Touchstones: try this at home, video-game edition

I'm no FPS'er myself. I'm what this gen of gamers might call an old geezer. My friends and I are always joking: "You young'uns don't know what real gaming is! Back in my day, we had Legend of Zelda, where you had to explore the world screen by screen and burn trees with a candle to look for secret entrances! Back then, you had to think! And before that, we didn't have no fancy graphics -- we had a game where you used a square! And you picked up an arrow to fight giant ducks! That's the kinda thing that builds character!" Video games were once a geek's paradise, really -- we dreamed one day the adult world would understand what was so great about them, but, alas, they've gone the way of every other corporation-mainstreamed entertainment media. Many games are now visceral, vicarious time-wasters. For many of us who grew up as they grew up, though, the beauty was in the little details. Gamers used to use a lot of math-logic to get through games because of how they were designed; now they're designed for brainlessness. Isn't it always sad that the more popular anything gets, the less cool it becomes? There's still some good stuff out there. But right now I'm feeling like this would be a good time to start printing t-shirts that say, "2-D rules!"

That's right! You really can't call yourself a gamer unless you've gotten swallowed by a giant duck and lived to tell about it! http://www.simmphonic.com/programming/flash.htm# http://www.toadstool.net/games/adventure/play.htm But I do think a lot of old-school games had more compelling gameplay (whether mental or just "reflex" challenges) - because that was pretty much all they had going for them! When graphical flash is limited to "Hey, that actually *does* look like a bat... sorta," you need to have a good game at the core. Nowadays, I think it's a little too easy to mask poor gameplay with fancy graphics.

Yeah, I think the biggest difference between gaming of old and gaming of new is that the crap actually gets sold. Anyone here who has gotten an old Atari 2600 emulator from before knows there was a TON of garbage on that system. The Nintendo suffered less due to the "Seal of Approval" thing they had going for them, but there was still a LOT of bad games on that thing too. But the good games stood out. The thing that good graphics has done IS make bad games sell. As long as you can appeal to the visceral thrill of a human, your game can sell even if there is no actual gameplay at the core. As a result, it's HARDER to find the games with the great gameplay because you have to wade through so much garbage. Those of you disenchanted with the state of today's gaming, I do have to suggest trying out "Katamari Damacy" if you haven't already on the PlayStation 2. That game will warm your hearts and bring you back to the days of when gaming was about gaming. And you too will find yourself singing the background music after a day or two of the game. - James

"And before that, we didn't have no fancy graphics -- we had a game where you used a square! And you picked up an arrow to fight giant ducks! That's the kinda thing that builds character!" I would just like to note, as someone who played a good majority of the games of that era, that that game really kinda sucked. Gah, I wasted good time on that thing, before noticing that I wasn't having any fun.

Nahhhhh nananananaaaanaaaanaaa na Katamari Damaaaaseeeeeeee ...

"I would just like to note, as someone who played a good majority of the games of that era, that that game really kinda sucked. Gah, I wasted good time on that thing, before noticing that I wasn't having any fun." Did you play it when it was first available? If you did, ok, well, different tastes, but if not, that could make a big difference -- compared to the other games available, this one had a fascinating non-linear breadth. Anyway, it was really the extra-curricular stuff you could do in that game that helped to make it great. Like getting swallowed by a duck and taking a ride with the bat. Also, my bro and are I are still proud to be able to say we found this game's easter egg (largely considered to be the first ever video game easter egg) on our own without knowing about it first :-)

Yeah, the easter egg is cool. And there were other weird things you could do in the right circumstances, like one time, I got eaten by a duck, and somehow managed to grab the sword from inside his body, and kill the duck. Only to be trapped under his body until eventually the bat took it away....