The rumors were true: Nintendo games can now play themselves!

[noname2200]

Khuutra said:

noname2200 said:

Will it though? I understand what you're getting at, and if I thought things would work out that way I'd be all in favor of this. But what's most likely going to happen when you co-op with your mother? My guess: the two of you will have fun both playing NSMBWii for the first few levels, you'll hit a part she can't handle (and will auto-out of), you'll play the next few levels (save for the parts where she needs to use that skill again, one she hasn't developed due to using this feature) until she hits another, new obstable, which she'll auto-out around, and so on and so forth, until it gets to the point where the parts she can't handle are more numeroous than the parts she can, at which point she's just watching you play, rather than playing with you.

I think there's a very serious risk of this happening, and I don't envision it as being much fun for either of you.

Obstacles aren't necessarily what makes us better, though: times spent controlling a system can achieve the same thing.

I mean, even without this, I would make sure to support her as much as possible in a boss fight and if need be I'd just whoop the thing's ass for her anyway.

In this case it's more about sitting together and talking than it is actually playing.

I think we have a fundamental philosophical difference when it comes to the value of obstacles, especially if we're applying it beyond gaming.

On a more serious note, I can see what you're driving at, but look at where even your hypothetical situation ends up: the two of you aren't playing games anymore, you're basically just chatting on the couch. Which is fine and dandy (no sarcasm intended), but it means that a feature that's supposed to get people into gaming has failed to do so. The entire point is that she gets more comfortable with holding a remote and playing games, but it ends in her just sitting and talking instead.

Worse yet, I think it'd not only be ineffective, it'd be harmful. Her experience with gaming will bascially come down to "it's too hard for me, and all I did was sit and watch." And so when you invite her to play again next time, she might give it a go for the sake of speaking with her son more, but it won't be to play games. And when you're not around, she's very unlikely to pick up a controller herself, because the darn things were just no fun, and what does my son see in these things anyhow? I know that's how I'd react in her shoes.

It all boils down to what I think is a pretty unassailable position: having other people do your fun stuff isn't much fun at all.