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Showing results for tags 'modern gaming'.
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Mine is Verdun, it's (probably) the most realistic WW1 shooter out there. Grand Theft Auto 5 is a close second.
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Being someone who likes video games and wants to play them 10-30+ years down the line, stuff like streaming only game systems and all digital systems kind of make me worry about how we'll preserve and play these modern games in the future. Is it going to be next to impossible to play today's games tomorrow through emulation or by using the native console, or have people already found loopholes and such to preserve such stuff? (Sorry if it sounds like I repeated my first paragraph, I'm very tired at the time of writing this post)
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As I approach my mid-30s, an issue in gaming has been weighing on me more and more over the past few years. I find myself increasingly frustrated with how modern games attempt to structure my game time in ways that are often incompatible with my responsibilities and commitments. While I was never a gamer of immense skill, as a kid I could play through difficult, long ,or mediocre games and enjoy every second of the experience. Gaming was my "thing," and it stuck with me into adulthood. I don't like going to the movies, I don't watch TV, and I care less and less about sports. When I want to relax after work or on the weekend, I turn to games, and I find that my mood, energy level, and amount of free time really determine how much I can put into a game. After a long day of work, I might want to relax with a retro game for an hour or grind away on a 3DS JRPG before going to bed. If there is a new release in a favorite series that comes out and I can build time into a weekend, I can enthusiastically marathon a game. Sometimes I like to test my skill and give myself a challenge: racing rFactor 2 or Assetto Corsa with no assists or ranking up in Tenhou Mahjong at peak hours (yes, I have odd tastes). The point is that the restrictions of my adult life dictate how I engage with games, and nothing irritates me more than games that do not take the time constraints of mature gamers seriously in the design process. There is no good reason for this other than stubborn adherence to traditional practice, and it should end, because we are the gamers with the disposable income to buy the most releases. Here are a few specifics that I find increasingly intolerable: · Forced tutorials: As a fan of JRPGs, I detest the many needlessly complex, layered systems that require (in the most egregious cases) a full hour of tutorial time to introduce. The worst offenders often do this via pages of text instructions within the game. If I have to click through 10K words to get going, I'm putting the game down and selling it. Sports games are also offenders here, as they introduce new gimmicky systems every year that force you to re-learn skills or re-adjust techniques. · Fetch quests and forced crafting: While a properly designed fetch quest can be fun, many are just boring, derivative content that exist solely to give you more stuff to do. Crafting works the same way. I simply don't have the time to hunt around a huge map to find a stone to enchant my sword. Zelda BOTW really put me off with the constant foraging and cooking needed to advance in the game. These mechanics should be optional for those who enjoy this sort of thing. · Cinematic Cut-scenes and Hollywood Storytelling: I should not have to sit through a cut-scene for the sake of story exposition. Modern games have gotten better about giving you a skip option. But more irritating still are game sequences and dialogue integrated into the action to advance the narrative. The joy of gaming to me is that it is not a movie, and, in the past, was largely free from the nonsensical "story beats" and clichéd sentiments of Hollywood and TV. Now, however, development resources are being poured into to making games "cinematic experiences," and the results are mediocre at best, with a few notable exceptions. · Difficulty Gaps and Spikes: Some games seem to have wild gaps between easy, medium, and hard modes, with the result being that casual and time-constrained gamers are shafted. Sports games are the worst offenders here. Easy, to my mind, should mean that I find myself in an exciting, competitive game that I have the skills and talent to easily win. Instead, easy mode is often completely uncompetitive, whereas normal and hard force you to master all of these useless and overly complex yearly mechanical "upgrades" to have a shot at victory. The only solution is to tweak pages of sliders to get an acceptable experience. Action games are getting better in this regard, but are not perfect yet, and can sometimes include sequences or segments that frustrate otherwise smooth progression (like the tank sequences in Arkham Knight). · Time and Money Trades: The fact that modern AAA games are borrowing freemium monetization strategies is disturbing. Those games use the design process to frustrate players into prioritizing time investment vs. money investment, and with both resources being scarce, this robs gaming of its fun. If I have the sense that a game is forcing me into a time/money trade, I will assume that it's rigged and get rid of it. · Save Points: It's 2017. I should not have to tell my girlfriend, "Sorry, I can't come to dinner, I need to find a save point." I should not have to wonder, "Did I hit that checkpoint yet?" Players should be able to suspend and continue a game whenever they wish. If I lose game progress because of a save issue, I will likely not continue playing the game. Time is precious, and I can't reinvest more time to make up progress in a game that was lost due to an inadequate save structure. What I am advocating for is a design philosophy that allows gamers to explore the content of a game at a pace that is suitable to a player's needs and commitments. We are, after all paying for this content, and it should not be locked away behind a time investment model inconsistent with our own priorities. Developers need to be flexible and creative in how they allow their games to unfold, and give players control over and options for how they experience a game. Some games have done this well. Take, for example, the adjustable encounter rates in Bravely Default and GTA V’s offer to skip a gameplay sequence and just progress the story or mission. Are they the "ideal" or "pro" ways to play the game? No. Should you get trophies for this approach? No. But the option should be offered to players who are passed the part of their lives where game skill matters. Yes, there are some favorites that I can still play at a high level and play seriously but, for the most part, I could care less about trophies, death in a game, or how I stack up against the pros. My goal, at this point in my life, is to relax and enjoy a game, not hone my skill. Let's take the newly released Sonic Mania as a case in point. I find the game to be much harder than my beloved Genesis Sonic games. I'm dying way more frequently than I ever did back then, and I really need to work through levels, memorize patterns, and give the later levels a number of runs before I can beat them. I think this has to do with the fact that I'm not 12 anymore, but also because the levels are larger and have more obstacles, and the 1UPs seem pretty scarce. Because I have some vacation time, I'm playing through it, beating the challenges, and repeating it for Knuckles and Tails. During a normal work week, however, I probably would have put the game down. What could be done to make this wonderful game "aging gamer friendly"? Give the user the ability to save between Acts, so that playing Act 1 after a death is not necessary. Let the user select how many lives Sonic can have (up to, say, 7), so that deaths are less significant to the less skilled. And have the debug code unlocked from the get go. This would allow people to run through the content they paid for at their own pace. All games can and should be adapted this way. Give me the option to use this assistance as often or as infrequently as I choose, and know that this issue will only become more urgent as the generations who were kids in the 70s, 80s and 90s age to the point that their reflexes and cognitive abilities are drastically reduced. No one should have to age out of gaming, whether because of family commitments, job responsibilities, or inevitable physical decline. Games should adapt to our needs and time constraints, not the other way around. I want to be the master of my gaming life. I've earned it! I'm old and I've given this industry tons of my disposable income, from my first allowance to my latest bonus. And the brutal reality for developers is, when many of us find ourselves saying "this isn't worth my time," we will find other outlets for that time and money.
