Since 9/11 there's been a steady increase of First-Person Shooter games, why is that? Why the neglect of other genres that were famous back in the 90's?
Too Many First-Person Shooters?
- Thread starter Card Slinger J
- Start date
Wow that's a really specific date, it's like on 9/12 there was suddenly a flood of FPS releases...
As far as I can tell FPS has always been popular. Half Life, CounterStrike, Doom, etc...
And if something is popular, it's inevitable developers want to cash in on that. Look at the iPhone. Suddenly every other phone out there uses a touchscreen now (and I hate it btw... jabbing a flat surface doesnt have the tactile feedback of a button)
As far as I can tell FPS has always been popular. Half Life, CounterStrike, Doom, etc...
And if something is popular, it's inevitable developers want to cash in on that. Look at the iPhone. Suddenly every other phone out there uses a touchscreen now (and I hate it btw... jabbing a flat surface doesnt have the tactile feedback of a button)
Personally though I think there are too many FPS games out in the Secondary Market. The problem is that these video game developers and companies are too afraid to take risks and try new and old genres that were popular back in the 90's like Side-Scrolling Platformers and Beat Em Up games like Streets of Rage. With a down economy they don't want to risk losing money cause we live in a society where people take video games more seriously than they did 2 decades ago.
The Video Game Industry needs to take itself less seriously and bring back the "fun" games that made the industry great back in the 80's and 90's. At least make new games based on past genres that doesn't always have to involve killing people and such cause it's just getting old really fast. I think that's one of the reasons why MMORPG's have become more popular cause FPS just lack the kind of creativity and ingenuity that video games have had back in the 90's. Why can't we have that again?
You look at a company like Nintendo that makes all these great games because it brings us back to our glory days in the 90's when games used to be great. Heck Nintendo games even Pokemon are still great that came out in the early 2000's are great cause you can never go wrong with Nintendo. You also have all these great franchises such as Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, the sky's the limit. Why can't other video game developers and companies learn from Nintendo?
Another thing I'm noticing that video games these days are neglecting is Music and Soundtracks, you take a look at games Japan is making like the Persona series and just about anything Capcom and Namco produces and it's just amazing. Namco's Golden Age was infact during the PlayStation One Era with Tekken, Ridge Racer, Ace Combat/Air Combat, among other great titles all of which had fantastic music involved due to the hard work involved by Japanese composers and such.
What do FPS games have? None of that. GoldenEye on the Nintendo 64 was infact the precursor to the FPS Genre infact it started it everyone knows that however one of the reasons I liked the game was due to being based on a James Bond Movie and for some reason since Rare called it quits with Nintendo to work with Microsoft there hasn't been a good James Bond FPS game since, sure there was that one called "Tomorrow Never Dies" or "Die Another Day" for the PlayStation One however that bombed completely.
I'll admit me and my cousins used to play Multiplayer on GoldenEye like crazy, it was the most fun aspect of the game ever especially with Perfect Dark where you had a futuristic setting especially with the cheap X-Ray Sniper Gun. You can only drive a Genre so far and because of that mindset where developers think "success equals money" while ignoring other game genres they think that FPS's are the ONLY thing that sells in today's video game market while that's not entirely true.
Then you have ignorant politicians complaining on how some FPS's like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Bulletstorm are supposedly causing violence and sexual assaults in real life cause today's youth has an easy access to it when their parents aren't doing their job telling them what to play that's appropriate for their age and what they shouldn't play. The fault is somewhat to blame on the person playing the game itself, If they don't have the common sense to distinguish between fiction and reality they shouldn't be playing the FPS in the first place.
The Video Game Industry needs to take itself less seriously and bring back the "fun" games that made the industry great back in the 80's and 90's. At least make new games based on past genres that doesn't always have to involve killing people and such cause it's just getting old really fast. I think that's one of the reasons why MMORPG's have become more popular cause FPS just lack the kind of creativity and ingenuity that video games have had back in the 90's. Why can't we have that again?
You look at a company like Nintendo that makes all these great games because it brings us back to our glory days in the 90's when games used to be great. Heck Nintendo games even Pokemon are still great that came out in the early 2000's are great cause you can never go wrong with Nintendo. You also have all these great franchises such as Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, the sky's the limit. Why can't other video game developers and companies learn from Nintendo?
Another thing I'm noticing that video games these days are neglecting is Music and Soundtracks, you take a look at games Japan is making like the Persona series and just about anything Capcom and Namco produces and it's just amazing. Namco's Golden Age was infact during the PlayStation One Era with Tekken, Ridge Racer, Ace Combat/Air Combat, among other great titles all of which had fantastic music involved due to the hard work involved by Japanese composers and such.
