Lesson learned from the past.... Maybe

Video games have been around for at least 30 years, and yet we still know little of the art of creating a good one. Sure we know features that help, but there is no formula for a good game. The "road" to this current point in the history of video games has been a rather difficult one, with the Great Video game Crash in the 80's, and video games under constant attack since Columbine.

We have gone through multiple controller designs. From complex with consoles like: Colecovision, Intelvision, and Jaguar; to simple with the Atari 2600, NES, and Wii. But which one is better? In my opinion it all mater on the type of gamer you are. If you are a "hard core" gamer then you would be more likely suited to a complex controller. If you are a "casual gamer" you would be more suited to something simple. But is there such thing as a overly complex controller? I would say yes. I think that modern controllers like the ones on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 are pushing it because I have found myself looking down at the controller a few times to figure out were the buttons are, and in my opinion a controller should not be even a worry of a gamer. It should just be "natural".

Now one of the aspects of gaming that is always changing is the complexity of the games resources such as: graphics and sounds. Now while this in and of itself is not a bad thing, I becomes bad when people think that a game must have great recourses. My case in point is the game Roller Coaster Tycoon 3. (I know this game is old but it works well in this situation and I don't like the game too much) The main selling point of the game was it was in full 3d and you could "Ride the rides!" Now if you bought the game only because of that you wouldn't be disappointed, but the game play is nothing near as great as the first two games. Another example is the humble game of Pac-Man. It is one of the most beloved games of all time, but it isn't a graphics "power house". And yet people love this game because its game play is so damn addicting. It seams as though a lot of modern games only care about great resources and nothing else. I say screw that, give me great game play over great resources.

Now the moral of this story is that perhaps there are a few lessons that could be learned from our gaming past. I mean why make the same stupid mistakes that some other guy made!