Video games over the years
By Tom Showell 8N
chool ’ s out , you ’ ve done your homework and you can relax . What do you do ? Most would say something along the lines of ‘ Xbox ’ or ‘ PS3 ’ where the main objective in most cases is to kill someone . If you don ’ t like those shoot ‘ em up games there isn ’ t much of an option , apart from a few sports and racing games . This got me thinking , why can ’ t we go back to the days when the objective of a game was to have a good time ?
There once was a time , believe it or not , when games used simple technology and gave the same amount of fun as games do now without hassles like having to be online to have ‘ the ultimate gaming experience ’. Don ’ t get me wrong , I enjoy Call of Duty or Fifa 13 as much as the next guy , but I can ’ t help feeling that video games have lost some of their cerebral qualities .
This takes me back to my question .
When I think of ‘ cerebral qualities ’ the main game that springs to mind is Frogger where you have to get across a road and river to get to safety . Granted , it isn ’ t very high tech but there is no doubt that it is a fun game that also comes with an addictive and intellectual quality to it .
Another great game that I know came across me when watching the TV show The Big Bang Theory in which one of the main characters , Sheldon , plays a text based computer game that uses ‘ the most powerful graphics chip in the world , imagination !’ I soon after searched for a game similar to that and stumbled across Zork . I won ’ t lie ; I actually spent two to three hours playing it after admittedly getting stuck once or twice . Still , it was a great waste of my time .
I love my old PlayStation 2 but if you look at the games over the years you can see a theme building of pointless war , racing and sports games . In my opinion , the main cause of this ‘ change in the wind ’ was the decommissioning of traditional PlayStation 2 games as a result of the rise in popularity of PlayStation ’ s arch rival : Xbox and the online gaming of Xbox Live .
One thing I can say is that you don ’ t necessarily need online gaming and good graphics to have a good time . I was walking along a pier once , when I saw an arcade house . Being the person I am , I ran in . To my surprise , I saw a couple of people playing the game Pong . To be honest , they looked as if they were thoroughly enjoying it . The interesting part was that after they left , I started playing on it myself !
Personally I believe that video games have lost something vital , along with the meaning of the word ‘ game ’, turning them into a hot- headed race to be the best . I find that I don ’ t need the latest technology to play a good game and I don ’ t think others do either .
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