General and Gaming => General => Topic started by: blipcs76 on July 25, 2013, 10:59:43 am
Title: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: blipcs76 on July 25, 2013, 10:59:43 am
There seems to be one main thing that annoys me from each generation of gaming.
2600/InTV Shovelware. Horrible games that flooded the market and brought around the video game crash.
NES/SMS Overly ambitious graphics. The games that knew the limitations of the hardware and worked within the limitations of the hardware visually stand up the best today, like Mega Man, Mario, Metal Storm, etc. Stuff that tried to do too much, like Metal Gear, often look muddy and awful by comparison.
SNES/GEN "Every direction" sidescrollers. In the NES generation, most sidescrollers followed a linear path even when it scrolled up or down. In the 16 bit era, the map wasn't locked to one direction, and was instead one giant 'field'; we ended up with games that became a nightmare to traverse because everything looked the same and you had little clue to which direction was right. Stuff like Aero the Acrobat and similar platformers fell victim to this flaw.
PS1/SAT/N64 Bad 3D. This generation transitioned to 3D gaming, often because they felt they had to. Many 3D games do not hold up well at all simply because they tried to shoehorn 2D style platforming into 3D, usually with poor results. 2D games from this era easily hold up the best today, like Castlevania SOTN or even pseudo 3D games like Einhander or Tomba.
PS2/XB/GC Stealth. It seems that many games seemed to force stealth missions into them. It works great in games that are centered around stealth, but felt awkward and out-of-place in action games.
PS3/360/Wii Weak single-player campaigns. FPS games are most guilty of this, where the single player campaign suffers or almost seems like an afterthought in games that push online modes. Stuff like Bioshock from this gen seemed like a breath of fresh air because they made the game about the single-person experience, rather than tacking a single player mode onto an online-focused game.
What is your biggest pet peeve of each generation?
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: turf on July 25, 2013, 12:14:54 pm
2600/InTV - There is so much trash on this system. It's really hard to find something you would even consider a game.
NES/SMS - Like was said before, trying to do too much. Super Mario games are awesome, because it was gameplay over complexity. Make it fun. Then, you can make it pretty.
SNES/GEN - I don't really have a big gripe here. I guess if I played more games, I would find something.
PS1/SAT/N64 - Everyone here agrees that early 3D sucks. Right?
PS2/XB/GC - It did seem like there were a ton of Metal Gear Solid ripoffs, didn't there? I didn't notice it until now.
PS3/360/Wii - Early on in this cycle there were a lot of escort missions in games. And not the fun kind of escorts either. To hell with stupid NPCs that can't stay alive without my help. Escort missions have to be my least favorite game element.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: haloofthesun on July 25, 2013, 12:22:03 pm
I agree with everything everyone else has said. The only thing I would add:
PS3/360/Wii: Microtransactions, DLC in general (though some games warrant it and have amazing DLC, like Borderlands, most games just make it as a quick cash-in and it isn't worth the price), quick-time events (although that one could be attributed to the generation before, but it became heavily prominent here).
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: burningdoom on July 25, 2013, 04:48:06 pm
-1st Generation - Can't really say, I haven't played any of it except for the Pong-clone console I have.
-2nd Generation - Games were too simplistic for my tastes, for the most part. And I'm not a big fan of joysticks; give me a D-pad over any joystick (or thumbstick for that matter, but I don't dislike thumbsticks).
-3rd Generation - Blowing into freaking cartridges and playing with them until they worked (NES, I'm looking at you). And awesome looking artwork that tricked my kid self into buying terrible games (there was no internet back then to research your purchases, first).
-4th Generation - Not much I can complain about here. Except I wish there were a bit more action-RPGs available than there were. And I wish the Neo Geo AES wasn't so dang expensive.
-5th Generation - The N64's controller, and bad camera angles.
-6th Generation - Nothing to complain about here.
-7th Generation - Lots to complain about here:
1. Nickel and diming people on ridiculous DLC. 2. Paying for online multiplayer when you've already paid for the console, the game, and already pay for internet service. 3. Ridiculous prices on consoles. 4. Ridiculous prices on controllers. 5. Games holding you're hand far too much. 6. Regenerating health in EVERYTHING!
