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The quote comes from the journal of R.F. Scott. It was what Captain Lawrence Oates (1880-1912) was reputed to have said before leaving the tent and vanishing into the blizzard on the ill-fated Antarctic expedidion (1910-12).
Strangely enough, it's also what I usually think to myself everytime I pop a game into my console and fire it up. Because games today are HUGE. Take my Dreamcast as an example.
Pop Skies of Arcadia into it, and you're in for a marathon of 30 or so hours to complete it if you want to do it all in one sitting. It's a good thing that you can save when you want at most areas of the game, but some of those dungeons are going to have you enraptured for an hour or more.
Metropolis Street Racer you could never complete in one sitting; with 10 races per Chapter and 25 Chapters, each race getting longer and divided into more stages, to get through the first Chapter alone would take an hour or so of hard driving.
Grandia II is another example. It's a huge RPG, and even after 40 hours of gameplay and thinking it's nearly all over, a whole new storyline opens up, and you realise that your previous fortnight of gaming is only the first leg of completing this mammoth title.
Most games nowadays are like this, and if you work out how much you spent buying the game and divide it by the number of hours you can end up playing it, you'll find that it's great value for money.
Even the games that you can complete in a matter of hours, like Shenmue, Metal Gear Solid, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil; they ALL offer more at the end, like extra hi-scores to achieve within the game, new weapons and features, unlimited ammo and so forth, meaning that once the game is completed the first time, you have a whole new game ahead of you with new variation in the gameplay, which in some instances completely transforms the game.
For gamers like myself, who are quite happy to sit and play for hours on end, this is great stuff, because you can mark a day in your diary for gaming and know full well that with just a few games in your collection you are going to fill that day completely.
This week, for example, I'm concentrating on developing my character in Phantasy Star Online from scratch, building up his strength and armour and weaponry. It's going to take literally weeks to get him up to the stage where he can hold his own in an online arena, and of course playing online opens up a whole new avenue of gameplay which is lined with extra weapons, missions, protective armour, secrets and so forth, not to mention the team element of gameplay that is then introduced, and the cooperative plays that you can then engage in.
Games have come a long way since 'Mickey Mouse Castle of Illusion' or 'Final Fantasy 5' where, once the game was finished that was it. Now they seem to offer you more once the game is completed. It's something that we expect from our games today, and long may it continue.
I'm off to play Phantasy Star Online now.
And may be some time...
Strangely enough, it's also what I usually think to myself everytime I pop a game into my console and fire it up. Because games today are HUGE. Take my Dreamcast as an example.
Pop Skies of Arcadia into it, and you're in for a marathon of 30 or so hours to complete it if you want to do it all in one sitting. It's a good thing that you can save when you want at most areas of the game, but some of those dungeons are going to have you enraptured for an hour or more.
Metropolis Street Racer you could never complete in one sitting; with 10 races per Chapter and 25 Chapters, each race getting longer and divided into more stages, to get through the first Chapter alone would take an hour or so of hard driving.
Grandia II is another example. It's a huge RPG, and even after 40 hours of gameplay and thinking it's nearly all over, a whole new storyline opens up, and you realise that your previous fortnight of gaming is only the first leg of completing this mammoth title.
Most games nowadays are like this, and if you work out how much you spent buying the game and divide it by the number of hours you can end up playing it, you'll find that it's great value for money.
Even the games that you can complete in a matter of hours, like Shenmue, Metal Gear Solid, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil; they ALL offer more at the end, like extra hi-scores to achieve within the game, new weapons and features, unlimited ammo and so forth, meaning that once the game is completed the first time, you have a whole new game ahead of you with new variation in the gameplay, which in some instances completely transforms the game.
For gamers like myself, who are quite happy to sit and play for hours on end, this is great stuff, because you can mark a day in your diary for gaming and know full well that with just a few games in your collection you are going to fill that day completely.
This week, for example, I'm concentrating on developing my character in Phantasy Star Online from scratch, building up his strength and armour and weaponry. It's going to take literally weeks to get him up to the stage where he can hold his own in an online arena, and of course playing online opens up a whole new avenue of gameplay which is lined with extra weapons, missions, protective armour, secrets and so forth, not to mention the team element of gameplay that is then introduced, and the cooperative plays that you can then engage in.
Games have come a long way since 'Mickey Mouse Castle of Illusion' or 'Final Fantasy 5' where, once the game was finished that was it. Now they seem to offer you more once the game is completed. It's something that we expect from our games today, and long may it continue.
I'm off to play Phantasy Star Online now.
And may be some time...
