Are you happy with the way that video games are going?

Ok I'm a long time visitor of Giant Bomb and I love this site more than anything on the internet but I've never really been active on the forums but while listening to the latest podcast I have found myself kind of upset. I have been thinking this for a while and listening to Jeff, Vinny and Brad voice their disgust of things such as preorder bonuses, micro transactions and other things that are completely commercializing the thing that I love the most in this world has made me ask this. Because I love video games so much I have enormous amounts of respect for the staff of Giant Bomb and the community because all of you obviously share my passion for video games or you would not be frequenting this site so I have to ask you for your opinions, are you happy with the way video games are heading? With video games becoming more and more mainstream I feel like the things that I have listed are just the start of my favorite hobby becoming more about publishers trying to squeeze every dollar that they can out of the consumer and less about a quality gaming experience. Things such as Activision bleeding franchises  dry until they just completely throw them away because everyone is so sick of them that no one will buy they newest product (guitar/band/dj hero, tony hawk) Microsoft and Sony substituting new systems while trying to capitalize on the Wii's success with motion control gaming while the current generation of hardware is clearly becoming outdated and paid DLC that should be included in the game that I just paid $60 for (suits in Dead Space 2, fighters in Fight Night, quests in Dragon Age 2) Sorry If I'm ranting but I just wanted to get other peoples opinions. Thanks

No. I want a new console generation instead of Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo trying to squeeze every last drop out of this one with gimmicks like motion controls and 3D.  
 
I want to have access to all the content that is on the disc. I already paid for that data when I got the disc at my retailer, I should not have to pay for it again to 'unlock' it. 
 
I want developers/publishers to stop focusing on DRM, start focusing on improving the quality of their games, and adapt to Steam. Steam is convenient, and prices can be pushed lower, which means less people pirate, and in the end, everyone is satisfied. 
  
I don't think that's where shit is going though.

I still don't really know where games are going but I've played a lot of kick ass games recently and more are on the way

I'm pretty happy.
 
The mainstream franchises will never go away, but neither will the indie games.
 
Also, I'm happy to see the eSports scene growing so much outside of Korea.

The enter key is your friend, don't be afraid of it. Paragraphs are useful... 
 
See? 
 
Now that I'm done being a dick; I have no problem with anything being done in the business atm. If people buy the stuff then what's the problem? They obviously enjoy it enough to pay for it, otherwise publishers would stop doing it. Just because I find DLC to be pointless, if others like it and that in turn finances production of the next game I'm fine with it. Of course there's that minor psychological tic that you worry you're missing out on something, but really...how much DLC has actually been that breathtaking? 
 
Just like with movies and music, there's still and indie movement if you don't want to finance "the man" and feel like you're better than everyone else for not playing the popular games.

It's fine, I guess.
 
I enjoyed the last gen of consoles better. Seems like today's focus is all about making "cinematic" experiences or mp games, which is fine, it's just not what I'm interested in. I think the PSP and DS were much better than either PS3 or 360 really.

No. If devs are going to take major shortcuts, the game's price should reflect that. If they don't do that, Im going to continue comparing their 1 year half assed dev cycle game to equally priced games that were given the proper attention. Ultimately, this 1 year cycle mentality can only become a paradigm if everyone agrees its a paradigm. Otherwise, you'll have games by Nintendo and Blizzard reminding you what quality looks like next to half ass corner cutting shit.

" I want to have access to all the content that is on the disc. I already paid for that data when I got the disc at my retailer, I should not have to pay for it again to 'unlock' it. "

No.     

I haven't really been happy with the way gaming has been going for a good long time now. Not just with DLC and Preorders. But just the direction the developers are going and which audience they are making games for. All the new design techniques seem to be making games soo streamlined that you can play most games on one button and an analog stick. I always thought gaming would get more and more complicated and deep with time. Like a game would go from Elder Scrolls Arena where you can travel across huges lands with abilities ranging from swiming and climbing to throwing weapons and horseback riding. instead it's going more and more down to a hand full of abilities and smaller lands. They take out dice rolling for more God of War play-style. I always wanted to add on top of what they've accomplished in the 90's and early 2000's, not streamline games to the point where they are easily digestible to toddlers and college frat d00ds. Games like Minecraft, Wurm Online (funnily enough they are both by Mojang), the first Dragon Age (even though, now I see that Bioware is never going back).Blizzards still doing okay, but WoW was more of a step back then forward to me.

There are things I don't like about the industry right now (such as retailer-exclusive pre-order bonuses), but overall, vide games are still pretty awesome. And they will continue to remain awesome for some time. 
 
I'm personally glad no one is rushing to get a new console on the market ASAP (Nintendo needs to jump on that first, though). If we only focus on more and more graphics/power, we lose ground when it comes to innovative gameplay. In this sense, downloadable services like PSN and Xbox Live Arcade have been one of the best things to happen to gaming in recent years. It helps innovative (but risky) ideas get into people's hands.

60/40

Yeah.

