The Kingdom Key Forums: Can someone spell "Dry-spell" for me? - The Kingdom Key Forums

But to me, it seems the gaming market is hitting a bump in the road. And I'm not just talking about cranking out big-name titles either, though I will get to that as well. Maybe it's just an inkling in these old, classic gamer bones of mine. But I'm feeling it more now lately than ever. I remember it not even being all that many years ago when the world was up in arms when a new Final Fantasy was coming out, now it-- and I for that matter- couldn't give half a rat's ass with how poorly they've been doing. FFXI was a big hit, hell, people still play (And let's not even mention, pay) for it. Ultimately, it wasn't for me, and I'll bust out my chest full of FFXI cracks any time the title comes up, but I can see how there are people who do enjoy it.

However, that is only an example in context of what I'm driving at. My Consider the Following is: When was the last time a game that WASN'T an online shooter has hit big? Just seems nowadays the basic formula for video game success is to make a "Story" about a guy with a raging hard-on for shooting crap for hours on end, sprinkle some plot on top-- Chuck! Terrorists are taking over the mall! You have to stop them! And pump it full to the brim with multiplayer and watch the kiddies and their sideways hat, sleeveless tapout shirt, sandal wearing, xbox live ego-centered, douche-nozzle friends eat that shit up like hipsters at a fedora store. The last title that did anything to combat this new wave of meat-heads, was probably Metal Gear Solid 4, and I can assure you, what success it had can be chalked up to old fans who long ago gave up hope that there'd be a cannon MGS sequel-- Not what I'd exactly call drawing new interest.

More so, the frequency of titles seems to be getting a little skimpy if I do say so myself. There used to be a day where I could walk my happy ass into a gamestop, having no objective in mind for the day and walk out with a new and interesting title. Now, you walk in knowing your mission because the only titles even available are what you see on TV. Which even then, don't usually amount to much so you're stuck buying in these little stints, waves if I may. And if the one or two games that come out within that time don't appeal to your type of avenues, welp, looks like you're waiting even longer to even have a shot at seeing something for you. Me? Shit, I haven't bought a new game since...Fuck... I bought Modern Warfare 2 for my PC, which in itself didn't quite stand up like the way Call of Duty 4 did. And before that, the only game that I bought was Fallout New Vegas. Before, my collection was littered here and there with smaller, yet still great titles that I fell in love with. Currently, I'm only seeing this teeny stack of big names because frankly, that's all that's out. So heres to the gaming industry which is a shell of its former self, catering to every jerkoff who thinks he's king of the curbstomp and finding itself in a narrower and narrower business. Maybe we'll all get tired of multiplayer shooter after multiplayer shooter and finally get some god damn creativity thrown in the mix, but until then. Someone get me a fucking drink.

PREACH BROTHER.

Totally agreed. I dont mind shooters, but when it comes to (what I've begun to call) Beef Marine shooters, I'll probably check it out for the pure action, but it wont keep me playing forever. Once I beat the campaign and kill a few weeks on one map online, I'm tossing it on the pile and forgetting it ever existed.

Need moar good games.

One word: Valve.

But for the most part, I think that the industry does seem to be slipping into this "whatever sells" slump...I mean, Homefront is an example of a game that sounded great in concept but ended up being a CoD ripoff. Though I think the fact that Portal 2 (Which is a sequel, sure, but it's not an FPS) got to the top of most charts says something.

I think the problem is that games got popular. When technology increased, graphics became more realistic and people thought, "Dude, I can smash my friend's face in with my foot and his blood comes shooting out? SHIT IS SO CASH!"

The big game companies realized that gaming was becoming more and more socially acceptable and decided to cater to what the mass market wanted: shooters. I don't mind shooters, but now I'm just fucking sick of them. I could honestly go the rest of my life and never see another CoD game and be perfectly content.

But like you said, the shittiest thing about the market today is the lack of diversity. No developer wants to make a game that they're not 100% sure won't be a smashing success anymore, since games are so incredibly expensive to make. The market 6 or 7 years ago was fuckin' amazing, and I miss those days. Sadly though I don't see them coming back.

I've grown so disappointed with both the Wii and especially the PSP market as of late.

The Wii is an obvious choice, because compared to the other consoles, it's just not really got much on them in my eyes. I love Nintendo and I love the Wii, but I can honestly say that it's been about 10 months since I touched a Wiimote... and that was to help my dad get Metroid: Other M set up for him to play. The amount of quality titles period is seemingly fading into nonexistence, and for the Wii, it seems like they don't want to maintain their older audience at all.

As for the PSP... I was big into PSP from almost the beginning. My brother and I both got a starter bundle back when they came with a nice strap, pouch, case, and a 32MB memory card... the clunky old black boxes. XD It was a time when I was still really into PS2 and it meshed quite well, even allowing some cross platform playability. Now... the two most recent releases I can name off the top of my head are Birth by Sleep and Dissidia Duodecim. I'm sure there are others, but those are the only two that got even a second glance from me on the shelf. I haven't noticed anything new in about a month at the least.

What happened to Sony's massive marketing campaign for the PSP that they had going last year? They promoted the shit out of Marcus (the little kid) at E3 last year, and it's been months since I've seen him at all. XD

Though I've got to say... and this might be partly because my tastes have changed and partly because I've just got nowhere near as much free time as I did... but I'm fairly content with the games I've got. I play Team Fortress 2 almost every day for at least 30 minutes or so, often upwards of two or three hours. They keep adding new content and there's all sorts of user generated content out there that keeps it fresh for me. I'm actually probably obsessed with it. But aside from that, I've got pokemon and other handheld games in my possession, and if I'm not fragging someone on TF2, I'm content with playing White version. I've got a couple games from Christmas that I haven't even played yet... Red Dead Redemption and Batman: Arkham Asylum. I've heard they're great and they look amazing... but once I let my Live subscription run out I've just kinda... strayed from my XBOX. I use it more often as a DVD player than to play a game, actually.

anyways, it's probably a good thing for me personally that there aren't tons of incredible games coming out all the time like there once was... but for the industry, I sense a sad shift occurring. We can pretty much expect a new Call of Duty game every November, and I don't see them letting Modern Warfare or Black Ops die anytime soon until they milk a few more sequels out before heading to a new military conflict.

Who wants to see Call of Duty: French Revolution?!