New Nintendo patent, is difficult gaming over?

I thought this was a very interesting article, personally I don't think this is a good idea.  People are just getting lazier and do not want to work at something and just want to be shown how to do it.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out once they start to implament it.

http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/nintendo-planning-friendlier-approach-to-game-difficulty/1278610

Comments

  • Exactly. There's no more reading an instruction manual 10 pages long and getting through the game in half a year. It's already too easy to begin with. Super Mario Galaxy for example, was a breeze. It took me 4 days to beat it, and I had no problem. I just wish modern games were platformers that were hard to figure out like the good old days: NES and SNES, even N64
  • Oh, God...

    Someone needs to post a pic of Picard facepalming here immediately. I love Nintendo, I really do, but now I'm starting to wonder if they are trying so hard to make gaming more accesable that they've forgotten what gaming is all about. I swear, games are not too hard (except GnG), people are too lazy. It's gotten to the point where people think that they are obligated to see the ending of a game without any hassle! Whatever happened to the good old days where it would take weeks, months, YEARS to see the end of a game?

    When I was a kid, my first system was a Sega Genesis, and one of the games I owned way back then was Aladdin. That game was brutal! I just beat it without cheating and saw the ending for the first time last year. The ending sucked, but I couldn't be prouder! It was a game that kicked my ass all my life, and I had beaten it without cheating.

    Yes, I remember the good old days when one had to WORK to beat a game!
  • How is this really any different than something say like a strategy guide? The only real difference is the medium in which it is delivered.
  • Why must this make games easier? The games could be harder, because they will have an easy way for the worse gamers (like me) to get through the hard parts.
  • I find anymore if I want an old-school style of challenge, I just pick a random flash game and play it. Some have tutorials, but some really just dump you into the game and you can just figure it out.



    And if it sucks, pick another one. Some of them are genuinely challenging, especially if there's an achievement badge at Kongregate. Something to work towards after you've beaten the game.



    I've heard the Wii games like Mega Man 9 have this sort of achievement bonus system, too. I like that sort of thing.



    My favorite one recently was "Achievement Unlocked" over at Kong. Go ahead, try it - just don't cheat until you're really genuinely stuck! image
  • Ugh, this is a horrible idea.
  • I really don't see the problem with this. If you don't want to use it, don't. If you do need help, go ahead and use it. Back in the day you could call Nintendo and ask a gaming counselor how to pass certain points in harder games, why not make it easier for users that want it to get help?
  • ^good point about the game counselors.



    In fact, I remember a more literal form of "digital revolution" when they had the automated helpline - from your TOUCH TONE PHONE OOOOH you could pick the game and the specific part you were stuck at, and they had prerecorded help for you to cut down on volume.



    Same thing exactly, just using current technology. Ross wins!
  • games are so easy now a days...

  • It also depends on how you see this being used, and what an easy game to you is. For alot of retro gamers, an easy game is one where you can sit down, start pressing buttons and your good to go. Some older gamers do not want to sit down with new games, because they are deep and involved, and you have to learn complex, new, varying, or extended and advanced gameplay mechanics. If your used to eating pellets by walking right up to them with your forever opening and closing mouth, you may not think its worth it to sit down and figure out how to hold the R button down while wiggling the D pad to shake a frying pan, and then remembering to push A B Y Y X Y to make an omlete, and pressing Y Y X B A B A X is a Sushi Recipe, but you cant do any of this untill youve found out how to harvest vegetables on the map screen, and earn enough Zeni to buy a qaulity frying pan, from which the shop keeper wouldnt sell you untill you figured out some puzzle, you didnt understand, becuase you dont know how to jump off walls and shoot your grappling hook at the same time.



    Some little video tutorials could help in well placed areas.
  • Getting help from a counselor and having someone else play the game for you are 2 totally different things. I could read pattern strategies for Pac Man all day and never run a perfect game. Even with a walk through of a very specific part of a particular game does not mean that you are guaranteed success, it just gives you a different perspective.



    I'd relate a game counselor to a student studying for a test and this auto-play feature to replacing students with smarter kids before a test. They're not the same.



