phantom_leo said:I must say, I didn't know that about you, Rob. Anyone learn anything else about anyone else in this topic that was unexpected?
I think I kind of figured that out about Rob based on his gaming tastes.
Wow, Leo, just read what you said after staying away for days. Your thoughts on multiplayer almost echo mine. I've never been competitive when it comes to gaming. I have no desire to one up someone, talk down to someone or even to own someone in a game. I love online gaming, but for one reason only: to play with my friends! I truly suck at Halo, but I had a ball playing with Steel. How could I forget the nights of coordinating an attack on the enemy with Vader and S0lid in The Last of Us? All those Uncharted 2 nights mean something to me because of the people I played with, not my kill/death ratio. Nothing, NOTHING beats the pure excitement, pure drama of beating that arena with Leo. We never spoke via mic, but had our own special way of communicating, our own victory dance.
You guys notice I rarely use a microphone for online gaming. Maybe it's out of embarrassment, wondering what I might sound like. Maybe I'm afraid of coming off as stupid. One thing is for certain, if I did have a mic on during the times that I played with you all, you would catch my laughter 90% of the time. It's that much fun for me to play online with friends. Playing with strangers sucks, it's boring. Playing with friends is where it's at for me.
Ravenprose said:robio said:(though I still don't get Animal Crossing)
Hmm, I used to "get:" Animal Crossing, and loved it. Wild World especially., but not so much anymore. City Folk
and New Leaffelt like work, boring, tedious work.
Same.
robio said:phantom_leo said:I must say, I didn't know that about you, Rob. Anyone learn anything else about anyone else in this topic that was unexpected?
Yeah it's something that sort of clicked with me a few years ago. At first I thought it was just due to me having kids and not wanting to play those kinds of things around them, but looking back on it, it's always been a subconscious philosophy I guess. In college I was playing Harvest Moon, Final Fantasy, Pokemon, Street Fighter, and Mario Party and stayed away from most shooters and more violent fare that was coming out for the Playstation and PCs. Quake was the one exception, though that's because my roommate always played it and had a network to play on against guys at a rival college.
I am the same way about the news/ radio etc... I don't want to be exposed to crime stories or graphic violence, even in movies. For whatever reason I don't associate those feeling to video games, probably because even the most realistic stuff is still clowny pixels at this point. Once we get to the VR stage game violence would revolt me, but then once we get to the VR stage I don;t think we'll see these violent games (no one could stomach it). It will all be dating sims and exploration (with comic violence).
aspro said:I am the same way about the news/ radio etc... I don't want to be exposed to crime stories or graphic violence, even in movies. For whatever reason I don't associate those feeling to video games, probably because even the most realistic stuff is still clowny pixels at this point. Once we get to the VR stage game violence would revolt me, but then once we get to the VR stage I don;t think we'll see these violent games (no one could stomach it). It will all be dating sims and exploration (with comic violence).
If people can stomach graphic violence in films, why wouldn't they be able to with VR?
Foolz said:If people can stomach graphic violence in films, why wouldn't they be able to with VR?
It'd drive people bats insane. Imagine seeing an axe hit you in the head. Your brain would explode.
SupremeAC said:It'd drive people bats insane. Imagine seeing an axe hit you in the head. Your brain would explode.
Like dying in a dream?
Foolz said:SupremeAC said:It'd drive people bats insane. Imagine seeing an axe hit you in the head. Your brain would explode.
Like dying in a dream?
Idunno. I was thinking of an experiment I had heard of in which people would wear a HMD and would be shown realtime footage of themselves. Googled a bit and I think I found something similar . Not that I undrestand the relevance of it all, but I can imagine true high quality VR provoking unexpected reactions.
Foolz said:If people can stomach graphic violence in films, why wouldn't they be able to with VR?
Depending on what you are doing in the game and if you're actively engaged in the violence. It's one thing to passively watch a violent scene in a film. On the other hand, I think it would be something else entirely to be actively killing a hooker in a game.
In my first post I only focused on my overall views of the industry as a whole and not my personal thoughts on the games themselves, so I will do so now. The NES got me into gaming. It was all about the joy of playing or the joy of completing a challenge. Games were I had full control over my character became my standard, stuff where you had to navigate menus were a turn off. The Legend of Zelda intrugied me unlike any other game on the NES, a full open world, non linear, action and puzzles to solve; wow I was in love. Zelda became the template for my favorite kinds of games, the action adventure games. In the NES days I played all sorts of genres, it really didnt matter cause they were all so simple that they were all about the joy of playing. Sports games werent so much simulations as they were action games with rules of a sport. Stuff like Mega Man, Contra and Ninja Gaiden showed how skill is needed to get through some games, something I got hooked on.
