So, there's a theory. If someone could in fact time travel to the past,
would their actions truly change the future? There's a few possible
answers to this, but let's take this route -- they'll only change the
future if what they do in the past leaves a big enough impact. So, what
does this mean? Well exactly what it sounds like. If someone were to
travel into the past and do something major, it'll have some sort of
noticeable change on the future; however, if they were to travel into
the past and no one cared about what they did, it would be so small of a
change that it wouldn't even matter. So, how does this apply to video
games? Simply look at all that's happened in the industry, and you'll
see what I'm getting at.
This list is the top 10 things a time
traveler could tell someone in the past, without changing our current
future because no one would believe them (at that time). Before I begin
this list however, I'd like to remind all of you one thing... This list
was originally written in December of 2016, and because of that it will not include
whatever major video game events that will happen after this point. Of
course even if someone from the future told me some of these things that
are going to happen, I doubt I'd believe them... Thus leaving room for a
possible second list... And on that note, let's get started.
1. The Graphics of the Future:
Okay, to kick this one off let's get the most basic one out of the way...
Imagine
you have just traveled back in time to the days of the Atari 2600, and
you decide to tell everyone what the games of the future look like. How
are you going to do it? Do you really think you'd be able to convince
the world that video games will one day look BETTER than even their top
Hollywood movies? Yeah, good luck with that. Pretty good chance you'll
be ignored, and your crazy rantings of the future will be forgotten.
Sure,
the Atari wasn't the first game console to hit the market, nor did it
have the most advanced games of their time (as arcades existed), but
this was what most house holds had back then, and it's what they were
used to seeing. Even those who worked in the field of game design would
most likely have a hard time believing your claims, as the technology to
create something like that was just unheard of. Maybe someone out there
might believe you, but unless you bring back physical proof that you're
a time traveler, even they might see what you're saying as just a
dream.
Either way, whatever you try to tell these people about
future graphics, you're not going to change the way time progresses, and
you'll most likely be forgotten. So, the only thing you can do now is
move on to your next stop.
2. How Big the Game Industry Will Become:
After trying to convince the early gamers of the Atari era that graphics
will advance into something they could never imagine, you decide to
head to the early 1990s. In this time period a lot has already happened
with games, and the general public's feelings are pretty mixed. In their
life time they got to see the video game industry rise, they got to see
it completely crash and burn, and they saw this new Japanese company
"Nintendo" rise up and bring it all back with the release of the NES.
So, you'd think it would be easy to convince people that games are here
to stay, and that the industry will continue to advance and grow, right?
Wrong.
It may sound funny to be hearing this now, but in the
early 90s a lot of people, mainly parents, didn't like the idea of
having new game consoles. They bought the NES, they saw this "SEGA
thing," and now Nintendo was trying to make them buy yet another console
called the SNES. Needless to say, these things weren't cheap back then,
and it's understandable that parents wouldn't want to have to keep
buying new consoles... But to call the entire industry a scam? That's
pushing it a bit far.
Using your own "time machine" in the form
of online videos, you can see this for yourself in the form of
interviews. In the 90s a lot of parents actually thought video games was
just a scam, and that companies were only releasing new consoles to
make more money. In their eyes, hardware didn't need to advance, and
that games could continue being made for what they already had (the
NES). Meanwhile others just saw the whole thing as another passing
craze, and they felt it wasn't worth spending money on. To all of these
people, video games were just a dumb kid's thing, and they would never
go anywhere... So, how are you going to convince them that they are
wrong?
The industry back then is completely different from what
we see now. What was once just a small form of entertainment, is now one
of the largest in the world and it continues to grow. It has become a
major part of this world that we live in, and even non gamers are
invested in it. From mobile and social games, to indie developers
following their dreams, to large AAA $1,000,000 budget titles, games
have evolved into something much bigger, and they are in fact here to
stay. So, again, how are you going to convince these people of this?
Pretty good chance you'll be laughed at, and be accused of being
involved with the "scam" personally. Them video games... Just a waste of
time and money. Never gonna go anywhere.
3. The Digital Future:
Up until the 2000s, digital gaming wasn't really much of a thing. Yes
there were PC games you could download, and there were some failed
console ideas in the past, but in general digital just wasn't an option.
