Games initially were developed by a small group of people and their main aim was to give out an enjoyable, new piece of gaming moments everytime.
It was the time of games revolution, where the (tech-accessible) population were treated to a new media of entertainment. Each game started defining it's own genre.
When Lemmings was out, some of us who were interested in this type of gaming, were awed by the simplicty of game design yet were extremely enjoyable and instantly addictive. It is an example of a really good game, before which no one ever thought saving some creatures from imminent death could be so much fun. All we did there was just intervene. It's an example of originality.
Back in those days, we were expecting the next Wing Commander from Origin, the next Ultima from Origin, the next AD&D RPG from SSI, the next Quest from Sierra and so on. The genre of games were flourishing. And we, I believe, most of us whom grew along with this development have intricately woven memories with the games of our growing era. It is a part of our nostalgic memories that wants us to stick to our older games.
This adherence to games, would have been maintained upto the current latest releases, if not for the fact of the turn the gaming industry in general is taking.
Gaming is now a multi-billion dollar industry. Other than some fan re-makes and some other freeware games, all retail games need to be published by the Electronic Entertainment Giants, like EA, Interplay, etc. All the Developers are under pressure from the publisher to release the game in time. Any delay will cause severe monetary loss for the developers and publishers.
And thanks to the flooding of patches nowadays, the publishers can convince the developers to "release it already, and you can give 'em the patches to fix their grudges later" attitude.
So these Giants want something that is famous amongst the population, and not care much of the originality and the fun factor. If a game can cause a person to say "wow" on his first impression seeing the screen the first few minutes, it's all the publishers want.
In current times, everyone wants the best looking game. Graphics take precedence over everything else. And once a game with a successful formula comes out, everyone rush to follow suit. Because this is where the income is.
The current games are also made to catch up with the latest technology. Before you can fully utilize the powers of your recently bought pc and the graphics card, the next game comes in and thrash all your hopes. And you too start hopping over the games to get the next best system to play it. Any idea, how much of technological advancement have gone to waste without fully utilizing it?
Crysis? Yeah, sure it's beautiful and with real world like physics and stuff, but how many actually get to enjoy it? It requires a hefty machine to make it run smooth with all the bells and whistles turned on. Shouldn't it be just a benchmark software to post the latest graphics card marks?
Why leave out so many gamers who love good games, by just making the most visually appealing, most-processing power demanding game, which even a current system can't cope well? And most of the games nowadays is just another 1st person shooter like thingy, though "different".
Don't get me wrong here. Beside my classic machines, I also maintain a mid-Win9X based machine and a contemporary quad-core based SLI system for current games. And I do like the new games too, Fallout3 being the latest one.
And I still like strolling in the woods in Oblivion.
But the classic games do have the charm on their own. You can see it in the graphics. You can hear it in the music. You can feel it in the Game.
It's like the first time you enjoyed the games. Still fresh in the memories!