Comments on: Why Can’t I… Skip Ahead In Games?

By: atr

atr — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:05:27 +0000

Nintendo is including this feature in the upcoming New Super Mario Bros. for the Wii. They call it “demo play”:

Now, in an effort to make its games for accessible to all stripes of gamers, Nintendo has introduced ‘demo play,’ which will take over the controls of a game during a difficult part and then let the players jump back into the action once they’re ready to take control again.

By: Katastrophe66

Katastrophe66 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:33:33 +0000

I will admit, I didn’t read all the other comments first…

I’ve wanted a similar feature in World of Warcraft for a while now. I don’t have the time or schedule to commit to “raids,” but I would still like to see all the content. I really think that raids and dungeons should have a “visitor” feature unlocked at some point (I dunno, like six months later/next major patch/next expansion) that allows someone who meets the level requirement to simply wander around inside. No mobs would be able to be activated or fought but all doors would be open. This would let the casual gamer, such as myself, to experience the whole game that I paid for. I mean, I bought the silly thing just like everyone else, and I pay the same subscription fee, so why must these features always be blocked?
(Note: I do know once you hit, say, 80 you can go into 60 dungeons with little fear of aggroing everything, but if there are guarded doors or event-triggered doors you still can’t see all of them.)

By: UK_John

UK_John — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:42:46 +0000

With no pressure coming from gamers or the media, I don;t know why we are not surprised! Have you ever play Oblivion, for example, and wondered why you have to move the cursor out of the way, because it doesn’t automatically disappear until the conversation is over, to allow for better immersion? What about Empire Total War, to name but one of many, where you have to move the cursor out of the way when a movie plays! If games companies and game reviewers don;t even bother with THAT, how can we expect all the rest?!

By: UK_John

UK_John — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:42:46 +0000

By: Hodge

Hodge — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:07:15 +0000

Resisting the urge to go all ranty-ranty, I will just say that I too agree with John.

By: Wooly

Wooly — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 02:01:19 +0000

Dracko says:

“Solution: Better designed games.”

^This. And cheats.

By: geoff

geoff — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:39:47 +0000

totally agree with this.

By: Spacegirl

Spacegirl — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 00:08:54 +0000

I think the Appropriate Internet Response to this whole discussion is :

L2P

By: Jake

Jake — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:48:03 +0000

In a word: Agreed.

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:58:25 +0000

Yeah, but noone is forcing you to press it. S’why I liked it when games had cheat codes, I used them a lot when younger, as I got older I stopped and took to enjoying the challenges of the game, but its not for me to dictate my preferential playstyle on others, otherwise we’d all be playing lots of Baldur’s Gate 2-esque games.

By: undead dolphin hacker

undead dolphin hacker — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:55:41 +0000

The* fun. Blody lack of edit.

By: undead dolphin hacker

undead dolphin hacker — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:54:48 +0000

I fun I get out of playing games comes from overcoming the challenges they put in front of me.

A skip button breaks the immersion produced by the illusion that these challenges matter.

When the immersion goes away, you blink and realize you’re a 20-40 year old man sitting alone in front of a glowing screen.