    I think that some people would enjoy the feature on certain games, but for me it remove any sense of accomplishment I'd have after completing a game. If I wanted to watch the game being played I throw the name of it in youtube...
  • Case in point: I like the Halo trilogy (don't judge me). But all it really is is one long slaughter. There is very little actual skill involved. Just shooting up a bunch of aliens as you walk through in a straight line. It would be cooler if it took more puzzle solving or something.
  • they just don't make 'em like they used 2
  • Ever use a Game Genie?



    If yes, then this may be similar except you do not need to have the cheat on the entire time. Turn it on for the part you are stuck at then turn it off.



    If no, don't use this either. It's certainly not a requirement.



    I know I have played games that have had such boring repetitive sections (yes thats you Super Paper Mario) that I just stopped. I could also see it being used for games like Animal Crossing so it can play when you aren't there.
  • The bigger shock is how can something like this even be patented?



    Frankly, that's ridiculous.
  • I'm kind of interested how this turns out as well. I read the article when it first came up on Yahoo and was wondering how you could patent something like that.



    I think it would be useful. Nintendo want's people to be able to get help from them, and not online sites and strategy guides, so that they never have to leave their system. I think that's a good move on Nintendo's part. Whether you use it will be up to you. Now, the part where you can start anywhere in the game is a bit ridiculous if you ask me. Sure, you can use it or not, but if I was asked to either cheat or fish on Legend of Legaia for 2 days straight to get the stupid Mule Ra-Seru I would have chosen to cheat. But after doing it without cheating, I was proud of getting that stupid Ra-Seru. Just one of those patience things that gives you that internal happiness reward. You don't really get that from taking the easy way out.
  • This is why I don't own a single modern console...

  • Originally posted by: arch_8ngel

    The bigger shock is how can something like this even be patented?



    Frankly, that's ridiculous.


    I was thinking the same thing. So weird.

    I'll definitely not be telling my son about this. At least with a strategy guide, it gives him a chance to do some reading, and learn words that he otherwise might not have known. With something like this, he would just watch how it's done, then do it.

    On a completely unrelated note, I just noticed that Gimmick and nesguy are from 'Other' countries haha
  • ^^^ Also, let's not forget that strategy guides make great bathroom reading material.



    If anything it sounds like Nintendo may be trying to defeat unauthorized strategy guide publishers by making their wares obsolete.
  • Ha, this a a great idea by Nintendo.



    Most people are lazy enough to use it a lot. If they use it a lot they will beat the game a lot quicker and get bored with it. In which case they will run out to buy a new game.



    I don't really like the idea as a gamer, but from nintendo's perspective its brilliant.
  • damn, I was gonna say the exact same thing as bum



    I beat contra (wtiht the code) the same day I got it for christmas. On to buying the next game to beat

  • Also, Can just tell you how many times while playing the gamecube my nephew has call out



    "Jim.... can you help me?"



    very annoying
  • Horrible news for me as a zelda fan, if you click the images section at the bottom than click drawings you see (u have to install special tiff viewer program)it shows a game saying legend of, than a picture of a 3d zelda game with link carrying his sword and in the top corner it says hint, some really interesting stuff. I hope they dont do this to the new zelda, i enjoy being stuck and it would be hard to resist temptation like that.
  • If nintendo does this, then I misght just sell off all my wii stuff (except system for mm9). And quit rooting for Nintendo alltogether. I'll probably also live in the retro times like most other people on nintendoage.
  • it seems that these people don't actually play the game for you, they just show you how to do it. it's really no different than any other form of help such as calling a hotline, or using a strategy guide. like it's been said earlier, the only real difference is the medium in which it is delivered. some games i can understand, especially rpgs. I have never been a fan of those, because they're too goddamn confusing, and i just want to kill or destroy stuff instead of talking to some fucking gay retard in a store and buying shit. I know that rpgs have a very loyal following and they are some of the most dedicated and hard core gamers. I don't think any self respecting rpg fan would use something like this, but this would be for the more simple minded folk such as myself or younger kids. maybe this will help expand that genre from a select group of gamers into something bigger. But rpg fans being the enthusiests they are may disapprove of this, and want to abandon gaming altogether.
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