(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The vast majority of gamers here are far too young to remember the video game crash of '83. Hell, even I'm to young to remember it, 1983 was almost 29 years ago after all... but like with many areas of human existance, history is repeating itself.

The video game crash of '83 was an important time in the industry, one that drastically changed the way video games where made, marketted and changed who the power players where in the industry. Here's a brief history lesson for people...

Video games in the home really hit mid 1970's with a multitude of pong consoles and the Magnavox Odyssey which many claim was the first true games console. Personally I disqualify it as a games console as many of it's games where really board games played with a TV screen, they included cards, dice, and some even had boards and counters. Still most call this and the pong consoles of the time the first generation of video games.

The second generation of games consoles where in the late 1970's, with the most well know console being the Atari 2600 in 1977 in USA, and 1978 here in Europe. The Atari 2600 was by far the most popular console at the time in USA, but there where loads of other consoles released around the same time. The Odyssey 2, Intellevision and Fairchild Channel F where all released in the late 70's in USA, although none would see a worldwide release until 1982. PC gaming started up in the UK with the Acorn Atom in 1980 although the old Apple II computers from 1977 could play some games. These where later followed by the Commodore VIC-20, BBC Micro, and Sinclair ZX81 in 1981. Games such as the first Ultima game started to push gaming beyond just arcade games. In 1982 the number of consoles skyrocketted with the Vectrex, Colecovision, Atari 5200, Coleco Gemini, Balley Astrocade, Sega SG-1000 and Emerson Arcadia. There where also two new personal computers the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64. Compare that to todays market, we have 5 consoles including handhelds... PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PSP and Nintendo DS. As well as that we have PC and Mac. In 1982 there where 11 consoles and 7 major brands of personal computer. By the end of 1983 both Intellevision and Colecovision had add-ons that would let them play Atari 2600 games, Atari tried to sue for copyright but lost. 1983 also saw the Adam PC and Aqaurius Home Computer released.

This was the first cause of the video game crash of 1983. USA especially was bogged down. It had so many different consoles and computers that it simply couldn't survive as an industry. This wasn't helped by the fact that there where literally hundreds of games being made and released every week. There wasn't enough shelf space in shops for them to store up to date libraries of games, a variety of games, and games for every system and in the end many shops lost patience with video games entirely. But the worst strike was for the Atari 2600. It was the most popular console by a far margin and as it's games where compatable with the Coleco Gemini (which was basically an Atari 2600 clone with different controllers), the Atari 5200, and the Intellevision and ColecoVision with there expansions, so the games where easily the most popular. When Pac-Man, the most popular arcade game at the time; and ET, a massive blockbuster movie at the time; where both released for the console people went nuts for them. Both games where TERRIBLE! They where genuinely bad games and they sold poorly. People even sent the games back to Atari demanding a refund. In the end Atari was so damaged that their company downsized considerably. The millions of unsold cartriages, mostly of ET, where burried in a massive landfill in Nevada.

This crash effected pretty much all consoles. Americans gave up on gaming and the early 1980's kids instead got obsessed with music as the music cassette industry grew and the cinema saw increased use. It was an ecconomic boom at the time, so home entertainment stopped being as needed, as people would go out instead. Outside of USA the console industry was growing in Japan where the Sega SG-1000 was becoming popular and the Arcade was becoming a big pastime. Nintendo released the Famicom just in time for Christmas 1983 but overheating was an issue and it was recalled and redesigned with a new motherboard, lucky for Nintendo this wasn't a big issue and the company managed to recover. In Europe little changed. Consoles never really caught on over here, with PC gaming being much prefered, as the PC companies also made business PCs they found themselves largely immune to the gaming crash, unfortunately gaming didn't seem as important to these companies anymore so they focused on making their computers into better computers over the next decade rather than better games platforms.

So that's the history lesson over. That's pretty much how the crash went down... it was confusion due to too many consoles and games, consoles/computers that where too expensive, big law suits, and games that where of very poor quality.