What do FPS games have? None of that. GoldenEye on the Nintendo 64 was infact the precursor to the FPS Genre infact it started it everyone knows that however one of the reasons I liked the game was due to being based on a James Bond Movie and for some reason since Rare called it quits with Nintendo to work with Microsoft there hasn't been a good James Bond FPS game since, sure there was that one called "Tomorrow Never Dies" or "Die Another Day" for the PlayStation One however that bombed completely.
I'll admit me and my cousins used to play Multiplayer on GoldenEye like crazy, it was the most fun aspect of the game ever especially with Perfect Dark where you had a futuristic setting especially with the cheap X-Ray Sniper Gun. You can only drive a Genre so far and because of that mindset where developers think "success equals money" while ignoring other game genres they think that FPS's are the ONLY thing that sells in today's video game market while that's not entirely true.
Then you have ignorant politicians complaining on how some FPS's like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Bulletstorm are supposedly causing violence and sexual assaults in real life cause today's youth has an easy access to it when their parents aren't doing their job telling them what to play that's appropriate for their age and what they shouldn't play. The fault is somewhat to blame on the person playing the game itself, If they don't have the common sense to distinguish between fiction and reality they shouldn't be playing the FPS in the first place.
Halo's music was pretty acclaimed.
Also music is like graphics, it's a factor of gameplay immersion but not the core aspect of the game itself. Suffice to say a good game with bad music will sell better than a bad game with good music. The same logic applies to music in films as well (eg. Tron Legacy: good soundtrack, bad film)
J, J, J...you really need to check your facts before posting...FPS's have been around for a very long time, longer than most people realize...the first really being, Wolfenstein, then onto Doom and Duke Nuke'em, all of which started on PC's...Goldeneye, while it was acclaimed, and pretty decent, it wasn't the first
MMORPG's aren't necessarily doing all that well, WOW is the only one that you pay for that is getting any kind of real play...most of the others have their runs for a while, and then just drop off, with maybe 10% of the playing populace continuing to play after the inital run...video game companies are going where the money is mostly, that's why you have so many games these days trying to incorporate some kind of online competition...NFS:HP, MvC3, any sports franchise series, Dynasty Warriors...it's not really a matter of a lack of creativity and ingenuity for FPS's, because there are quite a few of them with involved stories and there are some even with a creative way to play an FPS (like the new Bulletstorm), it's more of a matter of gamers requesting such games like side-scrolling beat em' up fighters and platformers
Outside of the music sim genre, FPS games are one of the more recent genres of games that have been added to the video gaming industry...platformers have been around forever, beat em' ups have been around for quite a while too...there are very few, if any, that come up with something new and innovative to bring in new gamers or bring old gamers back to that genre...the majority of the gaming populace want one, some, or all these 3 things in their games: online gameplay, replay value,
and excitement in the form of new and innovative gameplay
As for other companies taking a note from Nintendo...Nintendo didn't even actually make all those games: Pokemon (while licensed, created by Game Freak), Tetris (another licensed by Nintendo, but not actually created by)...Zelda and Mario are definitely there's though...and while the Wii was very innovative and picked up a number of new "gamers", the more serious gamers (like myself) don't really take the Wii seriously...and the biggest reason that it was able to pick up on sales on the other two systems of the same generation was pricing
Music...*sigh*, there are alot of games with good music or awesome music, most games these days are even going as far as having musical scores and composition created just for the games themselves, or getting known artists and musicians to contribute music to the games themselves
Here's a question: outside of Goldeneye, how many FPS have you actually played? I mean, I'm not a big fan of the genre myself, but I do give it respect, because it has created some pretty good games out there, and other games that have spun off from the genre: Halo series (while I hate, I will admit it has a pretty decent story), Resistance series, Unreal series, Bulletstorm, Killzone series, Gears of War series, Mirror's Edge (spin-off)...and those are just the recent ones, there are still others that I failed to mention...and yes, there are alot of FPS's based off actual combat of today where the plot campaign sux gorilla nutz, but they are focused more on the online play than the campaign...you asked what do FPS's have, they have gamers wanting to play them, and 3-D graphics (something many gamers want)
