Rant: Bored with Video Games.
You may have noticed recently a lack of posts on my part. I am going through some weird times in my life right now, and for some odd reason they have caused me to be completely abysmally bored of video games.
I have a huge stack of them to play, games that people have recommended to me or games that somehow piqued my interest - even games that I need to review in order to continue receiving free crap from companies. Gurumin (PSP), Dragon Quest VIII, God of War II, Pokemon Pearl, Planet Puzzle League, Psychonauts... tons of stuff. Every time I put in a game I just get severely bored and depressed while the game loads.
Take, for example, Gurumin for the PSP. This is supposed to be a great Zelda-style action RPG with pretty PSP graphics and everything. When I put it in to play, I am assaulted with long load times, really shoddy music, sub-par graphics and a completely horrible immature poorly-written generic anime storyline. Have I mentioned how much I loathe anime? I can appreciate good stuff like Cowboy Bebop or whatever, shows that break the mold, but if I see one more person pretend to be Naruto at a con I will punch them in the throat. Being a fan is one thing, but rabidly consuming a crappy product because you think you will be cooler is another entirely.
But I digress. Gurumin has been pretty well rated as a game, but I just completely lack the patience for it. Even putting in Pokemon Pearl I start getting all ADD. I've spent hundreds of hours in Pokemon games before, searching every nook and cranny for all the items and "collecting them all" so to speak, and this time something is different.
I remember playing Secret of Mana as a kid. I reveled in everything about this game. The music was perfect. I would just sit and absorb the music, marveling at the art style, the detail in the characters and enemies, the epic storyline, the fantastic combat system. I'd spend hours and hours and hours just letting that game take over. Is it that I just don't have time anymore as an adult to throw myself so fully into games? Then why don't I like the Wii and the multitude of mini-game-games on that system?
Truly the Wii bores me. The Wii sucks and is overhyped. There, I said it. It's boring. IT'S BORING. Nintendo has made it loud and clear that they don't care about us gamers anymore, they just want to sell systems to your grandma. And that's fine, that's their choice. Every time I pick up a Wii remote I sigh and die a little bit inside. I don't want to constantly be in motion when I play a game. Just because you can make a game where you are ACTUALLY SWINGING A SWORD doesn't mean you should. It's like the transition between 2D and 3D in the Playstation/N64 era. Many crappy 3d platformer games were made because they could be made. The technology was there, and developers felt pressured to use it. 3D became a crutch and produced a slew of completely horrible looking lazy titles.
But why now? Why am I so bored of games now? I think it's a mix of things. One, it's the load times. Why did we ever allow developers to get away with showing us a screen that says "loading..." so often? They aren't required in games. They could be clever and use a system like Metroid Prime. The loading is all in the background, no waiting required. It's also the lame storylines that they force you to watch. Anime is just plain not good, people. I need something deeper, something I haven't seen before. I need genuine humor, not this pedestrian overdone crap. Unlikely hero saves the day from dark forces. Hooray. Gimme some substance, people. My tastes have changed as I have grown up.
Now I know game companies aren't catering solely to me, but my point is that they need to start trying harder. I am becoming increasingly more and more jaded as I get older, and a lot of that stems around the fact that developers are just shoveling the same shit at us over and over again.
Usually the Xbox Live Arcade gets me out of my funk. Too bad I was red ringed the other day. Sigh. End rant. Go about your business.
