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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
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
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tnc wrote:
> 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.
It might not stay that way for much longer I'm afraid. Apparently we were lucky to get study leave this year, there was talk of it being the last year of study leave for GCSE students and next year they'd be kept on until mid July with everyone else.
I really can't see how it would help students revision. Most were totally burned out by about May and the sooner we got to the exams the better.
> 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.
It might not stay that way for much longer I'm afraid. Apparently we were lucky to get study leave this year, there was talk of it being the last year of study leave for GCSE students and next year they'd be kept on until mid July with everyone else.
I really can't see how it would help students revision. Most were totally burned out by about May and the sooner we got to the exams the better.
tnc wrote:
> RastaBillySkank wrote:
> 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.
Cheers. I could've done better but that's about right for the amount of effort I put in. If I was the driven type things'd be different :-)
> What did you take?
>
> For me it's the core subjects (including double English &
> Science) aswell as German, History, Latin, Art and D&T.
Cores + German, History, Geography (d'oh) and Drama.
> RastaBillySkank wrote:
> 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.
Cheers. I could've done better but that's about right for the amount of effort I put in. If I was the driven type things'd be different :-)
> What did you take?
>
> For me it's the core subjects (including double English &
> Science) aswell as German, History, Latin, Art and D&T.
Cores + German, History, Geography (d'oh) and Drama.
Chr1s wrote:
>Stuff about sutdy leave
Yeah. I'm so glad we got it, I'd've just got totally bored if we'd've been forced to stay and revise in class, there's no way I could revise for 6 hours a day, although I accept that that kind of structure might help some people. What our school did was allowed us the choice to come in and revise/see our teachers about specific things if we wanted. I'd imagine it was the same everywhere?
>Stuff about sutdy leave
Yeah. I'm so glad we got it, I'd've just got totally bored if we'd've been forced to stay and revise in class, there's no way I could revise for 6 hours a day, although I accept that that kind of structure might help some people. What our school did was allowed us the choice to come in and revise/see our teachers about specific things if we wanted. I'd imagine it was the same everywhere?
RastaBillySkank wrote:
> Chr1s wrote:
> >Stuff about sutdy leave
>
> Yeah. I'm so glad we got it, I'd've just got totally bored if we'd've
> been forced to stay and revise in class, there's no way I could revise
> for 6 hours a day.
I think the amount of time we actually spent at school damaged my results. I did very well in the mocks because I was still fired up and sharp, but after that I started to get lazy because I was so bored of the same routine. When the real GCSE's came round, I really couldn't be arsed with revision and I didn't want to work.
I really didn't need that last five or six months at school, they could have gone towards a much longer and very well needed holiday.
> Chr1s wrote:
> >Stuff about sutdy leave
>
> Yeah. I'm so glad we got it, I'd've just got totally bored if we'd've
> been forced to stay and revise in class, there's no way I could revise
> for 6 hours a day.
I think the amount of time we actually spent at school damaged my results. I did very well in the mocks because I was still fired up and sharp, but after that I started to get lazy because I was so bored of the same routine. When the real GCSE's came round, I really couldn't be arsed with revision and I didn't want to work.
I really didn't need that last five or six months at school, they could have gone towards a much longer and very well needed holiday.
When did you finish all the syllabus' (syllabi?)?
Y'know, I always thought it was syllabuses.
Oh well.
Oh well.
It may well be.
RastaBillySkank wrote:
> When did you finish all the syllabus' (syllabi?)?
Not entirely sure, but I know we gave up on the business studies syllabus straight after the mocks in January so we could concentrate on revision.
RastaBillySkank wrote:
> Yeah. I'm so glad we got it, I'd've just got totally bored if we'd've been forced to stay and revise in class, there's no way I could revise for 6 hours a day, although I accept that that kind of structure might help some people. What our school did was allowed us the choice to come in and revise/see our teachers about specific things if we wanted. I'd imagine it was the same everywhere?
Some people were given the option to leave early for study leave, but they were generally the wasters that the school wanted to be rid of. Most weren't allowed to leave until May 20th.