Games became my primary form of entertainment at a young age and I wasn't alone. All my friends were NES kids, it was the NES era, we all grew up on these games. 2P games were ok but even at the start it never intruiged me like a single player game. Playing with others is a great time but it could never replace that intimate feeling of being in full control of your own adventure. Mainly I hate giving up control of my gaming experience, I HATE doing something I dont want to do in a game. If I want to spend an hour walking around a game world doing nothing I will do so, I dont want some co-op partner telling me to hurry up. I especially do not want someone playing the game for me, I want to accomplish all goals in the game, not watch someone do it. Its my main gaming quirk and the reason multiplayer games and me don't get along so well. It is why I will try to play through a game alone before playing co-op, I'm sorry I may like you but I dont want you messing with my game. My save files are precious to me, don't you dare load them and save over them. These are habits that began back in the day and have stayed with me till today.
There was a certain magic to the older games, mainly it had to do with almost all games being brand new experiences. As much as I loved platfomers, games with hidden secrets and large worlds to explore scartched some itch no other game could. Castlevania 1 and 3 are clearly better than CV2 but there was something about the freedom in CV2 that always made me want to play it. Zelda 2 was the same way, it was much more random than Zelda 1, had a bigger sense of discovery. But those games were so hard to play that I would always give up on them. It seemed like most games that gave some freedom was also kind of crappy back in the day, except Zelda 1. I had a family friends house that I would go to which had a totally different collection of NES games than I had, I would love to go there cause he had so many cool games. Stuff like Star Trek which was terrible to play blew my mind cause it had freedom. There was some Star Control game, I forget the name but it was just like a HUD and you flew in the stars, it sucked to play but again it was open so I was in. Then there was Dragon Warrior this gave me a giant magical world to explore, it had this sense of discovery that was unmatched but you had turn based battles which was a turn off to me immediately. I eventually did beat Dragon Warrior and I loved it but I so rather be in control of my actions.
And so I would always go back to the action games and platformers. They were my bread and butter, I beat Mario, Mega Man, Zelda, TMNT2, and the like countless times. I would always try those more open games only to quit cause they did not play the way i wanted them to. There was this one game called Metal Gear that was super cool, I had borrowed it so only played it for a while but it had good action and had stealth, plus it was rather open. Still rough but that game stayed in the back of my mind for a long time.. 
16-bit came around and we were all getting older. Now we had a choice of consoles and battle lines were drawn. My dad bought me a Genesis so my side was chosen for me, I became a Sega fanatic and Sonic became my mascot. I pretended to hate Nintendo and had playground "fights" about which was better all the while secretly knowing the games I really wanted to play were on the SNES, it had Zelda... I wanted my Zelda so badly. The Genesis wasnt that great on the whole big open world kind of game so that gen became mostly about action, platformers, fighters and sports sims. I really got into sports sims for a while because they got realistic enough to be good simulations but were still very arcadey and fun to play. The arcade explosion was such a blast, I never really played in the arcades, I would mostly patiently wait for those games to hit consoles. Mortal Kombat became an obsession, I loved ninjas, fantasy and violence (blame my dad for rasing me on Arnold and JCVD movies) so that game was so amazing to me. But I rarely played with others, I didnt care I rather would watch the ending movie of single player.
While this was happening my best friend got a good PC and a game called Doom. I had a crappy PC so I didnt get any PC games, my house was awlasy super behind on PC tech so for that reason most of all PC gaming never took off for me. Anyway at my friends house we would all play Doom and would be blown away. This was the most epic action we had ever seen but at the same time it was 3D, I had freedom to move around. Levels were like mazes and the enemy design was so great, sprite design always had a special place in my heart I think enemy design has declined considerably over the years. All the FPS were so much fun and of course violent, we were at that age where we wanted a peak at the more adult stuff, like porn. Duke Nukem 3D was the perfect game for the 13 year old, that strip club felt so naughty. There were also incredible Star Wars flight sims like Tie Fighter that blew my mind. Sim City 2000 while complicated was such a novel idea that I got hooked easily. My friend had a ton of games I could only play sporatically cause its rude to come to a friends house and ignore them while I play his PC game alone, but I did that quite a bit (and thus I am socialy awkward, well that solves that mystery. lol)
Ok I have more to write but I have a plane to board so to be continued... next up the 3D gaming explosion and how Resident Evil changed everything ( I am sure I told that story a million times already but you will hear it again and like it damn it)
Foolz said:aspro said:I am the same way about the news/ radio etc... I don't want to be exposed to crime stories or graphic violence, even in movies. For whatever reason I don't associate those feeling to video games, probably because even the most realistic stuff is still clowny pixels at this point. Once we get to the VR stage game violence would revolt me, but then once we get to the VR stage I don;t think we'll see these violent games (no one could stomach it). It will all be dating sims and exploration (with comic violence).
