Observations

You know you've been missing out on the human interaction when you go Andy Rooney and start "examining" everything. I was inspired by a instant message conversation with a friend; lets call him Chaos.



I was talking to him about finishing my visit to San Andreas on Monday. It triggered the realization that I do not game as I once did. I had spent approximately 50 hours in San Andreas and completed about 70% of everything to do (Vice City was somewhere near 55%), but it has been a couple of years since I last played a game for that long.



I am finding it a little difficult to recall one exactly, but am not sure if this is due to the lack of quality or another reason. There isn't a shortage of innovation in games, it is just that even when innovation is made, it is canned, packaged and shipped to everyone and then iterated in bigger sequels (i.e. - movie industry). Also with so many designers and so many games, it is increasingly difficult to play the dozen must-have-games of the season. Most games now fall in the 8-15 hour range for accomplishing the single player "story" portion of the game (the remaining gameplay time is contributed on a per basis, basis). So maybe I am not gaming as often but I am still going through more games now (probably some repetition and uninspired gameplay/narrative elements are also contributing). The last game I remember playing that was longer than 20 hours was Oblivion, which I did not finish because I over-indulged in the guilds and all the side quests and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. intervened and I was unable (as of now, still) to return to it. Coincidentally it took me 30 months in between game sessions before I beat San Andreas (a 360 switch and inability to transfer save games due to software issues until recently prevented my progression). Thankfully, I did not falter and I persevered in the end. I can use this as a lesson for the future. Also, that I need to finish Oblivion, once and for all.