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I'm sick. I really am. Not in a literal sense, but I'm sick at the lack of games aimed at older people on games machines such as the PlayStation, PS2, DC and future games on the new consoles.
Ok, so what do older people like to do? Aside from playing scrabble, chess, cards and crosswords they really don't play much else and it's a shame. I'm going to be generalising now, and in a way I shall take the stereotyping attitude that many an over 65 year old crone has taken when the 'younger' generation walk down the street (you know, armed with umbrellas, windows lit up by 'neighbourhood watch' projections, cannons ready etc).
Old people are cool. Grandad's telling you war stories, some can be interesting, some could probably bore you to death, but either way I will always listen to the oldest person in my family if they have something to tell me, you can learn a lot and it's something to do when you've completed Black & White.
Some old people 'smell' (Never, ever go into an old people's home unprotected) but we have to ignore this fact and get on with our own lives, making sure we never gain the same attributes (half of topic readers' noses turn up). I have a grandma, a grandma who walked into my room and watched me playing Sega Bass Fishing. She was appalled because she felt it was a waste of time. In this case of course, she was absolutely correct - never have I played such a mind numbingly dull video game. However, she was generalising - she felt that playing video games was a waste of time anyway, so I gave her a lecture and compared it to playing a game of cards - it's something to do, cures boredom (mostlym, but I do not recommend fishing simulations) and it provides a form of entertainment. Playing games like MSR, Tony Hawk's 2 and Virtua Tennis is great fun! You don't need to be bored to WANT to play these games.
Ok, so my other grandparents have one of my old Sega Saturns, a couple of steering wheels and a few games as well as a NES and around 30 games. They rarely play them, but my Grandad loves fighting games - he often destroys me in a bout of Soul Calibur, and as such, we refrain from playing that all the time. Now, his wife (generally called my grandma) and he sometimes partake in an afternoon of Pinball on the NES! One of the best games - High Speed! It doesn't matter that your score doesn't save, it doesn't matter if you don't even get a high score, it's great to play, they love it and they like watching it!
So, is pinball the answer? Most old people I know don't like video games, but that's probably because there aren't that many aimed at them. Sure, there are war games - but do they really want to be reminded of such an awful time? Pinball games are fun. They're simple, they're addictive and they kind of appeal to everyone. Tetris is a similar game - it has universal appeal! In no way, shape or form am I calling old people simpletons, but I am sure they would like playing simpler games - gaming simplicity is for them. And me too, as the best ideas are the simplest.
Anyhow, at the moment we have a few flight simulator games, possibly one train simulator games and of course we have the old style racing games on various machines - all of these games are boring, with the possible exception of the train simulator - I've not played one before...So, why aren't developers researching what the oldies want? There're millions of old people around - surely games developers would be stupid to ignore them! I don't expect to see the games industry cluttered up with "Tetris 2002", "Solitaire Classic Edition", "Chess for the over 60's" and "Hearts" being released in an attempt to take away the savings that our OAPs or Senior Citizens have stashed up in some closed down building society, and nor should they. There's no point really - they may as well play cards with a real life pack of cards - it's less costly and arguably more fun.
Oh no, instead games developers should try and attract the elderly with variation and originality - something that they can't do in real life situations - something that can be turned into virtual reality and get old people playing games (again) (if they did, once).
Old people watch Television right? Course they do. They love it - can't get enough of the soaps, the puzzle and quiz shows and the gardening shows...so...?
So? That's what has to happen! Gardening simulators - if it's raining, the old folk may get withdrawal symptoms and may need to turn to something else! Countdown, Wheel of Fortune, Call my Bluff - The Weakest Link - all could be turned into video games and would sell incredibly amongst the old, and a lot of the stupid people out there. Eastenders and Coronation street could be translated into a multiformat high selling console game - I have no idea what would happen, but I imagine you could assume the role of one of the characters and live their life as they would in the soap, or possibly behind the scenes! Oh the excitement.
So, they complain at us for shooting mindles zombies, playing virtual football and fishing through the television, but aren't they just trying to get the message across that they themselves actually want a go - but on something that they can understand. We all have different minds, we all play games - let the old people play too. If they refuse? Tie them to a chair and force them to play. Or not, could be legal issues there.
Anyway, that's my ramblings over, I am sure you have a point to make and could enrich the discussions.