If people can stomach graphic violence in films, why wouldn't they be able to with VR?
Because you'd be the one doing it. People talk all tough all the time, but until you've shivved someone or shot someone, you don't know what it takse to actually do the act. Sure, it gets easier over time, but most people don't have the stomach for it. (this is VR as in holodeck quality).
aspro said:Because you'd be the one doing it. People talk all tough all the time, but until you've shivved someone or shot someone, you don't know what it takse to actually do the act. Sure, it gets easier over time, but most people don't have the stomach for it. (this is VR as in holodeck quality).
Totally depends on the level of graphic realism and more importantly the acting. If I am in VR and I am killing space aliens I don't care. If I Am fighting drone like humans I don't care. If I get to a character who looks human, who starts to plead for his life while crying and I believe it, now I have a problem with it.
Dvader said:aspro said:Because you'd be the one doing it. People talk all tough all the time, but until you've shivved someone or shot someone, you don't know what it takse to actually do the act. Sure, it gets easier over time, but most people don't have the stomach for it. (this is VR as in holodeck quality).
Totally depends on the level of graphic realism and more importantly the acting. If I am in VR and I am killing space aliens I don't care. If I Am fighting drone like humans I don't care. If I get to a character who looks human, who starts to plead for his life while crying and I believe it, now I have a problem with it.
That's what I am talking about. Say Max Payne 3 as an example.
aspro said:Dvader said:aspro said:Because you'd be the one doing it. People talk all tough all the time, but until you've shivved someone or shot someone, you don't know what it takse to actually do the act. Sure, it gets easier over time, but most people don't have the stomach for it. (this is VR as in holodeck quality).
Totally depends on the level of graphic realism and more importantly the acting. If I am in VR and I am killing space aliens I don't care. If I Am fighting drone like humans I don't care. If I get to a character who looks human, who starts to plead for his life while crying and I believe it, now I have a problem with it.
That's what I am talking about. Say Max Payne 3 as an example.
I get what you're saying, but can relate to the out of body experience and full body hooker stabbing explanations more.
You're not shivving or shooting someone, even in Star Trek. You're not even stabbing or shooting an object which can be permanently damaged or altered. And if the program is designed for permanent consequences, you're still only working within the confines of a controlled, false environment even if looks real.
Max Payne 3's killing elicited no more empathy from me than the killing in Max Payne 1 and 2. That includes the Spec Ops scene. And I had less empathy for the calcium victims in Spec Ops than in many games because of how overwrought the scene was. The same goes for the civillian BS. There are two forms of fidelity that factor into something being disturbing to me, and neither are affected by the concept of virtual reality: narrative design and realism. Realism not as in the absurd notion of photorealism, but that the depiction of violence is realistic. Being able to stab someone with your own hands does not automatically result in realistic violence. The number of realistic scenes of violence in film can be counted on one's digits, so I doubt virtual reality is going to result in more realistic violence at any deep level. I can currently stab someone with a film knife if I wanted, and it's no less realistic than virtual reality if they are a skilled actor. I'd have no problem doing that whatsoever. I wouldn't want to actually stab anyone, though. The only way that can be done through a virtual interface is if that virtual interface controls an actual knife that actually stabs someone. I'd have as much problem stabbing someone in that way, than I would face to face: I am still causing an actual person serious suffering or perhaps even their death.
I agree with the initial concept: people can't stomach realistic depictions of violence, and therefore do not place it in media designed for mass consumption.* But that's already the case with non-virtual reality media and always has been. But clearly enough people have no problem with unrealistic depictions of violence involving people that look real (filmed media) that there's no reason to automatically assume that violence won't be depicted in virtual reality. In fact, given that it is a huge staple of all media, it's probably safer to assume that it would be. Most people enjoy violence as long as it isn't realistic, and there's no reason to believe that virtual reality will make it any more realistic.
I'm not suggesting any of you who think they'd object to it in virtual reality wouldn't, just that enough other people would not object. It seems just as likely to be a staple of virtual reality as it has been with every single form of media that has thus been invented by humanity. It would be bizarre if it wasn't.
