It's Just A Game!

Well the sunburn is starting to ease off, not before time, but the sunshine hasn't let up. That's a whole week of sunny days we've had, and believe me when I say that we would usually expect a week of sunshine in a year, this is Northern Scotland. It's a sign of the times I suppose, or simply another indicator of climate change, either way, a bit more sunshine can't be a bad thing. All the more reason to get out and about and see some of this wonderful country. I'm already planning a few more hill walking trips, although I should get a decent pair of insoles, apparently they make all the difference.

All things going well, I'll be able to notch up a decent number of Munros in this my first year hillwalking. It seems that quite often it's possible to bag 2 or 3 in a single walk, as the Munros are seldom on their own, but more often that not, part of a chain of Munros and lesser peaks. I do have to remember though that the kids capacities for walking have a limit, at which point they will let me know in no uncertain terms that they've come far enough!

I noticed some kids in computing club today playing Mario on some Nintendo emulator and got all nostalgic, and suddenly wishing I was a young lad again, seeing these games for the first time. It brought back memories of my first time playing Tomb Raider, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII and Pro Evolution Soccer. Ah the World was our games console back in those days! Anyhow, what's all the fuss over the new GTA game, I much preferred the Driver series, better controls and fantastic smashes!

The Games Industry Is Riven!

I was considering digging out Riven this morning, to play it again after a considerable period since I first played it. If you haven't any idea what Riven is, then I shall tell you. It was the sequel to the highly successful Myst game. The game was a sort of point-and-click RPG adventure, but that description doesn't do it justice at all. They eventually made 5 games, all of which loosely followed on from the previous, however for me, Riven was the best. It just looked so damn good.

I've been having some gaming nostalgia this week. My son acquired Final Fantasy XII for his birthday last week and it's reminded me of just how good Final Fantasy VII was. That period (around 1997) must surely have been the pinaccle of games production, because all my favourites came out around then, not forgetting Tomb Raider II especially, with it's fantastic Venice levels. The best levels Lara ever traversed.

What's happened to games since then? I think it's the Internet that's to blame. The gaming industry have been pushing online gaming to the detriment of the games themselves. The three games I've mentioned above gave tremendous value for money. The gameplay lasted literally months (certainly if you had other stuff like work to fit in also). My son has finished many newer games in 2 or 3 hours and because he isn't going to be playing them online, it strikes me that he's being cheated out of valuable gametime, since so much of the disc is now devoted to that end.

Perhaps the new HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs will allow game creators to fully develop both elements, solo gameplay and online play without sacrificing either, although I just can't see it myself. I think the day of the massively long-lasting game is well and truly over. They will have gotten lazy now. Games used to take years in the making, but now they want quick releases with the result that the games need to be kept short and more emphasis placed on graphics and controls. It's npt too late though, let the thinking man back in so we can enjoy the beautiful looking, long lasting, intelligently created game, once again.