-8th Generation - It's too early to complain about anything. I have a wait and see attitude here.
BTW, no, I don't agree that early 3D sucks. Some of the best games of all time are on the PS1. And I didn't think the classic gamers here worried too much about graphics, as long as the gameplay was good. But I guess I assumed wrong.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: haloofthesun on July 25, 2013, 06:45:42 pm
I don't really care very much about graphics, but that doesn't mean that early 3D didn't look awful.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: htimreimer on July 25, 2013, 08:02:49 pm
7th gen:
over reliance on focus testing trying to squeeze as much money out of people with DLC graphics looking like a sewer exploded if a game doesn't have a story, it wont be published and even is dose it will not be a "AAA game" and will not get much marketing the gaming industry idea that if they keep on throwing money at a game, it will some how be good too much hand holding in games regenerating health
if stuff like this continues in the 8th we will see another crash
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: elraiser on July 25, 2013, 08:52:35 pm
I like each generation, the only gruge i have is with this one.
Tired to be foreced to pay for DLCs to have a full games. What are we gonna do when this generation is over and it will not be possibvle to download what we paid for?
I still enjoy my old 2600 games which are simple but complete ;)
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: stethebubble on July 25, 2013, 10:16:37 pm
i hate the DLC. sure some games should have it but not unless the game is doing good and people demand it. saints row 4 DLC is already announced. the game is not out yet. why was this not in the game. i think DLC should be free.
having to pay to play online. this is dumb.
the adverts everywhere on the home pages.
the game publishers greed. this really upsets me. adding stuff like pre-order bonuses and online codes. if they made a truely amazing game then people wouldnt trade it in as much and you would get more people buying the game new.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: sin2beta on July 25, 2013, 10:55:24 pm
I decided to post this before I read the others so not to color my view. So, sorry if I missed the point.
Pong Consoles - Too many!! There should have been Sears Pong. That sentence ends there.
NES/SMS - Nintendo's hold on third party developers.
SNES/Genesis - Lack of light gun games compared to 8-bit systems. Plus, the light guns had to look like bazookas.
PSX/Saturn/N64 - Went to 3D too early. Plus, there was some strange need to make everything 3D.
Dreamcast/PS2/XBox/NGC - The fact that memory cards did not stay like VMUs. May sound fanboyish. But honestly, I love the VMUs.
360/PS3/Wii - The fact that the 360 and PS3 are the same freakin' console with different controllers. I miss having consoles with personalities.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: soera on July 25, 2013, 11:02:21 pm
Since its been mentioned, I think this generation's habit of announcing DLC (for money) before the game has even been released is the biggest bunch of shit period.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: turf on July 25, 2013, 11:49:52 pm
Since its been mentioned, I think this generation's habit of announcing DLC (for money) before the game has even been released is the biggest bunch of shit period.
We really need that Faceworld "Like" button.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: thomascozine on July 26, 2013, 12:07:44 am
2600/InTV Shit ton of PONG clones. Games are classics but very very short. There's only so much replay value.
NES/SMS Nintendo's censorship.
SNES/GEN The start of the whole fanboy wars of "Genesis does what Ninten-don't." etc... It's one thing to have a brand loyalty. It's another to be a non-paid spokesperson for some corporation selling you things.
PS1/SAT/N64 It's been said before, but early polygonal games just look terrible. And most don't control well today either.
PS2/XB/GC Can't think of much of an issue I had with this generation. Just more fanboy wars I guess?
PS3/360/Wii DLC. By that I mean stuff that was cut from a game's development to be later sold as DLC. DLC itself is fine. I like the idea of extending a games life. But what I can't stand is when we get content that was originally meant to be sold with the full game to be parted out to us later. Also, on-disc DLC. If it's on the disc I paid for it already.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: pacpix on July 26, 2013, 01:23:19 am
2600/InTV Shovelware. Horrible games that flooded the market and brought around the video game crash.
