Agreed.

I just started playing God of War, and thought it was sort of like Dragon's Lair or Space Ace or Dance Dance (memorizing button presses or dance moves). Works well for Dance Dance since you're using your feet (tests speed, agility, stamina). For Dragon's Lair, they don't even tell which button or direction to press, you have to know from previous experience or use trial and error. God of War tells you what to press, so it tests timing and button recognition. Not really challenging at all. With enough practice, anyone can do it. Not everyone can be skillful at an FPS, a fighter, or even a driving sim. I've seen people try to pass, just pass, a license test in Gran Turismo over and over and never get it. The higher difficulty on Dance Dance usually destroys me, but I see little girls pass it with no problem. I probably shouldn't be holding a beer while playing though. If you want to play a hard game, try the original Ninja Gaiden for the NES. It's available for the VC. I'm playing it now and it's driving me nuts. I've beaten it when it originally came out, but I forgot how frustrating that game was.

It's weird how games seemed easier when we were younger... I started playing some Sonic games on the Genesis the other day...and I sucked it up, I don't know how I was able to beat things so easily as a kid.

Anyone seen the Rachet & Clank movie? Almost the entire level is set on rails! Really turns me off the game... "Here comes a missile... jump" "Here comes a missile... jump" "Here comes a missile... jump" ...etc... Nothing next-gen about the gameplay...

I still don't know how I got to Shredder in the original TMNT when I was 12 years old... I tried playing that game again and couldn't pass the third level after umpteen attempts.

And Kid Icarus? I beat that game. I still have no idea how. 

Shams will not beat me to 1000!

Never!

I will get there first!

I beat TMNT when I was a kid. I was thinking about getting that game. Then I remembered it being really brutal and I don't want anything to break. Things tend to break whenever I lose. 

It's so much easier now since we can save where ever we want. Back then you had to beat it in one sitting. Is there a code system for TMNT? Ninja Gaiden doesn't, so it probably took me a good 4-6 hours to beat it the first time. Kid Icarus is crazy hard. So many things would break if I played that game again.

As a kid, you had lightning fast reflexes and were able to dedicate your full attention to a game.  In fact, your mum can shout that “dinner is ready” a thousand times, without you hearing a single word!!

Kids get ridiculously engaged in games, because the troubles in life hadn’t really kicked in yet.  Your greatest concerns were about the amount of pocket change you had for the arcades or how you plan to reach mother brain with more than 50 missiles in hand when you get home from school.

Then you grow up and realise that life is not just a bowl of cherries.  Responsibilities and commitments start to pile up and so do the worries associated with them.  Suddenly, it’s hard to concentrate on the simple pleasures in life when there are a lot more pressing matters at hand.  I’m constantly reminded by a few friends that it gets even worse after marriage and children.  And to top it off, whenever you try to play new game and get into the fun again, it feels either too hard, too boring, or too familiar (the feeling of having done this same sh** a hundred times before).  The interest just isn’t the same as what it used to be.

This is how it was for me, but recently a bit of that youthful excitement has returned.  Kudos to Nintendo for finally focussing on something different and creating the Wii to deliver a new experience.  After playing it for a day at a friend’s place, I finally felt that inner child wake up again.  Now, I’m thinking that maybe all this time, I just wanted to play something new/different rather than the same old, same old.  I’ve started reading gaming news again and visiting the gaming forums…I am about to buy my first console in over 8 years… and I can’t wait!