Time to stop being overly critical of videogames - DJ's Blog

DJ's Blog

Time to stop being overly critical of videogames

Posted on May 24, 2012 at 10:20 PM.

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I'm tired of it.

"It" is what seems to permeate through the Madden and NCAA boards this time of year. Whenever EA Sports releases a gameplay video of its upcoming game, we here at OS begin to immediately dissect the clip to no end, until each and every flaw is exposed.

Shoot, I'm just as guilty as others. I realized this with the NCAA video that was dropped today. Instead of just watching the video and moving on, I contributed to the discussion with my thoughts, most of which were of a negative tone.

Later this evening, I stumbled upon Trojan Man's thread in the Madden boards and it really got me thinking about my attitude and how it relates to videogames.

I need to change the way I think and approach these games, specifically the EA football games.

In the past 2 weeks I worked over 120 hours. That is more than enough stress and aggrevation. Why would add more of that to my plate? That's just silly.

So, I'm stating it right now: I'm done dissecting video clips, interviews and other pieces of media as it relates to videogames. I will continue to buy games that interest me and just enjoy them for what they are, whether they are more sim-minded (MLB The Show, NBA 2K), arcade (NBA Street, NBA Jam) or somewhere inbetween (FIFA, NHL, Madden, NCAA).

If I play a game and don't like it (Tiger Woods 13 went back b/c I wasn't a fan of the putting mechanic and MLB 2K went back b/c of the lack of responsiveness in the outfielders), then I'll just take it and trade it in for something else.

Otherwise, I'll just continue to play and stop paying so much attention to the negativity. I got sucked in with Madden 12 and NHL 12 that it hampered my experience with both games, and that bothers me. I was enjoying both but the constant negative threads/posts took over my way of thinking that I stopped playing for fun and began looking for why the game was flawed.

That won't happen anymore.

I'm keeping my NCAA 13 pre-order and will play the game and judge it on my own. If I don't like it, I can use it as credit towards Madden 13 and move forward from there. But, I won't go into NCAA 13 with any pre-determined mindset. The slate is wiped clean and I'm approaching games with an open mind.

Comments

# 1 shadia147 @ May 25

You realize that if we all took your attitude, which I'm not saying I disagree with, OS would cease to exist.

# 2 DJ @ May 25

I never said everyone had to do this, I'm just talking about me and how I approach games.

# 3 jyoung @ May 25

As games have become increasingly complex and photo-realistic, their flaws have become more visible.

"Next gen" graphics have really opened sports games up to greater scrutiny than ever before.

I think sometimes simpler games are just more fun these days and less prone to negativity.

If you ever get frustrated with modern hockey games, I recommend checking out the Xbox Indie game Blockey.

It's a great old-school throwback to games like Ice Hockey and Blades of Steel. I fire it up anytime NHL 12 has me frustrated and it's always guaranteed fun.

# 4 BenGerman @ Jul 18

Great write up DJ. Last year NCAA was a really frustrating experience for me and I never really just had fun with the game. This year, I came in with a totally different approach and am enjoying the hell out of '13.