I actually kind of like the early crappy 2600 games. I find it interesting how many different weird ideas that were tried like Lost Luggage, 3D Tic-Tac-Toe, and Sneak n Peek
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: blipcs76 on July 26, 2013, 10:27:14 am
if stuff like this continues in the 8th we will see another crash
If anything leads to another crash, it's going to be the fact that game budgets are getting bigger and bigger, thus publishers are less likely to try something creative. We've been seeing games become more and more 'safe' this past generation and there's less things to differentiate one game from another. Big franchises will be like COD, just cranking out yearly sequels to the point where people just stop caring anymore.
Devs and publishers seem to be dropping left and right recently (THQ, Atari, Atlus, etc.), so we're heading for a future where everything is going to be made by EA, Activision and Ubisoft.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: blipcs76 on July 26, 2013, 10:29:23 am
PSX/Saturn/N64 - Went to 3D too early. Plus, there was some strange need to make everything 3D.
I blame Sony for that. They forced 3D on us because they wanted their system to seem far more advanced than the 2D games from the previous generations, so they made it really hard to get 2D games published on the PSX. Ironically, the 2D games on that system are the ones that look/play the best today.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: soera on July 26, 2013, 10:33:52 am
I think the gimmicks are getting old. This generation was the motion control. I assumed it would be a couple of games but basically every game on the Wii and then Sony/Microshaft jumped on the boat with move/kinect.
Gamers want ... games. Most gamers dont want to stand up and dance.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: htimreimer on July 26, 2013, 10:49:03 am
if stuff like this continues in the 8th we will see another crash
If anything leads to another crash, it's going to be the fact that game budgets are getting bigger and bigger, thus publishers are less likely to try something creative. We've been seeing games become more and more 'safe' this past generation and there's less things to differentiate one game from another. Big franchises will be like COD, just cranking out yearly sequels to the point where people just stop caring anymore.
Devs and publishers seem to be dropping left and right recently (THQ, Atari, Atlus, etc.), so we're heading for a future where everything is going to be made by EA, Activision and Ubisoft.
and what you said there is just one of the many things that is making another crash in the industry more of a reality also is just me or is this gaming on smartphones and smartphones platforms sounding more and more like this generations pong console
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: haloofthesun on July 26, 2013, 12:47:09 pm
if stuff like this continues in the 8th we will see another crash
If anything leads to another crash, it's going to be the fact that game budgets are getting bigger and bigger, thus publishers are less likely to try something creative. We've been seeing games become more and more 'safe' this past generation and there's less things to differentiate one game from another. Big franchises will be like COD, just cranking out yearly sequels to the point where people just stop caring anymore.
Devs and publishers seem to be dropping left and right recently (THQ, Atari, Atlus, etc.), so we're heading for a future where everything is going to be made by EA, Activision and Ubisoft.
Also games with huge budgets are becoming no longer profitable. It's silly when a game sells millions of copies but is considered a failure by the publisher because they spent so much money on it that it's impossible for them to make any money back. Publishers like EA are a HUGE reason that 7th and 8th generation has been increasingly bad.
(And just to clear up, Atlus didn't really go under like the others, their parent company did. They will be bought on Sunday)
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: burningdoom on July 26, 2013, 02:57:35 pm
if stuff like this continues in the 8th we will see another crash
If anything leads to another crash, it's going to be the fact that game budgets are getting bigger and bigger, thus publishers are less likely to try something creative. We've been seeing games become more and more 'safe' this past generation and there's less things to differentiate one game from another. Big franchises will be like COD, just cranking out yearly sequels to the point where people just stop caring anymore.
Devs and publishers seem to be dropping left and right recently (THQ, Atari, Atlus, etc.), so we're heading for a future where everything is going to be made by EA, Activision and Ubisoft.
Nah. We gaming collectors may not be exactly happy with the way the gaming industry is going. But your typtical "bro" gamer and casual gamers will give the industry plenty of their money to keep it afloat and heading in a direction we don't like.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: blipcs76 on July 26, 2013, 02:57:52 pm
Really, if you sell over 3 million copies of your game and it's considered a failure, your game cost way too much to make.
