Are video games still fun for you?

[CC Ricers]

Yes. I wasn't really playing them for the last few years, except for GBA titles, but since getting a Wii, DS, and 360, I've been having loads of fun. Still, I'm not as much of a gamer as I was - I don't play for hours on end every day. Just an hour or two here and there.

I'm in the same boat as Zircon, sans the Wii (I don't have one yet). For me it was usually the portable games that kept me going during my college years, because you can take them anywhere, and play in a more relaxed position.

This might be hokey, but the achievements in Xbox 360 might encourage me to play more games again. They're pointless, but people like bragging about pointless stuff.

[The Joker]

I fell into the dreaded, "Games are kinda meh" state for a while. It was towards the end of my GCN's life that this happened. I just lost interest in it. Little by little though, I got back in, bought a 360, & discovered the joy of online pwning. Twas a great day. Kinda like hanging out with friends, only you get to kill other peoples avatars, then trash talk about how much more stupid the other guys are.

That's not to say I've stopped playing solitary games. Assassin's Creed, Bioshick & the ilk have really gotten back into it as well. The fully realized stories, as well as newer gameplay not possible a few years back, make it all the more enjoyable. I also enjoy damn-near-mindless shooters. They make me smile.

[JH Sounds]

The Wii has re-invigorated my love of video games.

That certainty summarized my post nicely...

[Fishy]

I fell into the dreaded, "Games are kinda meh" state for a while.

I'm mostly in this camp at the moment. With one major exception:

SSBM with my friends is ENDLESS fun to me. We can play this for hours without getting bored.

Aside from that, I've gone a bit casual lately. A bit off FFXII and FFV here and there, maybe twilight princess if I've got a few hours free. Since I started working full time though, its becoming less feasible.

[Brushfire]

I was in a gaming rut for a while too. The problem as Coop stated is that it is really hard to play games this day and age. I remember a simpler time back when you would get three days off from school and sit and play Nintendo or Sega for the entire length of your break. Now I can't fit much gaming into my schedule what with work, wife, and sleep taking the vast majority of my time.

Ahh how I yearn for the days of yesteryear....

[anosou]

When I actually sit down to play for a couple of hours it's extremely entertaining. It's to actually do it that is the hard part..

I just am not interested in most games that are coming out. They just don't have that "magic" that older generation games have.

I've heard of that "magic" It's called nostalgia and being young!

[Torzelan]

All my most fun gaming memories were playing with buddies. I have almost zero fond memories of playing anything alone. Console-wise, what always first comes to mind are the crazy amount of hours spent duking it out with them in Killer Instinct... Golden Eye... Mario Kart... Smash Bros...

Now, when all old friends have moved to other cities and playing alone or not playing at all are more or less the only choices, well... Go figure. Been playing clan games (too seriously) on PC the last couple of years, perhaps the "playing with people" part and being social over voicecomms is what has kept me there. Because thinking about it, the actual games sure "used to be better" ©.

Thought a bit about this just now and I realized that maybe I hang out on so many online communities dedicated to gaming just to fill that gap; to have some one to share the experience/s/ with. Although it's not close to as good as the "real" thing, maybe that's what it is...

-edit-

I don't think it's neccessarily about getting old and somehow not being able to appreciate games anymore; not long ago, on a newyears eve actually, we were four people seeing and beating (obviously only one guy playing and the others watching) "Conker's Bad Fur Day" for the first time and that was a blast, one of the best gaming memories from recent years. So I do think it "just" takes the right game and the right circumstances , both of which are getting less common and the latter related to getting older; not because of anything happening in the brain or anything, just because it's harder to get the time and company to really enjoy stuff like a bunch of happy kids with nothing in particular to worry about.

[DJ Mighty]

I felt this way for a while. It was weird for me. I did not have time for a while, then i played WoW for about a year when i realized this game is a huge waste of time.

Then i graduated from college and purchased a Wii. When i found the time, Matroid Prime 3 kept me quite busy and Strikers was addicting Online. My friends then pressured me into buying a 360, a decision until recently i regretted. Halo 3 was a huge let down. Its Halo2 with a few new stuff. But thanks to Call Of Duty 4 i use my 360 alot more and i play online with my friends alot. I also got back into FFXII, and play it when i am at my parents house on the weekends.

The newest DBZ game for Wii is def fun, but i have boycotted all other Wii games till i finally finish Twilight Princess. A game i think is amazing but always get side tracked with other games.

I played Hellgate:London a few months back but every area is the same and the Wii & 360 games are just more fun right now.

[Devyn]

I still love playing video games, but the lack 4-player Mario Kart + cheap beer marathons of the old days kinda make me sad.

[Drack]

I'm 21 years old.

Yes, video games are still fun.

But I have higher standards now.

[Flexstyle]

Me being 16-almost-17 currently, video games are still as fun as ever. I'm a first-person-shooter addict, and I could spend (and have spent) all day playing them, then be ready to do it again the next day!