I'll conclude with this...video game companies are definitely bandwagoners when it comes to video game genres, however, they have to be...otherwise, they would go belly-up trying to make games that may or may not catch on...for example; Capcom, while being one of the best known names in video game development, hasn't actually had a really good title for a pretty long while before MvC3; sure, the Devil May Cry series and Okami got known, but neither really pick up as much as they would've hoped...Namco pretty much seems as though it's run out of ideas...the Ridge Racer series has all but faded into obscurity for titles like: Gran Turismo (realism and graphics), Need for Speed (well known), and Midnight Club (innovative customizing of vehicles)...Tekken is still trying to hang in there, but the fighting game genre is starting to fade a bit a well...there is plenty of ingenuity and creativity in games today, and while there are alot of FPS games out there...it still doesn't compete with the amount of games that tanked that were side-scrolling platformers and beat em' ups...the days of: Streets of Rage, Final Fight, Double Dragon, and Bad Dudes are over...the majority of gamers are tired of the 2-D scrolling, and trying to throw 3-D graphics onto a 2-D scrolling map just doesn't cut it with today's gamer, that only works for fighting games, and even then unless there is some kind of online gameplay involved, that doesn't cut it anymore either...you do have some games that kind of give you the feel of the "side-scrolling beat em' ups" though: Assassin's Creed, Shenmue, Dynasty Warriors, Sengoku, Batman: Arkham series, Star Wars:Force Unleashed series...there are tons of other games out there, they just don't get the advertising that other games, like FPS's, do. Gaming companies are always trying to go for what the gamers are asking for, and right now, gamers are asking for online gameplay with or against other gamers, because not only will that add replay value, it will also mean the game doesn't really go the same way as it did before...that is harder to account for with certain genres...there really hasn't been an increase on the FPS genre, it's just that now more of them are starting to get the spotlight comparitvely to other games in other genres
MMORPG's aren't necessarily doing all that well, WOW is the only one that you pay for that is getting any kind of real play...most of the others have their runs for a while, and then just drop off, with maybe 10% of the playing populace continuing to play after the inital run...video game companies are going where the money is mostly, that's why you have so many games these days trying to incorporate some kind of online competition...NFS:HP, MvC3, any sports franchise series, Dynasty Warriors...it's not really a matter of a lack of creativity and ingenuity for FPS's, because there are quite a few of them with involved stories and there are some even with a creative way to play an FPS (like the new Bulletstorm), it's more of a matter of gamers requesting such games like side-scrolling beat em' up fighters and platformers
Outside of the music sim genre, FPS games are one of the more recent genres of games that have been added to the video gaming industry...platformers have been around forever, beat em' ups have been around for quite a while too...there are very few, if any, that come up with something new and innovative to bring in new gamers or bring old gamers back to that genre...the majority of the gaming populace want one, some, or all these 3 things in their games: online gameplay, replay value,
and excitement in the form of new and innovative gameplay
As for other companies taking a note from Nintendo...Nintendo didn't even actually make all those games: Pokemon (while licensed, created by Game Freak), Tetris (another licensed by Nintendo, but not actually created by)...Zelda and Mario are definitely there's though...and while the Wii was very innovative and picked up a number of new "gamers", the more serious gamers (like myself) don't really take the Wii seriously...and the biggest reason that it was able to pick up on sales on the other two systems of the same generation was pricing
Music...*sigh*, there are alot of games with good music or awesome music, most games these days are even going as far as having musical scores and composition created just for the games themselves, or getting known artists and musicians to contribute music to the games themselves
Here's a question: outside of Goldeneye, how many FPS have you actually played? I mean, I'm not a big fan of the genre myself, but I do give it respect, because it has created some pretty good games out there, and other games that have spun off from the genre: Halo series (while I hate, I will admit it has a pretty decent story), Resistance series, Unreal series, Bulletstorm, Killzone series, Gears of War series, Mirror's Edge (spin-off)...and those are just the recent ones, there are still others that I failed to mention...and yes, there are alot of FPS's based off actual combat of today where the plot campaign sux gorilla nutz, but they are focused more on the online play than the campaign...you asked what do FPS's have, they have gamers wanting to play them, and 3-D graphics (something many gamers want)