The game industry needs to do what the film industry needs to do with M Night Shalyaman. Strip away the big budgets and make them focus on the core of the product first and add visual bells and whistles later, if the product even needs them.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: soera on July 26, 2013, 04:09:01 pm
(And just to clear up, Atlus didn't really go under like the others, their parent company did. They will be bought on Sunday)
Wonder who is going to pick it up. I think if Nintendo themselves get it, that would certainly help sell their systems with exclusive games. As long as they dont censor them all.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: haloofthesun on July 26, 2013, 11:22:29 pm
Given that Nintendo donated money to Atlus' parent company recently and the very good relationship they have, and the fact that Etrian Odyssey: Millennium Girl and SMT X Fire Emblem are both being released in the "near" future, and the fact that Atlus says that them being sold isn't going to do anything to keep those games being made and being released as Nintendo exclusives, it seems Nintendo is far and away the most likely buyer. Other than that it will probably be a third party company. A lot of people are saying they think it will be Sony, but that seems like more wishful thinking than anything.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: insektmute on July 27, 2013, 03:35:55 pm
Looking back, I don't have any huge, lingering gripes about past generations, other than disliking the N64 controller so much that it put me off Nintendo entirely for several years.
As for the current gen... - Overreliance on stupid gimmicks. - The non-stop circle-jerk over innovation. - So-called "art games" and everyone associated with them. - Launch DLC, overpriced DLC, excessive amounts of DLC, pre-order exclusive DLC... you get the idea. - $59.99+ for new games... and they wonder why sales aren't higher during those crucial opening weeks??? - Oversaturation of the market. The "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" approach is doing lasting damage. - PSN/XBLA-only games, especially in cases where Asia and Japan *did* receive a physical release. - Microsoft's nickel and diming the living shit out of people, and massively overcharging for things like hard drive upgrades and USB ethernet adapters. - Blind brand allegiance. As if Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo give a fuck about your adoration? - Yearly sequels. I'd rather drop a series entirely than be treated like an ATM by corporate goons.
Unfortunately, I suspect that as time goes on, the douchebros and corporate execs have killed all that was once good. This coming gen looks good, but Microsoft in particular gave us a glimpse of things to come, and I am not optimistic about what I saw.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: soera on July 27, 2013, 05:11:53 pm
- So-called "art games" and everyone associated with them.
Its about time someone else mentions this. I thought I was the only person alive who hated crap like Journey and Flower.
You should've heard my ranting when I saw a video awhile back with Jason Rohrer and John Romero. I still can't figure out what the fuck a guy who had never even shipped a game up to that point (and arguably still hasn't) was doing next to an industry legend.
I have a similar reaction when I see people talking smack about someone like Keiji Inafune, then turning around to praise some "art" game that doesn't even qualify as a game.
PS: I know Romero's a contentious figure in some circles, but you cannot dismiss the mountain of great contributions he's made to the industry, regardless of when they were made. Anyone interested in shooters, and 3D graphics in general, owes a massive debt of gratitude to Romero and Carmack. This is not a matter of opinion.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: disgaeniac on July 28, 2013, 09:48:37 am
Can't think of much that hasn't been said already...
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: theflea on July 29, 2013, 01:29:48 pm
I'm gonna look at this as a collector/gamer of today on most of these.
Generation 1 - To many pong systems, while i collect pong units I don't go crazy finding every version just because most of them don't age well and have issues working today.
Generation 2 - While yes there's a ton of crappy games for this generation, My biggest peeve back in the day and today was the Atari 5200 Controllers breaking or not working. I loved my 5200 back in the day and it frustrated me how the controllers never worked.
Generation 3 - Biggest peeve is how crazy NES prices have gone up in the last couple years. And how anyone thinks the NES and ALL it's games are worth tons of money.
Generation 4 - While SNES is now starting to have the same issue that NES has with over pricing, my biggest peeve is this generation gave birth to the fanboy. Where people argued that SNES or Genesis was better. And after this every generation had obnoxious fanboys. Before this how offen did you hear people argue about the Atari vs. Intellivision? or NES vs. the SMS?