Page:
They certainly are big nowadays games are. I have Castle of Illusion somewhere. I know what you mean. NHL99 on the N64 for example. In real ice hockey a period lasts 30 minutes and there are 3 periods in a match. A full season lasts 82 games. 90 minutes times 82 equals 123 hours. And that is only with one of the teams and that does not count the fact that you have hours to spend making up your team and you can play other competitions. If you play everything in full with all the teams that is over 3000 hours in total. I decided to play 5 minute periods because of that. And that is just one game. F Zero X, 30 courses a random track generator 30 ships and cups and time trials. Hours worth. But still it does not matter how long a game is. Games still seem expensive even though they are more advanced and bigger than they were 10 years ago they are still the same price (inflation and rising wages accounted for). So that quote is more relevant now than it ever was. But yet we still complain. But nothing beats getting a good game for a bargain price. So we do not want to stop moaning that much now do we?! Good post FM
The quote comes from the journal of R.F. Scott. It was what Captain Lawrence Oates (1880-1912) was reputed to have said before leaving the tent and vanishing into the blizzard on the ill-fated Antarctic expedidion (1910-12).
Strangely enough, it's also what I usually think to myself everytime I pop a game into my console and fire it up. Because games today are HUGE. Take my Dreamcast as an example.
Pop Skies of Arcadia into it, and you're in for a marathon of 30 or so hours to complete it if you want to do it all in one sitting. It's a good thing that you can save when you want at most areas of the game, but some of those dungeons are going to have you enraptured for an hour or more.
Metropolis Street Racer you could never complete in one sitting; with 10 races per Chapter and 25 Chapters, each race getting longer and divided into more stages, to get through the first Chapter alone would take an hour or so of hard driving.
Grandia II is another example. It's a huge RPG, and even after 40 hours of gameplay and thinking it's nearly all over, a whole new storyline opens up, and you realise that your previous fortnight of gaming is only the first leg of completing this mammoth title.
Most games nowadays are like this, and if you work out how much you spent buying the game and divide it by the number of hours you can end up playing it, you'll find that it's great value for money.
Even the games that you can complete in a matter of hours, like Shenmue, Metal Gear Solid, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil; they ALL offer more at the end, like extra hi-scores to achieve within the game, new weapons and features, unlimited ammo and so forth, meaning that once the game is completed the first time, you have a whole new game ahead of you with new variation in the gameplay, which in some instances completely transforms the game.
For gamers like myself, who are quite happy to sit and play for hours on end, this is great stuff, because you can mark a day in your diary for gaming and know full well that with just a few games in your collection you are going to fill that day completely.
This week, for example, I'm concentrating on developing my character in Phantasy Star Online from scratch, building up his strength and armour and weaponry. It's going to take literally weeks to get him up to the stage where he can hold his own in an online arena, and of course playing online opens up a whole new avenue of gameplay which is lined with extra weapons, missions, protective armour, secrets and so forth, not to mention the team element of gameplay that is then introduced, and the cooperative plays that you can then engage in.
Games have come a long way since 'Mickey Mouse Castle of Illusion' or 'Final Fantasy 5' where, once the game was finished that was it. Now they seem to offer you more once the game is completed. It's something that we expect from our games today, and long may it continue.
I'm off to play Phantasy Star Online now.
And may be some time...
Strangely enough, it's also what I usually think to myself everytime I pop a game into my console and fire it up. Because games today are HUGE. Take my Dreamcast as an example.
Pop Skies of Arcadia into it, and you're in for a marathon of 30 or so hours to complete it if you want to do it all in one sitting. It's a good thing that you can save when you want at most areas of the game, but some of those dungeons are going to have you enraptured for an hour or more.
Metropolis Street Racer you could never complete in one sitting; with 10 races per Chapter and 25 Chapters, each race getting longer and divided into more stages, to get through the first Chapter alone would take an hour or so of hard driving.
Grandia II is another example. It's a huge RPG, and even after 40 hours of gameplay and thinking it's nearly all over, a whole new storyline opens up, and you realise that your previous fortnight of gaming is only the first leg of completing this mammoth title.
Most games nowadays are like this, and if you work out how much you spent buying the game and divide it by the number of hours you can end up playing it, you'll find that it's great value for money.
Even the games that you can complete in a matter of hours, like Shenmue, Metal Gear Solid, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil; they ALL offer more at the end, like extra hi-scores to achieve within the game, new weapons and features, unlimited ammo and so forth, meaning that once the game is completed the first time, you have a whole new game ahead of you with new variation in the gameplay, which in some instances completely transforms the game.
For gamers like myself, who are quite happy to sit and play for hours on end, this is great stuff, because you can mark a day in your diary for gaming and know full well that with just a few games in your collection you are going to fill that day completely.
This week, for example, I'm concentrating on developing my character in Phantasy Star Online from scratch, building up his strength and armour and weaponry. It's going to take literally weeks to get him up to the stage where he can hold his own in an online arena, and of course playing online opens up a whole new avenue of gameplay which is lined with extra weapons, missions, protective armour, secrets and so forth, not to mention the team element of gameplay that is then introduced, and the cooperative plays that you can then engage in.
Games have come a long way since 'Mickey Mouse Castle of Illusion' or 'Final Fantasy 5' where, once the game was finished that was it. Now they seem to offer you more once the game is completed. It's something that we expect from our games today, and long may it continue.
I'm off to play Phantasy Star Online now.
And may be some time...
Page: