Honestly... I have lost my love of video games.

[TSE]

When I was 5 years old, I won a Nintendo 64 from a Captain Crunch Box. It was the best day in my life. I have 4 brothers, 2 younger and 2 older ranging from ages 12 to 24. Some of my greatest memories was staying up late, eating frozen pizza and playing the Super Mario 64 or Mario Kart for the N64. After the N64, I bought a PS2, and loved it even more. I was a preteen and not very active admittedly. Right when the PS2 became obsolete with the PS3, I just basically gave up. I lost my interest in video games, partly because there was nothing new with the PS3, Wii, or 360 because all it was were the same games with better graphics. That is basically it. I nowadays rarely play video games because I got bored of them, but I still have fun playing the N64 and PS2 when I am not playing baseball or basketball or hanging out with friends. Whenever my younger cousins come over, they always get mad because I don't have one of the newer consoles like they do. They don't understand how I can possibly have fun with a newer console.

Anyone else feel like this? Besides updating graphics, what has the newer consoles brought?

 

[7on]

The newer consoles have brought fun to the plate. Xbox with its online-ness, the Wii with gesture based gameplay, and the PS3 with games like LittleBigPlanet.

Some people just fall out of things as they get older. When I was younger I played with Gi-Joes. Maybe you've found something else to hold your interest?

You were 5 with the N64? When I was 5 my parents bought a NES. I don't want to sound like a crotchety old man, but...
Seriously, try some of the classics. Like on the Wii's virtual console or 360's Arcade.

I find gaming to be very stimulating. Either through puzzles or that adrenaline rush seeing your health dip low and your ammunition, but know a checkpoint is just up ahead - just have to make it...

 

[Surely]

7on, if you're a crotchety old man, then what am I? I was 9 when the NES came out. Geez, 30 isn't over the hill you know...

I too have lost interest in video games. I think it's like 7on said, I just fell out of them. Lost interest, moved on to other more stimulating activities, picked up something new to do.

It's not that I find them childish or a waste of time, I just don't have too much interest in playing them anymore.

The height of my video game playing was definitely the Sega Genesis. That was an awesome system. We used to play EA NHL all day and night.

But I went through Pong (yes, we had a Pong system!), Intellivision, Atari, Colecovision (with the Atari adaptor), NES, Sega Genesis (with Sega CD), PS1, and then, finally, the PS2. My interest was really at it's lowest point when I got the PS2, and I basically played it a lot when I first got it, and then it just became the DVD player in the den.

I am liking the games on the iPhone though. Actually, I recently downloaded an old Intellivision classic, Adventure. It was a lot harder back then.....

 

[mondesi43]

I was 11 when the NES came out and I paid for it with the money I earned on the family farm....So I'm even older. I play XBOX 360 almost every day in between taking care of my 12 week old.

The new consoles bring crazy graphics and the rest of it is up to the developers who make great content/innovative gameply. The thing that makes games interesting now is the online experience. I have played with the same core of 15-20 guys on Gears and CoD4 for the last 2 years.

Excitebike, ProWrestling, Contra, Kid Icarus, Metroid....graphics sucked, but tons of fun to play.

Surely is right about NHL on the Genesis. Penguins all day long. Lemeuix, Jagr, Coffey, Stevens were all beasts.

 

[dmr727]

I'm a kid from the NES era as well. I'll still play a little old school Zelda from time to time.

But yeah, the big appeal of video games has kind of worn off as I got older. I tried to see what the whole WoW thing was about, but decided I just didn't have the time to invest.

 

[Big-TDI-Guy]

I see the video game market as too saturated - too many clones, and lack of innovation / creativity. I see it as spiraling downward on its current path.

An example: Back on the PSX - Soul Blade. Different weapons - with different / unique properties, along with stories for each character. You fought - when you blocked too much, your weapon / armor would get damaged - then once they broke - you had to fight with your fists - and the moves changed completely. Choosing some fights would cause you to miss out on items, and would alter the outcome of the story-mode.

Now - the story mode looks like it was written by a 5 year old. All the weapons vary mainly in appearance. And when you get hit too much - you just get more naked. You hear a "shatter" noise, and then her top flies off the screen. To squeeze more $ out of the franchise, they include "Darth Vader" or "Yoda" ?!?!? They had NOTHING to do with this story / game at any point. It just reeks of corporate model and profit margins. What ever happened to making games to entertain?

I want more Crash Bandicoot, FF7, Wipeout, Jumping Flash, Tonshinden, Tenchu -- you know, the games that fall outside of FPS and were actually different.

 

[gkarris]

I have all consoles, and like the newer ones, but yes, we tend to love the ones we grew up with.

For me, it's the Atari 2600 and Mattel Intellivision...