Video games were released as hard copies on disc, and you would either
go out to the store and buy them, or rent them from your local rental
place. That's the way things were, and how things continued for a very
long time. Then consoles like the Xbox, PSP, PS3, and Wii hit store
shelves, and the whole PC digital download thing hit all gamers
everywhere. While it did take some time for each of these consoles to
get to the point where you could download full games of almost any kind
(as Xbox had Live Arcade, and Wii used the virtual console for older
games), they did eventually get there, and some gamers today actually
prefer going full digital. This is the age we live in, but it's
something that our past selves would have had a hard time understanding.
How would you convince others that one day nearly all of the games in
the world would be up for download on a server somewhere, and that all
you had to do was use a credit card (or point card) to buy and download
them to your gaming console -- which now also had a built in HDD just
like a PC. This sort of think was unthinkable in the early generations,
and even those who did pull off something similar (Sega Channel for
example) it was clearly very limited and nothing like what we have
today. For the people of that time, this new digital age is a whole new
world, and even if some were to believe your stories, they would never
truly fully understand how things have progressed.
4. Mario & Sonic Together:
Staying around the same time period, you'll find yourself caught up in
the whole "SEGA does what NintenDONT" console war. Nintendo fans calling
their NES (and later SNES) the better console, SEGA fans going on and
on about blast processing, and both companies taking constant jabs at
each other. This is what it was like back then, and it's how things
would continue for a very long time. Now, how about we tell the fans
about Mario & Sonic? Think anyone will buy it? Yeaaaaah, no.
Sonic
games being released on a Nintendo console isn't much of a shock in
today's world, but up until the Dream Cast was dying out, it was just
flat out unheard of. Nintendo and SEGA were huge rivals, they had their
own exclusive games, and there was no way that Mario or Sonic would
switch console sides -- it's just how things were. When the DC did die
however, it wasn't as big of a shock to start seeing games like Sonic
Adventure 2 being ported to the Nintendo GameCube (still something fans
would have never expected in the 90s), but a crossover itself still
seemed unlikely. Then, it happened, and it wasn't anything like we
expected. Not only did we get a game where Mario & Sonic were
together, it was an official Olympics video game, and it was something
that would turn into a series all its own. Can you honestly say you ever
saw this one coming? I think not. Even if you came across a leak a day
before it was announced it would have been hard to believe, but it was
true! And here we are today.
Now, going back to the 90s... How
are you going to handle this one? Are you going to go up to every
Nintendo fan and tell them that Sonic would one day be on their console?
Or are you going over to the SEGA fans and let them know their beloved
Genesis would one day span multiple follow ups that were fated to fail?
Even if you just flat out told everyone about Mario & Sonic at the
Olympic games without saying what console it was on, you'd most likely
just be made fun of... Again... You would be seen as one of those rare
kids who owned both consoles, and had dreams of a future that would
never be. Or you'd just be called crazy. Yeah, crazy works.
5. Nintendo Creates Their Biggest (new) Rival:
Might not seem like much of anything now, but again, you're in the 90s.
Back
when Nintendo and SEGA were still going at it, other companies tried to
enter the fray, and constantly failed. Nothing out there could really
beat the "big two," and things didn't seem like they were going to
change. This was when Nintendo decided that it was time to advance their
own technology by switching from cart based games to CD ROMs. For this
new hardware, Nintendo originally teamed up with the Japanese company
Sony for what was going to be known as the "Nintendo PlayStation" -- a
SNES with a built in CD Drive. Well, long story short, things
happened... Sony wanted the rights to Nintendo's IPs, Nintendo didn't
like it, Sony thought their deal was still on, Nintendo went behind
their back and teamed up with Philips instead. This event is what lead
Sony to take matters into their own hands, and create a game console all
their own.
So, why wouldn't you be able to convince people of
this in the past? Well, just look at that story. How likely is it that
Nintendo would bring another company into the market, and how likely was
it for them to actually succeed when so many others failed? Looking
back on it, it's actually pretty shocking things became the way they are
now. Seriously, who is even going to buy into the idea that this
"PlayStation" console would ever be created, yet alone out sell the
Nintendo one day? (Wii U vs PS4.) Even if you ran around telling
Nintendo or Sony about the deal, it's very unlikely that they would
listen to you and history would continue as normal.
6. The Power of Handhelds and Mobile Phones:
Jumping ahead to the end of the 90s, gaming has advanced quite a bit.
