I'm not planning on listing good games, or even ask you to list what you think are good games. I'm actually more concerned with you consider to be a good game in general. And I don't mean specifics like story, graphics, soundtrack, gameplay... just the overall game as a whole.

I was thinking about this because when I start working on models, I seem to like game related ones. And most of which are based off of older back-in-the-day games. And I was thinking, "that was a good game, I must have played it X many times." Then I started thinking about now a days. And I really don't play games more than once. But I still seem to consider these games as "good." I think I'm going to have to change this up a bit. I don't think a game should be a good game unless you are willing to play through it more than once. It may be "okay" but not really GOOD. And by this standard, there aren't a lot of good games.

Though, when I really start thinking about this... back in the day, I had a LOT more free time and a much smaller library of games. I really didn't have a backlog back in the day. Actually, I pretty much got all the games I wanted via birthdays and Christmas. And even then, I'd still get games here and there through allowance or what not (I actually bought Chrono Trigger from someone for only $10. Best buy ever). And also, week long school holidays and summer allowed for pretty much limitless game time. So it would be a bit harsh to judge them on the previously mentioned scale based off my younger self.

But then, you can even take this a bit deeper. Video games haven't been around all that long in the grand scheme of things. In fact, video games didn't even make it on the scene since after the crash in 1983... which is my birth year. So I've pretty much grown up with video games (as have just about everyone else here... it's just the day and age we were born). And back then, gaming was a very niche thing. But almost 30 years later, and anyone and everyone can call themselves a gamer... and maybe these gaming companies have spread the butter a bit too thin. Focusing on so many demographics at once leads to sub-par products. Or that over the years, we've just cared less and less about the quality control in games. Which is why these stupid facebook games, waggle gimmicks (of all three major companies now), and emphasis on graphics and 3D seem to have so much more dominance over good old fashion gameplay.

So I don't really know if it's me vs younger me, or me vs game companies that make me feel like things aren't heading in a positive direction, but somewhere in all of this, I feel that I wish I had the feeling of gaming back when I was younger. But now we've come full circle. And there's not much more I can add without sounding like I'm rambling. This year's E3 has me with mixed emotions as I'm really happy for some of the games, but a bit pensive about all the waggle and THREEE DEEE they are incorporating. I dunno... but I felt like I should share.

I judge the quality of a game based on whether I actually beat it or not. If a game can keep my interest, it's good. If I get easily distracted or pulled away from it, it's not a great game, even if the developers put a lot of work into it. Naturally, it's a bit of a biased way to measure the greatness of a game. In the end, I've beaten less than 20% of my game library.

There are some exceptions. There are a few games I didn't beat until much later down the line, and loved nonetheless (Final Fantasy 6). There are games that I did manage to beat that I rather didn't like (Mario & Luigi 2, which I pretty much only beat just to get it overwith). There are some that just didn't age well to me (Mario Kart 64). And let's plays don't count for anything. But in most cases, whether I was hooked on the game or not is a good way to judge greatness.

This really doesn't have anything to do with what anyone else thinks about games other than yourself. I, for one, don't like Halo at all. But generally speaking, that's mostly known as a good game to general gamers. So how you judge a good game from a bad one is all up to you. If you simply just didn't enjoy it, you just didn't. So you aren't wrong. Of course there will always be exception to the (your) rule. And I generally finish almost every single game I play ('cept in rare cases like Granstreamsaga). Which is why my rule is I have to be willing to play it again. But even then, there were games I finished it and was disgusted with it (IE Star Ocean 3).

More or less, I'm just judging games now with games "back then." And specifically taking a long look to see if the bar I set for a good game back when I was a kid was higher or lower than in present day.

Well the one thing where I totally disagree with you is that good games are ones that you would want to play again. Metroid Prime was a fantastic game but there is no way I would want to put myself through that again. The Shadow Hearts saga are by far my favorite RPGS but I wouldn't want to replay the best in the series (the second one) or the third one because I already know the story and have had my fill of the battles (but I loved the battles the first time I played it). I would replay the original only because being both new to RPGs overall as well as this specific series I know that I missed alot in the original experience that I would be better able to appreciate.

