Just got my newest issue of GameInformer in the mail and I can't help but shake the feeling that if I were about 20 years younger, I'd be excited. I'm reading through it, and I can't help but think, "this is all they have?"

About the most interesting thing I saw was the remake of the Mad Max movies in a game format. Not very ingenious or even imaginative, considering the movies were pretty brutal and nihilistic all on their own, better than 20 years ago. I was really disappointed in what I saw. There were some cute indie games coming out, but that's what they are. Cute.

I know the golden days of sims are gone*, but good heavens, haven't we done the zombie thing to death already? Even The CW (Where Television Goes to Die) has a new zombie show. Star Citizen looks cool, but I think it's an MMO. When I want to play a game with another person, my son and I play chess.

They had a review of the new Thrustmaster wheel, the only wheel that the PS4 will support. I just bought a G27, so my interest in upgrading to a PS4 just died. I don't feel like rebuying my library anyway. I used to really like games. Now, I'm actually considering replacing my PS3 (if it ever dies) with a second Wii U.

I suppose this had to happen eventually.

* - at least there's still motorsports!

Well it is kind of right when you say this is all they have.

You played one FPS, you pretty much played them all!

Seems like 2/3 of the games they make are FPS!

Your not getting old just stating the facts
Lets face the facts about milsims there not capable of generating the profits that games
Like FPS or zombies games generate. There's only a handful of dedicated developers left that even try
The games market has gone like the movie market endless sequels I bet my grandkids will be playing COD episode 100.
There are innovators still out there but IMO, The men in grey suites have all but taken over

You are still getting a paper magazine about computer games thru the mail ?

Yes, you ARE old...




FT

It is what it is, I used to find games and technology interesting when I was in grade school, but now I'm also very often in the "this is it?" camp. Many games still catch my fancy but very rarely am I sitting at the edge of my seat waiting for an agonizing release date.

I concur with FrenchToast,lol.

It's like almost every game now on Apple APP or Facebook is one of those shoot the bubble or stack and lines of crystals and candies you have to remove or add to it or look for the 8-12 hidden items in a picture and use your mouse to find them before times run out or some build a city or adventure and you need golds and a ton of friends to help you with materials and gifts every day day after day to progress to the next level.

TOO much work, all of them, if you ask me!

I`ll dig in here. I am getting there, 53. And watching these stupid App commercials like
Boom Beach and the Lady leading the charge. This is all way beyond anything I would even
think of getting to play. And so far this year. Only game and sim I use is "Star Citizen"
and "X-Plane 10"

The only game I play on my iPhone is Words With Friends.

I haven't purchased a PC game in years.

I am still playing EECH made in 2000 and I still have and old XBox with old games and old Playstation 1 with even older games and I can't remember the last time I played anything on them.

I feel the same way sometimes. I'm just getting more picky I think especially since so many games more and more are becoming rehashes of rehashes. The older I get the more story and dramatics I want from a game. I'm happy when a game like Red Dead Redemption, The Last of Us or Dishonored come out. yes they are first and third person shooters more or less but they managed to be unique, full of detail and staying power.

I still play and always go back to games like Hidden and Dangerous 2, Titan Quest, FS2004 and others on pc and old xbox games too.

I think companies like Ubisoft and EA need to be careful. There are smaller studious coming out with far superior games.

I suppose still getting game magazines through snail mail does sort of indicate my age.

I'm actually reasonably excited about that Mad Max game. It might be alright. As I understand it, it's being developed by one of Avalanche's sub studios. Avalanche are the guys who made Just Cause and Just Cause 2. If I would trust the Mad Max license with anyone, it would be them.

But... you are getting old. Obviously, but also I find that I used to get psyched about particular video games years ahead of their release. These days, I can only work up any excitement for something that's going to be released in the next few weeks. That's gotta be age. There's just too much life going on to spend it contemplating something that will provide me with a few weekends of fun in 2018.

There's something real to it as well, though. Insofar as technological advancement goes, game tech progress has become entirely linear and iterative. I kind of blame 3D accelerators. When it was all software, some game might come along that was truly technologically revolutionary (like Wolf3D or Doom) and just blow your mind right the hell out of your skull. Then with hardware 3D, though it was amazing at first, it was just Moore's law as applied to texture mapped triangles for ten years. Now there's the potential for innovation again, but it requires so much software engineering effort, it all has to go into middleware like the Unreal Engine et al. There are exceptions, but in general it's pretty boring from that perspective. We're long past the point where one genius kid from a Dallas suburb or Cambridge can come up with something revolutionary on his bedroom computer. That should be a good thing because it separates game design and game programming, letting people specialize more, but somehow it doesn't really work that way. Probably because the amounts of money involved are so large the designers, like the dozens and dozens of software engineers, are just cogs answering to a manager answering to a committee answering to a shareholder.

I'm just getting old and cranky is what it is, really. The more youthful elements of my personality are keeping an eye on these VR headsets though.

I'd like for the new Battlefront to hurry up and get here, but it better have more than just multiplayer online for $60 or more.

Well, I certainly don't get excited about much new coming out these days either. Part of that I'm sure is getting older, but the thing that does it for me is seems like there is a lot of stuff now is far too focused on looking super pretty and well the actual game? "Yeah sorry blew our budget on graphics, so what if it 5 hours long, it looks great though right?"

They're like digital fireworks (or a Michael Bay movie), lots of stuff to make you go, oooh and aaaah but very little if any substance to them.

There has been some pretty good indie stuff the last few years, but due to it's nature, I don't get real excited about any of those until they are out. Heck I try not to even get excited about anything coming to DCS until it's actually up for pre-sale. At least then I am 99% sure it will be out.

Who knows, maybe one day the big boys out there will be good with a certain level of graphics and start focusing more on making stuff fun again.

I'm really looking forward to Pillars of Eternity, scheduled for release next week. A classic fantasy RPG I backed on Kickstartert, a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. I've waited more than a decade for this. Let's hope it's gonna be good. Naa...let's hope it's gonna be great!

I cancelled my PC Gamer subscription back around 2002 or so and ever since I've used the internet exclusively for my PC gaming news and reviews. I did have a National Geographic subscription up until 5 years ago or so but dropped it.

Unless those games from the smaller studios start outselling the games from Ubisoft and EA it doesn't matter from a business perspective.

Indeed we are getting old.. I was in a bit of a drought the past few years, really trying to latch onto something...forcing my enjoyment even (is that even possible). Work, Family = No time, plus the depressing lineup of COD remakes and other crap..just wasn't getting the gaming juices flowing. However, 2014 was a turn for me. I don't agree that the golden age of simming is over... It may have been for a time, and it certainly isn't as mainstream as before...but.. DCS, ROF, BOS... Arma3... And more recently I am really getting into Elite...yes it is a scifi space sim..but the detail and ships are great!

Yes the majority of games for the masses are crap. But there is gold to be found..sim wise and otherwise. I'm really looking to get into Paradox's City Skylines when I have time.. Supposed to be everything sim city 4 wasn't!

Also, my guilty pleasure lately is playing Destiny on Xbone with friends. I really disliked the single player and story and swore it off. Friends drew me into co-op strike modes and its a blast...

+1

And what I always find interesting are the doomsayers claiming that flight sims are dead while at the same time saying that they don't have the time necessary to dedicate to hardcore flight sims.

It's true that there aren't as many flight sim titles being released now when compared to the 1990's but what is currently out there is very good.

Targets in FSX? Say it ain't so Joe!!

Hell yeah first installment from the guys at FSX@War

Can't wait to try it....better than the other game....what was it again??? oh yeah Strike Fighters
or something like that.

http://www.fsxwar.com/