Spector: It's a Golden Age for gaming

By Fred Dutton Published 15 September, 2010

You've never had it so good, apparently.

Deus Ex and Epic Mickey creator and all-round industry legend Warren Spector has declared we live in a Golden Age of gaming.

"I think that this is kind of a Golden Age," Spector told VideoGamer.com.

"I can make a Wii-exclusive game featuring Mickey Mouse. Someone else can make an all-original $100m MMO. I've got friends who are literally working alone on indie games that have no prospect of profit or commercial success. I've got guys working on iPhone games.

"Even if you think every game on Facebook is no good, hey, the stuff on the Wii is great. And if you think the stuff on the Wii is bad, go to the Independent Game Festival and look at all the stuff that's happening there. And if you think all that's bad, go to the App Store and buy stuff there. It's insane.

"There's something for everyone, which means there's something for every developer to do that's meaningful for them, that will ignite their passion."

Next up from the man behind Thief and System Shock is Epic Mickey for the Wii. Oli Welsh reckons it's looking great.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (22) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • supermaniacs #1 2 years ago

    And long may it continue!

  • bad09 #2 2 years ago

    Increasing prices, DRM, punishing reselling of games, DLC ripping out once free features and now selling them, yeah a wonderful age there Spector ;)

    Seriously though he is right to an extent, as far as the games themselves are concerned yes we are in a wonderful golden age and it's a great time to be a gamer (not as golden as the PS1 and amiga eras though!!!), we just need to go back to the golden age of publishers not dumping on gamers.

  • linea #3 2 years ago

    True. There's so many amazing games coming out I can't even hope to play 10% of them.

  • SAMagic #4 2 years ago

    Like bad09 said, the industry has plenty of present issues (From varying levels of piracy to irate gamers annoyed by DLC and poor quality sequels to paying $10 for multiplayer access in a game), but overall I have to say that things are pretty good.

    However, don't forget that the future of the industry is at a major crossroads in November when the Supreme Court of the US rules on the Schwarzenegger vs EMA Supreme Court case. Game Politics has good coverage of it here.

  • Cappy #5 2 years ago

    I'd have to disagree. On the consoles I've never had so few choices before.

  • arcam #6 2 years ago

    @SAMagic

    As far as I can tell that law is about restricting sale of violent games to children. Not always a popular opinion but I see no problem with that (in theory), and we already do that in this country anyway.

    And on topic, I don't really agree either. Days of Amiga, NES and Megadrive all seemed more exciting than today.
    Edited by arcam at 15/09/10 @ 09:47

  • kangarootoo #7 2 years ago

    Golden Age is a much overused term.

  • humble #8 2 years ago

    It's a golden age for hyperbole.

  • butler` #9 2 years ago

    1998 called, it disagrees.

  • arcam #10 2 years ago

    Damn - Starcraft, Half-Life, Metal Gear Solid, Ocarina of Time. That was a good year.

  • Nephirion #11 2 years ago

    MW2 begs to differ ...

  • SAMagic #12 2 years ago

    @arcam : That's exactly what it appears on the surface but there's a lot more to it. The difference is that it will specifically be illegal (with the government policing the content rather than the industry doing such itself) along with a fine, plus the devastating effect that retailers would no longer stock 18 rated games. See the EMA's brief for the full details.

  • Arcadiian #13 2 years ago

    A golden age for developers, maybe? As a consumer, I already had my 'golden age' in 1998-2001. Ah, Dreamcast.

  • mkreku #14 2 years ago

    Golden age of greed, more like it.

  • Mr_Brown #15 2 years ago

    Another golden age of gaming? I'm sure we had it in the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube era as well. Not the "golden age" of gaming but getting towards that part of the generation of consoles where the best games are released. Best thing is, I don't think the PS3 is there yet, so much more to come!

  • TheBoyChris #16 2 years ago

    Top games now = £40ish
    Top games 15 years ago = £50-55ish

    To all the people who constantly complain about the 'high price' of games - you obviously didn't buy anything for a Mega Drive when it was new.

  • linksdad #17 2 years ago

    Agree!

  • dingo75 #18 2 years ago

    A golden age for developers, maybe? As a consumer, I already had my 'golden age' in 1998-2001. Ah, Dreamcast.

    +1
    Also on the PC with "Baldur's Gate", "Planescape", "Fallout" series.

  • kangarootoo #19 2 years ago

    "To all the people who constantly complain about the 'high price' of games - you obviously didn't buy anything for a Mega Drive when it was new."

    Try the Atari 2600. Games cost a relative fortune at the start of that console's life.

  • carlitoswagon #20 2 years ago

    @Nephirion - I understand your sarcasm.

    Far too many complainers these days. Would rather be playing todays games than the tape loaded ones of the ZX Spectrum etc. They were fun but the youth of today have it soooo good it's unreal. Roll on the next 20 years!!

  • X3Entente #21 2 years ago

    i dont think the current state of the industry could accomodate deus ex 1 or system shock 2. Theres two extremes between mainsteam consolised "AAA" shooters and games like braid and cave story with no middle ground like there once was. Like ubisoft said, they only see AAA franshises as part of there strategy

  • Osmond #22 2 years ago

    he's right but not on the WII imo. With games becoming big buisness and being relatively pirate proof ( on consoles) compared to films/music, the production values and dev budgets have exploded (meaning more+ better titles)