Old vs. New - The Evolution of Console Gaming

Video games have been around for only a short time.  The first arcade games came out in the 70's and from there, a booming industry has been created.  But there now rises a conflict between the veterans of the pre-2000's era of video games and the new generation of players.  While I try to be impartial in the comparisons of these two eras, I should note that I am on the side of the old school games, mostly because they were the ones that I played when I was young kid and they hold many amazing memories for me.  Actually, I'm probably going to spend most of the time praising the genius of old games and complaining about the new ones.  That's just the way I am.  I will be using specific games in order to illustrate some points.

The era of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and the introduction of Super Mario Bros.  brought about the golden age of video games.  It was so simple yet gave so much replay value, and with its pick-up-and-play style, kids spent many a weekend not doing homework.  Nintendo dominated the market for the next decade or so.  The Legend of Zelda brought the concept of adventure.  Metroid combined platforming with action and adventure.  Street Fighter gave us special moves brought by certain button combos.  It was great time for gamers with new innovations coming every year.  Nintendo further continue their leadership of the video game industry with the Super NES (SNES) and its assorted games.  Theses were the games I grew up on.  Games like Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island (my favourite game of all time), Street Fighter II which is considered the best fighting game of all time, Mortal Kombat whose controversial violence influenced the creation of the ESRB rating system, and Gradius III.  There were games like the Mother series who made grown men cry from their sad tales about families and friendship.  The Donkey Kong Country series brought platforming to new, unparalleled level.  All these games are considered classic and timeless.  The stories they told and the way they connect to the player will never cease to be forgotten.

Fast forward to today with the widespread PS3 and XBox 360.  Today, companies are focused mainly on immersive environments.  The way to do this is by improving the graphics.  It really seems like at gaming conventions, companies always introduce new games with the promise of realistic graphics and make their whole presentation about how the game uses the console's full potential to make things clearer and more realistic.  Now I'm not saying that good graphics are stupid, but companies are sacrificing processing power in order to make the environments pretty.  Literally the loading screens that gamers have grown to loathe are a result of the game rendering the beautiful scenery.  Another thing about the new games compared to the old ones is how quickly they become obsolete.  The Call of Duty series that seem to captivate today's youth and be the bane of every previous generation of gamers, is a prime example of this.  Every sequel made has made the previous out-of-date.  When Modern Warfare 2 came out, the old games were forgotten.  Everybody was online shooting each other.  Black Ops came out and everyone switched to it, leaving behind MW2.  Then Modern Warfare 3 replaced Black Ops.  The Halo series has undergone the same treatment as well.  On that note, hasn't anyone noticed that all people seem to talk about are first-person shooters (FPS's)?  Call of Duty, Battlefield, Ghost Recon, Resistance, Far Cry, Counterstrike and countless other franchises have the player looking down gun sights for most of the game.  Most of them involve military soldiers battling terrorists.  There's really not much imagination anymore.  In fact, many of the games introduced over the years were either sequels, remakes, or spin-offs.  Companies are really milking everything out of their franchises.

I had originally intended this to be a fair and objective comparison, but it ended up with me complaining about the recent years of video games.  This is a really serious subject for me, as well as many others, as I feel that the youth of today are lost.  They have no respect for the classics and spend hours racking up kill counts.  No wonder parents are worried nowadays.