Have we ever had it this good?

silvine

With the mass-market takeup of the three main consoles, and the arrival of numerous high-quality games (Organge Box, Halo 3, Bioshock, Warhawk, COD4), my question is have we ever had it this good?.

Was there ever a better time to be a gamer?

Tusky

Add Mass Effect, Crysis, The Witcher...lots of good games floating around at the moment alright.

mewso

Nah I'm a PC Gamer. It's always been this good if not better.

chamlis

lol. Well said, my good man

silvine

musician wrote: »

Nah I'm a PC Gamer. It's always been this good if not better.

I'm also a PC gamer and I beg to differ. Normally when console come to the end of their lifespan, PC suffer from a load of lousy ports e.g. KNOTR II.

And, apart for Crysis, a lot of great games seem to be coming out on the consoles first e.g. Halo 3, Mass Effect.

PC gaming is as up and down as console gaming is.

Smellyirishman

musician wrote: »

Nah I'm a PC Gamer. It's always been this good if not better.

Me too and I can only lol at this statement. PC gaming has become quite stale at times. I remember times in the recent past where there wasn't a single game on the horizon that looked promising, not for another 6 months or more down the line. It's the reason I am not too pushed to upgrade my aged machine. PC gaming has it's lulls just as console gaming does.

Definitly a good bunch of titles to play with this Xmas, across all platforms.

ambro25

I've been gaming for nearly 30 years, and this question gets asked every year regardless of generation/platform when xmas approaches and AAA titles compete for €s :cool:

Zillah

I'm hoping that this new batch due for 2008 are successful. Most games I've played in the last year have been obsessed with trendy high tech elements that add nothing to the experience and ultimately disappoint. When did games stop trying to tell a story? Radiant AI of Oblivion, scale in Stalker, super-powers in Bioshock. Some people liked them, and they certainly had their high points, but in the end I was disappointed by the above.

silvine

ambro25 wrote: »

I've been gaming for nearly 30 years, and this question gets asked every year regardless of generation/platform when xmas approaches and AAA titles compete for €s :cool:

Well do any of this year's standout?

1998 was a great and important gaming year. Half Life was released. As was 1993, with Doom.

Will 2007 be looked back on with the same regard?

Radiant AI of Oblivion, scale in Stalker, super-powers in Bioshock. Some people liked them, and they certainly had their high points, but in the end I was disappointed by the above.

I haven't played Stalker but Oblivion has a large and engrossing world to explore, the likes of which was not seen before except maybe in a MMORPG.

Bioshock (while similar to System Shock 2 in its style of play) has a unique storyline. There are few games as engrossing and original when it comes to telling a story. Plus it could make you feel guilty about the choices you make. Now that is something special.

Fnz

They replied to this question a week ago on the 1UP Yours podcast if you'd like to give it a listen. [1UP Yours - 16/11/07]

Newsweek's Level Up blogger N'Gai Croal is featured on this show - dunno if that means anything to you but it seemed to impress my friends.

mewso

Smellyirishman wrote: »

Me too and I can only lol at this statement.

I can only lol at this. I was answering the question. I think it has been this good and better in the past and as a PC gamer I can only speak to that platform. If the way I phrased it sounded like I was having a dig at consoles then that was completely intentional.

super_furry

I've been gaming for the last 20 odd years and I can't remember a better few months in terms of releases. So much so that games that would previously have been must-plays are now being put on the back-burner.

Smellyirishman

musician wrote: »

I think it has been this good and better in the past and as a PC gamer I can only speak to that platform. If the way I phrased it sounded like I was having a dig at consoles then that was completely intentional.

Well you said it "has always been this good if not better" which is a gross overstatement IMO. Perhaps it was just a bad choice of words. While it didn't seem like a dig at consoles there was an air of superiority in it's tone .

silvine

He said it was completely "intentional" not "unintentional". He IS having a go at consoles.

L31mr0d

musician wrote: »

If the way I phrased it sounded like I was having a dig at consoles then that was completely intentional.

rofl

silvine

Fnz wrote: »

They replied to this question a week ago on the 1UP Yours podcast if you'd like to give it a listen. [1UP Yours - 16/11/07]

Those dudes make World of Warcraft types look postively jockish.

Smellyirishman

L31mr0d wrote: »

rofl

Lol, didn't see that. Damn my glacing over posts.

Fnz

silvine wrote: »

Those dudes make World of Warcraft types look postively jockish.

Jockish? Don't talk crazy.

... but who better than gaming nerds to host a video games podcast? It's still better than the other extreme.

steviec

If you love playing FPS after FPS after FPS then sure, it's a great year.

If you prefer a little variety or great story telling then this year is nowhere near the heights of a couple of years ago when the PS2 was in its stride. Nothing this year has come close to Shadow of the Colossus or Final Fantasy X or any of the MGS or GTA games in my opinion - I'm aware they may all have come out in different years but I wasn't keeping score.

I get the feeling, a few years from now, Portal will be the only game from 2007 I'll still be looking back on fondly like the above games. I've still to play Uncharted and Mass Effect mind you, either of which could still be game of the year.

L31mr0d

steviec wrote: »

I get the feeling, a few years from now, Portal will be the only game from 2007

aye, there really hasn't been anything majorly rememberable this year. I mean sure there have been some innovations and gimickry... but nothing that years from now i'll still be playing. I still play Worms with a few friends, play a network game of Micro Machines using an emulator, and have UFO: Enemy Unknown always on my USB stick for some impromptu turn based alien killing... even today my friend in work loaded up a load of the old Lucas Arts games, like monkey island, to play on his iPhone.

Nothing i've played this year i'll ever have reason to install again.

TheDoc

i guess the question is what games will there be this year you will always remember and play again and again

I always find time to reload max payne and play it through.

Warcraft III released YEARS ago is still a big player on my pc.

This year im getting some pretty nifty games for x-mas.

Guitar Hero III
Assassins Creed
Mass Effect
COD4
Orange Box

Like i still roll out my n64 and play some golden eye from time to time.
I think this christmas is going to have some of the most memorable games, not groundbreaking, but memorable, that you wont be trading in to fast.

Like last night i cracked out dead rising to get some achievemants for the laugh, and was so interested started playing from scratch, trying to get all achievements, save everybody. Its like GTA, if you dont wanna do missions just kill everything

Mafia for the pc, if you have never played it, get it, i am constantly taking this outa the box and playing it. It is the DEFINITIVE gangster game ever made, it is quality.

Cant wait for mafia II

super_furry

steviec wrote: »

If you love playing FPS after FPS after FPS then sure, it's a great year.

If you prefer a little variety or great story telling then this year is nowhere near the heights of a couple of years ago when the PS2 was in its stride. Nothing this year has come close to Shadow of the Colossus or Final Fantasy X or any of the MGS or GTA games in my opinion - I'm aware they may all have come out in different years but I wasn't keeping score.

Rogue Galaxy, Okami, Mario Galaxy, Phantom Hourglass, etc. The last month has been all about FPS games, but there's been some astounding stuff throughout the year.

Maximilian

I'd have to agree that its been a particularly good year for games. Now if I only could find the time to actually finish them. STALKER is one I should get back to.

Fnz

It does seem like a good year at the moment but previous to the glut of decent titles from the last couple of months wasn't there a lot of sitting around, thumbs not a-twiddling?