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"Not what it used to be"

I was just thinking today about gaming in general. It was all sparked off by me going round to a mates house and seeing him playing his Xbox. I thought to myself, when was the last time I really played a game?

When I got San Andreas back in early June I played it and played it for a few weeks but after that I got a little stuck. Normally the allure of the game brings me back to it or when I'm bored I just go on my Xbox. Recently though I really haven't felt the urge to play a game in the same way I used to and even my Xbox has been acting up (its disc tray being very temperamental)

With the onslaught of another generation of consoles just around the corner I'm wondering whether or not I'm actually going to bother buying one. Although I'd play it a lot because of novelty value it'd soon become another dust-gatherer that caused me to fork out a fair amount of cash whenever I see a new game coming along. After all, new consoles have more games and higher prices.

Excluding San Andreas, I can't remember the last time I just sat and gamed in the room whilst the Sun drifted by outside. It shouldn't really make me forlorn that I can't get into a disc with some information on anymore, but, I enjoyed gaming for many years and it's something I devoted some time to. I will still go back and play my Xbox from time to time, but more nostalgically then anything else.

I still subscribe to OXM and read the magazines. Even that's not the same. I used to spend some hours reading the reviews, counting the days until games I wanted were out and putting money aside, I even played the demo discs for hours and entered the competitions. Now I barely ever put the disc on, if I do it's just to watch someone's Driv3r playback or PGR cone score.

Everything is subject to change. The outdoors is appealing, as it always has been, but now the indoor environments just can't hold their own against it even for brief periods of time anymore. I haven't played the discs as much since my old tv with VCR was replaced by a DVD-combi.

So, I'll still talk about games and my opinions and play the ones I already own but the future of my gaming is ... uncertain

I'm tempted as I am a fan of RPGs but my laptops aren't fantastic. If the game was just a lump sum price I'd probably go for it (I know it isn't much a month and is an investment overall) but I'm not sure if I wan't to be paying about £40 a year for it.

WOW would be cheaper than a console and undoubtedly fun but I'm not sure if I'd be as addicted as some are. I prefer everything about Console controls and I'm really not a competant PC gamer.

Plus it's GCSE year and I don't want to distract myself from Study Leave ;o)

tnc wrote:
> Plus it's GCSE year and I don't want to distract myself from Study
> Leave ;o)

Education over gaming? Tut tut. :D

I spent about a year away from gaming between my SNES and PS1.

Don't know why just didn't feel the urge to play games for some reason.

You change, rather than games.

That's the point I was making to be honest.

tnc wrote:
> Plus it's GCSE year and I don't want to distract myself from Study
> Leave ;o)

Meh. I never did more than 2 hours revision a day and that was usually 1 hour in the early afternoon and 1 in the evening, leaving me with me the 6 other hours I'd usually be in school to waste. Excellent. The exam period was the most enjoyable of my whole school "career". First study leave, then half day's until the end. Most of my exams were in the morning so I'd bus in at about 8:30 and be home again by 12-12:30. So relaxing.

We had many people who would Bus in and then stay at school for the day simply so they could catch the bus home at 3.30. I'd rather walk the 30 miles back to my house.

It's relaxing if you're sure about the exams and feel no pressure when taking them. At least we do get a study leave period and a Summer holiday extended by about a month.

What grades did you get though? (RBS)

I managed a 'B' on my D&T this year and I passed my Japanese course.

Japanese?! Crikey.

I got 4 A*'s and 6 A's.

EDIT: By the way, I would comment on topic but I've had this discussion far too many times.

There was a point for me after the n64 where consoles just died in my eyes, suddenly none of it was appealing bar a pokemon game or two. I go back and play all my old games alot and streetfighter zero 3 gets alot of play, but other than that i don't use new consoles and i havn't really seen much that would attract me.

I own a reasonable PC and with alot of consoles trying to be like PC's these days i don't see the point in the new generations as they arn't trying o offer anything different.

Nintendo is really the only company that could probably bring me back to consoles as they have always been more about gameplay and fun than trying to out do everyone else, and yet the revolution looks dire, it's not cute it's a horrible box, i was hoping they would go for a furry console with this next one, something that makes cute sounds when you pat it but they went for the swish look :(

hmmm strayed a bit there but nevermind.

RastaBillySkank wrote:
> Japanese?! Crikey.

Sounds more impressive than it is. Basically we did a year long 'course' in place of assemblies to gain a WJEC certificate. You couldn't fail. We simply copied other people's work (and the teacher knew)

If you asked me to speak Japanese I'd be quite hard put to say all that much

;o)

> I got 4 A*'s and 6 A's.

Ah. I was expecting you to have got C's or something, talking about how easy it all was. Well done though.

What did you take?

For me it's the core subjects (including double English & Science) aswell as German, History, Latin, Art and D&T.