cbrotherson
WiiChat Feature Writer
Been invited to throw an oar in, so will quickly offer my loose change.
Age. I honestly think an important part of the problem is age. The SNES was wonderful, as was the whole 16-bit era, but hell, to me so was the 8-bit era and playing on my Amstrad CPC 464
At the moment, in terms of stone cold classics, the SNES has the most of my favourites on any machine, but part of that is through the realisation that several things happened during that era:
- Arcades were easier to emulate on home formats
- The 2D era has almost reached its zenith
- Many genres has been given time to mature and grow to their possibilities
-Gaming was still quite fresh in terms of mainstream viability
Arcades are, by all extents and purposes, a lost art. 3D has yet to reach that sort of zenith 2D reached, because there's so much more to it and it's far more expensive. Genres have been run into the ground after decades of growth. And gaming is no longer the 'underground' medium it once was, as we’re exposed to it in all forms.
There's tons of other factors too, which make me agree with Shift to an extent – Miyamoto has a comparatively small hands-on role compared to what he used to have, game development times have increased so more corners are cut, money is a larger factor than ever, design is now more rigid than its has been and we're a bit more jaded than we were before.
But I honestly do think it comes with growing up with a medium as young as this one. Many kids growing up in this era will probably feel the same in 10-15 years time, and may treat our renaissance period like some may treat art, movies and music's 'renaissance' periods – with a mild curiosity, but it just wont be 'modern' enough (as such with our visual and tech driven medium - no other medium is as tech driven as gaming). I doubt many middle to old aged people would think much of our art/music/films compared to that of that golden age either (in the cases where the medium isn’t so old that we have no surviving members left, I'm sure you know what I mean ) Some don’t appreciate Beethoven's 9th in the same way they appreciate Justin Timberlake's new hit, because they're not given historical reference to it – just like some wont know how important Super Mario Kart and Final Fantasy VI and Secret of Mana was to us.
It's just growth combined with commercialism, I think. And, as Rolex has already said, the DS manages to straddle both sides making it one of the best machines going for all generations. Recapturing that feeling you had during one of the medium's peaks is probably going to very difficult no matter how Nintendo or other companies make their games (after all, they change as well, in staff, mentality and aims) – but it's a bit like trying to recapture the first time you fell in love, whether that be with a certain song, person, book or film. It's always going to be different and not necessarily better or worse. The important thing is that you keep yourself open to trying and hopefully get a surprise out of it one day
Age. I honestly think an important part of the problem is age. The SNES was wonderful, as was the whole 16-bit era, but hell, to me so was the 8-bit era and playing on my Amstrad CPC 464
At the moment, in terms of stone cold classics, the SNES has the most of my favourites on any machine, but part of that is through the realisation that several things happened during that era: - Arcades were easier to emulate on home formats
- The 2D era has almost reached its zenith
- Many genres has been given time to mature and grow to their possibilities
-Gaming was still quite fresh in terms of mainstream viability
Arcades are, by all extents and purposes, a lost art. 3D has yet to reach that sort of zenith 2D reached, because there's so much more to it and it's far more expensive. Genres have been run into the ground after decades of growth. And gaming is no longer the 'underground' medium it once was, as we’re exposed to it in all forms.
There's tons of other factors too, which make me agree with Shift to an extent – Miyamoto has a comparatively small hands-on role compared to what he used to have, game development times have increased so more corners are cut, money is a larger factor than ever, design is now more rigid than its has been and we're a bit more jaded than we were before.
But I honestly do think it comes with growing up with a medium as young as this one. Many kids growing up in this era will probably feel the same in 10-15 years time, and may treat our renaissance period like some may treat art, movies and music's 'renaissance' periods – with a mild curiosity, but it just wont be 'modern' enough (as such with our visual and tech driven medium - no other medium is as tech driven as gaming). I doubt many middle to old aged people would think much of our art/music/films compared to that of that golden age either (in the cases where the medium isn’t so old that we have no surviving members left, I'm sure you know what I mean
) Some don’t appreciate Beethoven's 9th in the same way they appreciate Justin Timberlake's new hit, because they're not given historical reference to it – just like some wont know how important Super Mario Kart and Final Fantasy VI and Secret of Mana was to us. It's just growth combined with commercialism, I think. And, as Rolex has already said, the DS manages to straddle both sides making it one of the best machines going for all generations. Recapturing that feeling you had during one of the medium's peaks is probably going to very difficult no matter how Nintendo or other companies make their games (after all, they change as well, in staff, mentality and aims) – but it's a bit like trying to recapture the first time you fell in love, whether that be with a certain song, person, book or film. It's always going to be different and not necessarily better or worse. The important thing is that you keep yourself open to trying and hopefully get a surprise out of it one day
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