Feature Friday: Is the Golden Age of Gaming Over or Just Beginning?

Side note: Please understand that the following article is wholly just a matter of one man’s opinion.

I have played a large number of games over the course of my life, from the Atari 5200 all the way to the Xbox One and PS4. Over this time, I have noticed several changes in graphics (which IS to be expected, but I’ll elaborate on that soon), music (again, to be expected), storytelling, and the overall feel of games. Over the following paragraphs I will express my thoughts on the situation of the gaming industry and it’s changes, starting with the graphics.

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For my example on graphics, we will compare modern systems (like the ps3, ps4, Xbox One, etc.) against the graphics of the Super Nintendo, because I personally love the styles of Super Nintendo games. First, look at the graphics of LoZ: A Link To The Past now, look at the graphics of Battlefield 4.

Obviously Battlefield 4 is much, much more advanced, but which one fills you with a bigger sense of adventure? It seems to me that the more advanced games get, the less stylish they look and thus makes them more run-of-the-mill. Another point is that back in the time of the SNES, games had less graphical capability, thus forcing game creators to be able to make something to engage the player that didn’t have to do with graphics; which leads into the next section: storytelling. Point: Retro

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Games nowadays create fantastic stories through dialogue, in-game writings (such as the books in Skyrim), and environments (you thought I would only defend retro games, joke’s on you). Try as they might, most game developers for older systems (I say most, because there were some dang good old game developers), would fail at being able to create a whole and amazing story comparable to modern games (such as Skyrim, or Mass Effect). However, the gaming pioneers that did manage to get the storytelling formula right, they did masterfully. Point: Modern

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One very important point to also make is the musical style of games. Music in games has changed vastly over the course of gaming history. Music has always contributed to the overall feel of a game, whether it was bad or good.

Retro nor modern games have better music than one another and, as much as I love 16-bit music, I love modern gaming music just as much. So I can’t pick a favorite for this category this time. Point: Tie

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Now, the last, and most important, category is overall feel (I will be using many games for this example). For me, nothing will ever match the feeling of plugging in Super Mario Brothers on my NES for the first time, nor will I forget the first time I popped in Assassin’s Creed 4 on my PS4.

Every time I plug in a game for the first time, be it retro or modern, a sense of adventure always rushes forth, taking me to new places to see, worlds to save, and stories to take part in. I’ve never seen why someone had to be solely dedicated to retro games or solely dedicated to modern games, because with each new game (yes, even Call of Duty and every other modern shooter) comes new experiences to take place in. Point: Tie

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To sum up my thoughts, I’ll just say that good game is a good game; whether it’s been around for 50 years or 2 weeks. Super Mario Brothers was just as good then as it is now, and while some games may fade into obscurity * cough*Killzone: Shadow Fall*cough* all games will be remembered by someone, whether it be retro, or state of the art.

We are gamers. We don’t limit ourselves to one loyalty (at least, not the true ones), we meet every game head-on with a gleam in our eyes and child-like wonder in our hearts. So get out there, and play a game, old or new, good or bad, just get out there and game!

Overall: Tie