[Palpable]

I still play a decent amount of videogames, but very few new games. The only new games I end up playing are a) sequels to games I'm familiar with, or games that my friends have. It comes down to being able to pick up a game quickly. I often find myself with 30 min to an hour of free time at a time and RPGs and games I'm unfamiliar with end up getting the shaft. It's much easier to pick up New Super Mario Bros., a game I'll know how to control off the bat, and be able to beat a couple levels and turn it off when I need to. For the same reason, I don't end up watching a lot of movies but I do catch a fair bit of TV, because the chunks of time are more manageable.

But I don't feel like games have really gotten worse. I think there's still a ton of awesome new games getting made, most of which I'll never play.

[Schwaltzvald]

Still play games as much as before. Just now though I watch much less cable TV and generally replaced the "TV time" with chores/family/personal life time. While most titles don't have that old "holyshit awesome!!" feel like games of yesteryear did, I do find the occasional gem that warms me up and brings back that joy.

R-Type Final definatly gave me that

Generally though I've recently been hooked to the strategy games (Fire Emblem/Front Mission DS&PS2/Advance Wars et cetera)

[Argle]

I'm almost 25, and I still play video games cuz I got no fulltime job and loads of free time.

[L.T.W.]

Could I really get tired of Video Games?

I don't think so. As long as Nintendo is still around making great games, I'll be around to play them.

Also, I'll always have my WoW account if I get tired of my current games or while I wait for some delayed games to be released.

And I'm very sure that Brawl will keep me busy for another 8 years just like Melee did.

[Kanthos]

I play a lot, almost exclusively on DS and PSP. I'm on a bit of a retro kick, so I'll occasionally fire up an NES emulator or play games from the Myst or King's Quest series on PC, and I do play occasional PC games (at the moment, Morrowind and Oblivion). I've played both Guild Wars and World of Warcraft, and have intentions to return to both, although I'm taking a break right now.

I play a lot more now than I did when I was a kid, largely because my parents never let us have any consoles. That said, I'm still somewhat picky. I tend not to have patience for games that have repetitive actions without any short-term gains. For example, my WoW character is level 70 but I still don't have my epic flying mount because the thought of spending an hour a day doing daily quests to earn 100 gold so that after 50 days I'll have my 5000 gold just makes me want to stop playing. I tend to try a lot of games but I'm picky with what I'll buy or spend more than 30 minutes playing. I tend to favour games that have immersive, significant storylines if they're RPGs or games where story is important, games that have good controls and are bug free, and games that are challenging without being cheap.

[Bahamut]

I play a lot of games - there's just way too many these days, so much so that I'm being cheap atm and trying to refrain from buying more, although there are always games that goad me to break that desire, especially when there's a sale. For example, I recently beat Bioshock, and currently playing Super Mario Galaxy, Call of Duty 4, and Rock Band (although I've taken a few day hiatus from gaming atm due to comprehensive exams and my incredible class load this semester).

I do have a tendency to get tired of gaming though when I play way too much in a short period of time. It's just another example of a time where moderation is good.

[Dhsu]

We seem to get these threads at pretty regular intervals. Personally, I don't think I'll get bored of video games any time soon (actually it might be nice if I did...I'd have a lot of extra time and money ), but I'll admit that it's been a while since I've been addicted to one. Probably not since Shadow of the Collossus have I gone to bed excited about playing it the next day. I think Bioshock was close, but it started to drag a bit at the end.

[Katsurugi]

Games are still fun. But I rarely have time for them. My roommate picked up Guitar Hero 3 for Wii just in the past couple of days and I'm going to see if I can just rush through the songs while he's away. It's really the only way I can get any sort of gaming in now. At first I could play RPGs and other somewhat lengthy games, but now I just can't seem to do it with my schedule. By the time the day is over, I make dinner, chill out and then it's already time to go to sleep. Gaming is interactive and sometimes too involved when I just want to space out. I did beat Zelda: Link to the Past the other week but that's just a game I know in and out. Running through it doesn't take too much thought.

I still play Street Fighter and other games like that, but as long as it doesn't take too much time. I'm down for it. I also still play a little F-Zero every once in a while.

[Penfold]

For me, I didn't really "rediscover" gaming until college.

Growing up, I had an NES, later a Genesis, and got a PSX towards the end of its lifecycle. I was exposed to the Mega Man, Sonic, and Super Mario games primarily, but I totally missed out on the Final Fantasies, Metal Gears, and other really great franchises/games. I didn't own an SNES or N64, but my best friend had those so I still kept up to date with the Mega Man X series growing up, and played a few other games (Mario World, Goldeneye, and Perfect Dark...not too many others).

By the time I got my PSX, it was becoming rarer and rarer that I'd even play games. It wasn't until my first year at the UW that I first got introduced to Chrono Trigger, the Playstation FF games, Kingdom Hearts (new that year), Metal Gear Solid, and others. Playing Chrono Trigger was really what got me back interested in games, got my Gamecube in later '03, and really started playing again.

Yes. I wasn't really playing them for the last few years, except for GBA titles, but since getting a Wii, DS, and 360, I've been having loads of fun. Still, I'm not as much of a gamer as I was - I don't play for hours on end every day. Just an hour or two here and there.

