And I'm still up to date

Nineteen years since a new console,
twelve years since a new game.

The peak of their respective genres.

Move that period of time to 1990 and I would have missed 16 bit gaming, the introduction and perfection of 3D graphics, online multiplayer, the golden age of MMORPGs and classic, genre-defining games.

But what exactly did I miss from 2001 to now in terms of console hardware and from 2008 to now in terms of videogames?

Console gaming has grown increasingly restrictive and anti-consumer. Meanwhile, game publishers have realized they can publish unfinshed products and charge for fixing it, as well as downright remove features from sequels, only to introduce them back in the sequel's sequel as brand-new features. And let's not forget about the casino mechanics or the commodification of skill with achievements.
Or the subversion of independent videogame creation.

First you mock them for being slaves.

Then you claim your masters have no choice but to exploit you.

We have, for the most part, reached the peak of technological innovation and there's no truly new experiences left to create. Emergent gameplay is in a coma it might never wake up from. Instead of acknowledging this fact and working around it with creative ingenuity, videogame publishers realized it's far more profitable to sell faux innovation. You can make more money selling deliberately flawed games every year for a decade to fickle consumer demographics than make good games that attract a sustainable fanbase that last 10 years. Nothing is meant to last anymore. People talk a lot about gacha, difficulty padding, walking simulators, paywalled online, sequels, but no-one ever attacks the root of all these problems: planned obsolescense.

The peak of each respective franchise. Naturally, they all went through nintendo's remake machine.

Fifa and call of duty every year. A neverending cycle of zelda-mario-pokemon games that are always just a little short of being as great as their predecessors. Remakes and reboots to keep aging, jaded audiences hooked. RTS games dumbed down to one character. Arena shooters forsaken for "hero shooters". Cosmetics. Cosmetics everywhere.

As mainstream culture infiltrated videogames, so did their quality decline.

Hence, there's no point in sinking money into what mainstream gaming has to offer. All that remains are free games, such as dungeon crawl, tales of maj eyeal, freeciv and the like, which I certainly have tried after 2008. Hypocritically, I can give a pass also to f2p games like war thunder, which are essentially glrorified demos. The original guildwars pioneered a sort of DLC model but, considering it's an MMO without a subscription fee, I can give them a pass as it's a trade-off that doesn't completely compromise one's experience.

So, what to play and how?
That's a subject for another time. Stay tuned!


Update (25/04/2021)

Added a new page with part of the answer to the question I left hanging when I finished writing this page.
Someone who hasn't bought a game in over a decade is going to teach you how to approach geting a new videogame.
Isn't it thrilling?



Click either to return to:
Home page | Videogames