Were has the creativity gone? The originality, the ability to create engrossing game universes. Were is the Elite of the 21st century? I'll tell you were, dead and buried under the hundreds of has been titles like Tombraider, who helped create this 3D genre for games - to our detriment mind you.
My Opinion is that the creativity has shifted. During the 80s and the early 90s we had talented story tellers who where also talented programmers as most games had a handful of programmers working on that.
Now we have creative programers who make wonderful environs and such but we lost the creative story tellers. The emphasis seems to make the next version of the same type of game.
Also back in the 80s most game companies where small business that ran like families so there was a human element attached to the games. Now it seems that mega-corporations and congomerates own game companies and the human touch is lost (sounds kinda like the movies industry too. :-P ) They just throw millions of dollars at a project and market the hell out of them in order to make millions more.
The demo scene and a lot of the shareware is made by small groups of people who love making games and believe in what they do. In most cases these tend to be the most satisfying games to play.
I am not one who would stand against anyone making money but making games is an art. And art comes through vision, passion, blood, sweat, and tears. :-)
I let my wallet do my talking. I am more willing to spend my hard earned currancy on a small budget shareware project that is good quality than the assembly line crap most "game" conglomerates dish out. ;-) (not that all games that come from the corporate side are bad.)
Sorry to rant but I like a good game. Just my 2 ...er...15 cents.