Generation 5 - The birth of unreliable game systems, The Playstation was great, but I had to replace it three times when it was out. I even remember having to turn it upside down to get it to play. lol It seems after this generation we gamers have to repair or replace our systems if you use it a lot. And yet my original Atari, NES, SNES, Genesis all still work great. This issue still goes on today, Xbox 360 anyone? Also as a side note, this generations ugly early polygon graphics don't age well when playing them today.
Generation 6 - The only peeve I can think off for this generation is how Sega was pretty much bullied out of the console market out by Microsoft, I'm not a fanboy of Sega but I do miss Sega's Consoles. This was also the birth of online gaming and dealing with idiots online.
Generation 7 - Oh boy where to start. lol. While I can pick several peeves of todays Generation I'll stick with the one that I think most of us hate the most. Game companies having locked content that's on the disc that you payed $60 for and have to spend more money to unlock. Its one thing if you could open it for free If you worked at playing the game, beating it in every mode to open it and if your lazy and want it now to pay a fee to open it, ya go for it. It basically tells me they finish the game then the publisher walks in and says "lets see, let make em pay for this, this and this. and now we get an extra $30 for each game sold. Another Peeve for me is how Nintendo Wii turned into a gimmicky kids system.
Generation 8 - Hard to say with PS4 and XBone still to come out, But it seems that Game companies are trying to so hard to make games have so many restrictions where If your not online you can't play the game. The Ouya is trying this with many of it's games and the system pretty much a fail at launch. XBone tried this and they got so much flack for us that they had to change it (thank god) But it doesn't mean down the road they won't change it on us. I know I'm going to investigate every system update before excepting it. If DMR becomes the future, Then I'm not going to be a part of that Generation.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: burningdoom on July 29, 2013, 07:32:42 pm
Generation 4 - While SNES is now starting to have the same issue that NES has with over pricing, my biggest peeve is this generation gave birth to the fanboy. Where people argued that SNES or Genesis was better. And after this every generation had obnoxious fanboys. Before this how offen did you hear people argue about the Atari vs. Intellivision? or NES vs. the SMS?
Generation 6 - The only peeve I can think off for this generation is how Sega was pretty much bullied out of the console market out by Microsoft, I'm not a fanboy of Sega but I do miss Sega's Consoles. This was also the birth of online gaming and dealing with idiots online.
Yeah, people argued what was better. The companies perpetuated it then, just like they do now, too. Intellivision would have ads showing how much better their graphics were. Atari would have ads boasting about how large their game library was in comparison. And the gamers had their own opinions about it, as well. The NES/Master System/7800 generation, not so much, because Nintendo was the CLEAR leader in that generation.
As for Sega being "bullied" out of the console market...no such thing happened. Sega shot themselves in the foot. They lost consumer confidence before the Dreamcast, and they overspent. I agree that it sucks they aren't in race anymore, but Microsoft didn't do anything to cause that.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: insektmute on July 29, 2013, 10:20:29 pm
I just remembered one BIG pet peeve... even if it will probably get me labelled a conspiracy theorist.
The loss of confidence among Japanese developers.
I'm inclined to place most of the blame for this on American gaming sites, particularly since a lot of gamers (and especially newer gamers) tend to parrot what these sites promote. I remember seeing signs of anti-Japanese sentiment creep up toward the latter half of the last generation, with games like God Hand being horribly misinterpreted and misrepresented, but it's only magnified since the start of this gen.
Part of it stems from the open opportunity presented, in that every time a new generation rolls around, the first wave of games is always the among the worst. Graphics are a bit rough, mechanics are a bit rough because developers were focused on just getting shit to work at all and under a tight deadline, and so on. Since Japanese studios typically have less money to throw around, it often takes longer for them to hit their stride. Others, like Atlus, take over a year to really find a comfortable point, as they're still transitioning from their release schedule of stuff for the previous systems.
As US studios hit that stride much earlier, the American media seized on the Japanese. JRPGs were all suddenly not "fresh" enough and were almost guaranteed to hit around a 5-6.5 review score, shmups were suddenly "dated" and "too easy" because they weren't all made by Treasure, and the rare oddity like Dead Rising was considered a fluke of sorts.
