Cold Coffee: Lack of Innovation

Back in the day, the video game industry wasn't as crazily complex as it is now. Yes, believe it or not, there was a time when games just came out. It didn't matter if they sucked and it didn't matter what the overall idea of it was. All we cared about was how cool the box art was. The job of a game developer wasn't so tainted back then either. Game developers used to just make something they thought was cool and that would be it. This is because there wasn't a billion companies all racing to get a piece of what would become a much larger industry than anyone had suspected.

The modern race for cash and rapid growth of the video game industry has brought about a serious lack of innovation in today's games. Most developers will just copy an existing idea and cover it with a new paint job. The sad part is, that game will sell like crazy because the game that it copied sold like crazy. This process hasn't been a huge issue until recently, where fans are beginning to notice a lack of originality. The big video game themes are great but it was only a matter of time before people began to grow tired of the same old thing and started craving more.

Companies have attempted to release new products in an attempt to make games more original but most have simple failed to really deliver enough to be considered a viable alternative. Need I mention the massive failure that's been motion controls?

There is still a community of developers that still manage to keep hold of originality and innovation. This group is largely made up of indie developers whom, for the most part, don't make these games for the money. Luckily, many of these games are starting to enter the mainstream, albeit as smaller network games you'll likely find on Xbox LIVE or PSN.

Many of these games still don't see a large amount of money strictly because a lot of gamers are still stuck in the Halo or Call of Duty world, where they need big explosions and multi-million dollar budgets to make a game. What's the morale of the story? Time's are changing and it's about time we change with them. It's hard for gamers to accept but maybe it's time for the video game industry to take a drastic turn in a new and exciting direction. Yes, we'll leave behind some of our greatest memories but, as with everything else in life, you can't hold on to the past forever.