Are video games harder, or just boring?
Jul 9th, 2007 by admin
Mr. Michael Vass is a contributing author.
Sometimes you just have to disagree with the top boss. Sometimes he is correct. In this case there is a mix of both. The boss I’m referring to is John Riccitiello, the top man at Electronic Arts (EA). I agree with him about the status of many game titles out today, I disagree about the levels of difficulty though.
As the E3 convention prepares to start, and buzz flies around on what new titles will be shown, or hinted at, Mr. Riccitiello has mentioned he thinks games are just too hard. I beg to differ. I agree though that the next set of GTA copies, or Resident Evil, or even Burnout are just getting boring. It’s not as bad as the blackhole of ideas that is the Hollywood experience right now (name an original movie I dare you. Most are sequels, prequels, ‘revisions’, movie versions of television shows, or real-life versions of comic books), but it is close.
But I can’t see how games are too hard though. I’m not the avid fan I was in my youth, not by half. I am the casual gamer that is often written about, too busy with life and work to get to spend days on end beating this game or that. I may not be able to beat the average game of today, that should take about 16-24 hours, in less than 48 but it’s not because it’s too hard. The GTA (Grand theft Auto) series is a great example. Not really that much thought needed. Even a RTS like Dawn of War and its sequels are pretty easy, even for a rusty man of 40. Games are just a bit more challenging that the average person, and I think that is what is dropping.
Challenges are getting easier, and less thinking is required. Back in the days of Nintendo 64 there was the game Ghengis Khan, which is probably still one of the harder strategy games out there. And great fun as well. Not much compares to that today.
So be warned. Maybe not this E3, but the next expect more games that can be finished in 10 hours. The upside at least will be they will be original.