I'm worried by the fact that companies like Activision are happy to keep pumping out the same game every year, and people will actually buy that shit.  So that's all businessmen who are gaining more control over the industry (as the costs increase) care about, and you get the Guitar Hero/Call of Duty effect, where games improve almost insubstantially and creativity is shunned. 

There's a lot of shady peripheral money squeezing stuff being tried out right now that I'm not a big fan of, but overall?  This gen there are franchises being made with sequels that truly improve upon the original and make them matter and there are a metric ton of talented small game developers out there to compliment the big games thanks to digital distribution.  I think that things are going pretty well. 

I don't like the way DLC is being utilized. I also hate the fact that most games don't have cheat codes anymore. Another thing is that games are starting to become too cinematic and they are too long to complete. There needs to be more games that are just multiplayer or have much shorter and higher quality single player modes.

I hate preorder bonuses and release date DLC, but I'm not going to let it dampen my game experience. Buying all those things aren't necessary.

I love the resurgence of old school 2d stuff on consoles thanks to PSN and XBLA. Other than that, I'm not a fan of pretty much anything that has happened in the industry in the last few years, like motion controls and yearly sequelitis.

 If you can ignore all the politics and nonsense and not take things too seriously I'd say it's still a great time to be a gamer.
 
Sure the business of it gets to me from time to time but I really try to not worry about what could, should or will be.
 
I'm just having fun playing games - and I'm still having lots of fun.

Not entirely, but happy enough I guess.

Excluding all the DLC/Preorder crap everyone hates, I also can't stand how MMO's are all becoming micro transaction games and I hate how developers are constantly dumbing down games. I want complexity. I want choices. I want to go through menus and customize skills/attributes/classes. I want to be able to choose my powers and if I choose poorly I could make a completely broken character, because then I learn from that mistake and learn to pick better next time. It makes it my character, not some pre-made off the shelf hero.
 
I also hate how turn based games are dead. I hate action games, and I hope TB strategy/RPG's make a come back in the near future, and I hope they don't keep trying to dumb them down like that Skulls of the Shogun game. I like playing games that reward the player for using their brains and not just those that can click a button faster than someone else.  
 
I'm tired of everyone dumbing down games to appeal to people who would never play that game in the first place. The people who would never play that genre will keep not playing it, while those that want the complexity will start to ignore the series because it's not what they want any more. Then developers will point to bad sales and claim that the genre is dead and not worth making any more, when it's just because they stopped making the kind of games that people who love that genre want to play.
 
Dragon Age 2 is pretty much the personification of everything I hate about what game design is heading down. Stupid pre-order content, DLC nickel and dimmed, dumbed down gameplay, dumbed down story, dumbed down controls, dumbed down menus, dumbed down classes, dumbed down skill tree, dumbed down inventory management, and dumbed down level design. They took an already simple game and dumbed it down even more to appeal to people that had no interest in the game or series to begin with at the cost of pissing off the people who loved their older game. 
 
I want games to be complex and require strategy again. I'm not talking about some super complex game that requires a 500 page manual kind of complex, though I love me games like that when they are Space Sim's, but something that requires you to at least turn your brain on every now and then instead of just holding down W and clicking your mouse from time to time.

Retail exclusive pre-orders/bonus and the prices of DLC these days. Publishers are slowly rising the prices of good dlc knowing people will play, Take the recent released DLC for Hot Pursuit, three packs, $7 each for what is good content but should be one pack for $10 dollars not $21.  
 
Another point is the state that games are shipping in. It's becoming the norm to ship a game then fix the multiplayer a week or two later, when those weeks are just terrible to play. 

well i wish there was more 3D

I completely agree with all of you who commented about how games are being stripped down to be more accessible  to the mainstream audience. Dragon Age is a perfect example of this, the first one really took me back too the awesome days of Baulders Gate and Icewind Dale but they completely streamlined the second one. On paper this seems like a good idea I guess but I loved the complexity of those classic RPGs and don't want an experience that I don't have to think about too deeply. Still I also agree that It is a great time to be a gamer and while games may be stripped down, they are still a damn good experience. Thanks to everyone who responded, I appreciate your input.

:( Actually, no.
 
Every now and then there's a gem that really excites me. But for every gem there's 3 inches of viscous bile surrounding it. I think the last release to really impress me was Amnesia. Overall, I think there's a lack of: games with a purpose; games that are born out of inspiration; games that seek to be an interesting interactive experience etc... Basically, I'm talking about any game that could easily be summed up as "more of the same".

nope, there is nothing really new coming out; nothing innovative. games right now are just boring, and i really dont find myself excited for any game that is coming out this year, except maybe jumpgate evolution. I mean i really like how battlefield 3 is looking, but we have played that game before in battlefield 2, i just dont see what they could possibly do to make that game innovative once again. 
 
consoles really need a next generation so that they will finally catch up to pcs and we can start to see innovative things again.

I'm very happy with the quality of games at the moment and I'm having a great time with the best of the stuff the industry is putting out right now. I do wish there was a little more openness to new ideas in the mainstream industry though, and like the staff I'm not so into the stuff companies are doing at the moment with online passes, pre-orders, cheap microtransactions etc.

