Like you, I've been less and less interested with games these days. I even stopped buying EDGE myself (which I used to read solidly every month).
I still think of myself as a gamer, it's just that in some ways I'm more interested in the
idea behind games than the actual games themselves.
There's very little out there that really interests me. I'm still interested in playing the odd game, but most seem like just more of the same with enhanced graphics. Some stuff is still really good, and I'll love it while I'm playing it, but then I'll find that once I've left it for a while I'm usually no longer as interested in playing it anymore.
Right now there's just a few games that I'm interested in eventually playing through:
Half Life 2
Thief 3
Resident Evil 4
Supreme Commander (when it eventually comes out) is also something I'm looking forward to, since I still love the orginal Total Annihilation.
Then of course, like everyone else, I'm just finding myeslf with less time to play. I have less tolerance of slow games, or games that have flaws. Some games have really brilliant storylines and gameplay, but I shouldn't be forced to wade through 3 hours of dross to get to them.
That's one of my main problems with gaming. It's still far too time consuming, especially when you're looking for anything meaningful in terms of progress. You can play some games for hours and achieve very little, either in story or otherwise gameplay progress. This is a trend that's slowly changing as we're seeing shorter, more compacted, diverse and cinematic experiences entering into it, but usually it's still not there. If a game isn't entertaining you 100% of the time you're with it, then it hasn't been designed well enough, at least that's how I feel,
Now when I compare gaming to something like watching anime or TV, I can see why I don't as much gaming any more. A 1/2 hour episode of an anime usually takes you through an entire story arc of the show. It's tightly scripted and directed, and even moments where nothing much is happening are done in a deliberate fashion so that they're still entertaining. The shows
flow seemlessly for that half hour. You easily go from a start to a conclusion in that time as well. When I'm gaming, I can spend ages trudging between locations, or levelling up, or trying to find some freaking switch or trigger so that I can move on to the next segment, and in the end, unless I dedicate time to it, it's difficult to make real forward progress within a short space of time. I realise it's not this way with all genres of games, but it's too often the case with the genre's
I enjoy, and that's what's irritating. RPG's, FPS's, Turn Based and Real Time Strategy games. All my favourites. But apart from some FPS's, the others usually require a large time investment just to get through 1 segment.
That's also part of the reason why I'm interested in the concept of 'episodic content' games (like the upcoming SiN: Episodes) Pack a large amount of finely honed, paced and action packed gameplay into a small package, and when you've finished it you can feel that you've at least gotten somewhere until the next installment comes out. I'd like to see more of this kind of approach. Really
craft your gameplay in every scripted instance that it has (if it really is a game and genre that's conducive to that kind of heavy scripting) so that the player is enjoying every moment of it.
I really felt that recently when I went to a friends house and started playing Resident Evil 4. I was hooked from the go! They really devoted themselve to making the gameply fun and varied. Instead of one long trudge, the gameply is split into frequent instances and bursts of action. This is only enhanced by the regular boss fights as well, which in themselves are mini-marvels of how careful scripting can enhance the gameplay and the atmosphere.
I could go on about this topic, but I'll leave it there before I bury some poor soul under an avalanche of words.
