Game Over, Man! Game Over. Perhaps, the immortal words of private Hudson will soon cease to make sense to the new generation of gamers. The classic conventions of gaming are starting to go the way of game cartridges. Lives, 1 Ups, and even death are suddenly passe. Weird, right, but true.

It occurred to me the other night. My girlfriend has been working through an addiction with the new Prince of Persia game. Even though, the game’s main character is the world’s most goofy and clumsy acrobat the right to die is restricted. I know this country prohibits euthanasia, but come on, if there’s one character I ever wanted to kill on purpose… But, I digress.

Who would have every though that Pitfall II was waaay ahead of its time. Anyone remember that gem on Atari. It was a game with the great-grandfather of autosave points, crosses you stepped on. In the Atari world of rigorous shot-clock-time-limits and strictly allotted lives, Pitfall II said no to these conventions, and even no to its predecessor that bowed to them just two years before. And the autosave spun…

Now, autosave is almost the most common function of any game in any genre. After years of just being something that happened in RPGs, the length of current games has made it a common replacement for lives, because, after all, who wouldn’t throw their remote through a TV screen if after 80 hours of Gameplay their lives counter hit 0 and it was time to start over. Times have changed; the autosave spins on.

Even the Mario Galaxies of the world, that have the conventions, need to rely on both. The journey is just too long, without it. And the journey is whole other can of worms. DLC has almost also illustrated that THE END doesn’t have to be THE END. The Fallout Series, since Wasteland, always let you keep playing even after there was no more quests.

Sooner or later, It will be life that needs an Autosave. Once we start programing games that are longer than our lifespans… Well at least there will be something to do in our Cryo-freeze chambers.