I was having a beer with a friend of mine when we entered the subject of games.

This guy has allways been a huge fan of nintendo so he knows a little bit more about this console then I do.

He mentioned that the latest Mario game (ok, so he's not a huge fan of Mario, nor am I:) will allow youto skip past parts of the game that you find too hard...which sounds a bit like an "I win" button to me.

Now I admit that I've allways blamed consoles for dumbing down games in general for the last few years, and so does he.

So there might be some prejudice involved here:)

Is what he said about the new Mario game true, and if so how much so?

Do you think this is the future of gaming?

You mean giving people the gaming experience which they want? Well I guess thats a good thing.

Yes, but do you loose the feeling og achievement on the way?

Not if you don't use the button....

Well the people who'd use it are the people who aren't having fun so it will enhance their fun. A feeling of achievement is probably secondary to most people, they just wanna have fun. Why frustrate people out of spite?

The idea is that not everyone plays games for the achievement. A lot of people do it solely for fun, and when a game is too hard for them they are not having this fun and maybe ditching the game.
Don't press the I win button if you play for the achievement as well, ought to be obvious.

^This

also it actually has the potential to make games harder while still allowing people who don't spend all day playing videogames to enjoy them.

not a function I'd even consider using so I'm OK with it.

Not if they don't care about that type of thing.  Gaming is about fun...nothing else.  

Ah. So that's what it does:)

Well that's much better imo.

I personally believe that a lot of people would be too tempted to skip parts if it was possible.

Of course you can argue that noones forcing you to do so and for some it may even enrich their experience with the game. But I also think it could ruin the game a bit for some people. I just think it would be a bad excuse for not taking the time to balance the game right.

This no longer seem to be the case though.

But you really don't think this would be a bad thing?

oh, and for me part of the fun is the achievement.