Comments on Above 49: Stop and Smell the Pixels: Are Some Games Better i...

@Matthew Oh, absolutely. One of my biggest annoyan...

2008-12-15T08:56:00.000-08:00

@Matthew Oh, absolutely. One of my biggest annoyances is when the game assumes you'll be able to play it for hours and hours at a time. I like the Metroid series quite a bit, but I didn't play MP: Echoes for at least a year after it was out and I still haven't played Corruption because of its save system. More than almost any other game series I enjoy, Metroid basically requires that I have 45-60 minutes of completely uninterrupted time to make any real progress. Given that my only reliable stretches of uninterrupted gaming time are in the morning before my fiancée wakes up (and that's PC gaming since our TV doesn't have headphones), games like that are basically vacation-only.

@Nightrunner Handheld games (obviously) understand that the player may have to stop at any time. But nearly 80% of people use their handheld at home more than anywhere else. So either being able to stop playing at any time is an overestimated concern (I don't think so) or it's an issue regardless of platform. Even if a game's design is somehow antithetical to being able to save at any point (which might be the case in some games), there should still be a one-time quick save/load that a lot of handheld games have. It's honestly not that difficult to implement, especially if it's intended from the beginning. As the audience for games grows wider in age, supporting the ability to cease play without significantly losing progress is nearly essential for some players to be able to enjoy a game.

I have rarely played a game for longer than 45 min...

2008-12-14T22:03:00.000-08:00

I have rarely played a game for longer than 45 minutes at a stretch (as an adult) - in fact, the only one I can think of offhand is Mass Effect, which I beat in 34 hours, of which there were at least two 5+ hour sessions. However, the other ~22 hours of gameplay were in short bursts, and I never found the game to be overly repetitive

Mass Effect is also the only game I've beaten on my 360 - most of my gaming happens on my DS on my various bus rides. My commute to work is 4-5 turns in Warhammer 40K: Squad Command.

Interesting theory you've hit here, and I think I can see this reflected in my gameplay style.

-Enforcer Nightrunner

Of course, this is helped by the fact that it's ea...

2008-12-14T20:51:00.000-08:00

Of course, this is helped by the fact that it's easy to play a game like Far Cry 2 or Fallout 3 in 30-45 minute increments due to their forgiving save systems. This isn't usually a problem with modern games, but as recently as the last console generation it was often difficult to find a save point when in need.