Wednesday 26 May 2010

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE GAME

What a week for games - 'Alan Wake' last Friday followed a week later by 'Red Dead Redemption', 'Split Second Velocity' and the latest instalment of 'Prince Of Persia' brought forward to tie in with the movies release.

Gaming was something that I came to via therapy to aid hand and eye co-ordination as well as to help me build up concentration. At the time we had a Play Station 1 and the selection of games left a lot to be desired. Wrestling games and shoot 'em ups - the type that didn't need a brain to operate. But, then I discovered 'Tomb Raider', 'Resident Evil' and 'Silent Hill' - games that did not rely on the gun but were loaded with puzzles that needed solving. Somehow, this became my home turf and by playing I found that I could read longer and watch tv programmes near enough almost all the way through.

The PS1 was replaced by the PS2 but I did not go to the PS3 because of all the delays in release and negative publicity. So it was the XBox 360 that replaced the PS2 as the main console.
The biggest criticism that I have is that with greater memory and storage space the game has deteriorated.
The last two entries into the 'Resident Evil' series have disappointed - the puzzle and story element have been sacrificed for a higher body count. Maybe, that is just the way of the world.
Fortunately, the formats for 'Tomb Raider' and 'Silent Hill' have a continuity. So, when games like 'Red Dead Redemption' or 'Alan Wake' come along I'm only too happy to add them to my collection - which is not very large.

Most games have an on-line link. The XBox 360 comes complete with a headset so that you can talk to other gamers all around the globe.

In a world where the movie industry has cottoned on to the fact that there is an audience out there many games have been made into films. 'Grand Theft Auto', 'Bloodrayne', 'Far Cry' Resident Evil', 'Silent Hill' , 'Tomb Raider' and the latest blockbuster 'Prince Of Persia'.
But where, some gamers ask, is the book of the game?

As I said there is a point to these posts and the next piece, I hope, will make it.

1 comment:

Perplexio said...

I did the opposite switch. I went from the PS1 to the XBox to the PS3. My XBox was a buggy mess and my PS1 had never given me any issues so I jumped the MS ship back to Sony and never looked back.

I much prefer my PS3 to my XBox. I do miss the Star Wars KOTOR games which had become favorites of mine on XBox but they are available for PC and I do have KOTOR II for PC as I never finished it before trading in my XBox and getting my PS3.