12 Harsh Truths You Don't Want To Admit About Video Games

We love gaming: ever since we were young, it has transported us to different, magical worlds, taken us on grand adventures, brought us tremendous joy and, if you're into that sort of thing, scared the living bajesus out of us. Our lives wouldn't be the same without it, and as amazing as the medium is, it's also something we can't help but complain about, because like anything else, it's evolved through the years and not always in a way we like. As much as we love having gaming in our lives, these 12 points are unfortunate footnotes about the current state of the industry, the inevitable nature of "progress" and also our own as gamers. We might try to downplay or flat-out deny these harsh truths, but if you really think about it, they've all shown themselves to be pretty self-evident over the years. Denial is for the fanboys and cheerleaders of the industry: we're here to lay down the facts as card-carrying hardcore gamers who nevertheless have enough self-awareness to realise when things aren't all sunshine and rainbows.

12. The New "Current Gen" Has Been Totally Underwhelming So Far

This time last year was considered arguably the most exciting time in the history of video games: for the first time, Microsoft and Sony were launching new, next-gen consoles at the same time, making the competition hotter than ever, meaning that both companies would surely be bringing their A-game, right? Though the launches were largely considered successful (especially for Sony), we have to admit that the output to date for both platforms have been relatively underwhelming. Sure, launch titles such as the Xbox One's Ryse: Son of Rome and the PS4's Knack fell by the wayside as we expected so many to, but what about those killer app titles we just couldn't wait for? We're talking about the likes of Watch Dogs and Destiny, two multi-platform games with enormous hype surrounding them which they abjectly failed to meet, leading to droves of disappointed players. Almost a year on from launch, neither console has an amazing original game to its name, and it looks like we'll be waiting for next year's big-hitters like Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain to see our next-gen (now current-gen) consoles being given a firm workout. In honesty, we've spent a lot of our time on the PS4 playing indie games, which while a huge amount of fun, don't exactly require the technical juice to justify owning a £350 new games console. Like most launches, it's taken a while to get going, though hopefully a year from now we'll be singing a very different tune.