1245 - 130 PM
Response to Extra Lives : Why Video Games Matter :
I don't know about other people but when I want to play a game its usually because I want to get away from something, I want a safe little retreat that can't hurt me and can entertain me for hours. I know that before I said that I'm not very good at games and I'm really not the few games that I've played I can probably count off with both hands with a few digits to spare. But when I play a game I'm looking for an experience, a puzzle, a challenge if it doesn't provide any of those then more than likely I won't touch it with a fifty foot pole.
When it comes to a console game I have to admit that I look at the graphics first and foremost, and judge based off of that how much effort was put into making that game. This was before I had much of an idea of how complicated creating a game was and the amount programming involved, although I still can't help ogling well rendered graphics (they're so pretty). There still are many that I can't play but that doesn't stop me from watching other people play them and enjoy them. Such games like Smash Brothers Brawl or Halo 3 I've tried after much prodding, I personally couldn't quite figure out how button mashing or backwards camera control could equate to coherent visuals.
To be more specific with that comment I had played Smash Brothers Brawl with my two younger brothers once. I remembered playing it back when it was subtitled Melee on the N64, I usually played as Pikachu simply because I thought it was cute and kicked butt. So when I was handed the Wii controller it was like an instant pitfall as the rectangular shape failed to take the place of the N64 controller that I was so used to. Needless to say I lost to my brothers despite my desperate button mashing, the problem that I was having was that I kept loosing track of my character on the screen. I was the only one who had Pikachu so that wasn't the problem, I had gotten to accustomed to watching everyone else play that I was watching all the characters and not entirely paying attention to mine... Ooops (not that its the game's fault it was mine but I still couldn't help holding a grudge against it).
The game I had a real problem following was Halo 3, a visually mesmerizing game with a believable story line that I could follow with interest. My problem with it when I was forced to play it with my boyfriend and my brother on various occasions (none of which have I enjoyed). For the life of me I absolutely despise the camera controls, it's BACKWARDS! When I first started playing it was just me and my boyfriend, he gave me an extremely brief overview of the game's controls and off we went playing through the story mode. Coming upon a battle I went to tweak my camera while I was running in the general direction and sent the joystick for the cam in the wrong direction which sent my character in that direction and I died for the first time. Eventually the area cleared up and I re-spawned but this happened even while walking in between mission spots. To put it plain and simple I apparently don't have the innate ability to follow the camera tracking and am even less capable of running, shooting, hitting, and tweaking my camera all at the same time. Don't get me wrong I can multitask but I can't do that, and the even funnier thing with that is that my brother can't multitask but he can play that game just fine.
Now that I've gone on for about four paragraphs out of a maximum of three that i had to do I'll add another one to conclude this. In my personal opinion I think that video games matter because they give me a way to relax, and still do something somewhat productive, like making it through a level, defeating a boss, or solving a puzzle. Either way I'm experiencing something that I can't exactly do in real life so I'm fulfilling that through my gameplay. I don't know what to say really other than what I already have. Video games give me a small sense of accomplishment or make me appreciate things more since they tend to be something that I can't do very well. They make sure I have fun.
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