That pessimism eventually translated to poor sales figures, and suddenly everyone - including Japanese publishers and developers - decided that the whole industry over there was dead in the water. It suddenly stopped being OK to make Japanese-style games, and it became some kind of ridiculous mandate that if a Japanese game is ever going to succeed, it has to appeal to Western tastes... nevermind that not so long ago, games like Final Fantasy VII and Persona 3 appealed just fine to "Western tastes." So studios started farming work out to non-Japanese studios, and - surprise! - the results were often far worse than anyone anticipated (and we all have examples of this, I'm sure), which just further reinforced the image that Japanese studios are clueless and have nothing to offer.
I'm not saying that the JP games out this gen are the best ever, and there are obviously exceptions (Dark Souls, Catherine, etc) but there is a massive disparity between how Western and Eastern games are being scored, marketed, and distributed, and it's fucked up when pretty damn enjoyable JP games are getting marked at a 5 for not being "innovative" or flashy enough, even though most of us could likely point to dozens of US-developed games that are horribly half-assed and unoriginal, yet continue to garner at least an 8.0, if not higher.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: redblaze57 on July 29, 2013, 10:23:31 pm
here's one that can technically apply to any generation... Region-Locking
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: stethebubble on July 29, 2013, 10:25:24 pm
here's one that can technically apply to any generation... Region-Locking
alot of the time the issue is the TV. the game would have to be in both PAL and NTSC. (or the TV. i just found out my new TV is able to play both)
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: haloofthesun on July 30, 2013, 01:11:21 am
Another big issue I have with this current gen, and also somewhat with last gen: video game consoles being video game consoles + internet browsers + blu-ray players + social networking hubs + etc.... That stuff is nice and all but I kinda just prefer that my consoles just play games. I have a computer to use the internet, I don't need to awkwardly do it with a controller or tell people on Facebook I just got an achievement/trophy. Not to mention that all these extra features drive up the cost of the consoles.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: blipcs76 on July 30, 2013, 02:00:11 pm
Another big issue I have with this current gen, and also somewhat with last gen: video game consoles being video game consoles + internet browsers + blu-ray players + social networking hubs + etc.... That stuff is nice and all but I kinda just prefer that my consoles just play games. I have a computer to use the internet, I don't need to awkwardly do it with a controller or tell people on Facebook I just got an achievement/trophy. Not to mention that all these extra features drive up the cost of the consoles.
Good point. Everyone wants to 'own the living room', so they're trying to make their game console into an all-in-one entertainment device. And some gamers even fall into this trap -- look how often Nintendo was criticized for leaving DVD playback out of the GC/Wii. Honestly, how often does someone watch a DVD on their XBox360 anyway? PS2/PS3 is a little different, considering they both released early in DVD/blu-ray cycles and were cheap and reliable option for those new formats.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: haloofthesun on July 30, 2013, 02:18:07 pm
I do use my PS3 to watch DVDs and Blu-Ray and that's because it was a cheap alternative to a Blu-Ray player, and (obviously) I like video games, but it just gets ridiculous. Who cares if a console now can't play DVDs? The Wii U can't, but really, anyone interested in a Wii U probably has at least one other device that can already play DVDs anyway. Adding that functionality would add to the cost of a console where Nintendo is already losing money per sale, so I don't understand when people use the lack of that feature as a criticism.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: darko on July 30, 2013, 02:33:43 pm
I do use my PS3 to watch DVDs and Blu-Ray and that's because it was a cheap alternative to a Blu-Ray player, and (obviously) I like video games, but it just gets ridiculous. Who cares if a console now can't play DVDs? The Wii U can't, but really, anyone interested in a Wii U probably has at least one other device that can already play DVDs anyway. Adding that functionality would add to the cost of a console where Nintendo is already losing money per sale, so I don't understand when people use the lack of that feature as a criticism.
