Video Games are a medium of entertainment that have been enjoyed now for over four decades at this point. The have become part of our culture and many of the industry’s games have left impacting legacies to boot. From classics like Space Invaders, Pong, to Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, and of course Tetris, the industry’s greatest selling ever, the industry has prospered over the years.  

As the decades have passed, gaming design has changed radically. The games that have been looked upon in yesteryear relied on revolutionary ideas and game designs to entice players. Game like Wolfenstein 3D, the first ever FPS created, and Super Mario 64, which introduced us to 3D platforming, are prime example of this. But yet, it seems that the industry has become held at a standstill in the area of major innovations

Since the era of the NES, people began to experience how gaming would become in the coming decades. Complexity, difficulty. and enjoyment ruled this time with games like Castlevania and The Legend of Zelda showing this. In specific, Zelda innovated on open world, dungeon based exploration and combat. The game is very dated graphically speaking, but its systems and ideas remain to this very day. As that generation of games went the wayside, the 16-bit era of gaming emerged and brought forth fewer innovations or gaming revolutions and instead brought refinement in past ideas.

It can be argued that it is occurring once again this generation.

With the introduction of the PS4 and Xbox One, the industry had finally shifted to new hardware for the first time in seven years which is a long gap for new technology. Many people, although ecstatic, felt that the graphics were great, but the games had not evolved. Many felt that this generation would be the last due to fewer new games and ideas emerging. The 7th generation of consoles, PS3 and Xbox 360, brought the first High Definition console, which was a huge evolution for consoles back in 2005. This also brought forth new, innovative, ideas like the cover based shooter Gears of War, the introduction or more cinematic and action adventure games in the Uncharted series, and the Elder Scrolls series. But these times seem to be behind us.

It appear that we are at our last life, before well call it quits. We have come so far, yet we have to overcome in order to survive. We will need some extra power ups to defeat it, but there is still hope. This generation has only been around for 2 years, so innovation must be in the pipeline soon. For something to survive and grow, it must evolve, but the way it is now, that future will bring forth a disappointing GAME OVER.