Games are fun. Fun is the whole reason why I got into video games. Though, it seems that a majority of games that are coming out these days are some kind of gritty reimagining, or serious story with an immersive world. Why can't games just be games anymore?
Don't get me wrong, I like a good story. I go on and on about Mass Effect and its story. I also loved The Last of Us. These games are good, and The Last of Us showed me that games don't have to be fun to be entertaining. Though, I miss a game that can put a smile on my face because of how fun it is. I grew up in an era of a lot of fun games. The Nintendo 64 had Star Fox, Mario Kart, Super Mario, Wave Race and a plethora of others that kept me playing and kept a smile on my face. These games were bright, colorful, and experimental. The third dimension was a completely new concept to the console generation, and developers were still trying to figure out what exactly they could do with it. That experimentation gave birth to some of the most fun experiences of my childhood.
I remember being introduced to the Sega Dreamcast. A friend of my brother brought it with him after school. The friend had a lot of games for the Dreamcast, and all of them were just so damn gorgeous. Soulcalibur, Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventure, and the game that would change my life. Jet Grind Radio. I remember that day vividly. My brother and his friend were sitting in the middle of the living room close to the console that was hooked up to the VCR with the television tuned to channel 3. After seeing the majestic start up screen for the Dreamcast play, I was immediately assaulted by noise and color. JET GRIND RADIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! A character wearing grey camo shorts with a thick chain around his neck and blazing trails of lightning blue from his rollerblades running from a rooftop to grind on a rail. It was Garam, my favorite character. Or at least he would become my favorite character. All of this was so new to me. But, one thing that I knew for sure, I was having fun, in a way that I never have before.
I miss games like this. I doubt that I'll ever see something as revelatory as Jet Grind Radio ever again, but I miss the kind of imagination that games of that era had. I think that games have come a long way, and they've definitely come into their own as a storytelling medium. However, in our great strides, we seem to have gone down a different path. We've gone to focus on the graphics, and realism that hardware can produce. Other developers seem to think that the core of gameplay either lies in "making moral choices" or gunplay. There doesn't seem to be any kind of third option, or even a fourth or fifth for that matter. There's the occasional game that stands out among the rest, like Rayman Origins. But, perhaps I'm looking in the wrong place for games with invention, or fun.
This year at PAX Prime, the Penny Arcade Expo, there was a display of 88 independently developed games. The Indie Megabooth as it was called, showcased all of these games. This booth was bigger than any of the others, including those hosted by Microsoft or Sony.This was a giant becon of hope for those looking for something fresh in the video games industry. Every single game that was displayed didn't have any publisher. They didn't have any kind of regulation, or suit to look at the game and tell them whether or not they would sell. These developers put their heart and soul into their games, and they made it the way that they wanted to. The people behind these games grew in the same generations of video games that I did, and they see what the games industry is coming to. They have the talent and the know how to make games the way that they want to make them. They want to make something unlike anything that you've ever seen before. They want to make games that are fun. They want to make games that are imaginative. They want to make games that are inventive. They want to try something different, no matter what the risks are.
Here is where the hope for the industry lies. It lies with the independent developers. Those who try something different. Those who want to make games that are fun. So, if you want to see video games progress, and continue to produce something wonderful, get informed about who these independent developers are. Steam and Sony are making it easy to pick up on these indies. Steam has it's greenlight program, which is monitored and tested and produces a quality product for us to play and try out. Sony, with their new system the PS4 has an entire page of its dashboard dedicated to independent games. With companies taking steps like these to give the spotlight over to these unnoticed developers, I think that the games industry is looking just a bit brighter.
Check out the entire list of games that were on display here. Tell me some of the things that you'd like to see from the games industry, or some games that folks might not have heard of, that should be played.
Get on out there and have some fun playing video games. Because it's ok to have fun, and it's important.
So now I leave you with a song that you might not have heard of, and it's also a lot of fun too!
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