Kempa.com » Non-Narrative Video Gaming

4.10.05

There was a really good article on the Guardian website this past week which summarizes my ‘disconnect’ from the sprawling worlds of most current ‘blockbuster’ video games. Part of the reason I’ve embraced the Gameboy Advance and the Nintendo DS are because the (relative) technical limitations of the platforms seem to keep the games truer to the genre-style play I grew up with. The author uses ‘Yoshi: Touch & Go’ for the DS as an example, and that just happens to be the last game I bought. It’s sort of a ‘throwback’ in that you start a new game, play until you get a game over, and the primary goal is a high score. I’m going to use the same pull-quote I’ve seen used elsewhere, because it sums up my hopes for the direction of the DS so well.

”For gamers, it is difficult to grasp: many people enjoy playing, experiencing these new types of games that don’t fit into the mold of what we typically consider a game. How can a game not be divided into levels, or have boss battles, or upgrades or unlockable content? Playing just for the sake of enjoying playing? ABSURD!”

The full article is here. I found it via 4ColorRebellion, which has become my one-stop DS information site.

Comments

4.11.05

Will says:

It’s like punk rock vs. prog rock all over again. The rock and roll parallels are everywhere. Video games started out simple and fun, and the youth went wild for them. Advancements were made, but everyone was still cool with things. But then games just got too complicated. So now people decide that simple is good again, and there will be a simple rebirth. But then simple games will become more complicated, while still being viewed as simple games, until, thirty years from now, someone puts out “Frances the Mute: The Game”. At some point the future Pitchfork of video games will reexamine the excess of the ’00′s, and decide that, hey, a lot of those complicated video games were actually pretty cool and not as pointlessly complex as we originally thought.

4.12.05

Ted says:

Wow, Will- I really like that comment.

p.s. my bike is in your back yard.

4.12.05

Adam says:

Agreed-
Best comment ever. Will wins!

4.13.05

Clappy says:

I think that the reason so many people in there mid to late twenties like the “simple” games so much is only partly because those were the types of games we grew up on. how about the fact that we all dont have the time to get involved with a massive multiplayer game? Many of these games are really fun if you have 40 hours a week or more to put into them. But, if you dont, then you do not really experience everything the game has to offer, and its like trying to watch just the middle of a movie. Or, it could be we are getting old. When even simple video games came out, our parents would talk about how they grew up without them and didnt understand how fun they are. Personnaly i love the simple games and the complicated ones too. but, as my free time becomes less and less, i do not play the complicated ones as much. i wish i could, because i love games like city of heros, planetside, counterstrike, and star wars galaxies. I just think that saying games need bosses and levels and an end is just short sited because you are putting your own limitations on the game.

sorry this post is kind of crazy, i am typing fast so i can get to bowling. id like to comment more later.

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