Within the corridors of the internet, I  always catch this big sense of cynicalism.  There's literally thousands of posts on the internet relating to DRM, Michael Patcher, DLC, and the like which has nothing but terrible things to spread about gaming's current situation, which is in reality, much better than what the media is trying to make it seem.

For those really cynical gamers or those retro-gamers that don't seem to like most what they see and hear from the internet, I'm going to put gaming in a way better light. Okay, we all still love gaming; all of us. I just wanna compare the past to much more improved future.

Okay, the first and most obvious reason why video games are much closer to reaching nirvana is obvious: The improving technology. It's very simple. Better sound, better graphics, and better gameplay overall. And all the charm is kept and nothing of value is lost.

While a lot of you argue that it's not neccessary to have these modern advances and the usefulness is essentially reduced as time goes by, we will essentially be free from all limitations in short period of time considering  we have so many possibilities now. Just think, we will be from almost every obstacle we've had now in just a matter of time. We could go ahead and do anything we want. If you think it, all you need is the skills and possibly the crew to realize what you've been dreaming of. 

Our ever improving technology also opens us to artistic oppurtunities, not just graphical ones. 

For example:

These games are all examples of the kind of artistic spirit and freedom we couldn't really achieve back in the past generations of gaming save for 6th generation, where cel-shading was born. Now Check this:

Besides the added effect of visual experimentation (along with enhanced presentation and sound), another added benefit we've gained is online play. 

Yeah, it's certainly a controversy with some. Sure, it's not exactly as good local play, but it's damned well close. What if your friend isn't around to play games or doesn't have access to games at all? Then it's got you covered. That's the beauty of it all: You can play against a competant (or at least human) player whenever you want. You may run into a couple of racist, homophobic, sexist, not-too-bright, prepubescent males, but it's still much more satisfying than fighting a CPU which isn't funny or immature enough to call you unsavory names. 

But besides playing with other people, the internet opens us to a lot of other things. For instance, indie gamers have it much better now. Instead of doing some pathetic homebrew shit, they can finally put out games freely on the internet where we can salivate on them...And the best part is that they're oozing with creativity for what is likely a deal that could cost much less than the ten bucks. Bottom line: Indie games are cheap and fun.

Besides indie games, we have fucking Steam. That's not exactly an ability or feature, but damn you if you've never been to Steam. Nothing will ever rob you or force you willingly to hand your entire life's savings like Steam would. Steam users, you know what I'm talking about. For the uniformed, TF2 will just eat up your time!

After the internet's blessing, probably the strongest indicator of gaming's health has to behow much more mainstream it's gotten. It's on phones, it's on certain TVs (the smart kind), and people don't seem to be bitching as much about its "negative effects", and gaming isn't percieved as something for kids or nerds like it used to be in the past. And it's pretty damn awesome that gaming will just be cool with everyone like a movie or a book. So as it continues to grow, more and more people will understand the joy of gaming, and more and more devices will have the ability to play them. So maybe your toaster will play Angry Birds, and even if you don't want it too, you know others will.

Besides that, I gotta say the best reason gaming is getting better is just that people these days are way more competant than they were back then. People now more than ever are analyzing games, to the point that it can be both annoying and fun. Game developers are running short on gimmicks, but their tastes, philosophies, and ideas have only gotten stronger with rising ambition and improving technology. Both the people and the tools used to make games have greatly strengthened in development and so have the actual games themselves as well as the audience. A lot of games don't age well, but the more recent the game the better the chance they really will age well. 

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If you didn't understand what I came here to say, I'll just say it again: Everyone on the internet acts way too pessimistic, and plenty of people don't realize it and don't enjoy what we're having now. I can assume a lot of you are enjoying games, but some not to the levels of your respective youths. That's okay, but times change I guess, and we have shifting interests and perspectives at times. 

Maybe, just maybe, there will be a "golden age" of gaming, and we haven't reached it yet. Whether games are art or not, who gives a fuck? Does it matter if casual gaming truly ruined what we have now? Is the console world in a desolate state? The quality of games and their surrounding platforms will continue to improve for generations to come, even if it seems like we're already edging the full capacity of the industry. Screw the pessimism of the internet, I'm going to have fun with whatever we're having now!

 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 Alpha Unit