We are in that time of year which traditionally gives gamers a break. A break from the seemingly endless stream of high-profile, triple-A titles from the industry’s biggest publishers. Many use this time to catch up on their backlogs, like our friends over at SideQuesting. Others, whom I can only guess are younger gamers with a lot of free time on their hands, don’t really know what to play during this slow period. Maybe they use this time to get even better at [insert popular FPS here]?

It has given me a chance to take a step back and reflect on my habits as a gamer and how they relate to the industry as a whole. Video games have become increasingly disposable as entertainment. As soon as you finish one title (or more often than not, before you even get a chance to really dig into the game you just purchased), there are ten more waiting on the shelves vying for your hard earned cash.

Media coverage is all around us as citizens of the internet. The big gaming blogs generally can’t linger on any one title because they work in a medium that is only rewarded when things are kept fresh on their home page. That isn’t a dig at what they do, it is just the nature of the beast. Core gamers are more than happy to jump from game to game every week. I find this odd considering the cost of new games has been in the $35 to $60 range this entire console generation, and those price points are driven even higher with special editions.

One of our own Contributing Editors, Michelle, recently wrote an article for Pioneer Project with the title, “Play What You Feel Like“. Those five simple words really struck a chord with me personally.

What I love about video games has absolutely nothing to do with the next iteration of Popular Annual Franchise. Trying to play every high profile game, even for a single platform, is nearly impossible for your average gamer. I’ll leave that to the big outlets that get review copies of every game and have enough staff to adequately cover them.

Really, what I want out of my games are fun experiences. The kind of things that you excitedly told your friends about on the playground in elementary school. I have been fortunate enough to have that experience on occasion in my adult life while playing through Fallout 3 and New Vegas around the same time as a few of my co-workers, but it is increasingly rare.

It is one of the core reasons I started up my “Tales from the Backlog” series. There are so many great games that I’ve never had a chance to finish that I’m increasingly having trouble justifying new purchases.

The other side of the coin is that, as a gamer, there can be an incredible draw to be in on the new releases. Listening to gaming podcasts and reading my favorite blogs does start up that new game itch from time to time. But I have found the best way around that is to just be patient. These days, it doesn’t take long before that $60 game becomes a $40 game. I’m not talking about used sales either. There is a surprising trend with modern games of sudden and drastic price drops. I can only assume this is directly related to the disposability that has become synonymous with the industry.

This may sound like the rantings of a crotchety old man, but I bring it up because it makes me worry about the game industry as a whole. Video games are my favorite form of entertainment, and I want to see them improving and innovating throughout my lifetime. What I see more and more is a churning out of yearly franchises and quick cash-ins.

When a game is finished, it is more and more common to hear about studio closures and mass layoffs, even when a game ends up with long tail success. Anything below a review score of 8 or equivalent is seen as a failure, which is incredibly silly. Some of the games you hear people talk about for years aren’t perfect games. They are the ones that tried to do something different. How often do you hear anyone discuss a Madden game that isn’t the most currently released version?

It is sad to see this console generation treated as disposable by such a large segment of gamers. It makes me wonder; will kids playing games now remember the games of today as fondly as my generation does of the 8 and 16-bit eras? Are there going to be those as passionate about preserving the history of today’s games as say, the guys over at The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment?

I certainly hope so. I am sure for developers, disposability is the farthest thing from their minds when designing games. I can only imagine that this development is heartbreaking for them.

"Mario Tractors"

On a very special tenth episode of “Barrel Roll! – A Video Game Podcast”, we are once again joined by our good friend Wesley Johnson from InsulinFunk.net

We are also having a contest, the details of which are found at the end of the episode. More info is located after the break.

What we’ve been playing this week includes “Dragon Quest 4″, “Scene It? Box Office Smash!”, “HAWX”, the Wipeout HD patch, The Pitt (Fallout 3) and more.

Our NEWS section is very Wii focused, with discussion of the Wii Motion Plus on Virtua Tennis, Giga Mac in the new Punch-Out! and Konami’s new Wii-Ware racing game.

In “Let’s Talk About Stuff”, Patapon 2 and the future of the disc-less game system is pondered. Jesse also relates his experience at Sakuracon.

Finally, in “Movie Time”, several of us subjected ourselves to “Dragonball: Evolution”.

Download

RSS

iTunes

Show Links:
Jesse’s Sakuracon Pics
That Sakuracon Commercial
Insulin Funk Interview with Kieron Gillon
Space Quest Retrospective Outline

GIVEAWAY!

We put together a bunch of stuff we picked up from Emerald City ComiCon, including some posters, comics, pins, and more! At the end of episode 10, we tell you what to post in the comments section of this post. We will randomly pick a winner from all those that correctly post in regards to the contest in the comment section below. One entry per person, please.

Questions? Email us at podcast [at] wingdamage.com.

"Word"

On a very special third episode of “Barrel Roll!”, we are joined by the internet’s own Wesley Johnson of InsulinFunk.net, as well as the JPAG.

We get into what we’ve been playing, where we discuss the Fallout DLC “Operation Anchorage”, Jesse tries his darnedest to explain just what the heck “Noby Noby Boy” is all about, Luke has been playing through “Rogue Galaxy”, and Wesley talks about “50 Cent, Blood on the Sand.”

With the news of Lost Planet 2, we reminisce about what it was we liked about the original, and where they could improve. We also go over Nintendo’s big list of upcoming games.

After the break we share our thoughts on “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li” and then kick it old-school with the NES games “Power Blade” and “King’s Knight.”

Download

RSS

iTunes