But during the time these screens released, a game portraying 8-bit graphics broke record sales in the indie market, an ever expanding genre as of late. Minecraft is a simple, albeit deep, game about building and mining and all the exploration in between. A friend of mine commented to me about how the beauty of the game rivaled Skyrim, a rather remarkable game graphically.
How can something so ugly be so beautiful?
I've played a lot of games this generation. Some were gorgeous, others were not while trying to be. Every console generation has had hype built around it by what the graphical capabilities will be. I have nothing against it, and I get excited to see new screens like the ones that were recently released by Epic. But we're coming from a generation of games that not only spiked graphically, but also spiked in innovation. Portal, Minecraft, Braid, Bioshock, Mass Effect, among other games all toted innovations in the gaming world. Why is it that innovation still takes a backseat to graphics then?
While we get graphics that peak with almost every other game release, the juggernauts carrying the industry turn away from innovation and make appearance the selling point. It is no coincidence that the majority of creative games this generation come from the independent genre. But as long as the independent genre has a place to voice itself, I cannot complain as much.
As with any medium as it grows, segregation is expanding within the genre. But innovative games do not deserve to become gaming's underground scene.