Look at today. We have confusion with the consoles. Everything seems unfocused with both the PS3 and Xbox 360 trying desperately to push their failed motion control crap on people. The Wii being the only really successful console financially has more shovel-ware than ever and even experienced gamers dismiss it due to not knowing about it's more hardcore titles (yes, it does actually have some), it's almost as though Nintendo are embarrassed about them. The few innovative games on the Wii like 'The Last Story', 'Pandora's Tower' and 'Fatal Frame IV' took literal protests to get a release outside of Japan and even then they're still refusing to release them in USA, and the English releases are simply "planned 2012" despite them being 2009 games... When it comes to handhelds both the PS Vita and the Nintendo 3DS have been commercial bombs selling far less than anyone could have imagined. The PSP is currently outselling them, yes I'm dead serious. Movie tie-in games and quick cash cow games seem to be the only games produced and games are routinely being made shorter, often as short as 4 hours long for a full price AAA game. Online passcodes and day one DLC try to gouge yet more money out of the consumers, and incomplete games with micro-payments for additional levels, weapons, characters etc. ofter work out to over $100. Games are frequently released incomplete and then newer versions are released only months later (Mavel vs. Capcom anyone?), and DRM measures are forcing PC gamers to install invasive monitoring programs just to play their games. At the same time that this is happening, all major games companies where in SUPPORT of bills like SOPA, PIPA and ACTA to try and weed out their competition and control the media. Does anyone else see another impending crash.

Everyone I know now spends more time playing small indie games, mobile phone games, retro gaming or facebook games than they do the AAA titles currently out. Games like Super Meat Boy, Minecraft, Dungeons Of Dredmor, Angry Birds and World Of Goo seem to be the norm now, with only one or two games jumping out of the crowd. In all honesty, with the exception of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, I can't think of a single high profile game that people where really excited about. I was quite looking forward to Deus Ex: Human Revolution myself but the internet as a whole barely gave it a second thought, and that's Deus Ex, it's pretty much the PC gamers cocaine... well that and Half-Life.

I personally think we're going to see a big change over the next few years. A retro-revival is coming as cheap games similar to the 16-bit and 32-bit games of the SNES, Mega Drive and original PSOne become the norm, released on Xbox Live Arcade, Steam, iOS/Android App Store, WiiWare Virtual Console, The Playstation Network and even though Facebook. AAA titles will loose funding unless it's an obvious money cow like Gears Of War, Call Of Duty etc. because a cavalcade of stupid kids will all pay rediculous amounts to play yet another game of cyber-paintball with a few new maps. The RPG, Strategy and Adventure genres will die off... but don't panic, they will be back. Like a phoenix raising from the ashes, gaming will make a comeback. Gaming will live on through indie developers and pioneers who will reform it into something new... I hope... because if it doesn't, gaming goes the way of the comic book, an obscure niché hobby aimed largely at children. Oh and yes, I mean Call Of Duty in that. Call Of Duty is a kids game, as much as it's players don't want it to be. It's just a more sophisticated way for 12 year olds to pretend to shoot eachother than running around the park with bits of tree branch shouting "BANG" at eachother.

So. What do people think. Do they agree? Disagree?
Do you think, I'm on to something and that gaming is due for a major upheaval or do you think I'm just being paranoid? I'd love to hear other peoples take on this.

Yeah, I know Call Of Duty gets a lot of somewhat undeserved bile from me. Call Of Duty is actually a pretty good series, although until I came to NGU, I wasn't even prepared to give it a chance. Most gamers over about 20 years old feel the same as I did. I'm not saying CoD is to blame for the upcomming crash I foresee, but it's a contributing factor because of the way companies and players reacted to it.

Yes , Exactly. I blame Activision, They will destroy any Franchise just like they did Rock Band.

