I agree with some points.
Such as the 300 hour game, I enjoyed playing games which I could beat within 40-80 hours. If I wanted to play more I would go back and replay the game. Of course I looked forward to getting into the world again but when the sequal came out in a year or two. Today games come out that require up to 300 hours to play through completely. I don't like this, I like to play a game for a week or so beat it and then play another game. Infact the longest I have ever played a single game was alittle over 500 hours (Pokemon Red). Since then the longest I have recently played a game was something like 120-hours Pokemon Pearl. Infact the longest I have played a console game would be like 88 hours (LOZ:TP).
Fact is I don't want a game that I need to spend over 40 hours to complete. Simply put I won't beat it, the days of me playing a single title to death are long gone. Infact the only reason I played Red version so long is the fact that not only was it severly addicting, it was my only GameBoy game for years. I came from a poorer family and we didn't get new games often. The games I got I played to death and I had fewer GameBoy games then I did console games. So for about two years every time I played my GameBoy it was Pokemon.
Today however I have more money, I'm still broke but I buy a new game each month. I also have other things to do, so I can't dedicate hundreds of hours to each game. Infact I'd say I spend about 10-20 hours on the average game I buy tops.
Another thing I agree with is the lack of origionality. Zombie games are getting old, yes they always sell but maybe we would like something origional. Personally putting zombies in CoD was one of the stupidest mistakes Activision made. It took away from CoD, to me CoD was always a realistic war simulator that I loved to play to put myself in the shoes of soldiers. But this whole zombie thing made the game more laughable then playable. I didn't even bother picking up Black Ops I thought it was so stupid.
As for shooters with no plot, I enjoy those games today because the games with plot take upwards of 20 hours to complete. So if I start a game with a heavy plot but decide its not worth finishing or don't have time to finish. I am left wondering what happened, then there are the games that go from sequal to sequel advancing their plots.
So I tried picking up Dragon Age II and playing it, I found I was completely lost. Had lots of questions and my friend told me I needed to play Dragon Age Origins to understand. I also played the new MassEffect3 I liked it but again the plot heavy title is heavily reliant on you having played the first two.
I think I grew out of plot intense 100+ hour games because fact is I no longer have 100+ hours a month to spend on a single game. Even unemployed I don't have that kind of time to devote to one single title. So not being able to complete it I am left lost in the plot making the sequal hard for me to purchase.
Of course I intend to go back and start DA:O and ME alongside other games. However these games are very long and I'm not sure I will have time to play through them all. Not to mention I am launching a company and looking for a second job to supplement income plus their are so many games coming out all that I want to play.
I just don't have the time to dedicate to one game, certainly not 300+ hours.
Plus the writer neglects Nintendo's titles. Their games are very much still pick up and play titles and most of them don't require over 40-hours of play time. Infact they also aren't cliche, multiplayer driven and filled with zombies. I don't this guy grew out of gaming the games he likes are on Wii and DS, he simply moved over to PS3 and 360 and realized that those games don't fullfill his needs!