Games are now fully 3D, CD ROMs are now common, arcade games are getting
more and more advanced, handheld gaming devices are now true gaming
devices (and not just Tiger Games), and even mobile phones are getting
simple games like "Snake." Things are looking pretty good, but yet still
so far from what we have now.
When walking into an arcade in
1999 you could possibly spot two things. One, the arcade "racer" titled
"Crazy Taxi," and two, someone playing Crazy Taxi who owns a basic cell
phone. How do you think they would react if you told them they could
just play Crazy Taxi on their own instead? Yep, impossible. It would
take a lot to convince someone that a full 3D game with "realistic
graphics" like Crazy Taxi could be playable on a mobile phone, but guess
what? It's true. In today's world we have Crazy Taxi, we have Pac-Man,
we have the PS2 classics like Grand Theft Auto, and we even have games
that come close to today's console quality. Sure we aren't quite there
yet, but with handhelds like the PlayStation Vita, and the upcoming
Nintendo Switch console, we just keep getting closer and closer. This
isn't something someone in the late 90s would believe though. To them a
cell phone was just a phone, and anything extra was an unlikely bonus.
Snake wasn't on every phone out there, and unless you lived in Japan
where things started to evolve into the smart phones we know today, they
didn't have much use outside of simple calling... And maybe a note pad.
Yeah, you're not convincing anyone with your stories of gaming on your
phone.
7. Square and Disney Teaming Up:
So, Disney has always been pretty big, and it still is. We love the
classic movies, they've released multiple successful shows, and then
there's the whole Disney Land and World thing. Needless to say, this is a
company that isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and they will continue
to grow (heck, they even own Marvel and Star Wars now). But in the early
2000s they did something no one would have expected -- they teamed up
with Square-Enix to release a brand new JRPG.
Now days Kingdom
Hearts isn't a shock. It's a massive franchise that also continues to
grow, and it looks like it'll be around for many more years to come.
Even with the completion of the current story arc (which is said to come
to an end in Kingdom Hearts III), more is planned for the future. But
what if you traveled back in time to a period Pre-KH? Do you really
think you can convince others that this crossover will one day happen? I
mean, come on. What does a series a company like Square, and a series
like Final Fantasy have in common with Disney? They didn't own Star Wars
yet so you couldn't use that as an excuse... Oh wait, in Japan they
share an office. Even so, what's the chances of a... chance... meeting
on an elevator that will spark such a strange, yet epic, series? Well,
that is what happened, but it's very unlikely that as a time traveler
you could convince those in the past that it'll one day exist. Even if
you brought back proof, most will assume you faked it. This is just one
of those rare games that no one would have ever thought would happen,
but it somehow did.
8. MEGAMAN IS DEAD (Sort of):
Oh Mega Man Legends 3. Remember when this project was announced and how
excited everyone was? Well, it was a big deal. After Mega Man Legends 2
ended in a cliff hanger roughly 10 years before it, Legends 3 was
something MANY fans had been waiting for. There really seemed to be
little to no hope of this project ever happening, but when it was
officially announced fans went nuts. Finally the game of their dreams
was on it's way, and to top it all off it was coming to the brand new
Nintendo 3DS. The project showed a lot of promise from the get go, but
Capcom actually took all of that a step further.
The Dev Room was
a special community within Capcom-Unity, and it was seen as a new way
to develop games. Rather than making the game on their own, Capcom
decided to let fans get in on the action. Each of us got assigned
Servbot numbers, forums were set up where you could submit ideas for the
game, and special events were held where our own user created content
would have a chance appearing in the game (in fact, my boss idea was one
of the final few that made it to Capcom's desk -- only to lose in the
end... Poor mecha duck...). The Dev Room alone brought life back to
Capcom-Unity, and it brought together so many Mega Man fans that it was
actually pretty amazing to see. The late night chats on the IRC channel,
the thousands upon thousands of discussion topics popping up all across
the site -- it was all so crazy, and unless you personally a part of
it, there's no way you could possibly understand just how great this
truly was. So, during all of this excitement and chaos, how would a time
traveler break the news of Mega Man Legends 3 being canceled, and the
Mega Man series "dying" along with it? Yep, no way.
