If you were to look at the current demographic of gamers today, you'd be quick to see that they range anywhere from 2 to anywhere in the 40's and above. Let's face it, a great many of us have grown up, and many new gamers are riding in our wake. For the those of us in our late 20's and older, we still remember the old Atari games; Pong,Pac Man and Frogger, to name a few.
We see games like Mondern Warfare 3 on the horizon and collectively sigh, because to a great many of us, it's just more recycled garbage in an over saturated genre and so on. So then you can't help but ask, what happened to quality games? When did games become about absurd violence and pretty graphics? The world of gaming is no longer run by a few guys with incredible creativity looking to create something they thought to be genuinely fun, but a multi-billion dollar business run by guys (and girls) who aren't simply trying to make something fun and engaging, but are also trying to feed their business as well.
And like any good business, money needs to be made. Developers want their creative freedom, and publishers want their money. The two may seem at odds with each other, but they are the perfect blend of creativity and know how. The developer knows how to make games and the publisher knows how to make money. They are not mutually exclusive. while some may believe that the two are odds with each other, they're really not. A good team will know what their limitations are and work within the parameters set by their publisher. The publisher in kind will be realistic about the guidelines they set and ensure they have as much freedom as possible to produce a top notch game. This is especially true for developers with tried and true track records over the years.
While a few gems do exist in this day and age. Games like Shadow of the Colossus, the Uncharted series, Enslaved have set a measurable bar for what we can do with games today, but games like Modern Warfare or any super hero game today, minus Arkum Asylum, may not be the best games in the world, but there's no denying they're huge. The playerbase is large, and so long as the demand exists, those supposedly crappy games will keep coming and raking in huge sums of money. While this may lead to more bad games, it also means money will exist for those good ones and reall what constitutes a good game really lies with the individual player.
I personally have nothing against Modern Warfare, I just simply prefer other FPS's over it. My preferences will obviously differ from others, which is especially true among myself and my friends, but in the end we're all out to do the same thing; lose money and get a worthwhile game out of it. So the next time you see a game another crappy game hit the shelf, don't grumble to yourself and what kind of drugs led to its creation, but rather, look at that long list of games you've had your eye on or still enjoy today, and remember this is what makes it all worth it.
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