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Awoo.

Whatever happened to the Light Gun genre?


Badnik Mechanic

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Light Guns.

For as long as I can remember there has always been a light gun game on every single console reaching as far back as the Odyssey computer system.

I'm sure you're all familiar with one or all of these little babies.

Piraase2.jpgAtarixegun.jpgjustifier.jpgdefender64small.jpg

saturngun.jpglg-gcon.jpg

Oh yeah... after a while those pieces of plastic are no longer toys... they're real weapons that can punch a hole through time! I can remember using a nes zapper at a friends house back in the day, and I can even remember using my commador 64's light gun a few times. I didn't have one for my Mega Drive, but it did have some. If you ask me, the light gun genre exploded during the days of the original playstation and gave us some memorable moments into the PS2 days.

Remember how every month there seemed to be a new light gun game in the charts? Point Blank. Time Crisis. Resident Evil Survivor. House of the Dead, That thing with Vampires. And even Final Fantasy had a light gun game (at least I think you could use a light gun with it).

The last light gun game I bought and own would be Time Crisis 4 on the PS3. The game is fantastic, it's a brilliant port of the arcade and I really can't find much flaw with it... except one thing... the lightgun itself, whilst theres nothing wrong with technically... it does look a tad ugly.

gcon3.jpg

They ran out of black paint so decided orange was the next best thing.... seriously did they fear health and safety rules that much?

Ever sine this game came out (a few years ago now) the light gun genre is pretty much dead. I can't think of any light gun games on the PS3 (although I bet someone is going to link some) Certainly can't think of any for the 360 (does it even have a light gun accessory?).

The genre now only survives on the Wii, it's had a number of games I would classify as light gun, even then they're not selling too well and the only reason they seem to get bundled on there is because the Wii's controller is pretty much a lightgun so it saves money on people needing to buy a light gun.

But are these guns really that costly to make and sell? I seem to remember back in the days of the Playstation, there was at one point more light guns than light gun games, and some were extremely cheap to buy and were often just as good as the G-Con 45 and would often have more features. I seem to recall once spending around £15 for a lightgun that was just as good as the G-Con 2, had turbo settings and even had rumble. So it's not like they can't be made on the cheap.

However, as the Wii demonstrates, even if the user already has a light gun, they're not selling as well as they once did. As for development cost, the arcades are over flowing with games that could easilly be ported to the home console. Yet nobody is doing it.

So I ask you? Have we stopped enjoying the light gun game?

Edited by Casanova
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Real "light guns" can only be used on old CRT televisions. The Wii-mote works a little differently, so it's not a "light gun". [/nitpick]

The genre is dying because Arcades are dying. Light gun games like Time Crisis or House of the Dead are perfect for Arcades because they are quick and simple. (And they have to be! You can't stand in front of an Arcade machine all day.) Now that Arcades are dying and focus is put on games you play as home, people are looking for games that are longer and more complex, since you are free to play as long as you want at the comfort of your home.

And when those games are ported today, like Time Crisis 4, they are received negatively because of their shortness. SEGA still has not ported Virtua Cop 3 to anything yet. :(

So yeah, death of Arcades is to blame.

Edited by Dr. SEGA Monkey
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I think Namco might have had more success with Time Crisis 4 if they hadn't been dicks about packaging and allowed you to actually buy a second Guncon without buying a second copy of the game.

I personally was playing Time Crisis II just the other day with one of these:

1126200712241504443.jpg

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Well, the light-gun genre sort of like got replaced with using the Wii-remote as a gun, but it's kind of a shame that there are no light gun games on the 360 or PS3, so the closest thing you're going to get in this generation are the Wii gun games.

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If what you mean by "light gun game" is what I know as "on-rails shooter", then nobody has ever stopped enjoying them; all that's changed is the method of play.

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I never really played light gun games. With one exception.

pointblankscreen1.jpg

I still play them when I see them around, and there's plenty of places to find them at the seasides I've been to. So much fun!

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Man, I miss these games. I never had any at home besides Duck Hunt, but I enjoyed them in the arcades. I just can't get into using the Wii remote as a substitute for a real lightgun, though. Back when Wii first came out, I was all excited about it, but a little hands-on play shows that the Wii remote is really just a "relative location" pointer, and not an absolute sort of thing like a light gun. Where you aim is what you shoot with a lightgun; with a Wii remote, getting the pointer to line up isn't nearly as instinctive. It's just a very... nebulous, imprecise substitute that's about as accurate as a track ball.

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FPSes sort of took their place, since they're all the fun of shooting things minus the constrained movement. But, yes, I think it's still should be a viable genre given the differences it creates in gameplay. Fortunately, the Wii seems to be making a slow revival of the genre with titles like House of the Dead Overkill and Dead Space Extraction.

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It's mainly because the industry has had more success with large, immersive, cinematic games which is difficult to convey through a light gun game which are mostly short and scripted/on rails. For most people it doesn't hold enough appeal for a $50 price tag plus whatever gun add-ons are necessary to play with friends. However think there's still potential for these games as rail shooters have seen limited success on the Wii thanks to it's light gun-esque controller. With Microsoft's Natal and Sony's Gem, Arc, Phalic vibrator or whatever they call it adopting a similar control style and providing a better market for downloadable games light gun arcade games might see more success as relatively cheap titles on Xbox live/PSN in the future.

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SEGA should port House of the Dead 4 to 360 and PS3 with an updated House of the Dead 3 as an unlockable and both updated House of the Dead 1 and 2 on Live Arcade and PSN.

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These kind of games were damn good. Mostly because you felt like you were shooting for real. It got rid of your frustrations when you got pissed. And it was enteraining. But I wish they would be more. But the wii isn't that good with them. Well fun anyways.

Well I rented Resident Evil: Umbrella Croncicles I was kind of bored mostly because I only had a wii remote. It was just point and click and that's all. :/ But that's because I lacked the funds for the zapper so my experience was rather forgettable...

They do make good arcade games. I would spend a while playing one of these at the mail at times. It's all good. :)

*ish a nerd because I liked the Jurassic Park arcade shooter*

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