Hannes_Truce seems to be some kind of guest writing machine and, whilst it’s been a while since any guest articles appeared, he’s helping us make a wonderful return to the GW mindset just in time for Christmas. Want to write your own GW? Email it to Gamoc using the email on the Staff page.
What do games do to me? Usually if I decide I like something I’m not gonna change my mind, but when it comes to games I find myself being incredibly fickle.
When I received a copy of Red Faction Guerrilla from a certain rental company that professes to love films, I played it non stop for a good week. In fact I enjoyed it so much that I informed the rental firm (that shall remain nameless for my own protection) that I had sent it back despite still having it in my PS3.
I played it for another few days but then one morning, as I was stooping down to place the disc into the PS3, I got a familiar feeling in the pit of my stomach. Guilt? No that wasn’t it, Shame? Not that either.
I started to doubt whether I really wanted to play the game anymore, I thought about destroying buildings and taking the carnage online and the prospect suddenly didn’t appeal to me. At this point I decided to put the disc back in the plastic sleeve and go and sit down (my arm was starting to hurt, aswell as my back from being stooped down. Not as young as I used to be). I thought about forcing myself to play it, after all the trouble I’d gone to, to get it but that’s not really what gaming is about for me.
Disheartened and shocked at myself I moved on, played more games and haven’t gone back to RF:G since. I still get that feeling when I think about playing it.
Now, recently I got very much caught up in the hype of Uncharted 2. People would not stop talking about it on Twitter, on the Forums and on this very site and suddenly I wanted nothing more than to play the game, to own it. This was exasperated by the fact that a close friend of mine landed himself a promo copy when he didn’t even really want the game.
Despite trying to borrow money and trying to execute an elaborate plan to steal it from HMV with a fishing rod and a Caramel Wispa there was no way I could get my hands on it, so I decided to try and use the rental company.
Luckily within the week I had a copy of UC2 and proceeded to play it. I loved it, brilliant game, superb graphics and well worth the wait. However within a couple of days I found myself in a familiar position.
Retreating to the sofa (after remembering the pain previously suffered from hovering over the shiny black console for too long) I unwrapped my Caramel Wispa and thought about how I had considered buying the game, sacrificing eating for a week just so I could play it and even my criminal master plan which would’ve worked if only the air conditioning at HMV hadn’t been broken.
I can’t figure out what does it, why do I now get bored of games so easily? I used to be such a completionist, playing every game I owned until I’d unlocked everything and even sometimes after that. Is it the vast selection of games that are out there now? Am I spoilt? Or is it a media induced shortened attention sp… oooh look, shiny!