For me, it's all about space. I only have X inputs on my receiver and X space on my TV stand. I would rather not have 3 systems and a bluray player hooked up at the same time in one room. Sure, I could do it, but it's more convenient to have the option to throw a movie in without having to change everything up. It's an annoyance more than anything else, especially when everyone else offers/will be offering a fix for the clutter issue.
That being said, the likelihood of me purchasing a Wii U is approaching 0 with each passing day. Lackluster library, loss of some third party support (I think more will bail in the future), limited functionality (no BR player, for example) - it just doesn't do it for me.
Also, the loss leader thing happens with every console, not just the big N. That's not a legit excuse for leaving out a standard (now) function of home video game consoles.
I know DVD playback, etc is not necessary to enjoy video games, but the precedent has already been set (for several generations now). One of the reasons there are so many video game consoles in homes today is because of this all-in-one philosophy. They're competing with Apple, Roku, Toshiba, Panasonic, etc. Oh yeah, and computers in general. They need these extras to draw attention to their products. I have a ton of friends who love games but have kids, wives, partners, etc - and they would probably have to argue to get a game system on their main TV if it didn't have alternate functionality.
Of course it's a double edged sword, but without the sales figures, you don't get as much content (games). It's kind of why I don't get the whole "hate on the FPS & sports genre" mantaility. Those games put so much money into the industry it's crazy. Video games wouldn't be the same without that kind of hype and money flowing. Granted, it would be great to see that excitement and activity surrounding other genres (Elder Scrolls excluded), but we need people to love that stuff to ensure that other, smaller companies get funded for projects that we might get excited about.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: varkias on August 01, 2013, 11:51:52 am
Another big issue I have with this current gen, and also somewhat with last gen: video game consoles being video game consoles + internet browsers + blu-ray players + social networking hubs + etc.... That stuff is nice and all but I kinda just prefer that my consoles just play games. I have a computer to use the internet, I don't need to awkwardly do it with a controller or tell people on Facebook I just got an achievement/trophy. Not to mention that all these extra features drive up the cost of the consoles.
This! I do want multiplayer features and media streaming options. But all the extra social crap can go away. 7 years later Sony is still adding tons of features I don't give a $*!% about, but their browser and media streaming still feels 10 years old. Odd when they claim it's a media center, but since they wouldn't make any extra money by improving these features I'm sure the same garbage will make it to ps4.
Anyone occasionally rent off PSN? I've been seeing rentals for $8.99 recently... a RENTAL. I've been moving away from PSN anything and towards Google Play. The menu drives me nuts on PSN as well, I'll go to movies and the first option is "featured", go past that to rentals and the first option is "featured", go to new releases and the first option is "featured" AHHHHGG. I already have to look at your "featured" garbage on every page, this just pushes my buttons.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: tpugmire on August 01, 2013, 04:35:20 pm
I have a tendency to just ignore stuff that I don't like, so I don't really have much that bothers me, but the few that do affect me are:
Atari 2600 games missing end labels.
N64 controller thumbsticks.
Yellowed SNES consoles.
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: bikingjahuty on August 18, 2024, 12:15:10 am
Gen 1: It's pretty much just pong
Gen 2: Games require too much imagination and have mostly aged horribly
Gen 3: Mountains of shovelware with a few gems sprinkled in
Gen 4: Too many subpar platformers and fighting games
Gen 5: The imaginary law that every old franchise had to release a 3D game
Gen 6: The Dreamcast getting killed off too soon and the Gamecube being a dramatic step down from the N64
Gen 7: The corporatization of the video game industry
Gen 8: Massive downloads and HDDs that filled up after a dozen games or so
Gen 9: Most games are glorified CD keys now (save Nintendo)
Title: Re: What's your pet peeve of each generation
Post by: finley on August 19, 2024, 09:41:11 pm
Most of my complaints have been mentioned... Especially that this generation is mostly just download keys only. I miss the days when I could trade my games with people.
I also don't know if it's because it's so much easier to make games, but there are just so many low-effort games out there now that barely even function properly or last for about an hour before you complete them. Sure, those existed before now too, but it's so hard sifting through them all just to find one game that might actually be worth the asking price.