Have you noticed video games changing in this way?

Yeah I remember in Wolfenstein 3D, you have to find health packs and ammo. Now in games like Halo and Call of Duty, your health regenerates and you can find ammo almost everywhere. We need games like Battletoads.

Imagine what part of their market they would cut out if they catered only to the intelligent.

Yeah, I don’t like games that force you down a “tunnel” either (Portal is an exception).

If you like wide open free-to-explore worlds, try:

Dead Island – survive against hordes of zombies on a resort island in a contemporary setting – okay, the game tells you exactly what you need to do next, and the map almost always points the way, though it’s not linear and you can accomplish the various survival tasks in different orders.

Elder Scrolls games (Daggerfall, Oblivion, Skyrim, etc) – go on a grand quest to solve a mystery that threatens to destroy medieval civilization – Swords and sorcery – This may be too much of what you want. The world is wide open from the start, and it’s up to you to figure out what do to. There are no hints what do to next or where to go. There’s also tons of side-quests that you can do for people with various degrees of difficulty that you meet exploring the huge world.

I’ve certainly heard a lot about Skyrim. It sounds like my cup of tea. Trouble is the only “console” I own that it’s on is PC. Would it be good on PC, do you think?

Depends on your specs.

@Mariah – You’re going to need a pretty beefed up PC to run either of these two games. So yeah. Games on PCs beat their console counterparts in many ways, but the big problem with PC gaming is keeping a gaming PC current is a money pit. Just buying the latest bleeding edge graphics card each year to play the latest games, jeez!

Alternatively, consider springing for a console. I have both an Xbox and a Playstation. I like the Xbox because the controllers are bigger and fit a grown-up hand better than the Playstation. I have Portal for the PC, and Portal 2 for both the PC and the Playstation (they had a deal where you buy the Playstation version and then you can download the PC version for free from Steam). If you have smaller hands, you might prefer the Playstation. Otherwise it’s a wash between the two systems (they’ve solved the red-ring-of-death problem of the Xbox). The Playstation has the advantage in that PSN is free, but you have to pay for Xbox Live.

I play Skyrim on the PC. The primary plus for PC games to me is the ability to modify it. Skyrim Nexus has a bunch of different mods. I have an Xbox controller hooked up to it, and it works flawlessly with it. I prefer controllers to keyboard and mouse because I grew up with consoles instead of PCs and I can curl up under a blanket with a controller.

@HungryGuy As a female with small hands, I still prefer the Xbox controllers, and thats even after owning PlayStations for years before I touched my first Xbox.

@Mariah Back to your original question. It is kind of funny that as our ability to get help with games has increased (via the internet), game devs have made games easier. I agree with @dappled_leaves, they are likely going for a larger audience.

They have to do this so everyone will play and enjoy it. It’s no longer sex-deprived young men with a lot of time on their hands playing these games anymore lol. I still remember the time I wasted solving puzzles and levels on games, and I don’t think I would have the patience for that anymore, but it was fun.

Ha yeah, difficulty in gaming has been dumbed down from years ago, where you’re given a concept, and very little hints on how to solve anything. Even in RPG’s, sometimes things were really cryptic.

Gaming has evolved a lot though, (I use evolve for lack of better word) and their concept is no longer the same. Pretty soon, I bet Game Over screens and checkpoints won’t even exist anymore. The challenge is there, but it took another road. Online is a big part of it, as are achievements and trophies. Nintendo will soon follow as far as that’s concerned.
I love video games, but I don’t pretend to be an expert. However, it seems that days of traditional game challenge has been replaced with something else that people like today. So, the basics are easily covered and guided by the hand. I noticed this with Final Fantasy X years ago. Japan is partly to blame. Despite American companies growing like weeds, they still respond to the Japanese protocol of a few years ago; games are too hard. Which is odd, because Japan was fond of ridiculously difficult games for years. I guess they got sick of it, or saw potential in something else (Metal Gear) and wanted it seen expended. I remmeber reading this in an EGM magazine a while back, when this very issue was brought up. While games have always had great stories and a sense of immersion, it went beyond a certain level where that became priority as opposed to the challenge. That doesn’t mean that gameplay no longer counts; far from it. But tinkering your abilities, growing armies or fulfilling multiplayer tasks has taken a gigantic advent in gaming that producers don’t want to overlook, as it seems to be a recipe for success in gaming today. (even though those aspects existed years ago) The aspect of progression in games went beyond just beating it, and this requires quite a turn of the blueprint.
The challenges may now be found elsewhere. Skyrim may take you by the hand, but it’s still gonna take a pro to master something like that. I beat Tomb Raider Underworld blindfolded and with one finger up my ass, but I’m a long way from finding all the treasures located everywhere.

@Michael_Huntington You liked Battletoads? Hell yeah. Personally, I never even beat level 3. Fuckin…love the pause music though.

If you want a hardcore ass game like that one, I suggest you check out Bloodrayne Betrayal. That’s probably the most difficult video game I’ve ever played, even if learning patterns and being all trial and error till you get it right is key. (and isn’t difficult by being plagued with horrendous control)

@Blackberry makes a good point; the audience for games has grown to severe proportions, so many people play them now. You have to cater to a lot more levels of skill and taste at this point. (although I thought that was solely Nintendo’s job but…XD )

But it’s all cool, really. What pisses me off is that unlocking secrets like extra outfits, new levels or weapons and stuff like that doesn’t exist anymore. You just gotta buy the fuckin additional content for everything now. Ass.

Creating puzzles takes time and manpower, (they need to be written, coded, integrated perfectly into the engine and tested until blood comes out of your ears) both of which are being consumed by the visuals, because graphics is what they want to dazzle you with, and because they have really short deadlines to meet. (Kerberos was basically forced to release an alpha version of SotS 2 to avoid going bust).
Crafting expansive environments that make sense take time and manpower. Again, used by the graphics department, so the only two options are either doing linear hose levels like shooters like to do, or use bland automatic procedural levels that is constructed from a limited assortment of assets, premade level segments tucked together and random monsters, like especially bethesda likes to do, (and the pretty boring hellgate london) (which is why I won’t even bothering pirating skyrim).

@ragingloli So for a game like Portal, that takes years and years I bet?

Portal is actually a simple game. The levels are tiny, the game mechanics are simple, and the graphics are outdated.
In my estimation, while fun no doubt, it isn’t really much more than a more elaborate mod for Half Life 2.

Oh I see.

I almost asked a question the other day, “were video games better in the old days?” but then I felt like my dad talking about big band music vs. rock and roll and deleted it. I am glad you asked @Mariah

Yes, Portal is the exception to the rule of creating wide-open free-range worlds these days.

But the premise of the game is that you’re trapped in a series of increasingly deadly tests by an insane AI. So a wide open world just wouldn’t make sense in that case.

Though [SPOILER] I think it would have been interesting had they made the later part of the game where you break out of the chain of test chambers into the guts of the facility “behind the scenes” more free and open.