 

[Keebler]

oh, i agree completely.

i LOVED gaming, but then I found this thing called life and haven't looked back that's not to say that those who game don't have a life....quite the opposite.

I stopped b/c i have 2 kids, a business at home and spend my spare time working out instead. The only game I have installed is last year's Madden and I haven't played that in 2 months.

I would like an xbox or Wii, but my boys get addicted enough to the free computer games. I can't imagine the hell I'd have to go through to regulate gaming use on a console - for them and me I'd love a military FPS like call of duty 4, but I would get NOTHING else done.

I guess the other thing related to gaming is that it doesn't give anything tangible in the end. It's just wasted time. Sure, there could be some mind and hand-eye coordination gains, but at least when I work out, i see and feel the benefits or when I finish a project, I see those results.

<sigh> maybe i'll fire up madden for a few mins

 

[atszyman]

Some people just fall out of things as they get older. When I was younger I played with Gi-Joes. Maybe you've found something else to hold your interest?

You were 5 with the N64? When I was 5 my parents bought a NES. I don't want to sound like a crotchety old man, but...

7on, if you're a crotchety old man, then what am I? I was 9 when the NES came out. Geez, 30 isn't over the hill you know...

I too have lost interest in video games. I think it's like 7on said, I just fell out of them. Lost interest, moved on to other more stimulating activities, picked up something new to do.

I'm in the same boat, 9 in 1985, and didn't get an NES for like 3-4 years after they were released...

7onIt's not that I find them childish or a waste of time, I just don't have too much interest in playing them anymore.

The height of my video game playing was definitely the Sega Genesis. That was an awesome system. We used to play EA NHL all day and night.

Blasphemy, it was the SNES...

I lost interest in my 20s, the Wii rekindled it with the prospect of the VC and being able to get a bunch of old school games again.

I really enjoy playing Wii, but it's done at the expense of sleep. I have to wait until both kids are in bed, and my wife and I are TV junkies so we do have that to keep up with too.

On a good night I can play between 10:30 and 11:30 (sometimes a little later but I do have to sleep a little). Of course at the start of this year I made a deal with myself that I wouldn't start playing games until the dishes were done. It's not that they weren't getting done, it's just much easier to spend a few minutes doing them every night and having time to play, than spending an hour doing them every few nights and not having time on those nights.

I don't have enough time to play the few games I have and am always finding another that looks interesting.

I'm currently wasting my time on Mario Kart Wii, and have yet to devote a lot of time to Mega Man 9, and I've been on the last level of Zack & Wiki for about 6 months now, not to mention still have stuff to unlock in Super Smash Bros Brawl...

It's a shame I can't take my retirement years now and go back to work once arthritis makes it too difficult to play games.

 

[velocityg4]

Have you considered trying computer gaming? I fell out of love for console gaming several years ago. It could just be the derivative linear game play of consoles that are no longer interesting.

PC gaming offers many interesting choices that are not available on the console mainly because you need a keyboard for them. There are intricate strategy games that force you to use your mind like Rome: Total War. Where you have to manage large armies, politics and public services.

I stopped consoles with the PS2 I never bought one just used my roommates occasionally. The last console I bought was the 32x unit for the Sega Genesis.

 

[bradl]

I have all consoles, and like the newer ones, but yes, we tend to love the ones we grew up with.

For me, it's the Atari 2600 and Mattel Intellivision...

YES!!!

I was 7 when the Intellivision came out, and I had just about every game until the NES came out. My biggest regret was selling that Intellivision for the NES. I wish I had it back. But I'm glad the Blue Sky Rangers are still around, and released Intellivision Lives! and Intellivison Rocks! for the PS2/PS3, and PC/Macs. It's funny to see a revival of the classic Namco, Atari, Activision, Capcom, and Midway/Williams games, because while the newer stuff (save the Wii) is pretty much rehashed from the past 3 - 4 years, the classics pioneered a LOT of what is going on. So you may want to go back in time to see where games came from, and enjoy those. You'll get a better feel of how far things have come.

For the record, I lost love (got bored) with video games shortly after Doom and Duke Nukem 3D came out. Diablo and Descent were just overkill, and I really wasn't into the gore. Furthest I went with that was Mortal Kombat II. Since then, I've been old school.

BL.

 

[~Shard~]

My video gaming started with my brother's Apple //e - I was immediately enthralled with Wasteland and Autoduel. later on, when he bought his SE/30 it was Starflight - those still rank in my mind as some of the greatest video games ever. I also had a NES, and my brother and I rented a PSX a few times when it first came out - good times. On the computer I then got into Civ II (another classic, I've never played anything so addictive) as well as Doom and Doom 2, along with the DETH level editor for Doom 2 - man, the levels my friend and I made... insane...

I then received a PS2 as a Christmas gift when it first came out and played through MGS, MGS2, FFVII, GTA3, Tekken Tag and some others.