P.S.
The drone scene in Call of Duty 4 is the most disturbing depiction of violence in a game I can think of off the top of my head. But it's disturbing because aspects of the narrative presentation are realistic. Virtual reality does not make narrative realism any easier. Oh, and I didn't even blink at blowing the people up. That part was fun for the first few minutes. Then it just droned on and on...which wouldn't happen in a film, actually. And did contribute to the realism. No cuts etc. So that's an area where virtual reality can inadvertently result in greater realism, but it's not an area that videogames can't currently.
*For the purposes of the discussion, the use of footage of actual violence (executions, murders, torture, beatings etc.) is not applicable in this context.
So I left off when I found I could access porn channels on that new cable box, it was an amazing discovery... oh wait wrong history. Ok back to games, so we were now heading directly into the 3D game revolution which would change our industry forever. The prospect of moving a character in a 3D space excited me to no end, it was the new frontier of gaming and I wanted to be right front and center. At the same time though I was still a brainwashed Sega fan who secretly wanted to play Nintendo games, so my next system was to be the Sega Saturn out of obligation. Meanwhile my brother wanted the new Playstation which I have said before was laughable to me but great cause deep down I wanted to play everything. The new systems were exciting, Panzer Dragoon had some impressive 3D graphics, Virtua Fighter and Tekken was changing fighters into something I rather play over 2D fighters. On Saturn I was very much into the sega arcade ports, Virtua Cop, Fighter, Racer, Daytona, if it had cool 3D graphics I wanted to play it. And yet I still did not have my favorite genre represented, where was the epic action adventure game (and where the hell was the 3D Sonic game???)
It came in early 1996 on the system I had shrugged off the Playstation, Resident Evil. My brother was heavy into horror movies and so I enjoyed them too never for the scary aspect of them but because of the makeup work and monsters. I loved monsters, the more freaky looking the more intruged I was. So here was a sort of 3D game with a horror theme where you have to fight a bunch of awesome looking monsters and solve puzzles too. And it was like playing a movie! I could be scared by playing a game, I could be engaged in a story with characters I love to hate just like a movie. It was like someone reached into my mind and created the game I was waiting for. The only thing better would be a game where it feels like you are playing an action movie starring a badass bandana wearing hero who fights all sorts of crazy super powered villains and has robots, they would never make that. 
Resident Evil cemented my love for games and showed me the future of this medium, it wasn't just going to be about "games", they would become full fledged interactive experiences that could rival movies. During this time I became interested in the industry as a whole, who is making these games? Who else is playing them? My friends were moving further and further away from games, none shared the love I had for gaming. The internet was the gateway to that world of insider knowledge, fan sites and message boards became a place to connect to others who felt as I did. I never felt the need to play with them, I can be a solo gamer forever but I do want to talk about them to someone who understands them as I do. After playing an excellent I need to go out and connect with someone who understands gaming as I do and share how great that game was. This is why I loving message boards so much, why I love you guys so much and why I love all these new features on the consoles that make it easier for us to share why we like the games.
At this point I evolved into my final form, the gamer who likes to play, follow and write about the industry. Gone was my sega bais and I was all on board the PS train, the games were simply better and that is what mattered. Being a kid I was still restricted to what I could get from my parents, I could only get so many consoles so I never got an N64 and I never had a gaming quality PC. My home environment absolutely influenced my feelings on PC gaming. I never had my own PC, the PC was always a family computer so I never felt like playing games on it as I would have to share. I never had a PC that could play the latest games so I never cared for what came out on them. Also a lot of the stuff coming out on them simply didn't interest me like what was coming out on consoles. Because of this I missed out on FPSs for many years, there was Doom and all its clones and then I just stopped playing FPSs. They were not common on consoles and the Doom formula was done to death, they bored me. So my tastes were being more and more focused on what was most available.
Then there was the RPG and for console gamers this meant the JRPG, Dragon Warrior was my only real interaction with this genre. I remember renting Phantasy Star one day and playing for about an hour and hating the turn based combat. It also had so many menus and stats, why can't you just let me fight! So I ignored them until I couldn't ignore them anymore, that was due to FFVII. That game was an EVENT, it was the most impressive looking game till that moment, it went beyond genres and was simply the game you had to play cause you were a gamer. I loved it, it didn't turn me into a JRPG playing nut but it opened my gaming pallet enough to include the RPG as a genre I would try every once and a while.