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I know this topic should have a question mark, but i ran out of space I had this thought the other day in chat with someone. Is it me, or are older/middle-aged people underrepresented in video games? I tried to think of some examples and of the three that came to mind, two were: -Grandma from The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker -Snake from Metal Gear Solid 4 (who technically isn't even old, but has some sort of Progeria) The third person I thought of was Hitman, from the Hitman series. Who by the way, didn't get the movie treatment he deserved. The people who made the movie re-wrote his character to be in his 30's ugh. An older "Hitman" would be a better assassin because by the time you're middle-aged, you'd have a much more advanced understanding of human behavior and that would translate into being a better hitman. Is it just me? I'm always willing to accept the idea that i'm completely wrong and have been making an ass out of myself.
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While browsing around the web for Smurf-related content of the 80s, I came across this ColecoVision "fan fiction" if you will. It made me laugh a little bit--it's rather hilarious! Kudos to you if you can get past the first fence. Controls are somewhat jank. Day of the Purple Smurfs Here's a translation. My Spanish is a little rusty, but here it goes: It was a peaceful day in the Smurf Village. An ideal day to walk through the forest and listen to the birds sing. But all that changed when a gaggle of biting flies invaded the forest. Now you have to painfully endure 5 lives in order to escape with your life in place, eluding the Purple Smurfs that want to bite your ass and avoiding dangerous elements of the forest. Are you capable of defeating Gargamel, rescue Smurfette and save the Smurf Village? Let’s get going! Day of the Purple Surfs is a tribute game to Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel’s Castle, the classic Smurf ColecoVision game.
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Just sayin' ? I see Xbox One, PS4... and some Wii U thread topics, but no pinned Wii U Section. I know it hasn't sold great and blah blah blah but c'mon.
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So I'm looking for some feedback from any of you who also collect for modern consoles like Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, etc. I've been collecting in the modern scene since about 2009 and lately I have began to notice physical deterioration in some of the games cases for games I've bought in that time period. Many of these games were new when I bought them, or used but in great condition. The main thing that I notice is that the artwork inserts of some games have begun to develop a ripple or wave underneath the plastic sleeve. It looks really bad. The only thing I can figure is that the plastic sleeves seem to be opening up or becoming too loose and allowing air to reach the insert. But that's just a theory I'm tossing around. I store all of my dvd/blueray style case games in the same fashion, on a shelf and upright. I sometimes wonder maybe if the upright position is causing the sleeves to eventually loose intergrity and sag, leading to air or humidity reaching the insert? Of course my games are stored in a climate controlled space, my room! So I don't see how moisture could really play a role in this, but I'm not ruling it out. This happens with both 360, and PS3 games. One other thing I notice mostly with 360 games, is that sometimes the plastic case alone will begin to sag down in the center. I speculated that it's possible this might have happened to some of them when I had them stacked vertically for a short period of time. If that wasn't the cause, then I don't know why they would do that other than terrible build quality. Which, everyone probably knows is the case, as they're not nearly as sturdy or heavy as PS2 / XBOX era cases. Anyway, if you have any clue what the heck is going on (especially with insert issue), please fill me in. I'd like to stop any further deterioration if possible.
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I managed to get very lucky and got an Xbox 360 from the Circuit City website last Friday. I was going to keep it for myself, but after I heard they were selling on eBay at a ridiculous markup... in some cases as much as 500%... I couldn't pass up the opportunity.So I did what any good capitalist would do, and put mine up for sale. I set the price higher than I thought was reasonable, because I kind of wanted to keep it for myself. But it did end up selling, and I made double what I paid for it. Nice. I can wait for 2006 to get another one.
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I've been a fan of the Resident Evil series since getting the Resident Evil Director's Cut for the Playstation way back when. A lot of people complain about the now-cliched gameplay and "tank" controls, but I still love 'em.Even so, I have to admit that the REworking (pun intended) of the series with Resident Evil 4 was a huge leap in the right direction. I played the first couple of chapters early this year, but just now have gotten around to (almost) finishing it. This is such a great game - on one hand, it is so stressful and tense that I hate to play it, but it's so good that I can't stop. It's that perfect combination of challenge with a sense of progress. I'm probably an hour or two from finishing the game, but from what I understand there is a lot more game left once you finish the actual storyline. I just want to finish it though! I don't see how people can play games like Baldur's Gate 2 that require upwards of 100 hours to complete... even with a great game such as RE4, I'm 17 hours in and am ready for it to be done.With that being said, once I've seen the ending, I plan on playing through it again Just a brilliant game. And supposedly the sequel isn't too far off - can't wait!