal, and rasberry red colours! *End Whisper*

[SoldierPrime]

I said it in another thread but i can't acces it right now...
Nintendo might save themself with the DS with the supposed leaked specs, having a touch screen and 802.1b(or was it g?) they can take gaming to a much larger area. There are many possibilities that you can create, more buttons, easier navigation in games, etc...

[Achelus]

You fail to realize that there hasn't been any real significant changes with the graphics from the games that are made from 3-5 and maybe eve a little bit longer than that and the games that are made today.
And what you and Mr. Wong fail to realize is that during this graphics "malaise" there has been no indication of a slowdown in sales. He's just making up crazy shit with no basis in reality. He points to a fact then uses it to support an argument when there is no apparent correlation. Graphics improvement has slowed because the demand for big advances in them is not there.

[Dark_Warhawk]

Well reason there are no major changes in Madden in because EA is lazy, simple as that. The way EA sports works is they create a engine for there game for that generation of consoles and they stick with it even if they can do better or they are more powerful consoles come along, that’s why Madden for the PC looks no Different from ps2, X-Box even though the X-box, PC is capable of much more then what EA is doing with it. But IMO Madden 2004 is the best one I played in a long, long time.

But generally speaking there are no big jumps if quality of graphics once the second generations of games comes out. The big leaps come when these companies make there new hardware. And showing screen shots of game old games is not a good way to see what the game looks like. Go play Quake 3 which came out in 1999? Then go play Unreal tournament 2004 and try and tell me you can’t see the difference. But I can see the guys point we went from a block to a human looking sprites with Nintendo, IMO we will never see that kind of leap again and if that what that guy meant he is right

[Demon_Child]

And what you and Mr. Wong fail to realize is that during this graphics "malaise" there has been no indication of a slowdown in sales. He's just making up crazy shit with no basis in reality. He points to a fact then uses it to support an argument when there is no apparent correlation. Graphics improvement has slowed because the demand for big advances in them is not there.

In about 10 years or so (maybe even less) ask youself as to whether or not your opinion about the video gaming industry change and then make your decision about the evolution of video gaming after the certain number of years have passed. As you get older the necessessity for playing videogames will continue to decrease untill you finally decide to stop playing them altogether because the lack of interest. But since you are still young and naive, I wouldn't expect you to think about video gaming in the same way as Mr Wong does.

[TheGreatBrain]

This article is pretty bad. The entire time, he's just spewing wild generalizations. Sorry, I don't buy it.

EDIT: Although, he does make a good point about the graphics slowdown.

[Achelus]

I'll restate it in case anyone missed it. Graphics are not being improved as rapidly because they demand is not there.

DC, your post doesn't make sense in relation to the article. What does my opinion about the evolution of video games have to do with the reality that it's a booming industry that is (rather than on the verge of death) continuing to expand very quickly.

I presume the "lack of interest" comment was supposed to imply that games are either a) getting less interesting or b) as you get older you demand more games.

Either way, that will not reflect any realistic sales changes. So while I may be young and naive, I do know what I'm talking about, unlike you old farts, I suppose.

[Demon_Child]

The reason why the gaming industry is booming (as you would call it) is because there has also been an increase in population in the US, mainly the young population that stretches from the mid teens to the pre-kindergarten era. In case you haven't noticed, there aren't a lot of people who are in their upper 20's and older who are still playing video games which is why you see the forums basically crammped with teenagers and younger. The reason is the people lose their interest due to many different things ranging from lack of updated graphics to complex controllers to unamusing storylines as they get older. The things that they have enjoyed many of times when they were younger won't be of any interest to them.

When you get to be 27 years old or perhaps older Red. Then you, too, will be thinking the same way about video gaming as a whole as MR. Wong does even if it is to a certain degree.

[Duddits]

Lol... I remember that old atari game with the colored boxes... Anybody actually have played Pong on an arcade machine? That was fun.

[dunchy]

I made the mistake of turning in my 64 =[ WWAAA......


Silly, you can play all N64 games on about 2 DVD's on your X-box you know ;)

Shh.