As I progressed through university though, I didn't have as much time for games. The PS2 became a DVD player (which is still running great to this day!) and after playing through Starcraft one final time, I hung up my "gaming gloves".

Since then, I have found other interests - playing in the symphony orchestra, playing soccer, going to the gym, day trading, acting, modeling, managing my rental properties, and one of my greatest passions: world traveling - there's just so much to see and experience out there.

After many years off though, I have decided to return to the world of gaming again, at least to a small degree. I am buying a PS3 soon, partly as a Blu Ray player for my new home theater setup, but also to have the gaming option around again for my downtime (as sparse as it is these days!) It's going to be nice, but I don't have the desire that I once did to game, and I'm fine with that. There's just so much more to life!

So, there's my story...

 

[0098386]

Personally I was feeling the same, my fave system last gen was the GC and I was even getting bored of that. It all changed with the Wii though. I don't play much on the "HD" consoles because, to me, they either feel too same-y to all the games I've played before, or that my PC can play them better.

But even at 22 I woke up early so I could run into town and pick up Mario Galaxy even ordered Brawl from a website that is known to break street dates so I could get playing them ASAP (but Brawl was because I love the series, not because it's innovative). Even Wii Sports still gets played and Mario Kart Wii is simply excellent for party games. I don't want to be locked in my room running up highscores these days, I want a good story or some fun with friends and family.


Nowadays I just play PC, PSP, DS/GBA and Wii games, in that order. As vast and varied as the 360's library is it all just seems like a clearer rerun of games gone by, and in some cases the games are worse (GTA IV compared to any of the 3 series).

 

[kainjow]

I used to play way too much Warcraft III and Counter Strike: Source. I've tried a few games since then, including several Wii games and a few 360 ones, but they all become the same and it seems just like way too much wasted time to solve pointless quests/challenges. Now I'm more interested in the technology behind games than actually playing them.

 

[RedTomato]

If you want indie variety and creativeness, take a look at online flash games.

There's some stunning stuff coming out, but you need to find a decent flash review blog that you like the look of, which will filter out all the crap.

My favourite is jayisgames.com, which focuses on creativity and 'casual games' ie. games that can be completed in an hour or two, which is all I have time for nowadays (job, kid, etc). I ignore the room escape games they seem to love though.

There's some other good online flash review blogs, perhaps other posters could suggest some.

There's also some indie game competitions worth looking at, with all entrants playable / downloadable for free. The Unity plug-in engine game competitions are also worth a look - some nice creative stuff. (fancy playing as a flasher who must run across a road of traffic in Copenhagen in time to leap in front of a gaggle of japanese tourists photographing a statue? And being scored depending on how much you manage to 'display'?)

 

[ghall]

I actually go through phases with video games. In general I play them quite often, but sometimes I go into phases where I don't play any at all for weeks at a time, then all of a sudden I pick them up and play them like crazy again. Maybe the OP is going through a phase.

 

[BlackSnow]

Sadly, I have also loss my love for gaming. There is too much of a focus on games that applies to everyone, like Rock Band, Wii party games, crappy FPS games and games that are way too short. Why would the gaming industries change this formula of crap games when the crap games sell? They won't get creative till they start losing money.

 

[dotdotdot]

I completely understand where you're coming from.

I own a N64, PS2, and NES for gaming. Now, all I game on is my PC. I have countless titles for all three systems, and have memories staying up and playing the games for these systems. I have realized in the process what made games fun and why I'm not as into them now.

First, the older consoles had a unique charm to them, and a certain level of nostalgia can be applied to them. Nowadays, the same can not be said. I think the last "good" consoles from Nintendo and Sony were the N64 and original PlayStation. Everything beyond those has been too gimmicky and too mass-produced and less unique and entertaining. The classics, like Spyro the Dragon, are nowhere to be found anymore, the Super Mario series is in no way as revolutionary as Super Mario 64 was, and gaming as a whole has become less unique and more generic.

Of course games today are great - I think BioShock is potentially one of my favorite games of all time - but they are in no way as meaningful as the classics from the 90s.

 

[~Shard~]

One other thing I miss from the "games of old" is the element of discovery and surprise. There was no GameFAQs.com, and even no Internet when a lot of my favorite games were around, and as such, I couldn't just pop online and get an entire walkthrough of a game, complete list of secrets, codes, etc. I didn't know what to expect, had to figure out things on my own, discover secrets by myself and didn't know what was going to happen, how things would end, etc. and quite frankly I liked it. Nowadays it seems like you almost require a walkthrough or guide to fully experience a game, which I think is wrong. I'll use the Final Fantasy series an an extreme example - some of the hidden items, etc are so obscure or impossible to find, you would have no way of finding 50% of the stuff in the game if it wasn't for a guide! Same goes with the side missions, hidden packages etc of Grand Theft Auto...

