Do you play current or retro games?

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Thank you. I wish more people would see things that way. Each era has its own flavor, and its own pros and cons. Also, graphics aren't everything. There, I said it. I'm more about art style than realism anyways.

I'll go with the Combination please.

I have a persistent copy of ZORK on a thumbdrive that I'll play when I'm bored or need something quiet to do. Or I'll play Sims 3 or I'll fire up an emulator and play a favorite console game like Super Mario 3, MarioKart, Mario 64, Zelda, Sonic the hedgehog etc. (must find controller small enough to fit in my purse) or I'll play a game of C&C Generals against the AI. All play equally well on my super netbook (Asus 1215n 1.8Ghz dual core OC'ed and stable @ 2.4Ghz, 8Gb's ram) I carry a set of older Sennheiser over-ear headphones in my purse too, not noise cancelling though, I didn't pick them they were a gift

I play Battlefield 3 on my desktop gaming machine as well as all those I just mentioned.

I play both. I even have a NES connected to my flatscreen. I like great graphics, but they have to be cobbled with good gameplay, and if an RPG, a good story.

I'm not fond of playing low resolution games on an LCD monitor though. If the game is great, I may tolerate it. This isn't much about graphics, if I can upscale it I'll play it even if the graphics aren't great. I just don't like "blurred" games. This is why the majority of my retro gaming (pre-y2k) is done on consoles, primarily handheld ones. I especially like the Vita, there are some great RPGs downloadable (PSP titles, often remakes of PS/PS2 games) through PSN that can't be found elsewhere.

I wish I had time to play them more though. I'm also trying to keep track of new games that interest me. Which means my backlog is ridiculously long. I wish I didn't insist on PC-only gaming until two years ago, I've lost so much that I'm now trying to catch up with.

I consider myself someone who values older games. Today's games are somehow not as memorable anymore, and even the newer games I like are based on "classic" IP (Super Mario Galaxy 1 + 2... man, those are some games). What I dislike about today's games is that they feel more and more alike, number 1, and number 2: lack of polishing and DLC.

I'm playing Skyrim right now but that's about it for current games. I get worn out on eye candy pretty fast, especially if the game is no more than an excuse to show off your programmers' 3D coding skills and your artists' graphic design skills.

I hate how a lot of games these days are so rigid and linear. DO THIS! NOW WATCH THIS CINEMATIC SCENE! NOW DO THIS! NOW WATCH THIS CINEMATIC SCENE! NOW DO THIS! NOW WATCH THIS CINEMATIC SCENE! NOW DO THIS! YAY, YOU WON! BUT OH DARN! YOU DIDN'T GET 100% COMPLETION! NOW WATCH THIS CINEMATIC SCENE AND PLAY THE GAME AGAIN IN HARD MODE!

There's a ton of old games that I still play (on emulators these days) for the nostalgia value.

Join the club. I've been a console gamer the entire time, but I didn't get into jrpgs till around '06, and didn't get a psp until a couple years ago. I can reasonably say that I've been playing catch up. As for the backlog thing, it's not going to go away anytime soon. I've been adding to mine over the years, and I'm also trying to keep up with current games that interest me. You really don't want to know how massive my backlog is, and every time I try to climb backlog mountain, I'm lucky to get one game out of the way. Even if I had all the spare time in the world though, I don't spend all day playing my games anymore. All that means is that my giant backlog just keeps growing, and growing, and it's already colossal in size.

But, I'm more than prepared for the videogame apocalypse. It's coming, I can feel it. I'm anticipating either a videogame crash, or, the more likely scenario is that the slow but steady flow of games worth playing will stop entirely. I can just see the industry being taken over entirely by fps, motion control garbage and app games, to the point where there's really nothing worth playing anymore. Well, I'll be ok, because I'll still have good games worth playing that I haven't played yet. I even have ps2 games waiting to be played. When that day comes, I'll probably start with that copy of Nocturne that I managed to find a few years back in really awesome condition. I also have some mediocre games in my backlog, which were backlogged for that very reason, but I'm sure I'll enjoy them a heck of a lot more once I can put them in perspective. In the meantime, there are still games that interest me. I'm looking forward to the rest of the year, particularly fall, but that's mostly because there are some awesome ps3 exclusives on the way. Tokyo Jungle's probably my most anticipated title. I'd love it if devs continued to take risks to provide unique experiences like that, but somehow, I think things are on a downward spiral, and we'll soon be seeing the swan songs of quality gaming.

I'm scared by that thought, and I see it coming. But then there's also an increase in quality indie games, since development is easier now even if you don't have a multi-million budget. Newer distribution platforms also makes life easier for indie developers. So I think indie games will take over a lot of the market for "traditional" gaming, which may cause some of the bigger developer to realize there are other gamers than the CoD and Angry Birds crowds (I'm not ditching AB btw, I actually like that one). Some of the midsize studios that started out indie are also still making good games, and since they're often situated in Eastern Europe or other non-western regions, they don't seem to care that much about becoming a part of the "mainstream" business. If those studios actually take market shares from publishers like EA, the publisher might realize that enforcing their "philosophies" on developers under them is not a good idea. Just take a look at how Bioware has changed since they were bought by EA - if EA ever realizes that TW (1 and 2) was a much more successful game in terms of reputation than DA2 and ME3, they might just unshackle Bioware. Though I'm probably wrong, EA don't seem to be the kind of guys who see reason...

I also think mobile gaming is going to preserve some of the "traditional" style of gaming. Yes, there's a lot of crap on the app stores, but there's also a respectable amount of ported classic games, and new games following a more traditional styles, even full-blown turn-based strategy RPGs. As the mobile platforms develop, I think we'll see more of that. They won't sell as much as Wordfeud (not ditching that either, I love playing against female friends, usually losing because I'm saving up for perverse words), but they will still be profitable, and produced by more idealistic developers. By gamers, for gamers. I feel all warm inside

Oh, and I almost forgot Japan. Yes, there's a lot of generic crap coming out of that country, but there's also a huge amount of great games, both retro- and neo-style. If you like RPGs, at least. And schmups (or whatever the spelling). And platform. And [insert genre here]. Too bad some of the best ones don't hit the West (one of the many good reason to emigrate, IMO), but I've lately had a great deal of fun on my Vita, playing older PSP JRPGs. I'm just sad I didn't discover that platform years ago.

So I guess the end of the story is that even if I fear the gaming industry will devolve into some combination of CoD, crappy mobile titles and dumbed-down interactive movies, I think gaming as such will survive, due to indie developers, mobile gaming and Japan. Yay.