What do you think are the top 3 issues in gaming?

1. Discrimination (even if minor): Much like the comics industry, there is some semi racist and misogynist stuff going on, which is odd considering how games as a medium came far after civil rights issues were all nice and (sort of) solved. Of course it does come down to being more of a design issue, since giant breasts and skimpy outfits on women lets you know they are a woman without the developer having to go into more detail to tone it down, while different races allows for variation and letting you point out who does what (and its in a game design manual book written by some famous guy if I remember right, that using different races can be good for establishing differences to players). As an evolving art form and medium, I think more games need to be more mature, nothing against dumb fun like Saints Row, and many titles (such as Uncharted and surprisingly the recent Grand Theft Auto games) have been able to give a more realistic and toned down show of different races and sexes without using stereotypes or turning women into skimpy outfitted damsels in distress.

2. Lack of innovation: Though I think modern gaming is amazing and where gaming is at its best, there is a big divide between indie titles and big budget titles. Big budget titles are pretty and easy to find anywhere, but they all seem to be aping each other too much, too many publishers playing it safe to ensure safe profits and decent scores, especially with the cost of gaming. I think indie gaming alleviates this, but the cost to license great indie games on consoles means they tend to be stuck on PC (outside of some great showings by titles like Journey and Heavy Rain), and its like there's no middle ground. Either you have a small PC budget indie title with unique features but obvious budget feel, or a big budget $100 million budget game that doesn't feel any different from the last big budget title you played from a totally different publisher and developer on what should be a different series. Oddly, Rockstar games comes through again, especially with amazingly unique games like LA Noire and Bully, but for every one of those you have 3 versions of Call of Battlefield 8: Medal of Homefront.

3. Old people: Not necessarily all old people (and that is more of a joke listing), but people who are against change and evolution in entertainment and technology. People like Roger Ebert who tell us games aren't art without even touching a game, people like Michael Atkinson who hold back gaming in an entire country due to stubborn idiocy, people like Jack Thompson who run off their mouths and scare old people into thinking games are the devil. Gaming is awesome, but like comic books in the 50's, old people hold it back from its true potential as a mass market form of entertainment.

Kapitalism.

Monopolization.

Greed.

(False) Marketing.

Innovation.

1. Lack of innovative new IPs from big budget companies

2. Restrictive and disruptive DRM

3. The demise of Japanese developers and publishers in making games with global appeal

I believe innovation IS the issue, but not in the way you do. Innovation -- forced innovation -- brought the Wii upon us. This 'innovation' featured less precise control systems than those it was supposedly out-innovating. Microsoft followed suit by releasing a piece of silicon shlt in the form of Kinect, which actually worked worsethan the Wii. So we have consciously accepted and allowed inferior control systems in the fragile ecosystem of gaming, and it's exacted a tremendous toll on it. That's how it is, and everybody knows it.

This 'innovation' was supposed to herald a golden age of gaming, but all it did was reek of shlt. Prior to release, all these journos and assh0le developers went on record saying how many great ideas they had for this thing, and how, MAN THEY JUST COULDN'T WAIT TO GET A GAME OUT ON IT and six years later... NOTHING. You want to know what my number one issue is with the industry? We're suckers -- a bunch of idiotic mouth-breathers who marched right down the path for the pied piper like rats. I'm sure some assh0le in a GM boardroom came up with an idea to steer cars with feet at some point, but the idea was likely shot down because smarter minds prevailed and pondered why anyone would want to drive with their feet to begin with, when hands work just fine. It's too bad the folks in the gaming community aren't as bright.

In summary: Change for the sake of change, can blow on my cojones.

Shame-usBlackley

Plus the fact that the Wii's controller held the capability of playing games traditionally, it's just in the end many of these developers felt forced by the novelty of new, insufficient technology, and the result is all the trash we see sitting on the shelves. But I don't blame the gaming community at all. They could not have known it would be such a blunder for gaming as driving with your feet would be. Actually, that idea would work just fine with two analog pedals, using your hands for gas and brake, wouldn't it? It's a perfectly workable idea, it's just not very practical given the alternative. Motion controls on the other hand seem very practical and the direction and natural evolution gaming would take. In its current form, it hasn't found success, but poor execution and implementation doesn't automatically make it a bad idea. And certainly not a stupid one that makes us all morons in the attempt to embrace it.