Console games? Where are the good ones?

[Berkut]

I have not figured out if it is just that I am old now, so everything has turned to ash and gall, or what, but...

where are all the good games? Where are the FUN games? It seems like consoles have really done what PC gamers were afraid they would do - replaced the really great games with shooters and sports games.

I was browsing through Gamestop looking at used 360 games the other day, and it kind of hit me - these games almost all suck. The sports games are good - Madden and such. The shooters are ok, crippled by the crappy controller. Other than that - what is there? The only decent RPGs are the PC clones, and they are not as good as they are on the PC. There aren't any good strategy games. Very few even decent RPGs.

But the PC games are gone. With just a few exceptions, the PC is pretty much dead as a mainstream gaming platform, and the consoles have not at all picked up where the PC left off. The few interesting PC titles are very few, and they all have console versions anyway, and the often lame restrictions on the PC game that make that work.

But overall, I think what people were afraid was going to happen with the rise of the current gen console domination largely HAS happened. To some degree, perhaps this is good - there are PC niche games (wargaming in particular) that is stronger now than it has ever been - maybe the destruction of the mainstream PC gaming market was necessary for that? But overall? Is Halo Reach better in ANY way than half-Life 2? Is Halo Wars better than any number of PC based RTS games?

Where is a console based RPG that is as good as Baldurs Gate? Is there one? I cannot seem to find them.

As an aside, you know what would make a GREAT fucking console game? A remake of Wing Commander. How come nobody makes a game like that, instead churning out yet another fucking version of Call Of Honor Black Gears Ops Duty:Angola?

[Barrister]

Apparently the good console games are all downloadable indie games from XBOXLive or PSN.

[Berkut]

Apparently the good console games are all downloadable indie games from XBOXLive or PSN.

Really? Can you give me some examples?

[Grey Fox]

The mainstream PC games aren't dead. PC games are dead as brick & mortar products tho.

Why? It's the same reason then why the movie industry keeps chuggins out remakes & sequels. No Risks, High rewards.

[Barrister]

Apparently the good console games are all downloadable indie games from XBOXLive or PSN.

Really? Can you give me some examples?

I can't, because I've never downloaded any.  But I have read that there's some very innovative stuff going on in that area.  It makes sense though - development costs are lower, distribution is virtually free, so developers can be much more creative and take more risks.

[Caliga]

The mainstream PC games aren't dead. PC games are dead as brick & mortar products tho.

Why? It's the same reason then why the movie industry keeps chuggins out remakes & sequels. No Risks, High rewards.

[Razgovory]

There really aren't many PC exclusive games left these days.  I used to really like the RTS genre.  RTS games don't really work well on consoles, so you just don't see many RTS games out anymore.  Other genres that work best on PCs are much rarer these days.  Things like Flights Sims.  Turnbased Strategy has done okay as a niche genre.  I think that may be because they are cheap to make.

[Josquius]

I certainly don't think the PC is dead as a gaming platform. Most decent games come out on the PC.
Game shops however don't tend to stock many PC games. But then that's because PC gamers buy online more than console gamers. They tend to be far more 'hardcore' gamers and tech users. Online the variety of PC games is still there.

Where is a console based RPG that is as good as Baldurs Gate? Is there one? I cannot seem to find them.

The early suikodens are better.

[MadBurgerMaker]

I don't know if they fall into your "sports" category, or if you even like them, but consoles are pretty good for racing games.  The Xbox doesn't have Gran Tourismo, but another Forza (Forza 3) came out that's supposed to be pretty solid.   There's also the Need For Speed games, along with several other franchises that might interest you, but I don't know much about them. 

As far as Wing Commander goes, unfortunately, they shit out some console version called Arena in 2007, but it wasn't really "Wing Commander" as we knew it, if you know what I mean.  No cockpit views, no single player storylines, etcetc.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_Commander_Arena     It was a downloadable game, and I'm not sure it really did very well, so I'm not particularly confident they'll make another WC game for a while.  Hopefully I'm wrong. 

For Wing Commander news, you can check here every once in a while and see if something is going to pop up: http://www.wcnews.com/