It just makes things a little too lazy, unrewarding and unfulfilling to rely (or to have to rely) on a FAQ in this manner, and it seems like a lot of people do these days. I'm all for fully exploring a game, but how about figuring stuff out on your own? What fun is there in reading it in a guide thus spoiling and ruining the surprise and element of discovery? The game producers are at just as much fault for this - as I implied above, some games practically require FAQs these days.

Anyway, just some more thoughts....

 

[Adamo]

I used to get really excited about whatever new game was coming out, and now, well, I just don't get that excited unless it's a really big game I've been looking forward to for a long while - usually one in a series (like the Halo games). I'll get into Fable 2 and Fallout 3 eventually, I just find the time for other things instead, even if they're not that exciting.. such as browsing internet forums at all times!

 

[doubleohseven]

I remember my dad playing Sonic the Hedgehog on a Sega Saturn console when I was 3, and I remember myself playing a bit of it too. When I was 5-6 years old I used to play Gran Turismo and Spyro the Dragon on PS1. In 2002 I got a PS2 and I continued to play that regularly until I brought my MacBook. I lost "my love" of video games only until recently when I got a Wii, which is unfreakinbelievable.

 

[InvalidUserID]

Wow...a N64 at 5? I feel old!

I grew up with video games. I don't see any era as being better than another, it is just an evolution. Each generation is different.

My first memories are of my cousin playing Super Mario on NES(!) at a Thanksgiving party and me bugging my parts for a one. I remember opening up my Christmas present and...NES! I think I played Punch-Out so much that I had to do the old "blow into the cartridge".

It went on from there to the whole arcade craze and having ports to SNES and Genesis. I remember I lost respect for Nintendo with the whole brown/grey blood with MK. Then came Sega Saturn(I have one, collecting dust...just for nostalgia), N64 (Project Reality, my uncle worked at SGI) then Sony with the original Playstation. And so on and so on.

The current games amaze me with the graphics and all the content. I grew up with color dithering and repetitive backgrounds so...yeah, I'm dating myself here and I'm only in my twenties!

It is good to see that video games are more mainstream now and more widely accepted. Back when, it was more for the nerdy group and the cool kids didn't play video games. And girls? Forget about it! I used to get weird looks going in to buy video games or attend video game expos. I still do today...but its more of "Ma'am, do you need help finding a game for your son/boyfriend". Psssshhh!

I'm rambling but I enjoy the games. The only time I lost my love for video games was the whole FMV deal but that was more of companies trying to capitalize on new technology. FWIW, my all-time favorite is an SNES game, Chrono Trigger although Goldeneye 007 is a close 2nd.

 

[M. Malone]

I totally agree with TSE.

Back in the day, I would stay awake, even if I was so tired, all the tiredness went away.

From what I remember:

Zelda on NES kept me awake all the time

Then Zelda a Link to the Past on SNES, this game was one of the greatest of all time.

N64 was great with Mario 64, most of the other games were not memorable though.

PS1 days it was Metal Gear Solid, the game was shocking back then, the AI was unbelievable, the enemy soldiers actually followed your foot step in the snow, I use to show that off to everyone.

PS2 I think was the highlight of gaming, there were so many great games like Tekken, Metal Gear Solid 2, Soul Calibre, etc.

Xbox360 and PS3 have been disappointing, the games are just not enough and great, I wish there were more great games.

In my opinion, Bioshock for 360 is the greatest game of all time, but that's it.

I was crazy for Halo 3, GTA 4, and Metal Gear 4, and all were let downs for me, they are excellent games, but compared to the older ones in the original systems at the time, they never were revolutionary.

 

[0098386]

I was crazy for Halo 3, GTA 4, and Metal Gear 4, and all were let downs for me, they are excellent games, but compared to the older ones in the original systems at the time, they never were revolutionary.

Heh, exactly the same for me. I love all their predecessors. Halo 1 was the best console FPS I played since Goldeneye, Vice City and San Andreas were just too fun and MGS1 really inspired me but their sequels just don't hit that same spot. They've all gone much too realistic, it's as if they've just replaced fun with physics and realism.

What I like about games is the escapism. In all the games I work on I try to make them surreal and play a little differently to other games in the genre because I don't feel enough games these days are doing this.

At the moment my most played game is Team Fortress 2, I've been addicted since it launched and spend an hour a day on it. The art style is brilliant, the humour is hilarious... It's just perfect. Yet it could very well have been just-another-FPS.
Sonic 2, Team Fortress 2, GTA 3, Pokemon Pearl, LocoRoco, all old Mario's, Metroid Prime and Smash Bros Brawl are my all my fave games.

 

[pagansoul]

I have not touched my old XBOX in ages. The last game I brought was DOOM3.