I used to be a passionate gamer, and I often find myself nostalgic for the golden era of video games when there were new ideas popping left and right.
Now, it feels like we’re caught between long-delayed triple-A titles and a constant stream of indie platformers. Originality seems to have taken a backseat, with many games regurgitating the same concepts.
What do you think defined the golden era of gaming? Are we currently in a rut, or is there a chance for fresh ideas to emerge again?
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Whenevery you were 10-14
This is the answer. Experience is subjective and what feels best to people is going to be heavily biased by where they were in their lives at the time.
“What was the best era to be aged 10-14 and into video games?” is a subtly different question.
When I was 14 I played Ladder.
So no, not my favourite era for games.
The best moment is now, we’re in a Indie Game Renaissance, indie games that start at nothing and become worldwide household names, pretty much one after another.
Yeah, Triple A is fucked, but the old ways need to die so that the new path can be forged
Now. All those games still exist, and are easier than ever to emulate if you wish. Good new games are coming out, and there’s simply no chance that you’ve exhausted all of the possible good games to play.
Of course if you focus on the highest-budget titles you will see buggy, overpriced delays. Shift your perspective to smaller titles by smaller studios. Bigger doesn’t mean better.
SNES went through a period where it just felt like every game I played was a classic - FF6, Crono Trigger, A Link to The Past, Donkey Kong Country, Super Metroid, Star Fox, Earthbound, etc.
I’ve no doubt a lot of it is nostalgia, but I remember sprinting home from the bus stop after elementary school to rush home and play these games with my brothers. Formative years of my childhood.
I think there are a lot of great games out now, they just tend not to be AAA titles. Those kinds of graphics require a huge amount of manpower, which means a huge amount of investment seeking profit, which means people in business suits calling the shots. Frankly, I think the answer is that games devs need to unionize, both to push back against crunch and to protect their creative freedom. I think that might result in AAA games worth playing.
Whatever you were playing when you were 12.
Do flash games count?
Absolutely. Flash games count.
I was playing a lot of games from Kongregate and armorgames regularly till 2018 or sometime when end of Flash support was announced. I got the swf files for most of the games I played through flashpoint and flash museum. I am still searching for a game called Book of treasures though.
Same as the golden era for SNL. No you don’t understand when I was a teenager it was way better than now.
Right now, since we pretty much can still play any of the old games we would like. There are enough great games out there to last anyone multiple lifetimes.
As others have said, I too think the golden era of video games is now. Games are getting better and better and there has never been a bigger selection of games to play than right now. There have never been as many people enjoying video games than right now. That being said, I don’t play as much as I used to, but that’s mostly because I’ve been getting older and working in video games for almost 20 years I’ve been a bit overexposed to the medium.
I’d say cuein up the joystick from an atari 2600 and settle in for a day of Pitfall was fairly golden for me…
Which is why now is the best time. I can turn on my 2600 right now and play. Or emulate every atari game ever made on a $20 computer (i prefer real hardware though)
I have 2600/7800/nes/SNES/n64/ps1/ps2/Dreamcast/360/switch and PC. There’s few games I can’t play.
Now in 20 years a lot of those systems will be unfixable and rare. So I’d say we are in the golden age now, start playing!!
I dont know where youre looking for games but I have so many games with absolutely unique gameplay or artstyle on my wishlist that I could probably fill a lifetime and it keeps growing.
PS2
Are we currently in a rut, or is there a chance for fresh ideas to emerge again?
Yes, and the problem is low standards. AAA games have resources, but no creativity. Indie games have creativity but no resources.
Back in the PS2 era, AAA games had resources and creators were making decisions instead of the people who went to business school.
PS2 generation because it was the last generation where your games were guaranteed to work without a web connection and they were generally shipped as finished products.
The PS3 generation started the current trend of still needing a web connection even for a physical copy and IIRC it also started the trend of shipping games unfinished and patching them later, and both trends went off the deep end with the PS4 generation where most of the games are broken at launch and patched later, and the ‘physical copies’ are little more than glorified license keys for games you gotta download anyways, or in more extreme cases, eg. GT7 on the PS5, need a web connection to even boot the game.
Like, you can dust off your PS2/GC/OG Xbox, stick a game disc in, and it’ll play just like it were new, but that’s not as guaranteed with the PS3/XB360 and good luck with the PS4/XB1 and newer.
That said, if you’re integrating a PS2-generation and older console into a modern AV stack, you’re going to want a hardware upscaler such as an OSSC, RetroTink, or Framemeister.
And we’re definitely in a rut and the only way out is a Second Video Game Crash.
Deep respect to Microsoft for the Xbox 360 Arcade. That SKU forced damn near every game to work without a hard drive. I think even GTA V could run off a USB stick.
But hoo boy did they fuck that up with the Xbox One launch. And Sony capitalized.
I can’t say I can think of one. I mean sure there is nostalgia but can’t say games are getting worse you just can’t expect something great all the time or even every year. I mean some games I spent the most time on is like oregon trail, avatar, shadow run genesis edition, ff10, the cryptic mmos, and lately cyberpunk and elden ring and the harry potter one. I liked the mmos but they were to much of a sink. would love for them to be converted to some sort of online/offline thing were I might be able to enjoy it again.
I will say console gaming ended its good era when “avatars” and online only became a thing. Killed it for me. So any console after 360 to me is worthless (switch is ok ish)
