Are We Being Conned? (2)

                     From Laura Duncan

Having read Peter's article I found myself very much in agreement.
In fact I think the emphasis on graphics has been ruining games
for several years.  It's a bit like in films where so much can be
spent on special effects that they forget to hire a decent
scriptwriter.

The PC is the most rapidly evolving medium yet and I don't think
things are slowing up.  When you give people a big, new
playground to enjoy they are not going to pootle around in their
old patch.  Oh no, it will be off pushing the new boundaries to
see where they can lead to.

I remember being amazed at what a vast and entertaining game
Dungeon Master (don't yawn) was.  And it was all contained on one
wee disk. There was no room for sloppiness in the writing and

design.  Nowadays games can be released with huge glitches and
nobody seems to stop buying them.

The games consoles at least provide stability.  The latest
Playstation game plays as well as the first one over three years
ago: it may be technically better but doesn't need any upgrades
or patches to work.

There is a new machine in the pipeline for next year though it is
supposed to be backwardly compatible (excuse horrible jargon).
Then again the games selection on PS is very poor with less of
the mental challenge PC gamers would like, though Civilisation and
Populous have at last made an appearance.

I'm afraid there's no stopping the technology race.  It's up to us
if we want to keep supporting it or demand better standards."



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