Three Things That Turn Me Off Modern Gaming

[kyouki]

Yeah, I'm not patient. Games are not art they are distractions to entertain me. I have very little time to goof around in games if they are going to get entertaining "later." I'm not patient with games at all. With books and movies, yes. I didn't like Half-Life because there was nothing that interested me in that game. Linear FPS with awful platforming elements? No thanks.

I'm not saying I need to play Arkanoid on PocketPC. The game does not have to be fast-paced to be entertaining. However, it has to grab me almost immediately, which I think is the job of a good game designer. Think of all the great books and movies (even the slow-paced ones) that start with an intriguing concept on page/scene 1!

I guess I just don't take video games seriously enough to sit there passively while the game goes on and on because the scenario writer/designer sincerely wanted to be a director but couldn't cut it in film school. There are better ways to get you into the story of a game than endless exposition. It would be like reading a story but the author decides the first quarter of the story is going to be a dull history lesson just so that you are "up to speed." Or watching a movie and having to sit through 20 minutes of characters telling each other how the world is because that's the only way the writer could think to school you on the thing he created. I'm a fan of the kind of game where the story is in the background and is something you figure out: SaGa series, Elder Scrolls, King's Field, Legend of Mana. These games say in atmosphere and simple images what other games take reams and reams of text to tell you.

I also love fighting games which definitely get better the more you play them and require an investment of time. However, all the best fighters are immediately fun to get into and offer highly technical play in order to reward spending time on your skills.

[Malroth]

I would get into fighters if my friends did. The problem is that I can go ahead and fight the computer for 50+ hours, but unless I have a decent human opponent it all seems rather moot.

[jameseightbitstar]

shinigami said:

Wait a minute, lets go back to these broken system problems you're having.

Memory Card switching, and you're system won't read memory cards, what happened? Can you be a little more specific? Did they switch the cards while it was reading/saving? Was the system turned on at all? Why don't you mention that? Did you ask your sister what she and her friend did? If they tell you they don't know they are lying, they know exactly what they did but won't tell you.

You bought some joysticks that caused your system to break. How about tell us what sticks those were, who made them? Do you want us to find out for ourselves? Come on, help a brother out! Don't let us make the same mistakes.

My own hardware issues were resolved years ago...

... But about those joysticks, you're right, I'll tell you: The joystick in question was the Pelican Real Arcade Universal, a fighter stick that worked with all three major consoles (Gamecube, X-Box, and PS2). That one is what hurt my PS2.

However, Pelican DID make a model of this stick that ONLY works on the PS2, and THAT version works with no problems.

[dai jou bu]

malroth said:

I would get into fighters if my friends did. The problem is that I can go ahead and fight the computer for 50+ hours, but unless I have a decent human opponent it all seems rather moot.

It's pretty hard to find non-Japanese or European players for Senko no Ronde at the moment. It makes me sad. ;_;

[baggie]

If you grew up gaming in the UK, modern games do not seem that expensive (that mightchange when the PS3 is lost). The N64 launched at 250 pounds - more than $450 - although the fact that it was shunned at first in favour of the PS meant that a hundred was quickly shaved off the price. It had four games, priced at fifty (pilot wings), sixty (Mario and Shadows of the Empire )and seventy (Turok). Games and consoles seem cheaper now to me.

Agree with missing games being included. As a portable fan, I wish I no longer had to buy plastic cases separately - Gamegear, Game boy and Neo Geo pocket used to include them.