I'll conclude with this...video game companies are definitely bandwagoners when it comes to video game genres, however, they have to be...otherwise, they would go belly-up trying to make games that may or may not catch on...for example; Capcom, while being one of the best known names in video game development, hasn't actually had a really good title for a pretty long while before MvC3; sure, the Devil May Cry series and Okami got known, but neither really pick up as much as they would've hoped...Namco pretty much seems as though it's run out of ideas...the Ridge Racer series has all but faded into obscurity for titles like: Gran Turismo (realism and graphics), Need for Speed (well known), and Midnight Club (innovative customizing of vehicles)...Tekken is still trying to hang in there, but the fighting game genre is starting to fade a bit a well...there is plenty of ingenuity and creativity in games today, and while there are alot of FPS games out there...it still doesn't compete with the amount of games that tanked that were side-scrolling platformers and beat em' ups...the days of: Streets of Rage, Final Fight, Double Dragon, and Bad Dudes are over...the majority of gamers are tired of the 2-D scrolling, and trying to throw 3-D graphics onto a 2-D scrolling map just doesn't cut it with today's gamer, that only works for fighting games, and even then unless there is some kind of online gameplay involved, that doesn't cut it anymore either...you do have some games that kind of give you the feel of the "side-scrolling beat em' ups" though: Assassin's Creed, Shenmue, Dynasty Warriors, Sengoku, Batman: Arkham series, Star Wars:Force Unleashed series...there are tons of other games out there, they just don't get the advertising that other games, like FPS's, do. Gaming companies are always trying to go for what the gamers are asking for, and right now, gamers are asking for online gameplay with or against other gamers, because not only will that add replay value, it will also mean the game doesn't really go the same way as it did before...that is harder to account for with certain genres...there really hasn't been an increase on the FPS genre, it's just that now more of them are starting to get the spotlight comparitvely to other games in other genres
I think if developers want to make more First Person Shooters, then they have every right. If there's a demand for more FPS games, then of course companies are going to take that route. Is that really a bad thing? I'm not sure. I feel it's a company's right to do whatever they want, but I also see how people could feel it drags down the industry as a whole. The points I hear most are "companies pushing out mediocre titles just to try to make money because it's an FPS, creating a stagnant environment in the industry, 'dumbing down' the FPS genre as a whole"... I could go on and on. I don't necessarily believe any or all of these things are happening to the industry because there's supposedly an increase in the number of FPS games, but that's simply because my view of the gaming industry is probably far too limited to have a solid (professional?) grasp on how an increase in FPS titles would affect the industry.
I think the number of non-FPS games being produced is perfectly fine - there are countless developers who create non-FPS titles, and there are many successful non-FPS games even today. I don't think companies are afraid to do something that isn't an FPS. There's just no reason to be.
As far as the FPS genre having "none of that" in regard to music, I wholeheartedly disagree. Setting aside the fact musical taste varies drastically from person to person and whether a game's music is "good" or not is purely opinion, I think every FPS I've played has had some pretty amazing music, even if it was only atmospheric. The Doom series would be the best example I could give for FPS games with "good" music. Doom and Doom II used tracks that set the mood for the level. Some tracks got your adrenaline pumping and readied you for the onslaught ahead. Some even instilled fear and anxiety into the player, making them not want to open that door, or turn that corner (I'd suggest looking up the track E2M4 "They're Going to Get You" for a good example). Instead of using actual songs in the background of a level, Doom 3 used sounds to create a thick, believable atmosphere in the levels. I think, with a lot of FPS games using this "atmospheric" approach, it's hard to appreciate the amount of thought that goes into the music because it's not exactly catchy or a part of the game that's immediately noticeable.
And, agreeing with what qnetykz said, I think games like id software's Wolfenstein and Doom were really the games that got the FPS genre going, not GoldenEye.
I think the number of non-FPS games being produced is perfectly fine - there are countless developers who create non-FPS titles, and there are many successful non-FPS games even today. I don't think companies are afraid to do something that isn't an FPS. There's just no reason to be.
As far as the FPS genre having "none of that" in regard to music, I wholeheartedly disagree. Setting aside the fact musical taste varies drastically from person to person and whether a game's music is "good" or not is purely opinion, I think every FPS I've played has had some pretty amazing music, even if it was only atmospheric. The Doom series would be the best example I could give for FPS games with "good" music. Doom and Doom II used tracks that set the mood for the level. Some tracks got your adrenaline pumping and readied you for the onslaught ahead. Some even instilled fear and anxiety into the player, making them not want to open that door, or turn that corner (I'd suggest looking up the track E2M4 "They're Going to Get You" for a good example). Instead of using actual songs in the background of a level, Doom 3 used sounds to create a thick, believable atmosphere in the levels. I think, with a lot of FPS games using this "atmospheric" approach, it's hard to appreciate the amount of thought that goes into the music because it's not exactly catchy or a part of the game that's immediately noticeable.
And, agreeing with what qnetykz said, I think games like id software's Wolfenstein and Doom were really the games that got the FPS genre going, not GoldenEye.
Are you kidding me? We need more first-person shooters to train our brave young men and women who are going to serve in Irack and kill Sodom Husane