However for me Halo only got better everytime I played it.

And then you have something like Resident Evil or Silent Hill. Two of the best series in my opinion and nearly equally good in experience the first time you play them but I could much, much more easily replay Resident Evil than Silent Hill. There is something in me to replay these but maybe only once or twice or only after not playing them for a long time. In other words these games, especially Resident Evil only have some crucial aspect to the experience the first time you play them but then there is still something left over worth playing but not as much.

So I think it all depends. If you however think that it has to be highly replayable to be good maybe there is something more specifically in what you are trying to ask then you realize (i.e. you don't miss good games you miss replayable games or something like that).

However I think to answer your question in general. In my opinion the reasons these games seem to not be as good as back in the day is in my opinion (ironically to what I am suggesting above) because nowadays most of games seem to be emphasizing non-linearity. You either get a totally linear recent game that is completely boring or you get a more interactive experience that is non-linear but it is so non-linear that you feel lost as to what experience the game is meant to convey. You feel more like you are going through the motions for no reason, so there is no reason to replay it. It seems we have lost the art of the linear game in video gaming.

Yeah, it all really does depend. If Dray were to follow my guide lines, then he'd simply hate hate over 80% of everything he plays. And there are, again, exceptions to the rule... like I've played God of War 3 only once. But I thought that was a pretty awesome game (and probably the only reason why I haven't played it again was because I borrowed it. But Dante's inferno, while I did finish it, I will not ever be playing that again). But for, at least, my specific playing habits, I should be willing to play just about any game I enjoy... multiple times. And I think the term 'replay value' is a bit misinterparated. Usually when someone says something has replay value, they mean there's optional endings, unlockables, new game plus, or just generally stuff you missed that you would go back to get. What I'm more referring to is just enjoying the game enough to, at least at some point down the road, experiencing the game in question again. But again, this is my standard, and everyone will likely be different.

But whatever YOUR standard is, how does it differ from the past?

Anyways, you are right that I prefer more linear games. I've never been much of a fan of sand box games.

Just the fact that there is a standard, now.

Well, unless you liked literally every game you played back growing up, yeah.

While I played my share of Atari and Intellivision back in the day, I took a break from home console gaming during the Nintendo/Sega days (but I did play games on the Commodore 64). My brother reintroduced me during the PS/N64/Dreamcast days and then finally I became a full fledged gamer during the PS2/XBOX/GC era (owning and regularly playing all 3 systems). My standard during those days was to keep up with the full experience of console gaming, regularly reading EGM, buying many different games, occasionally renting games and trying demos. This was my Golden Age of being a complete gamer. There are aspects of this age that I will never get back and that is unfortunate.

I assume you feel the same about your earlier Golden Age. The newness of being a gamer adds a whole different perspective to the games you are playing no matter how good or bad they are on their merit. Nowadays I have a more mature standard. I am using the word "mature" in contrast to "youthful", not in contrast to "immature". So my standard now is to be very selective purchasing only those games that I know that I will enjoy because now I know what I like and what I don't like. I usually try to find a game where I can have a full experience, one that I can sit down and slowly enjoy, and one in which I will get my money's worth, like Red Dead Redemption and Halo 3.

I have posted my list of games I want to play but lack time. Games that I plan to buy are the Saboteur and Risen because I think they will fit the criteria for what I like and what I addressed above. I also played the Dark Sector demo and could tell it would simply be a fun game suited to my style so I'll probably get it eventually. I know that I will miss out on some great games out there but I'm pretty happy with the way I game these days.

Perhaps you are right... I guess that I just kind of expected gaming to continue being as good to me now as it was back then. But it may be that with the way games have evolved and the way I have grown as a gamer over the years, it may be impossible to replicate the feelings from back then, even if games were as good now as I considered them to be then.

I bit depressing, really.