The way I see it, the stuff I do not enjoy I can avoid.   Moreover, much of gaming I have no clue about.  My view of gaming is super narrow; I know what comes out for PS3 and XB360 mostly.  I have a good idea about the top twenty or so games that come out for each of the Wii, DSi, PSP, and iPhone.  I have a hazy knowledge about PC games coming out other then what is coming out on consoles too.     
 
However, the rest of gaming that I know is there but I have never experiences is a mystery?  I could not tell you very much about free to play MMOs, adventure games, etc.  I do not know very much about browser-based games other then nephew and niece pay such games at Nickelodeon.com and other services.  Much of what is on iPhone or Android other then Angry Birds or Cut the Rope is mystery to me.  Services free or paid as Yahoo Games, SOE Station.com, Google Chrome Games, and hundreds of others are murky concepts.     
 
Gaming is too huge to full embrace and understand.  The part of the industry this site and the people who come here look at is actually minuscule in the grand scheme of this other then what we know appears to be the most profitable part…although Facebook might beg to differ.  It is not an insult to as people here are ignorant of some or all of these other parts of gaming.   We do not know it because it is hard to understand everything that is happening if there are only 24 hours in a day and only 365 days in a year.    

As long as they change route and don't go towards Facebook/Motion Control death party that's basically the end of the road for everyone, I'll be happy. 3D might be cool

I remember a time when I could go months without a game I was interested in. Now there are more great games than I can ever get to. 
 
The only thing I miss are the old school JRPGs of the the PS1 era. They just don't make them like they use to.

Not really, no.  Games cost too much now, and then they just come out with overpriced and underdeveloped DLC so you can get the "complete" experience.  Plus, they seem to be focusing too much on story (which are by and large terrible) nowadays than actual gameplay.

Its a great time to be a gamer.

hell no.

" nope, there is nothing really new coming out; nothing innovative. games right now are just boring, and i really dont find myself excited for any game that is coming out this year, except maybe jumpgate evolution. I mean i really like how battlefield 3 is looking, but we have played that game before in battlefield 2, i just dont see what they could possibly do to make that game innovative once again.  consoles really need a next generation so that they will finally catch up to pcs and we can start to see innovative things again. "

on the whole yes, iv been boycotting activision for years and i'v started ignoring anything to do with day one/ pre-order DLC, trust me its not been hard to do either,
 
my only real problem with this generation has been the lack of true innovation in game design, im really starting to feel that every game coming out is just building on what has been before, and no one is even attempting to push the medium in any real way anymore, all the innovation seems to come in the form of downloadable games, when it should really be the big players in the industry pushing things forward. 
 
but when it comes down to the crunch, im still finding games fun, so i guess on the whole i am happy

Video games are still as fun as ever and for that reason I'm fine with the industry, but there are problems.  
 
While I like that developers can make fixes and add content to a game post-release, I certainly don't like that many developers consider that as an excuse to sell unpolished games and then patch them later or sell minute pieces of DLC immediately at launch. I also don't appreciate publishers selling downloadable games for increasingly higher prices. Sure, it makes sense that a game on a DVD/Blu-Ray disk + packaging might be pricy to ship, but there's no excuse for putting the same game on Steam and charging the exact same price. The worst part of that is that it's getting more and more popular. 
 
Still, as long as games keep getting better I think I'll be happy.

" @ryanwho: So much hate.... we understand you didn't like Dragon Age 2 and all. I feel like I've read this post 5 times already. "

sure HD graphics, Perfect sound systems , fcking addective online gameplay . What's not to like ?

No. Games today are released way sooner than they should be, pushed out the door to make money asap. More time should be spent on testing and ensuring a quality product goes out the door. Now that every system is online, Dev's are whipped by the Producers and forced to release half finished products that are lacking features, and full of bugs, gltiches, balancing issues etc and are far too reliant on patches to bring this stuff in. Everyone is buying games that are filled with problems and missing content because of it.
 
P.S. Notice my Killzone 3-esque avatar. A game that represents a perfect example of my gripes.

I love it 
 
Keep in mind ther´s has always been shitty and good things in gaming, people fails to understand games take more money to do right now.. so dev and publishers need to charge more and find new ways of profitability. 

" @crusader8463:   You've summed up everything I wanted to say. The only thing I would add is the fact that leveling is so pointless in a lot of RPG's nowadays. Remember when leveling used to mean something? Enemies didn't scale to your current level? You had to be mindful about where you chose to explore in fear that you may bump into creatures more powerful than you? Yea, those were the days. "

I'm pretty sure that video games just made a wrong left turn and should make a u turn when legally possible.

Im happy with the way that bethesda handled DLC in fallout 3.  Thats how all companies should do it.  And im happy with having way more Action RPG's to play.  Even though they often lean more towards the action

I don't think the things you listed are really game related, those are marketing, managing or financing decision which, I'm sure, alot of developers don't want themselves.
In general, I'm pretty happy about the state of gaming.
The Japanese industry could be in a little better shape.

More cutscenes, shorter FPS campaigns, more emphasis on story, multiplayer and DLC being shoved down our throats, sequels that disappoint........
 
Video games suck.