I can see why the structured environment might have helped some people with their revision, but people weren't utilizing the time at school. The lessons in the last couple of months were a joke, very few people put any effort in.
> When did you finish all the syllabus' (syllabi?)?
Not entirely sure, but I know we gave up on the business studies syllabus straight after the mocks in January so we could concentrate on revision.
RastaBillySkank wrote:
> Yeah. I'm so glad we got it, I'd've just got totally bored if we'd've been forced to stay and revise in class, there's no way I could revise for 6 hours a day, although I accept that that kind of structure might help some people. What our school did was allowed us the choice to come in and revise/see our teachers about specific things if we wanted. I'd imagine it was the same everywhere?
Some people were given the option to leave early for study leave, but they were generally the wasters that the school wanted to be rid of. Most weren't allowed to leave until May 20th.
I can see why the structured environment might have helped some people with their revision, but people weren't utilizing the time at school. The lessons in the last couple of months were a joke, very few people put any effort in.
Chr1s wrote:
> Not entirely sure, but I know we gave up on the business studies
> syllabus straight after the mocks in January so we could concentrate
> on revision.
Well, apart from Maths and both Englishes (which were finished just before the mocks) we only finished ours at the start of the last term so we needed it up to then. After that though we should've left straight away. The lessons were pointless after that.
> Some people were given the option to leave early for study leave, but
> they were generally the wasters that the school wanted to be rid of.
> Most weren't allowed to leave until May 20th.
Our study leave started after the first exam (English). We had half-term then didn't come back. It should've started much much earlier though.
> I can see why the structured environment might have helped some
> people with their revision, but people weren't utilizing the time at
> school. The lessons in the last couple of months were a joke, very
> few people put any effort in.
Heh. It got like that for about the last 2 weeks with us. We actually did nothing, just sat around and talked. The teachers basically said "It's up to you now. You can use this time how you want, but you'd be advised to use it to revise".
> Not entirely sure, but I know we gave up on the business studies
> syllabus straight after the mocks in January so we could concentrate
> on revision.
Well, apart from Maths and both Englishes (which were finished just before the mocks) we only finished ours at the start of the last term so we needed it up to then. After that though we should've left straight away. The lessons were pointless after that.
> Some people were given the option to leave early for study leave, but
> they were generally the wasters that the school wanted to be rid of.
> Most weren't allowed to leave until May 20th.
Our study leave started after the first exam (English). We had half-term then didn't come back. It should've started much much earlier though.
> I can see why the structured environment might have helped some
> people with their revision, but people weren't utilizing the time at
> school. The lessons in the last couple of months were a joke, very
> few people put any effort in.
Heh. It got like that for about the last 2 weeks with us. We actually did nothing, just sat around and talked. The teachers basically said "It's up to you now. You can use this time how you want, but you'd be advised to use it to revise".
tnc wrote:
> Bonus wrote:
> Maybe try buying some games which aren't just mainstream and
> popular.
>
> I'll put money on you having never played Disgaea, Lumines, Beyond
> Good and Evil, Ico, Crimson Skies, Otogi and on and on.
>
> I own Beyond Good and Evil
>
> I've also added Kung Fu Chaos, Shenmue 2, Oddworld and Grabbed by the
> Ghoulies to my collection.
None of those are apparently particularly good games either. Except if the Oddworld game is Stangler's Wrath, which is supposed to be fairly decent.
Suppose if you don't like games anymore you don't like tham anymore. The prices they are hitting now it's important to get your purchases right first time.
> Bonus wrote:
> Maybe try buying some games which aren't just mainstream and
> popular.
>
> I'll put money on you having never played Disgaea, Lumines, Beyond
> Good and Evil, Ico, Crimson Skies, Otogi and on and on.
>
> I own Beyond Good and Evil
>
> I've also added Kung Fu Chaos, Shenmue 2, Oddworld and Grabbed by the
> Ghoulies to my collection.
None of those are apparently particularly good games either. Except if the Oddworld game is Stangler's Wrath, which is supposed to be fairly decent.
Suppose if you don't like games anymore you don't like tham anymore. The prices they are hitting now it's important to get your purchases right first time.
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