[MacG]

The URL is called pointlesswasteoftime ...

[Dark_Soul74]

Online gaming is not the same experience as video gaming. Video gaming is (was) about fun and button-mashing and imagination, not ladder climbing and hack writing and memorizing exactly how many little zombie horsement I have to crank out before I can assault my opponent's base and insult their sexuality via a mistyped text message. Decribes WarCraft perfectly. :p

[Duddits]

Duddits thinks that he was tring to descibe warcraft, or else some kind of RTS.

[Valjean]

My favorite part of the article:

Luke's X-Wing approaches the surface of the Death Star.

"Red Five, begin your attack run."

Luke swoops down into the trench. "It'll be just like Beggar's Canyon back ho-"

Turret laser bolts tear his X-Wing apart.

----------------------------

Luke's X-Wing approaches the surface of the Death Star.

"Red Five, begin your attack run."

Luke swoops down into the trench. "It'll be just like Beggar's Canyon back home!"

Turret laser bolts miss by inches. He skims along the trench.

A Tie Fighter drops in behind him and blows his ship to ten thousand flaming pieces.

----------------------------

Luke's X-Wing approaches the surface of the Death Star.

"Red Five, begin your attack run."

Luke swoops down into the trench. "It'll be just like Beggar's Canyon back home!"

Turret laser bolts miss by inches. He skims along the trench.

A Tie Fighter drops in behind him, shoots and misses. Luke approaches the exhaust shaft... fires a photon torpedo...

...and misses. The Death Star destroys the rebel base.

----------------------------

Luke's X-Wing approaches the surface of the Death Star.

"Red Five, begin your attack run."

Luke swoops down into the trench. "It'll be just like Beggar's Canyon ba-"

Turret laser bolts tear his X-Wing apart.

---------------------------


:D :)

[Duddits]

Duddits got very bored while reading that part and scrolled down, skipping over it.

[Battlecruiser]

well one part I agree with now is that only like pros in CONSOLE GAMES play on the internet. I would too if the retarded Bill Gates makes Xbox Live free. Then even I would play online but i don't see the purpose of spending $50 on playing online. It should be free.

[Duddits]

"And thus," says Duddits, "is why PS2 > X-Box. GG. NR."

[SoldierPrime]

Silly, you can play all N64 games on about 2 DVD's on your X-box you know ;)

Shh.

ppsssstttt pm ^_^

btw sales arent exactly "booming" i can find you some articles showing some decrease in sales, but me=lazy as of now.

[Achelus]

I'd be thrilled to see articles showing that the video gaming industry isn't expanding still. I'm always thrilled when I see miracles though.

[RoP]

The reason that there has been a graphics slowdown is simple - what more can you get than detailed physics in games - where the wood splinters and the water ripples according to fluid dynamics (read Half Life 2 demos).

Comparison:
1980 - 2 boxes
1987 - 2D graphics in Zelda.

there is a big difference because there is a big difference between boxes and pixels.

[RogueRed2]

You guys do know that's a satireish website, right? Everything he says is an intentional lie/misinterpretation.

On a side note, I love this article: http://pointlesswasteoftime.com/film/50reasons.html

Oh my God, that's pure gold!

Homage or theft X?

The character of Elrond was based on Agent Smith from The Matrix.

[Achelus]

Here's the problem RogueRed. If it's a "joke" then it's totally unfunny, and the guy shouldn't ever be allowed to attempt comedy again. It's just long and boring.

Regardless, it's not based in fact, and he's spewing theories with no real backup. GAMES WILL DIE BECAUSE GRAPHICS ARENT IMPROVING FAST is stupid.

[Staind]

Games will die because gameplay is in the backseat while graphics are driving (if anyone got that congrats ;))

[ShawnManX]

http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/film/trilogy.html

[Graeme]

http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/film/trilogy.html


No! As if Star Wars was last! That data is horribly . . . horribly wrong Shawn!

[Duddits]

That guy gets annyoing in some of the articles he writes.

http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/viewpoint/tupac.html
This, however, is pretty freaky.