Indeed. In fact, I see bleak times ahead for Activision. 71% of their profits are in Guitar Hero, World Of Warcraft and Call Of Duty... Guitar Hero is pretty much dead, World Of Warcraft is seeing masses leaving because of the changes in the recent expansions make it too easy and rather boring, and Call Of Duty is oversaturated. They make too many games with 1 per year, hand it over to random development teams, and milk it too much. We've done the second world war enough. We've done modern middle east combat. And with every dev team and their dog making military FPS most people are just sick of them now. Sure, it's a good series, but everyone already owns it and honestly, money is tight. Are people really going to go and buy another Call Of Duty at $60, and another 3 map packs at $15 each... no, not any more. CoD has been getting lesser reviews since CoD4 because they've stopped trying. Just like with the Tony Hawks and Spiderman franchises before them, Activision are running this into the ground.

The thing is Activision use to be one of the best developers ever. Breaking away from Atari in the early 80's the whole point of Activision was to make quality games rather than shovelware. Ironic really.

In response to your original post I do think you're on to something, developers are only focused only profits and will churn out crap as quick as possible once they can make some money. I can't really comment much on how the gaming scene is going downhill because I'm sixteen and only started gaming on a daily basis when WaW was released.

In response to Activision now making "shovelware" instead of quality games, it's because it's easier to make crap because and sell it people will gobble up brands and familiar games *cough COD*. I suppose they were corrupted by greed because the people in charge don't give a shit about gaming.

The main problem with gaming at the moment is it's unsustainable. The video games industry is now bigger than Hollywood and brings in a staggering amount of money. 'Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3' is the single most successful peice of entertainment media ever made, grossing $1 billion USD in only 16 days beating the current title holder at the time, the movie 'Avatar' which did it in 17 days and beating the last Harry Potter film which also hit $1 billion USD in 17 days. It's sold 24.5 million copies worldwide, and is a massive word record holder due to the speed at which it sold on release (although it's still a long way off being the best selling game ever). All that sound impressive until you look at the budget. It cost $300 Million to make MW3, seriously. Now sure it's made over $700 Million in profits but how many games can keep up with that. $300 Million is rediculous. Compare that with movies, both 'The Dark Knight' and 'Inception' by Christopher Nolan (a director well known for being given near unlimited budgets), cost less than $200 Million. Even Avatar only cost $250 million, and unlike MW3, people kept going to see Avatar after the first 17 days, then they bought the DVD so it ended up grossing almost $3 billion USD.

20 years ago it took 4 months, about $25,000, and a team of about 10-20 people to make a AAA video game. Sure it may only sell between 2 and 5 million copies (that was average for the Mega Drive, SNES etc.), but the games where about $40 each on release (and if you take into account inflation, that means games where more expensive back then). The companies where making a lot more money with a lot less requirements, and new companies could form fairly easily. Some companies could quite literally form from just 1-2 guys coding in their basement. Bungie Studios started like that for example.

It's not easy for a new games companies to start up now as it takes hundreds of people, working for multiple years, costing hundreds of millions just to make a standard modern game. If it wasn't for smaller areas like the DS, the Wii and things like Xbox Live and Steam to allow indie developers to start up they would never get anywhere.

Video games now cost more to make than Hollywood movies yet make less money, as such, before long we're going to end up with the entire hobby stagnating as the only things made are copies and clones of already popular titles. How many times have we seen games that are nothing but shameless rip offs of God Of War, Grand Theft Auto or Call Of Duty? How many FPS's or Open World Action games are there? Publishers won't even consider anything unless it's based on something that sells anymore, which is why artistic games are limited to indie developers and why all MMO's look like WoW clones. It won't take long before gamers get fed up and simply stop buying games. Why bother buying Random FPS 2014 and Random Action Game 2014 if you already have Modern Warfare 3, Resistance 3, Halo Reach, Battlefield 3 etc. and you already have God Of War 3, Castlevania: Lord Of Shadow, Dante's Inferno, Bayonetta etc. This is what happened in 1983 and I see it happening again.

Fine. All motion controls suck(at this point). We agree on that. I disagree however that that could possibly be a point in the Wii's favour. The PS3 & 360 have better games overall, as does the PC. Accept it.



Which I find hard to disagree with. Link me to the best Wii game you can think of via YouTube out of curiosity.



