Are next gen consoles killing the gaming experience?

[Docpepper]

I love the next gen games that I've played(GTAIV,Devil may Cry 4,and etc) but next gen is such a hassle. when you get the system you have to connect to the internet to download critical firmware updates and then before you can play the game you have to install it to the hard drive.

I'll be getting a Ps3 in the upcoming months and as soon as i get it I'll have to take it to a friend house to download the updates then bring it back home and then install the game (which granted doesn't take that much time) but still i miss the days where as soon as you got the shiny new system and popped the game in and you were off enjoying yourself.

Don't get me started on the games that prefer to focus soley on online gaming and alienate the single player experience.

[stokeriño]

I'm not a fan of online gaming, but I hardly see how any of that is killing the gaming experience. PC gaming has to deal with far worse shit and it still gets along fine as ever.

[brenchill]

Don't get me started on the games that prefer to focus soley on online gaming and alienate the single player experience.

Yeah, fuck you Call Of Duty 4!

[stokeriño]

CoD4 doesn't do that. At least, besides one brief dip into the world of paying money to be humiliated by strangers (aka CoD4 online), I've only played the single player and easily got my money's worth from the game.

Edited May 22, 2008 by Gul Stokeriño

[brenchill]

It does in my experience. I completed the entire game in two hours and I'm no game genius. When I complained about it I was told by someone* that it's more about the "online experience".

*ApSham actually

[stokeriño]

Yeah, but people who say that kind of thing are fuckwits.

That's what I call blunt, but fair.

[Baddar]

Don't you get the main PS3 updates whether you're connected to the internet or not? I could've sworn I was getting the updates before I linked my PS3 up to the internet.

[King Ellis]

Presumably they will include the latest firmware on the discs of games and it'll update when you put them in. I don't see how it's technically possible otherwise.

But on the general topic at hand, I can see after market patches only as a good thing. I'd like it if bugs and what not were cleared up during production but it's not always possible. At least now we can get fixes and in some cases extra content. Better than being in a situation like, say, No Mercy for N64 where everyone was waiting ages for replacement carts.

[stokeriño]

Yeah, firmware updates generally come with games. A bit like how most PC games also include the latest version of DirectX.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Pah all this installing is ruining the simple pleasures of gaming. How i long for the days when I sat in front of my tape drive waiting five minutes for it to load......if indeed it didnt crash first.....kids today huh.....

[King Ellis]

5 minutes? Chance'd be a fine thing.

[K]

I used to load the tape before lunchtime, and hopefully when I'd finished it'd be almost ready.

[Vilge Duin]

http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/About/SystemUpdate

You don't need to lug your system around anywhere. Yes, updating via the Playstation Network is the best option but if you can't do that for some reason (your don't have your PS3 hooked up for it) you can easily do it via a USB thumb drive, SD card, etc.

And at that, as has been said, any new game always comes with the most recent firmware that it needs to play it.

You don't need (outside of when a game requires it, but again, they come with the required firmware) them. But they offer extra features to the systems, better stability and an overall better experience and value. As Ellis said, No Mercy is a great example. Would you rather the game randomly wipe all your data due to a defect or be able to download an update to fix it?

And games "solely" intended for online have existed for ages due to PCs. It's simply a natural progression for console games to offer the same service. And even then, most games that are "online only" (in value) would have simply been referred to as 'multi-player only'. Look back at stuff like Goldeneye for the perfect example. There's always been a glut of quality single player games for all three systems. The really good ones just have multi-player as an added bonus of goodness (like Call of Duty 4 for instance).

I find there's a certain aesthetic to recent games that's lacking with a lot of recent titles. A lack of spunk if you will, the personality that sets them apart from their peers. A lot of stuff has a banal uncreative nature. Not as exciting or "new" if you will. But I chalk that up to playing games my entire life and having grown entirely used to them.

All in all though this current generation has been fantastic for game players. And as long as all three stay strong and keep trying to one up each other, we're in for more greatness.

[Cactus Drags]

I find there's a certain aesthetic to recent games that's lacking with a lot of recent titles.

Also, Goldeneye's single player mode was fucking minted, get out.

[Vilge Duin]

And the point of that was? I wanted to make it abundantly clear I was speaking of current games only. There's nothing wrong with the sentence as is... ah sorry, forgot I was on EWB for a second. I R IDIT!@

And so is Call of Duty 4's single player, but it's still mostly referred to as an online experience for the most part. Just as Goldeneye was heavily revered for its split screen. But yeah, you go live in fantasy land where that aspect isn't what people loved the most.

Yep, this new damn fangled machines are ruining your fun and games.

[Dingle]

Now lets not get uppity and irate AGAIN Vilge. It seems to easily happen >_>.

