WTF happened to games

Video games are not games anymore.  I don't know what they are, but they aren't games.  No matter how much of a graphical facade a video game has on the outside, the real game is about an abstract goal which is achieved through twitch skill or mental skill.  The true fun in video games comes from success and failure of doing these acts.  Any enjoyment from the graphical facade - like an emotionally engaging story or the splattering of gratuitous blood - is merely an added bonus and it is not meant to deliver the main 'fill' of the game.

Too many modern video games have an absolutely crap game underneath.  All these games have to offer is the graphical facade: the story, the characters, the explosions and the particle effects.  To make up for the shit gameplay these types of games try to succeed (and often do) by making the presentation beautiful so that no one stops to notice/care about the mentally retarded gameplay.  It is a cinematic video game disease.  It is especially common in post FF7 RPG's and post half-life FPS's.

Video gamers have already diverged into those who buy into empty shell graphical facades and those who don't.  I don't know what the fuck happened.  The empty shell camp seems to be winning too.

>>1
Sorry, but I have to disagree on every level. RPGs have always been empty shells. Phantasy Star 1, 2, and 3 had you pacing just outside of town to grind for experience, just like most RPGs of the time. FF7 replaced mindless grinding with cutscenes.

FPS games have always been difficult to get right, because the capacity for full-on twitch gaming just isn't there. I don't see any gameplay failing when I compare Halo to Castle Wolfenstein or Quake. One has a bad plot and some good gameplay elements (such as using vehicles), the others have gameplay that isn't better in any way.

You talk about "empty shell graphical facades" as if there are games out there that aren't, but there just isn't. When you take away the graphics, the drama-school plot, and the (occasionally) intriguing gameplay advancements of new games, you're left with an OLD game. This of course ignores strategy games, which are a niche market that generally uses older technology, but that's not the split you're talking about, is it?