Where are the NEW games?

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Where the hell are even the remakes of classic games? Maybe it's just me but my memories of the 80's and 90's were of buying a new game nearly every month - and they were all different kinds of games. Arcade side-scrollers, strategy games, tactical wargames, flight simulation games, adventure games... Right now I'm so bored of having played the same freaking games for the last 5 years that I'm playing Roller Coaster Tycoon and Torchlight. I'm playing a little bit of CivII while waiting without a lot of hope for CivV (as in I haven't cared for Civ III or IV.) I've played all the WoW I care to and cancelled that account last year. I MIGHT still be playing City of Heroes but they f'd up thier own in-game community with the "Architect" update and I cancelled that account months ago.

I'd pay serious money for a decent - reasonably FAITHFUL - remake of Xcom. Hell, I'm playing the ORIGINAL on Steam. I'd kill to be able to play Descent/Descent2 again (tried but can't get it to work with a USB joystick from THIS century). I'd even play Panzer General. Not WELL but I enjoyed it anyway.

Sigh. It just seems like I'm waiting months - even years for new games that want to be the next industry-dominating blockbuster that end up being nothing NEW or uninteresting enough to get removed from my hard drive within a week after hardly being played.

Sigh x 2. Right now I feel like it'll be more fun and interesting to go do YARD WORK outside than to drudge through trying to scrape up a game worth playing. It probably is just me.

 

[SKyOdin]

From your examples, it sounds like you are a PC-gamer. The problem you may be facing is that PC gaming isn't very healthy right now. Most major developers and publishers are focusing their primary efforts on consoles these days, with PC gaming a distant after-thought. Unfortunately for PC gamers, this situation isn't likely to change in the near future.

As primarily a console gamer, I have been swimming in games for the last several years. Of course, my tastes are probably very different from yours, so the games I like might not appeal to you.

 

[Felon]

I'm glad I'm not the only person who found the OP to be leaving out some vital details in terms of what platform or genre we're talking about.

Strategy games have a real problem. Every developer today wants to appeal to some hypothetical "mainstream" gamer. They figure they should try to get all of the guys playing Modern Warfare or Halo. So they try to "streamline" their games by stripping away intricacy. After years of hype Spore wound up going from offering the most meticulous level of detail of any game in the universe to being purely kiddie fare. And instead of a real Civ game, we got Civilization Revolutions.

Fans of D&D edition wars should be able to uncover some analogues there.

X-Com was probably the most fun I've ever had on a PC. But I shudder to think what would be made of it today. Even in 1997, they were trying to make a push into real-time.

But strategy games aside, it's a veritable cornucopia of games. This is the year we finally managed to snap the 4Q stranglehold, with everyone trying to release all their AAA titles within the same six weeks. Now, it's almost once a month.

 

[Redrobes]

Where are the NEW games?

There not there cos noone is making them anymore. And thats because after spending a truckload of wedge in programmers and artist time, production, pressing and distribution, its hacked in 24h and torrented.

If its on a console and somewhat protected from mass torrenting then you have to pay big corp extortion so that its not worth doing small time games if they would be released with only a modest price reduction compared to big titles. Noone would buy them.

Now lest just be clear here: We've collectively chosen this.

 

[renau1g]

Well....steam is pretty good, not sure if there are cracks/ways around Valve's stuff (I'm sure there is, but not sure how good it is). For any system there are ways to get free stuff. Heck, my brother had a HD on his old xbox and installed games right onto it. Sega Saturn you could download the games IIRC.

I find that so many of today's games are let downs, especially as I fondly recall and revisit my old 90's PC games, BG2, Xcom, Civ 2, Fallout 1 & 2, that I can't help but feel apathetic towards VG's. I play a lot of Left 4 Dead 2 right now as I love killing zombies and enjoy sneaking in the 20 minutes it takes to play a map or 2.

It's funny to me that new RPG's are really just other genres with RPG elements, like say Mass Effect. It is a shooter with RPG elements and a really good story. Don't get me wrong I really enjoyed the first one (but don't have the time now for the 2nd) as well as KOTOR, but they've strayed pretty far from traditional RPGs.

 

[John Crichton]

Between all my PC & console games I could not buy anything new for 5 years and still have plenty of games to keep me going. I haven't even cracked the plastic on a few of them!

With the exception of a couple genres there is plenty to be found on the PC & consoles that is damn entertaining. The RPG genre, for example, is teeming with new games and older games that are getting some new polish.

 

[SKyOdin]

If its on a console and somewhat protected from mass torrenting then you have to pay big corp extortion so that its not worth doing small time games if they would be released with only a modest price reduction compared to big titles. Noone would buy them.

Well, to be fair, with WiiWare, PlayStation Network, and XBox Live Arcade, there is room for a lot of smaller games in the digital distribution market. I think a lot of smaller titles have moved to the iPhone market as well.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Whats wrong with...

Bioshock
Fallout 3
Geometry Wars
Assassins Creed (2 is much better than 1)
Overlord
Rock Band/Guitar Hero
Sam & Max
PuzzleQuest

There are plenty of new(er) games out that are fun. I am not quite sure exactly what you are looking for.

DS

 

[Felon]

People are tired of being on a never-ending upgrade treadmill. My four-year-old PC can't even be upgraded, since it lacks PCI Express and a SATA drive controller. So, if I want a decent gaming rig, I gotta decide to sink a minimum $1200 on that investment, and know in doing so that in a couple of years it will be an outmoded piece of junk. Or I can pay about $3000 for a sweet Alienware/Maingear/Falcon NW PC that will stave off miserable obsolesence by another year. Mind you, everything else I do with a computer doesn't take more than a $500 PC can offer.

So, console it is.

 

[Welverin]

I haven't even cracked the plastic on a few of them!

Ryan?