Why does almost every modern shooter have health regeneration, instead of the old health regaining mechanic?

Why does everyone copy Halo 2?

Why does every shooter make you sit and hide like a wuss instead of making you go and finding a health pack?

Why do most developers not even use a reasonable explanation of how the person got regenerative powers, unlike halo, which tells you they are energy shields?

Why does everyone (esp. Yahtzee) praise developers when they use health-regenerating, and punish the games that make it to where it can't be a 3-hr long snipefest between 2-shooters with regenerating health?

Why is CoD:4 considered so realistic when instead of healing yourself with health packs, you auto-regeneration?

Why did the Conduit get slammed by a previewer for collecting health orbs "unrealistically" (a la Devil May Cry/Ninja Gaiden), instead of using Health regeneration, when the whole game is about shooting ALIENS?

Dammit, it pisses me off to see such ignorance in the gaming industry.

[/rant]

Comments? Answers? Cookies? Bullets? Post below please...

You gotta notice that when a game sells a lot developers look for things that they think attracted people to it...

i prefer my single player games to be slower paced, so completely regenerating health isn't desired. i actually love resistance's health system (no idea about r2).

for multiplayer games its almost required. otherwise games are just so slow.

I like that aswell. But i also like it when the health bar regenerates. It is far more clear than the screen graducally losing colour or gettingd redder.

I don't really care either way. They both offer different strategies.

I prefer a health bar aswell. But if your health bar doesnt gradually regenerate then thats stupid. I find it alot clearer than the screen gradually losing colour or going blood redder.

heath bars rule.

timesplitters 3 is still the pinnacle of the FPS genre

Well, I liked Halo 1's idea of both: Health bars and a shield. It was great. But then they changed it in Halo 2 & 3 and that had only regeneration. It can also work in reverse, like Red Steel, but that isn't as good, and isn't explained either.

In halo 2, on some maps, people would snipe each other from across the map. after about 30 minutes to an hour of shot-then-duck, one of them would get sick of it, and leave... >>BAM!<< Dead.

Still, it's just idiotic to get shot in the shoulder, and be on the edge of death, and then sit for 5 seconds and be back at 100%, with no explanation whatsoever.

Why would shooters need to explain regenerative health to the player? It's not any less realistic than walking through a glowing first aid kit icon and magically feeling better all of a sudden. At least the regenerative system gives a slight impression of being hurt for a short period of time. If you want a more realistic approach, or an attempt at it, play Far Cry 2. I hear you get better by picking bullets out of your wounds with your combat knife. Damn I really have to pick that game up one day.

This.