I don't "get" simulation

[bkd69]

Now that I get, but what baffles me are games like Cooking Mama or Wii Sports (which I'm not sure are actually considered simulation games, but whatever). Why would anyone waste time playing a video game version of something they can easily do in real life? Why is Wii Fit so popular when (from what I've seen) all of the activities it has can be done without the aid of a video game?

Wii Fit is aiming to crossover to the home fitness market. And if you haven't been paying attention there, you might be surprised to learn that it's them, and not the porn producers, who are making the most out of DVD technology.

As far as Wii Sports goes, yes, these are all activities you can do without a video game, but I think you severely underestimate the value of 'easy.'

Take bowling. First, you have to get there (goodbye beer frame), then shoe rental, and lane rental, and time spent playing. On the Wii, you can be playing in less than five minutes, and the game goes much faster. Plus, it's much more forgiving than real life, which means that more players will have fun at it.

While I appreciate the sentiment of the argument, it always amuses that nobody ever actually tries to apply it to other popular game genres. For example, it'd be pretty easy to start a fight club with your friends, and if racing is quite readily available. Paintball is also widely available for FPS fans, and if paintball's not manly enough for you, well the army is ready to take you.

Haha! Never underestimate a Nintendo fanboys desire to rabidly defend their company and everything they make.

Wii Fit is not home fitness. You'd be lucky to lose 10 pounds playing the thing. If anything it's "simulated" exercise. Yeah, you're moving more than you do with a regular game but you're still moving a lot less than you would during an actual workout. And why are you talking about porn?

Yeah, why would you want to actually go bowling in a public place with friends when you can spend $250 dollars to pretend that you're bowling? So much simpler. Boohoo, you have to actually get out of the house to do something. Sunlight won't kill you, and a little social interaction wouldn't hurt.

That last bit of your might make a shred of sense if I was talking about all video games, but I'm not. Of course you'll never fight in World War 2, repel an alien invasion, or slay Dracula, that's what video games are for. Paintball is an excellent real world alternative to FPS games but it's hardly the same thing, and quite frankly only an idiot joins the army to shoot things. Video games are supposed to simulate the awesome and fantastic things that you can't (or shouldn't) do in real life. Once you start doing the mundane real world things in video games, we're just a few generations away from being a bunch of antisocial shut-ins.

This isn't an argument against Nintendo (although they seem to be the biggest offender); I think it's stupid when people spend $500 on a computer and then play solitaire on it when a perfectly good deck of cards is still under $5.

And yet they do. But, yes, I would love to see a simple deck of cards for the DS or PSP with support for ad-hoc wifi. Just like I would love to see support for wider range of bowling in Wii bowling, like, say, candlepin bowling.

No, Wii Fit is not simulated exercise, it's simulated Yoga. There are already three other fitness titles lined up, each with varying degrees of exercise and interactivity levels. With Wii fit, Nintendo's trying to make a crack in the workout video market. Whether it's ultimately successful remains to be seen, though Kinetix and You!Fit never did seem to gain much traction.

I'm not trying to defend anything, I'm just saying you don't seem to understand what the threshold of easy is that would make some people prefer the video game version, and knock it as much as you wish, but that threshold is very low indeed. It may not match your personal threshold, but that only means those games are Not For You.

I'd also argue that bowling at home with friends is a social as bowling at the lanes with friends, but with better food and beer.

 

[Zac_Dai]

Yeah, why would you want to actually go bowling in a public place with friends when you can spend $250 dollars to pretend that you're bowling?

Well, the difference with this compared to playing a simulation of being an airline pilot or a racer is actually pretty huge.

There's only one type of sim that I'll never get. And that's train simulators. Train tycoon games, sure, but train sims... who the hell buys those?

That reminds me of the time I played a train simulator around my friends house. I spent ages trying to blow up the steam engines boiler for entertainment but it never worked...

I don't mind simulators in general, but they are usually too pricey for me. You need at least a good joystick or racing wheel for flight and racing sims to actually enjoy them but I've never been able to justify the prices.

Anyway I don't think we should be knocking other peoples tastes, especially people who value a bit of intelligence in their games.