I am now console free

[cools]

For the first time in about 25 years, I own no consoles.

Well done games industry!

[arcnl]

So you're saying the load of firmware updates, savegame corruption, DRM limitations, incompatibility and general shoddyness doesn't appeal to you anymore?

[geotrig]

tbh i cant say i'm too bothered with current gen stuff myself with all 5 ps3 games that i've bought

[skykappah]

Chess in public park? Not where I'm from though... You'll get stabbed.

[cools]

I still love playing games, albeit a smaller part of my life is spent doing so.

But yeah - the following things put me off modern gaming:

Updates
Paid unlockables
Unskippable cutscenes/intros
In game load times
Input lag
Unskippable tutorials
On screen button press hints
Multiple use buttons
Inaccurate motion control
30 hours of gameplay = single playthrough, no desire to master anything 1P

Basically, the games industry has disappeared up its own backside into making "art" whilst dumbing down everything to the lowest common denominator. Even the properly difficult hardcore games suffer from a lot of it.

[skykappah]

Logging in does my nut in..
And most of all COD... Don't have beef with the actual game itself.. It's the death of originality and innovation brought on by those games.
I use to work with a lot of people that booked their work holidays off just play COD.. Yes that includes launch days..
Also... FPS on joypad! Aaaargh!!!!!!! I can play them but still! Pad FPS people don't know what they are missing.


To be honest... I rarely touch my current gen consoles... Besides Trial HD+Evo and Gears of Wars I just wait for the odd game that catches my fancy.. This year I've only played Trials and Gears of War 3. Thats it.

[andygeezer]

I still love playing games, albeit a smaller part of my life is spent doing so.

But yeah - the following things put me off modern gaming:

Updates
Paid unlockables
Unskippable cutscenes/intros
In game load times
Input lag
Unskippable tutorials
On screen button press hints
Multiple use buttons
Inaccurate motion control
30 hours of gameplay = single playthrough, no desire to master anything 1P

Basically, the games industry has disappeared up its own backside into making "art" whilst dumbing down everything to the lowest common denominator. Even the properly difficult hardcore games suffer from a lot of it.

So troo.. the magic has gone..

[Pete]

Listing my PS3 for sale is next on my to-do list never use the **** thing.

[emphatic]

I only have consoles for the Arcade ports. Only games that are worth spending time on IMHO. I can't afford to sink 2+ hours a day into a game, especially if it has cinematic cut-scenes I have to suffer through.

[SuperPang]

Should've bought Halo 4 first.

I've been very happy with Xbox 360. PS3 literally goes 6 months+ without being played. I was keeping it for PASBR but that's had mixed reviews so I'll buy it in the sales. It's got to the point where it's not worth enough to bother selling it now, plus it's a Japanese launch unit so plays the handful of Japanese PS1/2 games I have (although they never get played either.) Similar situation with my Wii, never gets played but I'll keep it for the GC and PCE games. I went through a phase of selling every console that wasn't used regularly but I always end up re-buying every couple of years for nostalgias sake so I'm now content with that N64 and Saturn just sitting there for when I get the urge.

Xbox Live Arcade has probably been more responsible for holding my interest this "generation" than the discs.

[speedlolita]

PS2 is my oldest console now. Just got an AV Famicom too.

[cools]

Should've bought Halo 4 first.

By the time I'd have enough time to play it through Halo 6 will be out. They're not suitable for sporadic play.

literally goes 6 months+ without being played... (although they never get played either.)... never gets played... just sitting there for when I get the urge.

For those brief half an hour moments I'm happy to use an emulator rather than store and setup stuff.

[crunchywasp]

I got my PS3 on launch day and apart from MGS4 it's pretty much been a bluray player the entire time, although it's rarely used for that either Usually when I turn it on there are updates to download and once they're done it's time to switch it off again

Inversely, my 360's seen loads of use, although the luxury of being able to spend prolonged periods of time playing it doesn't really exist these days and I can't justify investing the time it takes to really get stuck in to and enjoy a lot of modern games

Having recently bought Halo 4, which I was really looking forward to but have spent less than 2 hours playing, demonstrates how incompatible modern games have become with my everyday obligations, or maybe how my everyday obligations have become incompatible with modern games? I find that I'm reluctant to even turn it on if I know I'll have to play for an hour or so before I really get in to it.

I use my retro consoles more often these days but still wouldn't want to part with my 360

[neogeomvs]

I only have consoles for the Arcade ports. Only games that are worth spending time on IMHO. I can't afford to sink 2+ hours a day into a game, especially if it has cinematic cut-scenes I have to suffer through.

+ 1

XBOX 360 has some great arcade ports, well worth getting imo

[opt2not]

I agree with everything said here about the state of the games industry.
Indie-games and arcade ports are all I play on the current gen, but even then, it's been a while since I've powered up my current-gen consoles.

But I can tell you the last time I powered up my older consoles!

This weekend!
Seiken Densetsu 3, with multi-tap 3-player action!!

[arcnl]

That's awesome. Reminds me of a time long ago, before life itself got in the way

[pubjoe]

For the first time in about 25 years, I own no consoles.

Well done games industry!

Well done condoms.

[Spectre]

Play very little current-gen, have got a 360 for the arcade ports and the odd bit of live arcade stuff. The one exeception would be the modern wave fighters, sf4, tekken 6 (i liked it, sue me), umvc3, hell maybe even sfxt eventually.

Nothing has gripped me the way the 16 bit era did. There was real challenge and reward in the gameplay. FPS on a **** joypad? Don't get me started. What a joke.

The more recent mobile phone and tablet gaming "revolution" is pretty amusing too. A touch screen is not a controller! It's a bag of ****. Scrabble is not a videogame, it's **** scrabble!

Gaming for the masses is a disease as far as I'm concerned, cools has it spot on with "dumbing down everything to the lowest common denominator".

[chubsta]

My 17 yr old lad took the day off work for Halo 4, best game ever according to him, well at least it was before he actually got it...

he still plays it but the magic wore off very quickly, then it was COD which was the best game ever...




me? I still play Star Wars and Defender in dedicated cabs 30 years after i first play them, can't really see my boy firing up the ol' 360 to be Master Chief in 2042

[fagin]

Why do people think because something has evolved (believe me it has!) it has been dumbed down?

Gaming isn't what some of us are used to, but that doesn't make it dumbed down imo. My parents would probably think the same compared to their "gaming" memories when they were growing up. Which probably consisted of a pack of cards, piece of string and a nut!

Us lot need to appreciate that we're the minority in many ways and some of the gaming we are or have been into, just isn't what is classed as gaming nowadays. It doesn't make it any less about gaming, as the current gen (future) nerds will undoubtedly back up with venom. You'll get exactly the same as us in 20yrs time, but for a different era of "gaming".

I understand that people fall out of love for something and move on to other things, but that is imo, something completely different.

I love gaming whether it's first gen, last gen, current gen or next gen. Stop being ageist and love all gen!!!

Call yourself gamers! FFS