New Video Game Releases- Are We Stuck in a Rut?

When Pong was created in 1972, the creators of the game had no idea what this simple yet addictive video game would create. For the past 40 years, the phenomenon which is gaming has evolved and grown from two stick paddles and a ball to a multi-billion dollar industry. We have seen the rise and fall of arcades, numerous consoles and also of game series. Many great names have been made in the gaming world both by producing games as well as starring in them. Many days and even weeks have been consumed up without notice on trying to complete a game. Players become so engrossed in a game that nothing else seems important. But, now in 2012, has game ideas gone as far as they could go? I have been thinking about this for a while and it seems as though we have had every sort of game imaginable and in today’s market, the same games are being released without much imagination or a so-called “X-Factor” which makes it stand out from the crowd. What is left for gaming? We have been to then ends of the universe fighting aliens and we are even able to learn guitar on games. But what has caused this over-flooding of poor quality games or the lack of genius behind some of the new titles which has merely seen rebranding or sequels. I promise there will not be a sequel to this blog… Well if I make enough money there may be.

 Activision and Infinity Ward broke, almost, every record within Guinness’ little book last November with the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. This was the third game in which Activision have released under the Modern Warfare title and was always bound to break records. As history suggests, Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2 at the time of each games release, broke records of sales figures so the success of the third MW game was inevitable. One of the successes of this franchise though is that basically, the gameplay has never changed since the unique COD 4. In essence, the COD franchise began with the classic World War 2 setting and gameplay. This continued onto COD 2 and 3 but the evolution which was created for COD 4, was incomparable to gameplay which had been featured before. The online modes were great and could keep you entertained for hours on end. But now I feel, as do millions of others, feels that the COD franchise has been bogged down with the same recipe ever since COD 4 was released. World at War, MW2, Black Ops and now MW3 have all had the same gameplay which made Activision’s 2007 release such a smash hit. No advancements on the gameplay, not building on the gameplay which created a whole new fad of the FPS genre. Of course the game still sells very well but I know many have been put off by the games lack of variety and poor community.

 Don’t get me wrong, it is not only COD that suffers from this sequel, money grabbing concept. Games such as Assassin’s Creed, Need for Speed and even games like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat who bring out edition after edition after edition with extra characters added in each time. The problem I see with it is where is the innovation? Where is the inspiration which made these original games great? Have developers become so engrossed in getting money that it is willing to forget its loyal fans that made them the big name which they are today? As soon as a game seems to do well after 1 or 2 games, the company seems to stick with the formula and maintain the same old gameplay. I would go as far to say that I am not a fan of any of these games anymore. The lack of variety and difference in gameplay shows a lack of ideas in the gaming market. This is why the market is getting bogged down with the same old games being produced year after year.

 Not all yearly releases are a bad idea in my eyes however. Sports games such as Fifa 12, NBA 2K12 and Madden 12 all require yearly updates for squads and rosters. Not only this, but the gameplay does change every year from Fifa’s contact engine to the tactical defending and then the online features which all of these games feature. These games to require yearly releases as well as new features as that’s what makes them feel so fresh.

This lack of evolution in gameplay in this current generation may also be due to overcrowding of not only same games, but also the same genre of games, most notably the first person shooter genre. Again, Call of Duty created the benchmark into what became the phenomenon for console gaming on the current generation. The market is now filled with every type of FPS you can think of. WW2, Cold War, near futuristic wars and also wars which take place in space and anywhere imaginable. These days there are so many titles which hope to gain customers who will play their product, as well as COD. Games over the past 12 months such as Brink, Homefront, Crysis 2, Operation Flashpoint, Warhammer 40000: Space Marine, Rage and Bodycount to name but a few all follow the COD formula and all failed to some extent in the FPS category. Brink was hailed as the next big thing with innovative gameplay and constant action but this failed to impress both critics and the public. Crysis 2 is a bit different however, the gameplay was well accepted but the online modes were compared too much to that of COD and were seen as being too similar. Where is the “X Factor”? Sure we all like games with guns in them as it is exciting but far too many average shooters in not good for anyone.

 Another point for this lack of ideas could be pinpointed to what we, the fans, want. For years we have been crying out for this game or that game to be re-released for this current generation and now we have… HD COLLECTIONS!

 Over the past 2 years we have seen the releases of many classic games in HD format so that we can try to feel the same excitement we felt when the HD game in question was originally released. Over the past 12 months, we have seen the likes of Resident Evil 4 & Code Veronica, Silent Hill 2 & 3, Metal Gear Solid 2, 3 & Peace Walker, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Devil May Cry 1, 2 & 3, Ico and Shadow of Colossus all being re-released in HD for the 360 or PS3. With the work and effort that is required to polish an old game up to HD standards, surely that time could be used to brainstorm a new and fresh idea and even begin development of it. Of course games developers would be nowhere without the fans but as well as SOME HD Collections, most of all we want to see new games being released, not carbon copies.

 More recently Xbox fans have been upset with the company due to the lack of exclusives coming to Microsoft’s console. Playstation seems to have much more of a varied exclusives list than Xbox which again is a major downfall of the current games market. Halo, like COD seems to be getting over produced and a new game is released often. Once a year perhaps and with the announcement of Halo 4, 5 and 6, we can only hope that the Halo series can concentrate on becoming the frontier of Microsoft’s console.

 So please Game developers of the world, take your time with these games in which we the public dedicate many hours, days or years to your products. We need to be provided with new and fresh games. I don’t want to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 26 which still features N00b Tubing, Need for Speed: The Running out of Ideas or Assassins Creed: Ezio’s Great, Great, Great Grandson. With all of the hype on the next generation of Console gaming, I feel that we should give this generation the send-off it deserves… Although the next generation has yet to be announced.

@SimonMarshall6