Time Passes But Love Never Dies

As I sit here, drinking my tall, cold, plastic cup of chocolate milk, looking through old photos of friends whom I never talk to anymore, I realize that many things have changed in my life over the years.  I've moved from the Central Valley, down to Santa Barbara and then way up to San Francisco.  I've gained and lost numerous friends, fallen in love (twice) and even got into a couple of car accidents.  All of these experiences have changed how I live my life or how I view others.  My tastes have changed as well.  I now have a much broader appreciation for films, books, music and, not surprisingly, my family.  I've heard that the only constant in life is change.  In my experience this seems about right.  Although, there is one thing that has never changed -- something I can't imagine ever changing:  my love for certain videogames.

My favorite game, which has been mentioned several times on this site, is over a decade old.  It came out on the Nintendo 64, a system with the most awkward controller and a catalog of games that comes up short when compared with its main competitor, the PlayStation 2.  Countless other games have come out on about a dozen home consoles and hand helds, but few have earned the right to be compared with that one N64 title.  At least, according to me.  The Halo series has now become a blockbuster franchise with near-perfect multi-player capabilities.  Super Mario Galaxy has redefined the platformer genre.  World of Warcraft has over 12 million people willing to pay a monthly fee in order to give up their own lives and play a game.  I wonder how many people who have played these games will name a classic throw-back title as their favorite, and possibly as the best, game of all time.  Do these titles always rest on pedestals while we maintain some kind of grand illusion about them?  Would our favorite games be worth going back to after so much time has passed?  Would they stand the test of time or fall by the wayside along with other, outdated games?

 At one time this was the pinnacle of technology in our civilization.

There are some who can call a game "great" simply because of the nostalgia it brings.  Memories of a time without paper work or dead lines.  This may be enough of a reason to play a game, but certainly not enough to judge whether or not a game is great.  I loved playing Pokemon Snap with a group of friends a couple years ago, but I know I would never play that game alone.  Not again.  We see this type of thing happen all the time.  We're probably all guilty of hearkening back to the good ol' days about something or other.  You can barely turn on the news without hearing how things have gotten so much worse over time.  Well, this is actually the best time to be alive since the beginning of time.  So grats on that.  Even with videogames, technology is racing forward.  Have you seen the Kinect hack videos?  They're amazing.  Think of the possibilities.  I get excited every time I think about the future of gaming.  I don't know what's next, but I know I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for it.

Now, with all these new fangled doohickeys coming out from the woodworks, I'd still be shocked if any of them replaced my favorite game.  Let me remind you at this point that it came out on the Nintendo 64.  Others my age, or older, have favorites from the original Nintendo Entertainment System.  What does it say about all the new hardware if they can't compete with games that came out before 3D was even an option?  I try to judge the game based on it's own merit.  When I look back, I don't focus on the good memories of my family watching me progress through each area; I look at the story, the difficulty and the gameplay.  I should try to be as objective as possible.  We all should when discussing the quality of any title.  But here's the real question, if we're so sure that nothing will compare with our old favorites, why play new games at all?  Why not just keep playing those top classics and be content appreciating the quality of an age long since passed?

And the crowd goes silent as I go for my 10,000th straight win...

I'm willing to bet that we always hope the next game will be our new favorite.  No one gets into a game with the thought of how terrible it'll turn out.  People want to be entertained.  Whether that's by some old favorite from childhood or the newest game to hit the shelves I don't think people care.  Every time I pick up a Zelda title, I want it to be better than Ocarina of Time.  I want that experience of playing a game I know is amazing from start to finish.  I want another game I would judge with a perfect score.  I hope that the games of tomorrow surpass those of yesteryear, but, knowing that the majority of games are average and good only for a week-long rental, I don't have any expectations, just memories.