An "old-gamer"s Vent? or Rant? - joshize's Blog

joshize's Blog

An "old-gamer"s Vent? or Rant?

Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:26 AM.

I wouldn't consider myself a "gamer." But I play my PS3 ALMOST every day. I'm anticipating MLB 13: The Show. Meanwhile, I'm still playing my franchise on MLB 12. I'm in year 2027 with my beloved Pirates. I just finished in third place with 85 or 86 wins. World Series appearances in 24 and 25, winning my sixth WS in 24 and losing my 2nd in 25. McCutchen still in Pittsburgh, blah blah blah.

I don't play hardly any games anymore because I'm checking myself out of the franchise so I'm not upset to leave it without seeing Cutch retire. I'm thinking this will be his last year. It thought 26 was his last year... but he's sticking around for another year. 3,000 hits, 400 HR.

Anyway, my wife and I play this game almost exclusively. Partially because we are big baseball fans, but also because what other games are there when the bar is set this high?

We own 3 games: MLB 12 The Show, Midnight Club Los Angeles, and Split/Second. Why only 3?

We HAD Madden 12... but recently took it back because of frustration with the game getting worse and worse each year. We had some other games that we just didn't have interest in playing anymore in an effort to get a good 2 player game.

Here brings forth my largest problem in video games: multiplayer!

Ok, we have one TV. One PS3. Why can't we find a good game that is a multiplayer game? What happened to split screen? All multiplayer is done online now? This, to me, is the most ridiculous thing I've seen!! I understand that the online option is great and a lot of people get real into that. But for those of us who are a little older and actually enjoy HANGING OUT WITH PEOPLE, we can't play anything other than sports games while physically hanging out with people. My brother even bought that sackboy thing's KARTING game only to find out that a KARTING game doesn't have split screen!!!! Who plays a little game like that online? No one should.

This country is turning a "social life" into an internet lifestyle. Facebook, twitter, Skype, Google Hangout, online video games, FaceTime, texting, and so on. I have no problem with any of these things. I think they are great advancements in technology and serve a real purpose in communication. I lived 6 hours away from my family last year and never actually felt that far away. And my brother and I can play video games against each other now, even though we're 2� hours away from each other. When he calls, it's via FaceTime. I get to see my nephew from my other brother at least once a week via some form of video chat. I keep in contact with a lot of people I've met throughout the years on facebook. Make new friends and "join the conversation" on twitter. I do believe that these play a part in my social life, but they aren't as important in regards to people who actually live closer to me. I'll text, call, or use twitter to set up a B-Dubs get together, or cookout at our place. Check facebook for shows coming close to my town. But they are only advancing my physical social life.

When it is time to invite someone over to my house to hang out and there's nothing on TV... (which is most of time during baseball off season)... What can we do?

The new version of Madden was so bad, I couldn't even play it without getting frustrated. That's not fun to me. Graphics and body movements and stuff improved, yes. But they forgot to focus on the actual game. It's further away from realistic every year. And this year, in my opinion, was horrible. So rule that out. And I'm not a basketball fan, or hockey. And definitely not soccer. (I'm not that hipster to force myself to like soccer.) So we either play MLB The Show... or Split Second... and Split Second is just getting a little old. Seeing the same tracks so much.

So in our search to find a 2, or more, player game... we came up short. They just aren't out there anymore. Racing games are usually good because they are in short stints and you can hand off the controller quickly. But none of the Need For Speed games are two player. Midnight Club is 1 player. What the crap? I had Need For Speed: The Run. Loved it... but beat it in 8 hours of play and was pretty much done with it. If it had a 2 player, split screen, mode... it would be worth the money. But instead, I just took it back for less than half the money that I bought it for.

I'm almost 30... but I grew up playing video games. You would think they would keep me interested in games because I actually make money to buy them. But they don't. Even though more and more games are adult rated. It just doesn't seem to add up to me anymore.

I just want some good mutliplayer games for the PS3. And I don't want to have to buy another system and TV and play over networks.

That is all. My vent. Or rant. Whatever. Just wanted to put something on here.

Kudos to San Diego Studios for doing everything right with MLB The Show. For continuing to improve and advance, even without any real competition.

Thanks.

Comments

# 1 stlstudios189 @ Jan 30

i understand your frustration. technonlogy has made us forget how much fun sitting on a couch and playing a game can be together. my brother and i played everything together and in college it was friday night beer and video game night.