Whatever Happened to the Good Times?

[Bacardi151]

Quote: Originally Posted by kgx2thez

Bases Loaded 2 was my favorite game back then. I would keep all of my stats and even played a full season once. Man, I used to hate the DC team with all of the President pitchers and their crazy side-arm delivery. I always struggled vs the side-armers.

bases loaded was the only baseball game where i played an entire season just to see the ending. not the greatest ending, but i was pretty satisfied.

could have been because of two reason: 1 i was a poor kid who was broke as hell, so i would destroy any game i got my hands on, playing over and over till the next game was picked up months down the line, and 2) we had a greater imagination cause of age and the fact the wasnt as realistic as today.

I go back to harping on the uncanny valley phenomenon, which i think is a big reason why us gamers are so jaded today.

[ldpart67]

I remember Bases Baseball actually having REAL Cities ( nevermind not real teams or players) and when you threw at the batter it would start fight. Between that and Blades of Steel on my NES I lost countless hours of sleep.. definately 10 on the fun scale

[whosgotcha]

Quote: Originally Posted by swill43507

GREAT ARTICLE!!! LOL!! I grew up with Coleco Vision Football and at the time, It was the greatest thing I ever played!-LOL!! You had these huge *** controlers that looked like boxing gloves and anytime you had to run or throw the ball you had to spin this dial. And to me and my cousins this was like the greatest thing in the entire world. I use to use my imagination that my teams was the Chargers and my Cousin's team was the Dolphins. And although the little digital men on the screen had no uniforms, our imagination made the game come alive, as if they were the Dolphins and Chargers. And it might seem crazy but those days were sometimes much fun than these days of Madden and 2k. But back in the 80's video game technogoly was so basic and so limited that you were happy with whatever you got, especially when it came to sports games. Today however, you have better technology, more choices of consoles, NFL licensing, internet,internet play and downloads, message boards, review,,..etc... So the expectations are 100 times higher for a better game experience.

Coleco Vision was it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mgoblue]

Quote: Originally Posted by fossen

I think it's us, not the games or the internet. My nephews give me perspective. A nephew was staying with me, and noticed Madden. He asked about it, then talked about how much he loved Madden. His version was a few years old, on the Gamecube. His favorite team is the Seahawks, and favorite player was Marshall Faulk. So he'd always trade for Faulk, and create himself and his brother (maxxed out, of course). Then he'd try to get Marshall 300 rushing yards a game. .... He had a blast because he was treating it as what it is: a toy, a game, a disc of fun.

That's a very good point...in my Campus Legend on NCAA I'm a WR, and I've had so much fun running my routes, calling for the ball nearly every pass, and trying to get as many yards and TD's as I can. Doesn't always work, but in the game I'm the ultimate TO, I love me some me. Sure, it's "cheese" and "not realistic" but boy do I have fun playing it.

I suppose now I start to wonder if games are ever going to get so hard where they're not fun. I enjoy the mental aspect of football, but will defensive AI get so good that in order to have a chance of winning you have to watch imaginary game tape, learn the various defenses and all the weaknesses/tendencies, so you know where to pass and run? I really hope we don't reach the point where it moves from "fun" to "work"

[Bacardi151]

Quote: Originally Posted by mgoblue

That's a very good point...in my Campus Legend on NCAA I'm a WR, and I've had so much fun running my routes, calling for the ball nearly every pass, and trying to get as many yards and TD's as I can. Doesn't always work, but in the game I'm the ultimate TO, I love me some me. Sure, it's "cheese" and "not realistic" but boy do I have fun playing it. I suppose now I start to wonder if games are ever going to get so hard where they're not fun. I enjoy the mental aspect of football, but will defensive AI get so good that in order to have a chance of winning you have to watch imaginary game tape, learn the various defenses and all the weaknesses/tendencies, so you know where to pass and run? I really hope we don't reach the point where it moves from "fun" to "work"

they day games are no longer fun and become work, is the day i stop being a gamer.

[VanCitySportsGuy]

Ahh the good ol days.........

If there was no such thing as the internet, the majority of people probably wouldn't notice a lot of the game bugs.

I had no idea there was a lefty hitting game bug in MVP 2004 until I saw it on the message boards on this site.

I feel like there's a certain segment of gamers out there that like to "QA test the games" instead of just playing them for fun.

Besides the internet/fanboys, another reason people are more critical is because they are most likely buying the games with their own money instead of Mommy and Daddy giving them cash when they were kids/teenagers/studnets.

Ironically sliders may also hurt the enjoyment of games. How many people have spent a lot of time adjusting sliders in games until you're happy with the product? I know I have. Heck there are slider forums.

[mercalnd]

Quote: Originally Posted by asianflow

Ironically sliders may also hurt the enjoyment of games. How many people have spent a lot of time adjusting sliders in games until you're happy with the product? I know I have. Heck there are slider forums.

That a really good point. We used to accept the games as they were or move on but now it seems many of us try to tweak to end to get the perfect or most realistic game.

Some guys start tweaking sliders the very first day they have a game, not even taking the time to get used to the new game. They start with the premise that they are good "insert game level here" players and start tweaking right away. They want to achieve results that are in line with the real life averages and for many obtaining those realistic stats seems to be more important than getting a fun and challenging game.

How many times has the slider work to fix a specific issue created a few more issues that didn't exist before? your guess is as good as mine but I'm pretty sure it happens every time.

[Chizzypoof]

Great Article!

Games were fun back in the day. I remember Intellivision Baseball when the only way anticipation of a homerun is if the dot on the screen was going fast. And if it wasn't a homer then it would make some crazy clang and just get stuck on the top of the screen.

I remember long codes instead of save functions. Completing nearly impossible games using memory and reflexes, and never blaming the programmers for making it some damn hard.

Just like others on the baord I think our imagination had a lot to do with it. I know I am not the only one here that went to the arcade to play Star Wars, and felt like I was actually piloting an X-Wing. Look at that game today, it looks like lines shooting at you. Everything was bigger and better as a kid. Now that we, not our parents, pay for things, we expect the games to make up for what our imagination used to.

That being said, I still think games are fun today or I wouldn't be on this board. I still create myself as the ultimate athlete in pretty much every sports game I buy. I can care less about statistic realism, I'm batting .600. Why? Because its fun! My imagination at times still sees things that really didn't happen. That no-look pass I just saw really was just my player going off the edge of the screen. It's all in your expectations as the gamer. And with the money each of us invests in it, we all have every right to have our own expectation of a game.