HD empowerment craze? Do you want me to teach you why having all those extra pixels helps and why having all that extra processing power helps or do you want to admit you're being biased? Graphics aren't everything, but they're certainly worth something.



Xbox Live parties are great, and then there's multiplayer for all shooters, survival games, sports games, MMOs- basically everything except RPGs. (my fingers are freezing from the weather at this point, my replies will et progressively shorter)



Anything that can be done on a Wii can be done on either the motion peripherals of the two consoles or on the two controllers or a keyboard of the consoles and the PC.



Primarily because 3rd party publishers don't consider the Wii worth developing for. I could go on, but as I said above- cold, fingers, etc.

Fingers are freezing, I'll continue tomorrow.

Oh really? Here's a list of games that are move/kinect compatible (just a few)

PS3:
- 4 Elements (exclusive)
- BioShock Infinite
- de Blob 2
- Dead Space Extraction HD
- Dungeon Hunter: Alliance
- Dust
- GoldernEye 007:Reloaded
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - part 2
- Heavy Rain
- Infamous 2
- Killzone 3
- Lemmings
- Little League World Series
- LittleBigPlanet 2
- MAG
- MLB 11: The Show
- Motorstorm Apocalypse
- NBA 2K11
- NBA 2K12
- Ninja Gaiden 3
- Pain
- Resistance 3
- Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition
- Rune Factory
- R.U.S.E.
- The Sly Collection
- SOCOM4
- The House of the Dead: Overkill
- The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest
- Time Crisis: Razing Storm
- Toy Story 3

Xbox:
- Blackwater
- Burnout Crash!
- Forza Motorsport 4
- Halo:Combat Evolved Anniversary
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1
- The Sims 3: Pets
Soon to be Xbox:
- Binary Domain
- Babel Rising
- FIFA 13
- Madden NFL 13
- Mass Effect 3
- Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

These are just the games that aren't necessarily designed for motion. So please, get off this idea that the only games are motion oriented.


Look above.


So does Xbox and PS3? In fact some greats (exclusives) here:
Xbox: Mass Effect series, Halo series, Fable series, Gears of War, Forza, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction, Alan Wake, Left4Dead
PS3: Infamous series, the soon to be remastered Jak and Dexter series, Killzone, Little Big Planet, God of War, Heavy Rain, Ratchet and Clank, Resistance, Uncharted

Then look at the fact many games do not come out on Wii, such as Skyrim(one of my most favorite games, and goty). I seriously don't understand your argument as both the PS3 and Xbox have great games only on themselves. As for Wii, many of these great games you talk about don't even come out in the US...


Oh really? Mass Effect 3 is coming out for Kinect, as was Infamous 2.


No, no one talked about it because it hasn't even come out in NA and won't until April... Then the fact it came out in Europe a year after development just made it look poor. Hell, I can't even critique it as I can't play it!


No comment


Give me a break. Most of the rpg's your so proud of haven't come out in America, leaving me without an opinion. Add the fact that I do prefer the HD, I do prefer to play on a good online with friends whether it's Fifa, Halo, etc.., and the fact I can't stand the damn wii sensorbar at all.


I own one.


I know I don't enjoy it and know many of my friends would not.


LMFAO as a kid I loved my N64. I grew up on Super Mario 64, Donkey Kong 64, etc... I loved those games. Hell, I bought an old old N64 just to be able to play a couple of those classics once again.


Sega is too old school for me to criticize it at it's time, but I can say I would play on an N64 rather than a genesis and such any day.


So how do you compare a Wii to a PS3, or Xbox! Hell, your talking completely theoretically then. As someone who has played all three, I can tell you for a fact that the Wii is currently my least favorite. I only use my PS3 for several of it's exclusives that I completely love, and the Xbox is my primary console.

If you are comparing by reviews, trailers, game play, critiques, then how the hell can you be upset over people THINKING they won't enjoy it.


Fine, give me three games I would wholesomely enjoy on it compared to other consoles. BTW I enjoy being able to play with friends online as well. Also, I live in the US.


