Seriously, what the hell has happened to this industry? What is the first feeling you think of when you think of video games? The correct answer is of course fun. Video games used to be all about having fun, didn't need to make sense, didn't need to be serious, didn't matter if the game was hard or easy, didn't matter if it had multiplayer or not. It just needed to be fun.



Life as an adult can be very stressful and demanding, we all need an escape. We require some sort of escape pretty much on a daily basis. Everyone has their own thing they escape into, often times multiple things. Some people watch TV, some play music, some create things, others play video games. When I get home from work and/or school and I've had a long day I don't always want to play a gritty realistic looking shooter that is filled to the brim with action and brown landscapes.

I do like playing those types of games as well, but I'd much rather play something more relaxing, or something super over the top. It seems like back in the SNES era games just didn't take themselves all that seriously. People never really demanded a game have multiplayer, we had no online pass system to deal with and original ips had a chance at surviving. People played games to have fun. I believe people still play games to have fun but that they're looking for slightly different experiences. The most popular of those seeming to be the one where they are a big manly man and shoot all the things.

I recently played through Gears of War 3 with a friend, we had a lot of fun, but I found the story and characters to be kind of generic and boring, not to mention stupid. We blasted through the game and had our laughs and had our fun but when I was done all I wanted was some color and freedom. This is why I love games like Minecraft and Katamari. They aren't linear brown wastelands filled with enemies, they're about fun and freedom, and while they may not have the best graphics they're still pleasant to look at.


(image taken from Games Radar)

Why are we as gamers so serious now? Is it because we don't feel that we're being taken seriously? Do we have such a desire to be considered an art form that we are trying to copy film? Video games aren't films, they never will be. I think we all need to understand and accept that. They aren't films for a reason, it just doesn't work the same. It's fine to have an action packed, cinematic feeling game but do we really need so many? I of course realize that most of this is controlled by the publishers and the people pulling the strings behind the industry, but if we just bought less of all the generic brown games and more of the fun original colorful games, maybe we'd see more of them.

The future is looking bright though. We have Saints Row The Third on it's way to being released, and if you haven't been following it just know that it is exactly what I think video games need. It is completely over the top, makes no apologies, doesn't take itself seriously and is just plain ridiculous. It has a good amount of hype behind it and is being marketed well, so hopefully you all will buy it and we can start seeing some more games that are more about having fun and less about playing a movie we've all already seen.


(See, now doesn't that look nice?)