During the year of 2010, I thought about the following topic a considerable amount: the value of aesthetics in interactive entertainment. This was partly a result of there being a less than abundant supply of games that I found engaging this year.

I firstly want to make clear that – obviously – there were games that I greatly enjoyed in 2010. To give a few examples – God of War III, GoW: Ghost of Sparta, Heavy Rain and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. These games consumed a lot of my free time. Yet, the time I spent with the aforementioned titles pales in comparison to the time I invested in older games released in the 90s and the first half of this decade.

In order to analyse this concept faithfully, I’ll need to touch on other issues that influence the situation.

The currently slug-like state of my internet connection accentuated this thinking. I was cut off from the pulsating flow of community consciousness. It brought to the forefront of my mind the huge similarities in fundamental gameplay when comparing what we buy today and what we bought ten or fifteen years ago. This idea is not new, and many people are acutely aware of it.

So, if what I’m saying has any weight to it — if we’re essentially buying the same games over and over again – what makes us do it? Among other smaller, varying factors, it seems that marketing / hype, narrative, and graphical fidelity are the main culprits.

With regard to the first influence – marketing – I’ve recently had a relevant realisation. Although I enjoy indulging in old, niche titles, I find that when I do, I often feel a lack of connection with the ‘entertainment community/ audience’. And due to our natural craving for connection and conversation, I can often be very easily swayed to choose to play new, low-quality titles over older, more engaging ones.

With ‘Remastered in HD’ collections becoming a popular trend, it’s clear that there’s still an enthusiastic audience for old titles in the contemporary market. Moreover, the aforementioned lack of connection often felt whilst playing old games is overcome through the rerelease’s marketing campaign and chronologically-focused audience experience.

Commonly, these rereleases feature upgrades that take the form of high definition resolutions, higher bit rates, frame rate increases and reduced loading times. These are all variables through which the end-user experience can be streamlined and made more enjoyable.

Arguably, modern games have also only evolved through these relatively unimpressive avenues, with other negligible and inconsequential developments accompanying them. Furthermore, despite the utilisation of these improvements, many contemporary games are unable to match the quality found in their predecessors. This is interesting, but unsurprising when given thought. It highlights the meaningful difference between rudimentary and low-quality aesthetics.  For example, the value of a low-resolution, professionally shot feature film would generally be considered as greater than the value of a high definition, hour-long home video. I am not referring to personal value. Although high definition is desirable, content is more so. Similarly, whilst a game’s aesthetics can be appreciated, such appreciation is commonly wholly separate from the enjoyment of gameplay interactions.