I'm definitely having a lot of fun with my DS and Wii when I get a chance, but I just don't have time to devote to gaming, which is fine. Working full time, having an active social life, and being serious about my various physical trainings really keep me busy. With what leftover time I do have, lately I've been spending it more with film. In the last several weeks, just about the only times I've been playing any games is when I have a friend over and she wants to play some Mario Galaxy or Mario 3. It doesn't have so much to do with me "growing out of games at my age" as it does that life, what I do, and what my interests are all fluid, so even if I don't really play games these days it's still an interest that inevitably I'll be getting back into.

Anyway, I think it's silly for people to say things like "am I too old for video games?" or "there are no good games these days." I'm 23, and I don't see myself getting "too old" for this medium because someone can always do something interesting with it - it'd be like saying I'm "too old" for animated film. Next, the second statement implies that they didn't make bad games back in the day. Whether that's NES, SNES, or what have you, I can tell you there were definitely some really bad games back then too. Everyone's tastes are different, but I just can't understand people saying they don't make good games nowadays with stellar offerings such as Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, or Zelda: Phantom Hourglass on the market today. If anything, it's just more obvious when a game is bad to us now than in the past.

I also don't quite understand when people seem to lament their loss of interest in a hobby. "I used to looooooooove games, but now they can't hold my attention. Woe is me." It's like being sad over a failed relationship ending .

[Gafgarion]

What I really miss about GBA games is that a few years ago there would always be this whip-ass game that I wanted that was coming out, and I got it. I used to play alot of GBA because the games for it were so good. But, now that I have played so many of them and beaten them so many times, not to mention they don't really come out with any god games for GBA anymore, I don't play a whole lot of GBA anymore.

[anthonium]

Yes they are.

[Gafgarion]

Not compared to what they WERE coming out with.

[Kusabi]

I've been having the same kind of thing going on with the games I have.

I remember back in the N64 days when I couldn't even begin to count the number of carts I had for my N64. (I'm 20)

Now a days, I can count on my hands the number of titles I have on each console.

8 Wii titles (Not including Wii Sports)

6 XBox 360 titles (including two original XBox games)

3 PS3 titles

Okay, so I'm in college, and I don't have $60 to spend on brand new games. Hell, it doesn't help that the biggest discount I'll get buying used is about $5.

I settle on borrowing from friends, but even then, there isn't much I want to play. I didn't particularly want Super Mario Galaxy on launch day, and the last game I've actually looked forward to playing was Twilight Princess.

Not helping the fact is that I have games in my rack that I've only partially played, and I like to at least complete the main game, not necessarily 100%ing it. But eventually I'll get around to playing them.

I love playing games, but I'm finding that its far easier to not buy a game, and not feel as if I'm really missing out on something.

[Necrotic]

I don't think games really "lose" their fun to anyone. To say that, is much too broad. It's something different.

As I get closer to college, I'm beginning to feel what a lot of you guys here are talking about. At this point, I've come to realize something during this transition period between having to go to college later this year and being a high school student with cash to burn just a matter of months ago. The market is so saturated with games that it's literally impossible for me to have the resources to play them. And by that, I mean time and money. I can spend maybe two hours max on a weekday playing games, if i'm lucky. My course load is devastating. Also, the need for cash as you get older is substantially larger. If I buy 4 games at full price - $70-80 Canadian - that's $280-$320 I'm spending which could definitely be spent on smarter purchases.

In that sense, you don't have time to experiment with games you might or might not like. I've noticed I've bought a lot of games over the past year or so, but the only games I'm willing to pay full price for anymore are the games that you know you can afford to buy out of preference. Things like Shadows of the Colossus, Okami, Mario Galaxy, Metal Gear Solid 3; we know they try something different or they meet our expectations so we become exhilarated to varying degrees by those games. Otherwise, I've spent my money on nothing other than games I can get for cheaper in the bargain bin, many of which are games for the PS1 or fighting games. And honestly, the games I've spent less money on are games I've actually been playing more unless they're the quality of the games I listed before.

Even then, emulation has no cost associated with it regardless of how morally bankrupt it may or may not leave you.

In the end, you realize that paying for games you might not like, constantly, is a futile waste because lots of games have nothing of value for your personal taste much of the time compared to the classics which have been made timeless by their guarantee to be good. When the focus of a new game is said to be about amazing graphics, revolutionary story-telling, or some other catch-phrase, you begin to feel numb about your expectations for that game. It's not like all of the games to come out in the next few years are going to be bad. It's that the ones that you end up playing will vary by how much they interest you and other people, and they will be immortalized as being classic games in the generations to come. I see MGS3 as an example of this specifically, estêvão, something I think we share in common.

The direction game developers take with the new generation of systems ultimately decides how we regard each generation. While some may blame it on nostalgia, being so young there are games on the SNES and Playstation One which I enjoy for their sum of all values alone and can not feel that exact same nostalgia, making nostalgia impossible to pin as the sole reason for enjoyment. Believe me when I say the direction and flow of the games is entirely different between each of the generations. Just don't forget that each generation has thousands of god-awful games despite having ones that, over time, receive timeless acclaim.

-Nick