Decline in quality of video games in the mid/late 2000s

[cole phelps]

Why is it that 2000-2005 games carried on the themes, charm, and color of the 90s, yet 2006-2009 almost immediately switched to DLC, microtransactions, "gritty realism", reboots up the ass , grey/brown color palettes, floaty controls, etc.?

For example, compare the game Sonic Heroes (2004) to Sonic 06:



What happened? Who let this happen?

 

[basketball reasons]

Industry tried really hard to make the jump from ps2/xbox/gc to the ps3/360 feel as "next gen" as possible. That materialized as a limited color palette and trying to make everything feel as "real" as possible. Gears was the poster child of this and it was hugely influential on the entire generation. The microtransations and dlc was just a result of that gen being the first to really put an emphasis on online connectivity. Expansions and trying to ring as much money out of the consumer always existed, the new technology and increased internet speeds made it easier to get to that money.

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

Games today are better than they have ever been.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

Oh look, another one of these threads

 

[Ciggavelli]

Games today are better than they have ever been.

For real. Great graphics, stories, and realism. 2015 was a great year, and 2016 looks to be too

 

[Khalil's_Black_Excellence]

Everyone always shytting on dlc and patches and whatnot, but fail to realize the greater good of them. It used to be a time when a game was pretty much totally done after you beat it and you'd have to wait to a sequel dropped eons later to get some new experience out it. Now with proper DLC done correctly, games can expand much longer than that, getting you more of the experience for technically less as well, as DLC is less expensive than a whole new game and you get the new experiences sooner. And back in the day, if a game was glitchy as fukk or broken in parts, you just had to deal with it. Least now, it can be fixed for free over time.

Also, for all the naysayers that think that gaming quality has decline, how bout ya'll look outside of ya'll comfort zones a bit, cuz there's multitudes of new experiences out there from all fronts, from aesthetics, gameplay, building upon old shyt with new shyt and hybrids, etc. Stop looking at only alleged AAA-game releases as being your only source of a good game.

 

[Fatboi1]

DLC is the best thing ever in some respects.

Patches improve a game and add to it.

Newer games are better than ever. We're just currently in the process of filtering out crap from the good whereas yesterday's games we've already forgotten about all the crap and what not.

 

[KravenMorehead™]

It's the graphical slip that trips me out. Every system showcases these FMVs and demo the graphical capability of the system, and come launch time there's some eye-popping tricks, then some games years after that have graphics that are less than... it's weird. Like the new King of Fighters for example...

 

[AB Ziggy]

Why is it that 2000-2005 games carried on the themes, charm, and color of the 90s, yet 2006-2009 almost immediately switched to DLC, microtransactions, "gritty realism", reboots up the ass , grey/brown color palettes, floaty controls, etc.?

For example, compare the game Sonic Heroes (2004) to Sonic 06:



What happened? Who let this happen?

You compare Sonic Heroes of ALL games to Sonic 06. Heroes was garbage too.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

It's the graphical slip that trips me out. Every system showcases these FMVs and demo the graphical capability of the system, and come launch time there's some eye-popping tricks, then some games years after that have graphics that are less than... it's weird. Like the new King of Fighters for example...

There's absolutely no way you can look at current gen games and say they aren't a significant upgrade graphically.

Do you own a ps4/X11? What games have you played?

 

[Animal House]

Games are going strong. I have just about every 360 game thanks to modding since your speaking on past 05. Too much piff on there that's just a small example, ps3, ps4, Wii ect

 

[Prince Luchini]

The thing I miss most about that era was the creativity the dreamcast had hella quirky and unique games that I feel like died after the ps2. Of course there are pros and cons because there were a lot of shytty games back then.

But nowadays everything is either a big boring openworld that takes for ever to beat, or dark souls wannabe,or generic gray/brown shooter. Of course you have a few indie games or companies that try to break the mold but I just wish the AAA market would get more diverse but that's just me.

 

[llt23]

Corporatism brehs. Games cost way more money to make in 2016 than 1999. Companies are less likely to take risks and go for the sure thing. Thats why its a ton of sequels, no new IPs, and when there are new titles, they are clones of other established franchises. Looking at Capcom, they b*stardized Resident Evil and made it some bullshyt to make it more casual. They didnt release one Street Fighter in like 8-9 years because the fighting game market they thought was too niche, until SF4 saved their ass. The devs of SF4 had to beg Capcom to let 'em put it out. SNK went into pachinko gambling machines cause they thought making games wasnt worth the risk. KOFXIII for example cost a shyt load to make but didnt give them returns like that. Not until they dropped their whole line up of games on PC did they figure out people will give them money. Now they cut their pachinko division completely. But because they were worried about the risk they didnt do shyt in gaming for a minute. Were talking about companies we grew up on, that made piff regularly with small budgets and small teams. But its 2016 now.

And you have to talk about companies like that. The EA's and Activisions will continue to shyt out bullshyt cause they got mad resources, but the great developers we grew up on a lot of the time they are worried about going bankrupt because of the costs and risk/reward.

Im not saying I dont enjoy gaming anymore, but its a different industry, its big as fukk now.

 

[Camile.Bidan]

Why is it that 2000-2005 games carried on the themes, charm, and color of the 90s, yet 2006-2009 almost immediately switched to DLC, microtransactions, "gritty realism", reboots up the ass , grey/brown color palettes, floaty controls, etc.?

For example, compare the game Sonic Heroes (2004) to Sonic 06:



What happened? Who let this happen?

I have been playing games since 1988 when I was 7 years old.

The 2006-2012 era is probably the best and most memorable in terms of gaming that I have played. I know people like to hate on COD, but it was really playing with friends or playing multiplayer. Sure, PC games did it earlier, but having to play with just normal people and not just PC nerds was very different. Everyone was playing, even old friends from the hood who didn't know anything about computers. When I played gears of war 1 on Xbox live for the first time, it was a game changing exoerience.

In terms of single player, fallout 3 and mass effect were revolutionary games in my mind. Then you had bioshock, batman arkham series, skyrim, dark souls, farcry 3.. It was a great time.

Only more memeroble gaming period for me was the 90-96 PC gaming experience.


For me the last 10 years was the best period in gaming ever. I really disliked the 2000 to 2005 era. I sold my PS2 after 1.5 years, and I didn't play consoles again until gears of war dropped.

 

[KravenMorehead™]

There's absolutely no way you can look at current gen games and say they aren't a significant upgrade graphically.

Do you own a ps4/X11? What games have you played?

no i'm saying that every console jump, the graphics are better of course. But between midway to the final years of each console, the graphics become less than they were at launch