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Steam's new "golden age" is special because so many genres are popping off at once, indie expert says: "It's almost like the player base was drinking and their inhibitions lowered" (www.gamesradar.com)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca
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Friendslop is just the tip of the iceberg, and also a chunk of the iceberg

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[–] 97 points 7 months ago (14 children)

They’re calling us drunk instead of saying AAA titles have been a garbage money grab that almost always fail to launch, torture developers, and are filled with bloatware slop? Ok, games radar.

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  • [–] 36 points 7 months ago (9 children)

    You will pay $70 for half a game that will be unplayable in 6 months, let us root kit your PC, and spend another $60 in Family Guy skins. Our shareholders demand it.

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  • [–] 9 points 7 months ago* (8 children)

    Jank is alright, as pointed out:

    "This is why I love PC gaming," Zukowski says. "There's just more acceptance of jank." Whereas consoles, with their stricter approvals and more cumbersome patch pipelines, have "so much cert to go through."

    But:

    “Big publishers charging $70 or $80 might find PC gamers less tolerant of jank.”

    That, and mtx spam and being boring.

    Like, I can look past a junky storefront if the game is sublimely written. I might run some anticheat. But AAAAs seem hell bent on achieving that miserable trifecta, and charging for it. I think the combination is more poisonous than the individual ingredients.

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  • [–] 6 points 7 months ago (6 children)

    Maybe I'm being too simplistic, but I just think too much money ruins art. The budget gets too big and the stakes are too high, now it has to make a humongous profit. Now you're more focused on that than your creative. It's like clockwork, money just ruins shit.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    too much money ruins art.

    As soon as the losses look scary or an investor throws a money bag around, its a race the bottom. Same way most movies are broad market idiot slop. Creativity is risk.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    That's what I like about creativity!

    Sorry, it's exciting to realise this all of a sudden.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    It depends.

    There’s a case for some high budget projects, but yes, there’s always a point where a bigger budget starts to hurt.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago

    I mean sure, some people happen to be Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In a way art is the study of choice though, and the size of budget you're willing to take on is certainly an important choice.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago

    I'm tolerant of jank if the game is well-structured or made by a small team. It doesn't mean it has to be cheaper, but the price really helps and shows how greedy those big AAA titles are.

    Some AAAs fill the game with functionalities or characteristics. It creates intricate stories supposed to please everyone. Gaming is becoming a culture asset.

    I feel the same way about indie books. The "AAA" books tell stories about worlds that I really don't care about. It doesn't matter how much money you put into it, they were just not made for me.

    Indie titles (and books) fill this gap. I feel welcomed by some games and this matters more than any attention-locking they could put into their games for gameplay, or stories they construct.

    Books (and therefore stories) are Supposed to reach just some people. How the heck could you create a story that satisfies everyone? It just doesn't happen. It's culture.

    As an article that was published here on Lemmy talks: "When you read a book, you're conspiring with the author" for a reality. So it is with some videogames. And as I said, videogames are becoming culturally relevant, so all the big companies got their claws on it, you can't expect it to be untainted.

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  • [–] 20 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    We're getting absolutely housed on indie media. Blackout and turnt on the arts. I just bought a cozy QWOP intervention simulator because I have a problem.

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