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Genre Wars — the Downside of the RPG Takeover
Phaethon360 writes "From Bioshock and Modern Warfare 2 to even Team Fortress 2, RPG elements are creeping into game genres that we never imagined they would. This change for the most part has managed to subtly improve upon genres that needed new life, but there's a cost that hasn't been tallied by the majority of game developers. 'The simple act of removing mod tools, along with the much discussed dedicated server issue, has made [MW2] a bit of a joke among competitive players. Gone are the days of "promod," and the only option you have is to play it their way. If Infinity Ward are so insistent on improving the variety of our experiences, they don’t have to do it at the expense of the experience that many of us already love. It really is that simple. If they don’t want to provide a good "back to basics experience," they could at least continue to provide the tools that allow us to do that for ourselves.'"
Little Big Planet, and...?
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Computer games used to be the preserve of geeks, or other intellectual types willing to do something as non-jocky as play on a computer.
Get the fuck out of here. Computer games have never been particularly intellectual. Was Pac Man intellectual? How about Rambo? The Sims? Street Fighter?
Intellectually stimulating computer games are the exception, not the rule. The whole "games" market has never been ruled by the intellectual or the geeky. The nerds and geeks were too busy doing other things with computers than to play games, while the "entertainment" companies ruled the games market.
... and then they built the supercollider.