Also, I enjoy the online experience very much so, although I'd never buy a game solely for it despite how much people try and make me buy Gears to go online. I'd only buy it for the single player and see any online business as extra, but then again I've only had the console a few weeks. Maybe I'll change my mind after a bit.

[Media 2.0]

For me, I'd say in a sense yes, but for a completely different reason.

I'm talking about Xbox Live achievements. There not that much of a hindrance since they're completely optional, but I just can't help but play for them, at the expense of having fun with a game. For example, whenever I look at my stack of games deciding what I should play, I'll think something similar too 'Should I play Lost Odyssey, that's fun...but, I still need to get that achievement on Skate, where I stand around for 3 hours..' So of course, instead of just playing Lost Odyssey and having some fun, I end up skating around in circles for 3 hours.

Or even something less dramatic, Mass Effect. There's an achievement for beating the game on Hardcore difficulty. And while there are some that enjoy it, I'm just not a person that likes playing games on harder difficulties, because I just like to run through it, play it like a movie, and I don't enjoy the thought of possibly, dying/repeatedly having to do the levels over. But of course...I choose hardcore difficulty, and proceed to occasionally want to throw my controller through the television.

So yea, in that regard, next gen's definitely changed my gaming experience. Although I'm trying to get out of that habit, and just play the game for the game.

But damn there's something rewarding about seeing that little gray message pop up on the screen. >_<

[Cactus Drags]

And the point of that was? I wanted to make it abundantly clear I was speaking of current games only. There's nothing wrong with the sentence as is... ah sorry, forgot I was on EWB for a second. I R IDIT!@

And so is Call of Duty 4's single player, but it's still mostly referred to as an online experience for the most part. Just as Goldeneye was heavily revered for its split screen. But yeah, you go live in fantasy land where that aspect isn't what people loved the most.

Yep, this new damn fangled machines are ruining your fun and games.

You compared recent games with themselves. The sentence is broken, stop getting so offended. Christ, between your amazing ability to take offence at anything, and your constant misuse of the word 'albeit,' it's just not worth reading your posts.

I also never said Goldeneye was better. I said 'was' fucking minted for a start, have you played it lately? It has not aged well at all. For the record though, I know plenty of people who took great enjoyment from the single player as much as the multiplayer.

The worst next-gen (at which point can we start calling it present-gen?) has done for me is brought forth the voices of the entire idiot post-90s generation, which I covered in the 360 megathread. If those little bastards piss off, I'll be happy.

For me, I'd say in a sense yes, but for a completely different reason.

I'm talking about Xbox Live achievements. There not that much of a hindrance since they're completely optional, but I just can't help but play for them, at the expense of having fun with a game. For example, whenever I look at my stack of games deciding what I should play, I'll think something similar too 'Should I play Lost Odyssey, that's fun...but, I still need to get that achievement on Skate, where I stand around for 3 hours..' So of course, instead of just playing Lost Odyssey and having some fun, I end up skating around in circles for 3 hours.

Or even something less dramatic, Mass Effect. There's an achievement for beating the game on Hardcore difficulty. And while there are some that enjoy it, I'm just not a person that likes playing games on harder difficulties, because I just like to run through it, play it like a movie, and I don't enjoy the thought of possibly, dying/repeatedly having to do the levels over. But of course...I choose hardcore difficulty, and proceed to occasionally want to throw my controller through the television.

So yea, in that regard, next gen's definitely changed my gaming experience. Although I'm trying to get out of that habit, and just play the game for the game.

But damn there's something rewarding about seeing that little gray message pop up on the screen. >_<

We've all turned into achievement whores, and it sucks. But I'll not have a bad word said about Skate (incidentally, the first game I got 1000GS on ). But in the end it's down to you, no one's forcing you to play for achievements. We just all seem to act like we are :/

[Vilge Duin]

You compared recent games with themselves. The sentence is broken, stop getting so offended. Christ, between your amazing ability to take offence at anything, and your constant misuse of the word 'albeit,' it's just not worth reading your posts.

I also never said Goldeneye was better. I said 'was' fucking minted for a start, have you played it lately? It has not aged well at all. For the record though, I know plenty of people who took great enjoyment from the single player as much as the multiplayer.

Boy, you sound like someone else's broken record. How original.

I didn't compare shit. Learn to read. And albeit literally means, "although". I never misuse it, overuse maybe, not misuse.

And did I say you said Goldeneye was better? Nope. In fact, I said what you just did, so good job.

Albeit, you could fuck off and not read my posts and that would just be peachy.

Edited May 22, 2008 by Vilge Duin

[brenchill]

WHOOOOAAAAHHHH NOW GENTLEMEN!