The thing is,
the cancellation of Legends 3 was leaked a few days before the official
announcement. Originally the plan was to release a paid for demo on the
new Nintendo 3DS eShop, and then based upon the sales they would see if
the game was worth putting into full development. We all knew there was
a small chance that this game wouldn't be made, but after all of the
events, and everything Capcom had done over the last year, it was almost
guaranteed that the game would be made! So, imagine our surprise when
the eShop launched, and Capcom didn't release that demo... Instead the
Japanese site seemingly closed down, and rumors of the game's
cancellation spread. Of course no one believed it. Even with pretty
solid proof, no one would admit that the game was history. Not until
that fate full blog post that is...
So yeah, this is really one
piece of news a time traveler couldn't ruin. Especially during during
the all time high of the Dev Room's activity.
(Note: At this
moment in time Mega Man is "dead," but it isn't fully gone. Mega Man has
since appeared in Super Smash Bros, new comics have been released, a
Mega Man X novel is in the works, X is appearing in the upcoming Marvel
vs Capcom game, and Capcom promises to bring the series back at some
point in game form. Even so, it's been a long time since the release of
the last Mega Man game, and for a series that used to release games
basically every year... It is quite sad to see.)
9. Konami and Metal Gear Solid:
Man... Remember when Metal Gear Solid V was officially announced? This
was THE game people. Up until then, the Metal Gear series was one of the
king's of the game industry. It revolutionized what gaming used to be
back when the first Metal Gear came out, and it continued to grow and
expand changing how stories were told in games as well. Just about every
release became an instant classic, and although not all fans agreed
with every decision (looking at you MGS2), there was no denying that it
was one of the greats that every gamer should at least try once. As for
the man behind it? Not only did he prove that an underdog could rise up
to become an industry great, but Kojima surpassed everyone's
expectations and became an icon within the industry. He really was (and
still is) someone special, and we still look forward to his games even
today... But that's besides the point.
Look, I'm not saying that I
agree with everything he does, nor do I like everything he's been a
part of. He's not actually some king or anything, but there's no denying
that he has accomplished some great things, and many fans expect a lot
out of him when he releases said games. So when Metal Gear Solid V was
announced, it's understandable why everyone got so excited. It was Metal
Gear Solid, with Big Boss, in an open world, with what looked to be an
amazing story. It was a series with no real end in sight, and everyone
was excited to see what was coming next... So, time traveler, what are
you going to tell these people?
Putting aside all feelings on how
MGSV actually turned out, let's talk about what happened. To put it
simply, Konami, the company Kojima works for, hates Kojima. They
stripped his name from the front of the game's cover, they locked him in
a room on a different floor of the building, they didn't allow him to
speak to his team, and to direct the game he was forced to send messages
through someone else. How do you make a game like that? Well, I guess
you technically don't. While Kojima was able to guide his team to
"complete" the game, it really appears to be a shell of what it was
meant to be. The game engine is solid, the gameplay mechanics are great,
and the things you can do in this world are actually pretty amazing
(for example, you can use a sniper to take out power lines to cut power
to a base). There's a lot to MGSV, and it still has an interesting story
overall, but it's clear that this game isn't what it was actually meant
to be. Most of the story is told through radio conversations, there's
not many actual cutscenes to be seen, there's only a handful of main
story missions, and a large chunk of the game is made up of repetitive
side missions that cause you to revisit the same areas over and over
again. It's a shame to see the game get so cut back, but it's also
pretty crazy to think that it even got finished in the first place with
the sort of working conditions this team was put under.
If you
were to travel back, you're not going to be able to convince people that
this will one day happen. You could try going back to any point before
the announcement of MGSV, and no one would ever believe that Konami
would do something like that to him -- one of their star staff members.
On the other hand, you could travel to any point after the announcement
of MGSV, and those same people will still not believe it, nor will they
believe that the game will end up being rushed and "unfinished." Both
things were just so very unlikely, that even when the rumors began
popping up we didn't believe them. It's still hard to believe actually,
but what's done is done, and Kojima has moved on to bigger (and
hopefully better) things.
10. Mighty No 9:
Mega
Man is "dead." As mentioned above, we're currently in a period of time
where Mega Man games just don't happen. We here promises of more to
come, but we have yet to actually see this. That's when Inafune, the
"father" of Mega Man decided to step back into the picture and do
something of his own. I still remember it just like yesterday. Getting
home after working at my family's bakery, getting on Skype to see my
friends freaking out over some new Kickstarter project, and that image
of a strange little robot popping up along side Inafune's name. A brand
new action platformer, made in the style of the classic Mega Man games.
