I'm still waiting for them to invent an "I Lose" button, although I could name several games where pressing Power or Start has the same effect.

This is true. But what if you use this function in a weak moment and regret it afterwards? I guess theres allways save and load. But what if you're drunk while playing? Do you allways remember to save at the right moments? Am I making this unnecessary hard?

What I'm saying is I'm sceptical.

Nintendo already did it.

You used the word "people" four times, and "fun" thrice.

OT: I think it's ridiculous. If you're really stuck, go to the computer and look up a walkthrough. That way, you get some exercise, and it discourages the lazy ones amongst us- we will try to solve the problem ourselves for longer if instead of pressing a button, you have to get up, go to the computer, do a google search, click and scroll down, then try it, then realise you've done completely the wrong thing. Those stuck enough will just do that.

To me this is simply a different take on difficulty levels. I've always been surprised that more games don't have selectable difficulty level, or some mechanism to allow the game to 'scale' to the player's ability.

This approach seems to about taking a more flexible, on the moment approach to difficulty vs switching it about yourself as the player. But I don't see it ruining anything particularly as in the end its simple a different approach to achieve the same thing.

Take, for example, Silent Hill 3, you had two difficulty settings on that. One for combat, the other for puzzles. So you'd encounter essentially the same puzzle on playing, but if you had puzzles on easy then the clues made it pretty easy to solve, if you had puzzles on hard you needed to sweat your brain to work it out. Different players could feel the same sense of 'I got it' but each would be given a different level of challenge.

For those games/developers who want to seperate the better players, or let them know they are better, that's where stuff like Tophies, etc. come in - or any kind of scoring. So again, taking Silent Hill 3, if you want to 'score' the best you have to tackle the game on hard.

In the end it's about trying to satisfy different players, some who want to know they're in the top ranks, others who just want fun and to always be able to get through the game.

This either requires games to rigidly focus on one group - or the ability to alter the difficulty.

Increasingly, particularly titles like Mario, etc. I would expect developers to move towards the latter.

It kills the social aspect of gaming a bit- you know the part where you talk with friends how to overcome something in game x/or when you talk to people on forums etc.

This is how I feel for the most part. Just because of human nature. I'm a little concerned that it will damage the market for more challanging games. I can enjoy a game that lasts a long time and I want all genres to survive in all forms. Why aren't there any games like grim fandango (well I thought it was pretty hard at some paces) on consoles? (In danger of derailing my own thread, I know)

I don't see how this is going to allow Nintendo to ratchet up the difficulty. If the game is unecessarily hard to those that would need to use the "I Win Button" in the first place, then aren't they going to have to basically watch the entire game play out since it's too hard? It would seem this game will likely be the same difficulty most Mario games are at, or maybe even a bit easier since I believe it takes the bubble theme from Yoshi's Island when you die, so it doesn't alienate the group Nintendo is trying to bring in by including this feature in the first place.

Actually, I think its the saviour of the industry. As the potential market increases, the game has to cater to more people - including more non-gamers.

If done properly, this gives any game the potential for the designers to give the game experience they really want - to everyone.

Giving gamers "choice" has always been a winning decision in games. If you skip levels or sections, there will certainly be consequences. It won't be like you press a button, and watch the entire game, and all levels - without doing anything.

Poor kids. As an kid I always brag about my gaming skills. I finished Sonic, Mario games with not much trouble while my friends couldn't.....know they just can press the button and also brag about a game they finished;...Pfff nintendo...