The 3D revolution was in full swing but a lot of cheap tricks were being used to make it feel like you are in a 3D world but the games still didn't feel like I had total freedom until Mario 64 (and Tomb Raider). The moment you saw Mario run in a circle and jump in 3D space was mindblowing to any gamer. I never got an N64 so I could only play it at a friends house, I instantly wanted every 3D game possible. I got Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Gex, anything where you run around in a 3D world was my addiction, I wanted to try them all out knowing full well not one of those would be as good as Mario. You can't imagine my frustration when I saw Zelda: OoT, the GAME OF MY DREAMS, everything I could ever want in a game and I couldn't buy it. I was able to play all those Nintendo games I missed in the years to come, I think my Nintendo hiatus created this feeling of never wanting to be away from them ever again. I have bought every Nintendo product since the N64, I feel like I am still attoning for abandoning them all those years while they were still making the games I loved the most. Nintendo represents almost every quality I hold dear in gaming, they understand the joy of playing and put that first before all else. Now I love the other stuff, the big cinematic game, the high production values but my core focus will always be the joy of PLAYING the game and no one does that better than Nintendo.
Online gaming became huge in the 2000s and I was in the forefront of it with the dreamcast. I loved the early days of online gaming, so raw and experimental. And best of all still anonymous, the thought of talking to someone over a head set freaked me out, still does to this day. Also leaderboards and this need to laugh and insult others never clicked with me. But I did enjoy playing online especially with others and no game showed that to me more than PSO. Eventually the online shooter would become the most popular genre, that ship sailed without me. Don't get me wrong I loved a good Halo session but I never understood just playing that game over and over again, to do what, get more kills? There was so much more out there to enjoy, so many different gaming experiences, why were all these people stuck on these few games repeatedly doing the same thing over and over. I still don't get it.
So that is my history, a bunch of experiences from my life that made me the kind of gamer I am today. I still gravitate toward the games that are the most fun for me to play, and those are usually games with great action and level design. I am fiercly loyal, my days with Sega still linger and I have some strange obligation to keep playing Sonic games even if they are bad. I enjoy online gaming but it will never be my focus. I can enjoy RPGs but action will always be my first love. I have grown to love all kinds of games, I love to try out crazy indie games, especially those that try to be retro. There are certain genres I simply stay away from because I know they will bore me or worst take all my time. I never want to stick to one game for too long, I want to play everything I can get my hands on. Old games will always remain a special part of my love for games not just cause I grew up with them but because they represented a time when gaming was so experimental. There was something special about discovering totally random secrets in SMB3, secrets that were there simply cause it worked for the game, it didn't have to make sense in the context of a story or anything stupid like that, games just did whatever they wanted cause it was fun. I miss that, games are so structured now that its rare to actually be surprised in a game. It's why my favorites tend to be Nintendo games cause they still retain some of that magic, also MGS games cause Kojima understands that concept and always adds some crazy hidden secrets that are very video gamey. I didn't get into this so I will go over it quickly here, I still hold a certain admiration for Japanese games mainly cause they still retain that magical gaming quality from the past more so than most of the western games do.
Dvader said:So I left off when I found I could access porn channels on that new cable box, it was an amazing discovery...
+1
Dvader said:I have bought every Nintendo product since the N64, ...
GC GBA player?
Foolz said:aspro said:Dvader said:aspro said:Because you'd be the one doing it. People talk all tough all the time, but until you've shivved someone or shot someone, you don't know what it takse to actually do the act. Sure, it gets easier over time, but most people don't have the stomach for it. (this is VR as in holodeck quality).
Totally depends on the level of graphic realism and more importantly the acting. If I am in VR and I am killing space aliens I don't care. If I Am fighting drone like humans I don't care. If I get to a character who looks human, who starts to plead for his life while crying and I believe it, now I have a problem with it.
That's what I am talking about. Say Max Payne 3 as an example.
I get what you're saying, but can relate to the out of body experience and full body hooker stabbing explanations more.
You're not shivving or shooting someone, even in Star Trek. You're not even stabbing or shooting an object which can be permanently damaged or altered. And if the program is designed for permanent consequences, you're still only working within the confines of a controlled, false environment even if looks real.
