@Frosty101n Of course you are, nearly every gamer is. I think it's funny to believe that "gamer type classifications" still contribute to the explanation of why people like to play video games. The "ultimate evil doer" is nothing else but a resemblence of Bartle's "killer" type which was part of his player taxonomy he already published in the mid 90s. Recent literature on gaming motivation already stated that the boundaries between gamer types are anything but exclusive to each other but rather blurry. A different persepctive - and in my opinion a much better approach - is suggestions provided by Self-Determination Theory which argues that people play due to the satisfaction of basic human needs (in-game autonomy, relaxation, relieving stress, to experience flow, and to connect with other people). Sure, it's nice to come up with player classifications but does it really make sense? What do you think?
@davedrastic Yeah, I'm also looking forward to FarCry 3. It looks extremely promising - especially the villain. If the story proivdes some unique experience, too, the game will be killer.
Your thought that developers may not go beyong a certain graphical standard sounds very interesting to me. In fact, one developer of the Epic team (I can't remember his name) said that graphical improvement will soon come to a stop as the maximum will be reached (whatever that maximum will be). Maybe then games will be released that focus more on other aspects of gaming than just graphical improvement. Maybe, in the future, we will look upon the Xbox360/PS3 era and say: "O yeah, that was that intense shooter-generation where graphics played a huge part."
@davedrastic Thank you for your nice reply. Of course graphics matter, they always did and always will. But for me it's not everything. I can live with the fact that a game doesn't look top-notch, if it provides solid gameplay. What I wanted to say is that I get the impression that most of today's games emphasize TOO much on graphics. So, where does this trend will eventually lead us? I guess Beyond Two Souls is a fine example of how video games may look in the future: almost realistic. And that's the point for me: someday, video games will look so realistic that I might lose the impression that I'm diving into a non-realistic world.
And as for the FPS: Sure, I also appreciate those games (some are so impressive that I could never imagine myself playing old shooters again). But what really bothers me is the linear style those games provide. Next generation consoles are so powerful that developers could create awesome games with multiple ways to play them - and I don't think of simple either-you-rush-trough-them-like-mad or try-a-more-stealthier-method-to-play. I'm talking about games that provide solid action and opportunities to solve, let's say a mission, in a more creative way. Most FPSs take you too much by the hand: Find a weapon, open the door, find the enemy's hideout ... I'd love to see more FPS were you can solve missions on your own way. Imagine a next-generation FPS (amazing graphics, authentic sound effects, ... ) with a more traditional way to gameplay (non-linear levels, huge worlds to explore, mission targets that are tough to master). Well, maybe PS4 and Xbox 720 (or whatever the thing might be called) provide us with this approach to FPS as the advanced technology enables a more sophisticated AI.
@LimeDudeZ Well, at least we agree that PD was an awesome and die-hard game ;)
@Corr638 First of all, the only game in your list that provides a real challenge - at least in my opinion - is Dark Souls. The others are mediocre when it comes to difficulty. And besides, I guess it all depends on how you actually define "a good challenge or difficulty". If you think difficulty is reacting on enemy fire within seconds, choosing your weapons wisely, use the environment to dodge attacks, then, sure, the games you mentioned provide solide challenge. If you define difficulty from a more mental perspective one might say that Zelda offers a good challenge as you have to figure out puzzles and all that stuff.
Also, I do like real hard games. I like Contra and I simply LOVE Ninja Gaiden 2. But it's a shame that everytime it comes to difficulty I have to mention the latter. I guess, no one would say completing Ninja Master path isn't difficult ...
Video games once used to be a sub-culture, now it's a mass market. The logic consequence is that the games get easier in order to appeal to a broader audience. But I agree: at least some developers provide us with a good challenge, Dark Souls (although I think that Demon Souls was even harder than its successor.).
By the way: if you want to experience some old-school challenge, go and try The Battle of Olympus or Battletoads. These sure will drive you nuts ;)
@DrMatta Sure, graphics can provide a good experience but they are not essential. There are so many other things that are important, too. Just imagine playing a game with the best graphics the world has ever seen, but with a terrible storyline, bad gameplay, terrible soundeffects, no background music, ... The thing is: consoles nowadays offer so much power that developers could create really amazing games. But instead they give us the same game over and over again and mainly focus on prettier light-effects and textures.
@Darkainious That's a good point. I own a PS3 as well as a Wii but what I don't like is the way Sony always glorifies itself. We are the epicentre of gaming. What? Did I miss something? I know it's part of their marketing strategy (and mainly the reason many PS3 owners view their "baby" as superior to any other system). The PS3 is a great console and so is the Wii. It just depends on which games I wanna play.
@davedrastic It's so sad to see that the quality of a game nowadays is only judged upon its graphical presentations. Back in the day only one thing was important: gameplay and how much fun you had with a game. And by the way: I like Nintendo (and I also like my Xbox and Ps3) but I'm also not looking forward to the new Mario game. Why? Well, because we had so many of them in recent time. Usually, every 4 or 5 years a true Mario game would be released. Now it's 2 every year! But actually: it makes no difference to me. There's SOOOO MANY shooters getting produced these days which are basically all the same game (COD, MOH, BF, FarCry, Crysis, Killzone, Syndicate, ...). Sure, one puts its emphasis on strategic clan battle, the other on quick matches, the other on ... For me there's no difference whether I'm jumping a gap with Mario for the onehundredmillion time or blasting an enemies head off for the onehundremillion time. If I were an alien coming to earth and taking a glimpse at video games I would surely say: "So, there's basically shooters, sportsgames, and kids games." Man, graphics is not everything.
@Corr638 @LimeDudeZ @lordjustify Well, I never said that getting 100 % in Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the thoughest challenge in video games. I just said that the game offers a good challenge - way better than most of these generic shooters out there. Wanna try a reallly difficult shooter? Okay, go and download Perfect Dark for the Xbox and try to beat that game on the hardest difficulty setting WITHOUT consulting the internet. Another thing: just because your so called 9 year old cousin can get all stars in Mario does not neccesarily mean the game offers no challenge. Maybe he's just extraordinarily talented. There's 6 year old boys and girls out there who are able to play the drums better than any jazz drum master. New generations certainly have advantages as they grow up with the mechanics and learn them more efficiently than any adult ever could. Furthermore, reducing my overall gaming ability to just getting 100 % in Mario seems kinda offending to me. Here's my suggestion: First, go and try to beat Perfect Dark on the hardest difficulty setting, then, go and try to beat Kororinpa 2 on the hardest difficulty, then go and try to beat Muramasa: the Demon Blade in Shigurui Mode (one hit equal death) or Metroid: other M without item upgrades... Dude, there's so many Nintendo games out there that are WAY harder than most next-generation shooters (which doesn't mean that there's no exceptions, there's ALWAYS excpetions - when I'm thinking of Turok, for example.).
Oh, and please, don't try to make judgments according to one or two forum entries people make. You basically know nothing about the person and for how long he or she is playing and how good or "pro" this person acutally is.
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