Maybe it's just me, but I can't help but notice how games today are being engineered to be much easier than they used to be. You old-school gamers know what I'm talking about; working for a month solid to get through Zelda II: Link's Adventure. Busting your ass to work your way through Metal Gear Solid. It seems like the whole idea of gaming has become a quick "jerk off" effect of instant gratification.
I remember my nephew bragging about how he beat Gears of War 3 in less than 6 hours. I thought that was really something...until I did the same. Assassin's Creed 3 is a day's diversion, where the 2nd one was something that took at least a week to work through.
Why are games so damn easy now?
The only thing I can regulate it to is the whole "everybody deserves to win" attitude that is pervading the American culture. When you give out trophies for participation at a Little League game, it only seems like a natural evolution for this mentality to spread to video games.
Even online games, like WoW or Guild Wars 2, seem to have the idea to make it to where there's no "punishments" for dying. It almost seems like the next generation that is up and coming in the gamer culture is one of easy-outs and "rubber band" difficulty levels. It's almost sickening, really.
Don't get me wrong...games like Ninja Gaiden go completely in the other direction, demanding near-perfection to make it through the game on just Normal difficulty. There's a medium that has to be maintained, but it seems to me that the industry as a whole is caving to the idea of instant gratification.
So, just for the record, if you pride yourself on beating Bioshock Infinite in less than 12 hours, don't think it's a big deal. Almost everyone has done the same thing.
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The shift occurred when games began placing story ahead of gameplay. After all, it wouldn't be fair for someone who bought a game to be unable to finish it due to the difficulty...
I remember back when I was a kid, my brother and I played through Ninja Gaiden on the NES. It was hard as hell, with us spending days on some of the levels. When we beat a level, though, it gave us both this rush of excitement. I play it on an emulator occasionally, and wonder how the hell we did it as kids.
I don't really get that feeling anymore. Very seldom do I have to really work to get a level done. I know that the industry is trying to expand right now to more people, but there's a sense of accomplishment you can only get when you finally clear the level that took you through hell and back.
No one will pay for Nintendo Power when the info is online.
No one will pay for cheat code books/Genies because the codes (what's left of them) are also online (or DLC).
Games don't run on quarters anymore.
No one uses cartridges anymore; media today has a lot more space, making padding the game with insane difficulties (and cryptic BS) unnecessary.
Connect the dots. Games weren't made stupidly difficult for your enjoyment back in the day. They were made that way to make you buy peripherals and information.
If you want a game like Megaman that "challenges" you by killing you if you don't drop down a hole the right way, or Ninja Gaiden that makes enemies spawn at inopportune times so that you're always getting knocked back into deadly falls, or whatever...look towards the indie community.
games still come with difficulty settings you know, if you still play them on normal then it's your fault. Play Resistance on Superhuan, Uncharted on Crushing, Deus Ex HR on Deus Ex difficulty, Demon's Souls, Ninja Gaiden, etc. and then come here and tell me that those were easy.
The answer is the Nintendo Wii and the Casual Craze.