Well said.

People are acting as if these are required life skills, with which we would die. These are games, and are meant to be enjoyed. We each enjoy things in our own ways, and if somebody spends 50 dollars on a game and they have the option to play it as they please, then that's money well spent. Better than buying a game that you never beat, because you either lack the skill, or time and patience to do so.

Some people haven't the time, and just want a short burst of fun.

Aha! I knew you cheated to get that!!! I'll race your autopilot with my autopilot, and we'll see who's really the master! (Of sitting back and watching.) ;)

This is nothing like you describe.

Think of it as training wheels. I hugely doubt you rode a bike at first without them.

Super Mario Bros. for example, is probably the best designed game ever. All of us have played it, and many of us have mastered it. However, people like my parents and siblings often didn't, because they were intimidated.

What this does, is simply give them training wheels as they play. If they can't do something, they are given aid in those spots. However, the fact is that they ARE playing, and will improve just because of the fact that they are playing. Eventually the training wheels will come off, and they will carry on in the games without them.

This is a perfect solution for getting people into more "hardcore" gaming, who are tepid about trying "harder" games out.

And anyway, unless you're in an online game and somebody has auto aim on, what do you care? Why is it important to you, or anybody, in any way shape or form, how it is a person plays a videogame that they spent their hard earned 50 dollars on? If they "cheat", is it going to make the sun implode? Will our economy further tank? Are there going to be more unwanted pregnancies?

It's a freaking video game. ;)

MS and Sony should counter this with auto-play that automatically gathers all trophies/achivements for a game - people would buy much more games to gather trophies/achivements

and, yes, I'm kidding

Why kid?  You're absolutely correct.  There are clearly hordes of points junkies who'd love something like this if it automatically got them tricky goals.  If this proved popular and Sony/MS did want to do something similar they'd have to ensure it didn't earn any rewards.

I think it's a lovely idea - but on the other hand I'm concerned about the idea of removing challenge.  Learning to cope with failure, etc. is an important element of growth - as a parent I actually shiver a little at a generation growing up where you're automatically allowed to win, then finding out the real world is less forgiving.

With videogames becoming so central to many youngsters experience of competition and play from a physiological perspective this is not necessarily a good mechanism for self growth and maturity.

OMFG... what's this rant all about?

This is an awesome feature! Firstly, the AI plays it for you, but you can watch and play it for yourself afterwards. Or you can just proceed from there on. Second: you'll only use it if you want!!!!!!!!!!! Remember that!!

Third: Nintendo can now make harder levels. Even if it not:

You'll only use it if you want!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (did I say this already?)

Bah...

they just whining leave those guys talk to themselves if they dont like it lol

Noname: I read your posts in this thread and have to say I disagree with you. I think your fallacy is the assumption that everyone plays for the same reasons. Not everyone enjoys the same things about games. You and I enjoy overcoming obstacles in games and developing skills to beat it.


Now I don't know what else you enjoy about gaming, but I also enjoy the exploration, seeing new parts and things in the games. That's the reason why I don't much enjoy games that have a lot of repetition in them, even if they are challenging. I think that exploration is a fundamental reason why people play games. Not all people, but a lot.


I think the third reason is escape. People want to leave their daily routine behind and explore fantastical worlds, participate in activities beyond their capabilities, or just relax and take their mind off of job matters.


Just this weekend I met a friend who had been a hardcore gamer for all his childhood. It's this guy who's guilty of turning me into a Nintendo fanboy. Since he's got into work life, he doesn't have much time for playing anymore. Wii and DS kind of brought him back into gaming, but didn't fully achieve this. He played NSMB DS and really enjoyed it, but gave up have way through. The reason he gave for this was he didn't enjoy repeating tasks because he failed. He even said that he doesn't want to do anything a second time. On Wii it was similar, he played Galaxy, but couldn't even get to 60 stars. Because of this being an issue in most games he sold his Wii. You have to understand that he doesn't play anymore because he wants to overcome challenges, but more of escapism and exploration. NSMB Wii's new feature could achieve what all those already 'dumbed down' games didn't: Get him back into and keep him in the gaming hobby.


I think because of our dedication to gaming and our skills we aren't the best to judge how to get noobs into gaming. At least with this guy, every attempt at making him overcome hard passages will only make him quit playing. Other people who, like him, don't want to play for the challenge but more for the other reasons won't keep playing if they have to repeat things to develop skills, because they don't think that's the fun part. The fun for them lies more in seeing new things and some jumping. You have to give up on thinking that you could ever get them to play the same way as you or I do, because they enjoy different things about gaming.

I am very pleased about this. I found SMG very difficult in places and never even finished Twilight Princess because it was to hard. This should fix that. Seeing as its optional I really don't see why this should be a problem for anyone.

Of course, they should be well aware that what happens in video games and what happens in real life are two very different things anyway, regardless of if this feature exists. I mean, why draw the line on this feature and not on the idea of respawning and save points instead?