Well, I’m back to my grumpy self, after a bit of an uplift. This ones about video games.
I used to love playing video games. My first computer was a Sinclair Spectrum with 48k and a tape cassette loading system, and the games were hard.
I’ve owned most consoles over the years, except Nintendo’s. I never really felt the need to be a dungarees wearing plumber trying to save a princess from a dinosaur. Which is about all those consoles allow you to do, again and again. Seriously, Nintendo are in a perpetual ground hog day. They release the same game over and over again. I bet half their output has the word Mario in it.
Here he is running away from me. Probably because of all the time I spent bouncing him of walls in Mario 64, just because I hated him so much.
Now I have a PS3 and an Xbox360 as well as an iPad, and what do I game on most? It’s the iPad. I wonder why I choose the one device that isn’t specifically for gaming. The reason seems to be that I find most console games too hard. I also don’t have the time to invest in games that I used to have. The other reason is DLC. I paid top price for a copy of Forza Motorsport 4 and I do like the game. Now though, after an update the car showroom is full of cars that I’m expected to pay more money for. Forza 3 had Porsches in it, now if I want these I have to spend more. No other medium would get away with this. Imagine buying a film and having to pay more money if you wanted all the characters in it. You’ve just paid for the latest Harry Potter film, but if you want it to feature Hagrid that’ll be £2 more please. Oh and if you want to see the end then you’ll have to know enough Harry Potter trivia to get there.
The amount of games I’ve never finished is astonishing. I barely got past the first couple of levels of Deus Ex whatever the latest one was called. At the start I selected the “tell me a story” difficulty setting. Well this story involved a guy getting rebuilt after being shot to pieces and then taking on some terrorists and dying repeatedly. Boring.
The main draw of games was being able to do things like fly a helicopter or drive a sports car without the investment of time and money. Getting a sense of what it would be like to do these things without hours of training or massive expense. It was a sense of empowerment as well. Saving the world or some such thing. Halo on the Xbox got this right. The way your fellow soldiers used to comment about your arrival on the scene was great. You felt like you were making a difference. Most games make you feel weak though. Skulking around looking for ammo or health packs. Where is the fun in that?
The most disappointment I have ever experienced was delivered by Need for Speed Shift Unleashed 2 on PS3. This is supposed to be a racing simulator, but it was so hard to control. It didn’t even support a steering wheel. Every lap was a lesson in falling of the track. In Forza you can attack the track, but not in this game. I think they put more effort into adding words to the title than providing entertainment to the gamer.
The bottom line is that these things are supposed to be fun. Maybe I’m too old now. I just want my free time to contain some enjoyment. Real life supplies enough challenge, my free time doesn’t need to. So I’m seriously considering cancelling me Edge magazine subscription. Every month they feature game reviews of titles I have no interest in, and every month they have previews that look awesome. Then the game eventually comes out and it’s just a rehash of previous games.
I just can’t afford to spend £40 on three minutes of fun.
GRUMPY BASKET 