Actually, in many aspect I enjoy the Kinect and I cannot speak for the move. Are they the same? No.

OK, I stand corrected, although I still think Move and Kinect are unnecessary. Let's face it, would you spend £140 for an add on to play say Mass Effect 3 or Infamous 2 with added waggle features. I wouldn't. This is my point, there's no reason to have a Move or Kinect, they add nothing to the games. I'm not claiming the Wii is better than the PS3 or Xbox 360 as a console, I'm claiming it's better hands down than the Move and Kinect because it's a lot cheaper and more varied.


I'm not disputing that although the Mass Effect series, Alan Wake, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Fable 1 & 3 and Left4Dead are all on PC so arent really exclusives. Really the Xbox 360 has Halo, Gears Of War and Forza as it's big name exclusives and very little else. That said, Lost Odyssey, an often forgotten game is 360 exclusive and is in my top 5 games of all time.


I know, but my PC can play Skyrim so why do I need the Wii to do it? I work on the assumption that anyone who owns a Wii for hardcore gaming also owns a decent PC. That's reasonable, most people own a decent PC. I know loads of people who let their Xbox 360's and PS3's gather dust because all the games they want are out on the PC as well, cheaper, and better. Wii games are only on the Wii, most PS3/360 games are on PC. Does this mean I hate the PS3/360, not at all. I used to own a 360, and plan to buy a PS3 as soon as I get a cheque cleared that I got recently. My point is, the PS3/360/PC offer largely the same gaming experiences. The Wii, that offers something different, not always good, but different at least.


And why would I ever want motion controls in them? This isn't a reason to buy Kinect/Move, it's a reason to hate them.


I know, that was one of my criticisms of Nintendo. But not even UK sites have been talking about it. The game seems to have been forgotten and it's such a shame because it's incredible.


Outside of sports and multiplayer FPS, consoles being online is entirely unnecessary and the vast majority of games don't need it. 9/10 of the games I play are single player. As for HD, it's nice sure but it's not necessary and my point is that the Wii does not have bad graphics, not being in HD is not "bad" and people who claim it is are just showing their immaturity.


That's really sad then, but honestly... have you actually given it a chance. Have you played any of the decent games?


Of course you would, because you have the nostalgia for the N64. The fact is the N64 is awful and the only reason it gets such high acclaim are that the kids who have nostalgia for it are all in their late teens now, about 17-20, and they're by far the loudest group on the internet. I don't consider this an "opinion" either, the games are objectively poor and I can demonstrate this, and this is coming from an avid retro-gamer. Compared with the Mega Drive, SNES or PSOne that all came before it, it fails on every count. I could go into this in detail but that's a whole other discussion.


I judge them based on my experiences with them. Honestly I have limited exposure to both the PS3 and Wii as I don't personally own them. I've spent probably about 150-200 hours on each. The Xbox 360 I owned for a while, so have played a lot of games on it, but I still feel I can judge.

The PS3 is my favourite at the moment. I'm more of a hardcore gamer so this is a good choice for me. The Uncharted series is one I'm really looking forward to. I also like that games I adore such as Shadow Of The Colossus are getting (or already have) HD remakes. If any games deserve them, these do. Wii is my next favourite. The Classic Controller and the virtual console make it a retro gamers heaven and honestly, it'd still get this high with just them, but the rail shooters, RPGs and occational fun little game push it further.


I'm assuming you don't want Gamcube games listed, which is unfortunate as it's backward compatability is a great feature.

On the Gamecube by the way I'd suggest; Eternal Darkness, one of the creepiest survival horror games you'll ever play, Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron 2, which is a great spaceship shooter, F-Zero GX, which is an incredible adrenaline pumping racing game, Super Smash Bros. Melee, an incredibly fun multiplayer fighting game, and Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess, a fantastic action-RPG although the gamecube version is superior I feel as it doesn't use motion controls. All of those are exclusive to the Gamecube but that's not what you wanted.

