Casual Hate
Earlier today I was in my local GAME store and a woman in front of me in the queue said something that confused, upset and, ultimately, disappointed me.
Beckoning one of the store assistants over, wielding a Wii box, she said in a very strong Welsh accent:
D'you know if this game is any good, like? It's just, I'm not really very good at games... I can do the whole bowling thing or, y'know, the games where you just move your hand around (she gestures wildly with her hands), but I can't do the football ones or anything. I don't like them games that require you to press a few buttons, y'know? I just want something easy.
The assistant replied with:
Well, I can't comment on whether it's good or not, but it's like a bunch of pub games. They don't really require you to do much; it is pretty easy.
Which translates to me as, "No, it's shit. Don't waste your money".
She finished with:
Oh, good! Yeah, I can't do many of the difficult stuff that requires many buttons see. Just the easy ones. Cheers.
I was left stunned. I actually shook my head, my jaw stuck in its dropped position. That came to an abrupt end when the store assistant looked at me and laughed.
When the Wii first game out, I was so happy that it made video games more accessible. Finally, people can accept video games as a hobby and not just think of it as something fat, loner geeks do to pass the time! Unfortunately, this dream of mine has been completely shattered...
The problem with this is that people have given up on the challenge of a video game, and just want the rewards. If Wii developers can make a shitty little game that requires no effort (on both developer and user standpoints) and lots of people buy it, then why would any game developer make something more challenging that less people will buy?
Is this really what we want the video game industry to turn into? Just a bunch of limp-wristed, useless people flailing their arms about to complete a game. I'm glad that Nintendo decided on "Wii" for their project "Revolution"... because it's certainly piss poor and pushing as much innovation as masturbating furiously in front of the television, while occasionally looking for the "B" button.
I don't think we are quite at the stage where there is no hope for console gaming, however if this is the future I feel like I may as well hang up my controllers now (at least, the ones that have wires).
December 1st @ 12:57 AM | 0 Comments | Trackback