hector

I'm 56, been playing games about 10 years now. First console game I played was Super Mario 64 — which remains the best game I've ever played (Mario Sunshine was a huge disappointment). At this stage, FPS games are too intense for my aging nervous system. I like turn-based RPGs, because for the most part they require thought and the acquisition of an intuitive feel for the battle engine, rather than lightning-quick reflexes. I also like platformers, although they seem to be a dying breed.

There's a guy in his eighties down the street who just loves flight simulators.

If developers want to market to older people, they just need to design games that don't require the reaction times of a seventeen-year old. Other than that, older gamers are individuals, just like younger gamers, and will have different tastes in the games they like. Stereotyping your elders as all being solitaire players is just stupid.

I played it several days running … I just didn't think it was that good. I got bored, and went on to something else. I hated the talking pig, too. I was mystified by all the hype. But, "different strokes for different folks," I guess.

This will benefit the companies — if consumers are willing to buy into it. It will harm consumers, because it will give them less control. In effect, gamers will no longer be buying games — they will be renting them.

I like disks and cartridges. Once you buy them, they're yours. Downloads are ephemeral, fragile things. Not to mention the bugs. Downloads will create a dependency relationship. I want to buy a product, I don't want to enter into a relationship with a corporation, thank you.

I agree with MW, the chief reason that there are (a) so few innovative games, and (b) the innovative games that are released tend to sell poorly, is the steep price of games. If you're going to spend $50 ($60 in Canada), you want to be able to rely on the product — so you go with what you know. The vast majority of game-players simply can't afford to spend $50 on a game that sounds like it might be fun but they've never heard of.

Of course, this is a trap for gamers — developers have franchise games that they sequel to death and sooner or later (usually) the quality declines. I refused to buy anything with the name "Acclaim" on it after spending $70 Canadian on Turok 3. (What a piece of crap. Acclaim richly deserved its trip to oblivion for treating its customers so poorly.)

Basically, if games were more reasonably priced — I'd say half to two-thirds the going rate — a lot more games would be sold and there would be a lot more gamers.