You wanted 3 Wii games. I'll give you 12 just to cover all genres. First of all, FPS games. Metroid Prime Trilogy. A great series of 3 games, all on one disc, all about 20 hours long. This game puts other sci-fi FPS's like Halo to shame honestly, and I defy you to play through them and not feel involved. Alternatively there's The Conduit, which is a perfect example of control in an FPS, and it has online play if you want that. Perhaps you want to try an RPG that's actually arrived in USA, Fragile Dreams: Fairwell Ruins Of The Moon is a great example of a horror themed jRPG which is rare. Then there's Arc Rise Fantasia which is a more traditional japanese RPG and well worth a play through. For action games, Monster Hunter Tri is a great game, with tactical combat and RPG elements, and it's online community is pretty huge with player guilds and raids to take down massive dragons etc. a must have for anyone who likes 3rd person action games. Rail shooters pretty much no longer exist now outside of the Wii, but if you get the Buckshot Lock & Load Shotgun they are incredibly fun on the Wii. The two I'd go for are House Of The Dead 2 & 3, both faithful ports of the arcade classics on one disc, so fun and somewhat campy, and Dead Space: Extraction which is surprisingly atmospheric, more so I'd say than the original Dead Space. Perhaps you want a platformer though, you could go for the obvious with Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, both great games that actually use the motion controls well, they don't feel anywhere near as tacked on as they do in other games and if you really likes Super Mario 64 I could see you getting well into these. Alternatively there's Sonic Colours, which is the first decent Sonic game since SEGA stopped making consoles. For traditional survival horror Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (yeah there's a verson of this on the PSP too, but who plays survival horror on a handheld), while not as good at the older games in the series, is still very good, and lastly I'd suggest Mario Kart Wii, which may seem like an obvious choice, but if you want online multiplayer gamplay, I defy you to not have fun with this one.

Now that I'm made my point can people please stop harping on about the fúcking Wii. The whole point of this discussion was to see whether people felt that an uncomming gaming crash was likely and whether my assessment of the failings of gaming as a medium where accurate. I didn't realise I'd have to defend the Wii from pathetic self-appointed "hardcore" gamers who can't see the value of it, or gaming for that matter beyond the standard "dude-bro" stereotypes. Seriously, I expected more, I don't know why... I knew there where practically no real gamers on NGU, but I at least expected more eclectic tastes and less baises towards the medium from the regulars in the debate section.

I know you're smart guys capable of reasonable judgements, so why act like sad little fanboys and use every topic as an excuse to rail on the Wii and say how crap it is, when it's not even the focus of the discussion. You're behaving like children, hating the opposition to your favourite console because it dares to exist. It's really sad. Any reasonable gamer knows that all three consoles have good points, great games, and strengths that attract their individual fanbases. To deny this is no different than when theists in the religious debates ignore all other religions while claiming theirs is divine and true. It's willful delusion and you're all better than this. I'm not saying you have to love the Wii. Hell, you don't even have to like it, but at least acknowledge it as the gaming platform it is and be bloody honest about it. I don't like Call Of Duty, but I at least acknowledge the good in the franchise.

Now, can we please discuss the topic at hand or do I need to explain to another knee-jerk hater how the Wii actually had good games, because at this point you guys, what you're doing is the fúcking definition of trolling.

Video games right now are moving from a product to a service
Indie games are on the rise
AAA titles are on the rise with more games producing AAA quality
More and more people are playing video games.
Video games are becoming the normal with more people playing.
MMO are set for a big change moving away from pay monthly fees

Only way we heading towards a video game crash is video games everybody on this site plays vs indie. Indie most likely going to take hold of the mass market. Why because they are going to be smaller and cheaper then AAA games which are AAA quality. Whoever does that has the mass market in control.
It going to be interesting to see if AAA studios start to produce that style of game. Along with the current massive AAA games we all love.

Disappointed so far that nobody has.
AAA quality games which are short and cheap. Along with selling new IPs along side AAA games.
How they are doing the service bit so far of video games is the wrong way of going about it. Just cashing in and not producing content that adds to the game.