The following was going to be posted in the "is nintendo killing gaming" topic but it is overy long for the current escapist community (you only have yourselves to blame.) so I'm posting it here.
Have any of you ever looked up a cheat to get past a difficult section? Have you ever used that cheat at a later section? Have you found yourself using that cheat whenever the game threw something hard at you? I have. When you can cheat your way through any problem, you begin to use it as a crutch. Instead of ramming your head into the difficulty curve until you break through the other side giving you a lasting euphoric feeling that yes, you just beat a difficult section; you jetpack straight over it and go on to the next area with a resounding meh. This is where the fun cheats lose their fun and the phrase "cheats ruined the game" comes in. Worst of all whenever you replay that game you must restrain yourself to not use the cheat and that is what is frustrating. This system epitomises that phrase to the point where every game becomes frustrating because you must force yourself not to cheat out the challenge. The system may be optional but the desire to cheat isn't.
This also makes games less fun in general. When you use it you are skipping a section of the game designed to stall you and jump straight back to conveyor belt easy parts. After your six hour game is over you realise that that was it. There will be no lasting memories, you skipped them all. With this system you don't know if that difficult section is actually the section proceeding the credits. You can load your game to play it properly rather than let the computer beat the final boss, collapsing cave, endurance challenge. But you've seen how to do it, you know the right path; the end of the game has become one big quick time event to match what the computer did.
There is also the multiplayer issue. The future of gaming will grow up with instant gratification so when they verse each other they will whine and call something overpowered because the computer isn't there to hold their hand anymore. They will treat this crutch as a necessity because they don't know any different. If they actually verse someone that has never used the system, they will be destroyed repeatedly. They will never learn the core skills and develop their own strategies so against someone who has, they will have no fun. They will then have three options, stay on multiplayer but cry everytime they die like so many xbox kids, forget this system was ever made and learn every puzzle, every combo, every strategy and hone every twitch reflex, until they can play as well as the then outdated hardcore market. Or they can quit playing with friends and online altogether. Which do you think is more likely?
Have any of you ever looked up a cheat to get past a difficult section? Have you ever used that cheat at a later section? Have you found yourself using that cheat whenever the game threw something hard at you? I have. When you can cheat your way through any problem, you begin to use it as a crutch. Instead of ramming your head into the difficulty curve until you break through the other side giving you a lasting euphoric feeling that yes, you just beat a difficult section; you jetpack straight over it and go on to the next area with a resounding meh. This is where the fun cheats lose their fun and the phrase "cheats ruined the game" comes in. Worst of all whenever you replay that game you must restrain yourself to not use the cheat and that is what is frustrating. This system epitomises that phrase to the point where every game becomes frustrating because you must force yourself not to cheat out the challenge. The system may be optional but the desire to cheat isn't.
This also makes games less fun in general. When you use it you are skipping a section of the game designed to stall you and jump straight back to conveyor belt easy parts. After your six hour game is over you realise that that was it. There will be no lasting memories, you skipped them all. With this system you don't know if that difficult section is actually the section proceeding the credits. You can load your game to play it properly rather than let the computer beat the final boss, collapsing cave, endurance challenge. But you've seen how to do it, you know the right path; the end of the game has become one big quick time event to match what the computer did.
There is also the multiplayer issue. The future of gaming will grow up with instant gratification so when they verse each other they will whine and call something overpowered because the computer isn't there to hold their hand anymore. They will treat this crutch as a necessity because they don't know any different. If they actually verse someone that has never used the system, they will be destroyed repeatedly. They will never learn the core skills and develop their own strategies so against someone who has, they will have no fun. They will then have three options, stay on multiplayer but cry everytime they die like so many xbox kids, forget this system was ever made and learn every puzzle, every combo, every strategy and hone every twitch reflex, until they can play as well as the then outdated hardcore market. Or they can quit playing with friends and online altogether. Which do you think is more likely?
