Does anyone else feel like this?
Video games are fantastically diverse worldwide industry. They are a fantastic interactive artform, cable of doing things no artform has ever done before. I try to keep up with news of new trends - particularly in indie-gaming… I watch Extra Credits religiously…
but I don’t enjoy playing them. I don’t have the skills. Learning what 3 joysticks and 8 buttons does feels too much like hard work.
That’s interesting. If I may ask, how old are you? It is often the case that younger people handle newer things with more ease than older people, and I don’t think it’s because of some difference in skill, but rather a simple neurological/psychological tendency towards adaptability, simply as a result of being newer to the world and having these art forms seem like the norm (and I have nothing but respect for Roger Ebert, but yes, games are undoubtedly an art form). Heres an interesting video in which the creator discusses this issue.
I love games for the most part, but I do admit that I have a slight bias against them because they are kind of killing the film industry, eheheh…
I’m 33 - my golden age of gaming was the end of the C64’s run. Joysticks had one button - and games were plentiful, low in quality, high in experimentation, and out of the all games I had - about 4 on the front of a magazine each month - I completed - like - one.
wo this is getting to be my counselling session 
thanks !
that video was very interesting… for me, the problem with the wii isn’t so much the cutesy graphics as the problem nintendo have with indie-developers… the lack in hardware power could have made it more accessable to smaller studios, working interesting ways to use the input of XYZ position and rotation. And the Kinekt is loved by CGI artists but hated by gamers.
I think the game that has looked most interesting to me recently, but, no, I’m not getting a PS3 for one game, is unfinished swan.
I am keenly interested in the PS4 - PS3 was quite revolutionary compared to PS2, which itself was super awesome compared to the now laughable graphics of PS1. Let’s hope PS4 sets the bar up that much more so when other companies bring out consoles like X-Box, they have to reach extraordinary standards.
How about Valve’s new Steam Machine? A revolutionary idea, if you ask me, as users can now upgrade their own parts with standard PC hardware, and have an easy way to connect to steam (probably the best way to buy games). I don’t yet know how I feel about the Steam Controller…
You’ll already be able to use mouse and keyboard or controller with it. So I don’t think that this is a problem for anyone.
Interesting I am 35, love games as an artform, love to play them and to code them.
However I feel like the majority of todays games are made for mentally challenged people.
Oversimplified in controls and challenge without the need for independent thought or any deductive reasoning.
Don’t get me wrong, a game doesn’t need to be overly complicated or complex to be fun, simple games can be fun as well.
The problem is thouch most games today are neither.
Games have stopped to be a real artform and became a mass product.
As for me, the older a game is, the more I enjoy it. Can’t disagree with arexma about games being a mass product today. Seems like majority of developers begin construction from already defined templates, following popular concepts and not thinking of originality. If the popular concept lays over simple controls and obvious actions, then we have these “over-simpled” games. The most games I enjoyed playing were from 2004-2007 years or earlier, and a couple from nowadays. Probably it’s not your age that matters, but age of the game industry.