It. Looked. AMAZING! Finally Mega Man was "back" but in a new form!
Inafune was back at it again, and I personally couldn't wait to see
where this project went! The hype was real, and that concept video they
released was outstanding. Both Inafune and Inti made great games in the
past, they were reviving a series I loved, and the future looked bright.
Seriously, there was no way this game could fail as it was everything
fans were asking for. Yep, it was going to be great. Oh, you're saying
that this isn't true? Yeah right! Like you know the future or something?
You really expect me to believe this game is going to fail? Ha ha, good
luck making anyone buy that stupid story! Go cry like an anime fan on
prom night.
The sad reality of this project is, it was nothing
like we expected. Putting aside the bad (and offensive) advertising,
there were many other problems with this game's development, and we were
mislead in so many different ways. First of all, one of the Kickstarter
goals mentioned how it would include two extra levels. The game was
called Mighty No. 9, and we knew that the other 8 mighty robots were
going to be the bad guys, but what we DIDN'T know was that those "two
extra levels" were actually might no 7 and 8 (if you believe Inafune
that is). No where did they mention only having 6 of the 8 bosses in the
original plans (why even have them if they didn't plan on using them?),
and when we reached the goal they passed it off as fact. Second of all,
the milestone that would add Call as a playable character, also didn't
really deliver on it's promise. Call was only playable for a single
puzzle level, and in a mini co-op mode (which was also a let down
compared to what they made it seem like). That's it. These are just two
of the misleading things to come out of this game, with one of the major
ones being that teaser that was developed in "two weeks" that ended up
looking a lot better than the final product itself. Sadly, things get
even worse from there...
Although the project received millions
of dollars worth of funding, Inafune chose to use the outdated Unreal 3
engine rather than the newer Unreal 4 (which was actually pretty cheap
at the time, and is now free for use in today's world), which caused the
game to suffer multiple technical issues. Because of these issues the
game was hit with delay after delay after delay, and even the finish
product suffered from technical problems across multiple platforms.
Despite not looking anywhere near as good as it did in the teaser, the
game still suffered from framerate drops, freezing, glitches, etc, and
things only got worse when playing on weaker consoles like the Nintendo
Wii U. Sadly Mighty No. 9 couldn't deliver on what was promised all
those years ago, and it's uninspiring stages and bosses really didn't
help much.
Now let me make this clear, I'm not actually hating on
the game. I actually gave the game an "okay" review. The game can still
be fun, and it might still be worth checking out due to it's low price
point, but there's no denying that it isn't the game we were promised
back when it's Kickstarter launched. Because of this, MN9 is one of the
biggest let downs of 2016, and most will have a hard time forgiving it
for it's low, million dollar, production value. Unless you were one of
those who were really looking forward to this game, there's no real way
to describe just how big of a let down this game was, and even those who
liked it can still see it doesn't live up to what it should have been.
Sure, you can say it's "better than nothing" (which, was a translation
error people) and enjoy it for what it is, but there will be those who
can't and will always hate it for that... Go back to 2013 though, and
you'll never convince the masses otherwise. To them, MN9 is the Mega Man
game they've waited years for, and it's release date can't come soon
enough.
The
future is a funny thing. One minute you think you know what to expect,
but then everything gets flipped upside down and nothing is as it
"should be." As with life in general, this will also always be the case
with video games, and even if we were to travel back in time we couldn't
change that. There are things people will just never believe about the
future, until it's right in front of their face. But maybe it's better
that way. The things that happen to us in life, and the events we live
through are what makes us who we are today, and going back in time to
change that would be like undoing how far you've come. When it comes to
games, maybe it's better for our past selves to not know as well. Back
then, at each of these moments, we got to live in and enjoy our own
fantasies. We got to look forward to games like Metal Gear Solid V, and
Mighty No 9, unaware of their rocky releases, and back before games
really took off we got to dream about what things would one day be like.
Going back to tell ourselves, and others, about the future would just
be spoiling the fun. It would be better to just let everyone see for
themselves what's to come, and enjoy the ride along the way. (Not that
anyone would believe you if you were a time traveler.)