Max Payne 3's killing elicited no more empathy from me than the killing in Max Payne 1 and 2. That includes the Spec Ops scene. And I had less empathy for the calcium victims in Spec Ops than in many games because of how overwrought the scene was. The same goes for the civillian BS. There are two forms of fidelity that factor into something being disturbing to me, and neither are affected by the concept of virtual reality: narrative design and realism. Realism not as in the absurd notion of photorealism, but that the depiction of violence is realistic. Being able to stab someone with your own hands does not automatically result in realistic violence. The number of realistic scenes of violence in film can be counted on one's digits, so I doubt virtual reality is going to result in more realistic violence at any deep level. I can currently stab someone with a film knife if I wanted, and it's no less realistic than virtual reality if they are a skilled actor. I'd have no problem doing that whatsoever. I wouldn't want to actually stab anyone, though. The only way that can be done through a virtual interface is if that virtual interface controls an actual knife that actually stabs someone. I'd have as much problem stabbing someone in that way, than I would face to face: I am still causing an actual person serious suffering or perhaps even their death.
I agree with the initial concept: people can't stomach realistic depictions of violence, and therefore do not place it in media designed for mass consumption.* But that's already the case with non-virtual reality media and always has been. But clearly enough people have no problem with unrealistic depictions of violence involving people that look real (filmed media) that there's no reason to automatically assume that violence won't be depicted in virtual reality. In fact, given that it is a huge staple of all media, it's probably safer to assume that it would be. Most people enjoy violence as long as it isn't realistic, and there's no reason to believe that virtual reality will make it any more realistic.
I'm not suggesting any of you who think they'd object to it in virtual reality wouldn't, just that enough other people would not object. It seems just as likely to be a staple of virtual reality as it has been with every single form of media that has thus been invented by humanity. It would be bizarre if it wasn't.
P.S.
The drone scene in Call of Duty 4 is the most disturbing depiction of violence in a game I can think of off the top of my head. But it's disturbing because aspects of the narrative presentation are realistic. Virtual reality does not make narrative realism any easier. Oh, and I didn't even blink at blowing the people up. That part was fun for the first few minutes. Then it just droned on and on...which wouldn't happen in a film, actually. And did contribute to the realism. No cuts etc. So that's an area where virtual reality can inadvertently result in greater realism, but it's not an area that videogames can't currently.
*For the purposes of the discussion, the use of footage of actual violence (executions, murders, torture, beatings etc.) is not applicable in this context.
I really don't think VR will add all that much to violence in videogames. Seriously, if you haven't winced at some of the stuff that we've seen this gen, wrapping the image in HD3D around your eyeballs won't make you.
It's stuff like advanced AI that can plee for it's life (or lack thereof) that will turn people's stommachs. Be it on a regular panel or some form of HMD. The only difference I can see, and this folds back on what I said before, is that people won't want the violence to be aimed directly at them. I don't see anyone being all too bothered by stabbing a homocidal lunatic in VR, but I can see a lot of people being taken aback if that lunatic smashes an axe in their face. On a regular monitor, there's always a safe distance between you and what your avatar is going through. Seeing actual realistic violence being performed on your own self however, will mess with your brain.
That's why all we'll ever see in VR is porn.
SupremeAC said:GC GBA player?
Yes
When I think of myself as a gamer, I think of myself as a Nintendo fan, first and foremost. I grew up with Nintendo games, spent many sleepovers playing Nintendo games, spent many days at the playground trading Nintendo games. The truth of the matter is that isn't a honest definition of me as a gamer, hasn't been true of me for over a decade. I've embraced other systems, found new games that are as appealing. I've learned to embrace and enjoy almost type of game and enjoy what all three
Most of you know about my situation at the moment. I work every day and really have no time to sit and enjoy a game with work and family. I'm definitely less of a core gamer than in years past. Life has taken over and makes it difficult to play most of the games that I want to, when I want to. My time is very limited and because of this, I rarely take risks when buying games anymore. I go with what I know will be satisfying to me, safe games in a sense. A decade ago, I might have bought a game based on how appealing the cover was, like impulse buying the first Katamari. I would not do that today. I buy The third Batman because I know what to expect. I'll get excited knowing there's a new Mario, Gta, Metal Gear or Zelda, but I don't really give new ips a second glance.
If I to choose a favorite genre of games it would be the ones with a focus on exploration and finding hidden items. I love Metroidvania type games. Metroid Prime is easily my favorite game of all time. I still discover new things when I play and I feel like a kid in that universe while scouring for every bomb and missile upgrade. It's such a gratifying experience.
I love gaming, I love talking to you guys about games and the games industry. Honestly, I feel as I don't have much to contribute, but I do love the feedback that I read from all of you. I love discovering that we all have so much in common thanks to our hobby. Gaming will probably always be apart of my life until I am old, blind and so arthritic that I can't play anymore.