Easter Egg Hunt (Saturated Market)

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Easter Egg Hunt

Yes, I know, I've been gone a while. The lame excuse is that I have a job. The lamer excuse is that I bought a Wii and Mario Kart. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about this site, I get an average of five emails a day from my comment filter telling me that xrhgbklafd has soma online pharmacy. But I digress. I'm here to once and for all make a bold claim, one that might be a little unpopular. If you're an opinionated gamer, you're going to hate me. If you're not, you're going to hate this article. I can't lose!

So, what is it that has my hackles up?

I hate unlockable content in videogames.

Yeah, I said it. I hate it. Not dislike. Hate. I understand the idea of it; it adds replay value, it's a little bit of extra reward for playing a lot, and you get to say "Hey, I got this little extra here. That's great!" But the problem is, it means that if you don't unlock those extra things, or you can't, then you tend to feel a little cheated.

I'm a casual gamer. My "games finished" to "games started" ratio isn't particularly high. Oh, sure, I have my games where I'll play nonstop until I beat them, and maybe play a few more times, but they're few and far between. I like to have fun, and that means the games should remain that way. I hate that if you're a casual gamer and you shell out full price for a game so you can play it with your casual gamer friends, you get half a game. If you want to take advantage of all the bits and bobs, you have to plunk yourself down on the couch (often by yourself) and curse your way through all the nooks and crannies of every level.

Secrets have been in video games forever, but it's only as they've become more integral to the game that they've become a problem. If I didn't open up the coin ship in Super Mario Bros. 3, it was okay; I could still play the game. But if, say, I had Mario Kart, and say, one of the coolest things was that you could use your own personalized Mii (your little avatar on the Wii console), but, say, you couldn't use it until you met certain criteria, you might feel...a little put out. Particularly if you're what the kids these days call a "noob", or if the game is...for the sake of argument...@#$%ing impossible.

In fairness, with all of these games, it is possible to play without the unlockable content. And some of them do set the bar somewhat low for some challenges. But I stand by my statement that if the content becomes so central to the game, then it becomes a problem. I feel cheated if I can't play a new level because I didn't score X number of points, or I didn't win a certain challenge. I prefer the old style of "Hey, you got through that last level, here, have another". And I can't ignore it either, because I know deep down that I paid for a game, but I'm only getting an engorged demo. If a golf game has 20 courses, I don't want to just play 12 of them. So I plunk myself down, alone, and clench my teeth. Why? Because suddenly the game stops being fun, and starts being work. I stop focusing on "gee, I'll have fun and just see what happens", and start focusing on winning at all costs. And from here, minor frustrations are amplified, and my patience thins. I just want to be able to play with friends and have fun, but this emphasis on single-player completist gameplay is going to be the death of me.

Until next time,