The Gaming Experience? blog - Merch2

I have just replied to a comment on the Mafia2 vid I posted earlier and it struck me - how many of the classic games I love to play over the years have been flawed or the studio closed. It maybe something to do with my older outlook but I can't be doing with these run of the mill cash cloned games that are getting released on a fortnightly basis these days. It seems that the only thing the developer would have you do is rush through the f**king thing at top speed. If the aim is to get you finished soon as - so you spend your hard earned on the next title then the cheat modes and walkthru guide books work like a charm - talk about mugging you off. Whatever happened to enjoying the playing? - I was astounded at some of the graphical detail in a modern era FPS I tried out not so long ago - but the gameplay worked on rails nearly - try to break off and explore a bit and you either got snotted by pop up AI or found a flimsy dead end (you know the type - 2 oil drums and a 3 foot high chain link fence blocking the alleyway). When you look at the big free roamers like Saboteur or Mafia2 - there is as much enjoyment for me driving or walking around the huge map area as there is in playing the missions. Somebody has worked really hard to paint that grass in between the tarmac cracks or place a collection of scrapyard junk down so it looks just right (I know - I have to do it myself in mods) so I like to appreciate their work by exploring around for hours. The change over from video arcades to home entertainment seems to be part of the problem with gaming quality (and I don't mean the graphics or the frames per second) I'm taking about the experience, the buzz, the sense of excitment you get from sitting down with a fresh game - you must remember that feeling. In the days of the old arcades there were no piss take - play it and forget games - the developers new how to hook you in and get another 10p (25cents) out of your pocket. There was a proper ending to the games and rewards and achievement as you played - the crap games got wheeled out on a trolley before the older teens poured soft drinks into the console electrics or burned the screen with cigarette ends - talk about instant customer feedback. You get a poor game on the PC or PSBONE17 now and you just rue the cash you've parted with - maybe go on line and bleat a bit about it on Steam but the developers still had your cash all the same. I won't buy anything without a demo first these days unless it's a real cheap deal and I mean under £8 and I don't support developers with my purchases who take the piss out of gamers by promising free stuff then charging later on. As for support - you would think it's a no brainer - if they make games that can have moddable content - they get perminant free advertising for as long as the community is modding. Worried about assets getting stolen? - do me a bleedin' favour - the cost of some of these stock tweaked low poly off the shelf models must be outweighed a thousand fold for the advertising content of mods alone. If RGB makes it all the way to Indie I vow to try and keep the cost as low as possible and my gameplay will always be made for the gaming experience never for what we can shave a few quid off or charge for later on. Right I'm off for another donut with milk Moddb.com and put my grumpy old fart t-shirt in the wash.