So after many days of work with almost no time off I decided nothing sounded better than relaxing at home lazing about and playing some Call of Duty online. After a few rounds of Domination and getting destroyed over and over again by players more than likely half my age it set in.

Another year has gone by and my video game skills have only gotten worse.

It is a sad realization that has been sinking in as the years go by, I went from being able to breeze through Contra on 10 lives, or Megaman X in one sit down session with no continues. Now I find my skills on par with.. well.. this:



Okay so maybe I exaggerate a bit but I must admit I am nowhere near where I used to be in terms of skills. So after much pondering and loathing the aging process I have come up with a few reasons as to why I fail now.

Devotion and dedication!: When I was a kid I had no concept of time when my SNES was on. There were many mornings I would force myself to wake up at 5am just to get an hour or two in before school. When I got home I would rush through my homework (or not do it.. sorry Ma) just to get right back into my gaming sessions. I would never give up, no matter how hard a game got I continued trying over and over again no matter how absurd and ridiculous the difficulty got. I was a glutton for punishment through and through and would never call it quits or even think of turning down the difficulty. I simply lived with the mentality of "I came, I saw, I conquered". The constant strive and perseverance pushed me to the very brink of my prepubescent sanity, but in the end paid off as even some of the most complex games were cake to my young mind.

Lack of money: When your allowance is only 5$ a week it takes a vast amount of time to save up for a new game. Especially when your day to day life included resisting temptation such as trips to the ice cream man for party poppers, cap guns, and Pokemon cards well over a reasonable price. Under these circumstances my game library as a child was somewhat limited seeing as the only times of year I could bank on a freebie were my birthday and Christmas time. This being the case I was forced to play what games I had to the point that I had left no stone left unturned, no secrets left behind, and 100% completion being the norm. Even when I found myself stuck and unable to advanced I knew I would get it eventually seeing as it could very well be another 6 months until I receive a new game.

Lack of Time: Though lack of money was a big issue in the war to satisfy my cravings for video games the one thing to counteract this problem, only one sentence could make me jump for joy.


We're going to Blockbuster.

If there is a heaven, this was it. I could spend hours upon hours reading each box to find the one perfect game to take home with me, if my parents would have let me that is. I have so many fond memories of playing some of my favorite titles of all time thanks to Blockbuster Video. The only thing that held me back was whatever title I took with me I only had 3 days to beat it. Unfortunately there was a time that Blockbuster only allowed 3 day rentals on games and 2 days on new titles, which does not leave you much time to beat a game. Being pushed into a corner I was forced to play on a skill level that forced me to optimize my playtime!

Overall love for what I was doing!: Video games have always been a big part of my life. From the first time I played at the age of 5 it has been a 17 year long love affair. Allowing me to be the super hero, the villain, the race car driver, the pilot, and the list goes on and on. This was an idea that was so awesomely absurd to me then and even now that I still at times have a hard time fully grasping it, and that is okay. I love video games for what they are and the fact that I have received so many hours of enjoyment, learned valuable lessons at times, or been able to experience some of the best stories ever told through an interactive medium.

I could go on all day, but you get the gist.. Though my skills have diminished much over the years my love for video games will live on.

After reading a recent post from Jim Sterling about a Tony Hawk game that I had no clue about until seeing this post and the pitiful sales numbers.

http://www.destructoid.com/tony-hawk-shred-sells-a-dismal-3-000-copies-at-launch-187926.phtml

3,000? That is disgusting in terms of sales, almost unbelievable. To fall from the top being a franchise that has generated over a billion dollars of revenue since the series launch to.. well.. this..



The biggest issue I have found with the series is the push towards "realistic" game play and leaving out the fun factor. The biggest downfall being that of an added peripheral to really "draw the gamers into the experience" and make you feel like your "really skating" just like Tony Hawk! When in actuality all this does is add frustration and essentially the factor of being unable to play the damn game.

No seriously please take 5 minutes out of your time to go over to YouTube and type in Tony Hawk Ride fail and you will find plenty of related videos. Even one of a kid knocking himself unconscious while trying to preform a grind. Something that used to be as simple as tapping X and hitting triangle, has morphed into an actual feat that could cause you bodily harm. Hell maybe I was wrong to judge the realism of the Tony Hawk Ride and Shred series, maybe it really is more like skating than I was led to believe.

But I digress.

The one thing I find the Tony Hawk series lacking these days is fun. I remember how good it felt to pull off insane combos or jumping out of a helicopter into a half pipe and getting insane air. I remember how much fun it was to play with the level editor and codes just to find a bowl to grind just as the clock is about to end to preform a never ending grind that essentially became an endurance test between friends testing who would quit first. I miss Officer Dick and Spider Man as playable characters, yes absurd and completely awesome at the same time. I loved completing the level objectives no matter how repetitive they were the fact that you threw me in a new level just to do what I did in the previous was enough for me. Simplicity is something I find lacking often in these newer generation games and I feel like this series still has life left to give, so long as developers are willing to stop trying so hard for realism and ground breaking territory and give players what they want. Simplistic, High Scoring, Super Combo, Dark Sliding, 2520, Dick Spider Man, Fun.. Especially fun.

Even though I have long grown out of my skating phase I can truthfully say to play another true Tony Hawk Pro Skater game would be amazing.