Cheers
Dan2K1
Ok, so what do older people like to do? Aside from playing scrabble, chess, cards and crosswords they really don't play much else and it's a shame. I'm going to be generalising now, and in a way I shall take the stereotyping attitude that many an over 65 year old crone has taken when the 'younger' generation walk down the street (you know, armed with umbrellas, windows lit up by 'neighbourhood watch' projections, cannons ready etc).
Old people are cool. Grandad's telling you war stories, some can be interesting, some could probably bore you to death, but either way I will always listen to the oldest person in my family if they have something to tell me, you can learn a lot and it's something to do when you've completed Black & White.
Some old people 'smell' (Never, ever go into an old people's home unprotected) but we have to ignore this fact and get on with our own lives, making sure we never gain the same attributes (half of topic readers' noses turn up). I have a grandma, a grandma who walked into my room and watched me playing Sega Bass Fishing. She was appalled because she felt it was a waste of time. In this case of course, she was absolutely correct - never have I played such a mind numbingly dull video game. However, she was generalising - she felt that playing video games was a waste of time anyway, so I gave her a lecture and compared it to playing a game of cards - it's something to do, cures boredom (mostlym, but I do not recommend fishing simulations) and it provides a form of entertainment. Playing games like MSR, Tony Hawk's 2 and Virtua Tennis is great fun! You don't need to be bored to WANT to play these games.
Ok, so my other grandparents have one of my old Sega Saturns, a couple of steering wheels and a few games as well as a NES and around 30 games. They rarely play them, but my Grandad loves fighting games - he often destroys me in a bout of Soul Calibur, and as such, we refrain from playing that all the time. Now, his wife (generally called my grandma) and he sometimes partake in an afternoon of Pinball on the NES! One of the best games - High Speed! It doesn't matter that your score doesn't save, it doesn't matter if you don't even get a high score, it's great to play, they love it and they like watching it!
So, is pinball the answer? Most old people I know don't like video games, but that's probably because there aren't that many aimed at them. Sure, there are war games - but do they really want to be reminded of such an awful time? Pinball games are fun. They're simple, they're addictive and they kind of appeal to everyone. Tetris is a similar game - it has universal appeal! In no way, shape or form am I calling old people simpletons, but I am sure they would like playing simpler games - gaming simplicity is for them. And me too, as the best ideas are the simplest.
Anyhow, at the moment we have a few flight simulator games, possibly one train simulator games and of course we have the old style racing games on various machines - all of these games are boring, with the possible exception of the train simulator - I've not played one before...So, why aren't developers researching what the oldies want? There're millions of old people around - surely games developers would be stupid to ignore them! I don't expect to see the games industry cluttered up with "Tetris 2002", "Solitaire Classic Edition", "Chess for the over 60's" and "Hearts" being released in an attempt to take away the savings that our OAPs or Senior Citizens have stashed up in some closed down building society, and nor should they. There's no point really - they may as well play cards with a real life pack of cards - it's less costly and arguably more fun.
Oh no, instead games developers should try and attract the elderly with variation and originality - something that they can't do in real life situations - something that can be turned into virtual reality and get old people playing games (again) (if they did, once).
Old people watch Television right? Course they do. They love it - can't get enough of the soaps, the puzzle and quiz shows and the gardening shows...so...?
So? That's what has to happen! Gardening simulators - if it's raining, the old folk may get withdrawal symptoms and may need to turn to something else! Countdown, Wheel of Fortune, Call my Bluff - The Weakest Link - all could be turned into video games and would sell incredibly amongst the old, and a lot of the stupid people out there. Eastenders and Coronation street could be translated into a multiformat high selling console game - I have no idea what would happen, but I imagine you could assume the role of one of the characters and live their life as they would in the soap, or possibly behind the scenes! Oh the excitement.
So, they complain at us for shooting mindles zombies, playing virtual football and fishing through the television, but aren't they just trying to get the message across that they themselves actually want a go - but on something that they can understand. We all have different minds, we all play games - let the old people play too. If they refuse? Tie them to a chair and force them to play. Or not, could be legal issues there.
Anyway, that's my ramblings over, I am sure you have a point to make and could enrich the discussions.
Cheers
Dan2K1
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Ant obviously, but who's alistair?
Alistair? Anthony?
Kareoke game for me!
:-D
:-D
It COULD.
No it wouldn't.
There should be more games for older people. It would also increase the market and help the games companies.
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