Well, it's December again and that time of year for love, compassion, good will towards men, and Top 10s that reminds us how good things can be.
Over the last couple of years I have heard a certain phrase get passed around the gaming community, "video games are not what they used to be." While that may be true in some cases, in others this is the best time to be a gamer.
Sometimes we focus more on what we had instead of what we have and that is the case. Nostalgia can blind us to what we believe to be good and ignore what is good now. So, here is 10 things that we take for granted today. These are the top 10 good things about modern gaming.
#10- DLC
Before everyone attacks me in the comments, let me explain. While I do acknowledge companies like EA and Capcom abuse DLC and treat it like the greedy companies they are, others can use DLC for good. Things that can add play-ability and optional items for a more personal experience. Fallout 3's Mothership Zeta is a good example, adding aliens to a world that is post-apocalypse gives the game a deeper science fiction feel and is a completely optional part of the game. This builds on the gaming experience and gives a reason to go back and replay a game you may have already beaten. Can it be abused? Yes, it can. Is it bad? No. As long as it isn't abused and forced on you, it is a fine way to expand a game.
#9- Indie Company Support
In the old days, it was hard for an indie company to stand out above others. Now, we are seeing Indie game be a huge part in gaming today. In fact, some of the most popular games right now are indie games. Games like Undertale, Stardew Valley, Five Nights at Freddy's, and Gangbeast wouldn't exist today if it wasn't for the support Indie developers get today. I may not be a PC gamer, but I still have a deep appreciation for what indie games mean for the world of gaming.
#8- Revived Classics
If anyone wants to play classic games, you can still do it. Not only do we have used game stores around that still have classic games available for purchase, but you can download them onto your modern consoles. You want an old Zelda, Mario, Final Fantasy? You can find it. This is something that makes it easier to find old games you may have forgotten and can revisit. It may be hard to find some games, but it is easier now than it ever has been.
#7- Visuals and Graphics
You can not tell me that games looked better 10 years ago than they do today. Old day visuals in the early generations of games can actually hurt your eyes and be really distracting from the games. Angry Video Game Nerd makes fun of game visual before actually talking about the game play. Video Games today can be a visual art style by themselves today. Games like The Last of Us, Bioshock, and the recent Final Fantasy XV are just a couple examples of beautiful games. Not only realistic looking games, but also cartoon and anime style looks also exist in games. 2D games have never looked as good as they do today. It may not be the most important part of gaming, but it does help to be able to look at you game.
#6- Console Options
Let's go back in time to where the arcades all had big consoles that only had one game. you put in a quarter and was able to play until game over, then you had to put in another quarter. Fast forward to home consoles and we had the Atari 2600 and the Commodore 64. Neither one really stood out from one another and it didn't matter too much which one you had since games back then were limited by the technology. Now let's jump forward to the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was the console that revolutionized gaming, but didn't have much competition. SNES and Sega Genesis are what happened next and that is where it all started for Console Options. Something about that has carried over to every generation after that one. Today, the options for consoles are huge and they all have exclusive games. Not only that, but PCs have become a bigger thing in gaming and they even make them for gaming now. PlayStation has The Last of Us and The Last Guardian, Xbox has Gears of War and Halo, Nintendo is still around with Mario and Legend of Zelda, and PC has Civilizations and Sims. It is a friendly competition between companies, and a cut throat competition among fans.
#5- Online Multiplayer
Now, I don't think it replaces local multiplayer, but I must give respect to the online multiplayer feature. I have friends and family that I don't live close to, and I may want to play with them. I can do that now. I can connect with people I know online and play with them while they are in another state. That is really cool. Do people abuse this too? Yes. You can encounter people you don't know and they can be kind of jerks or the typical 12 year old kid who did something with my mom last night (you know the joke), but if used right, it helps maintain a good relationship with people who don't live close by.
#4- Expansions and Patches
Imagine back in the SNES or N64 days, you got a game that wasn't finished or had a lot of bugs and glitches. That was all you got and you couldn't get the game fixed. Today, if a game had a serious bug or glitch, companies can release a patch that can fix the problem and expand the game to add more content for a game you already paid for. Blizzard is known for this with fixing the Diablo III server issue in a day and later released expansions that made the game even better. This is the perk to gaming today and helps to further the experience to gaming.
#3- Voice Acting
Remember when we would just read text and struggle to understand what they were saying and how names were pronounced. If not, Dorkly did a video about it, look it up on YouTube. Nowadays, we have voice actors that help us understand how names are pronounce and also understand character personalities, and it is actually really good voice acting. Voice actors like Nolan North, Christopher Sabat, and Johnny Young Bosh have all kept up careers by going into Video Games and have proven to make the character even more likable. In fact, the recent Final fantasy XV has some of the best voice acting I have heard in recent memory while the Uncharted games are also praised for there voice acting. It may be seen as a minor thing, but for me, it is another way to be further involved in the game.
#2- Deep Storytelling
Before the SNES, storytelling wasn't a part of gaming. Mario's story was just, "The princess has been kidnapped. Go save her." At least if you didn't read the game manual. Today, the game tells the whole story. It is even deeper now than it has ever been. The Bioshock series has had some of the best storytelling in media and most of the Final Fantasy series is famous for the stories. Even games from the early days like Legend of Zelda have stepped up the storytelling. It is a great time to be a gamer who enjoys a good story at the same time.
#1- Variety
We have the biggest variety of games we have ever seen. Not only among home consoles and PCs, but even mobile games have stepped up from the simple Solitare or Snake. There are Puzzle Games, Fighting Games, Racing Games, 2D platformers, 3D platformers, RPGs, the list goes on and on. Everyone can play a video game nowadays, even Grandma and Grandpa can play video games and have fun. There is something for all ages. It got even bigger when Virtual Reality came into play and formed more ways to play games. I have even expanded myself into trying new types of games and even enjoying a large number of them.It is the best part of modern gaming and the variety is what gets more and more people into gaming.
Are there bad things about modern gaming? Yes, there are, but that shouldn't distract us from the good things as well. In fact, let us use the bad in order to appreciate the good things.
