[BobSaysHi]

Hi guys, 16 year old here. If you have the time, would you read my story. I'm not the best writer, so bear with me.
 
My whole life I've played video games. When I was 3 I remember getting a ps1, and calling my parents to read the on-screen text so that I could understand what was going on in-game. It drove them insane. I would beg them constantly to come and read the text in any game I played. They got fed up with my constant questions, and that is the real reason why I wanted to learn to read. Video games taught me to read.
 
Fast forward a few years. I've moved to a new town. My new neighbor, and best friend has a nes. I practically live at his house every day after school. As soon as I got home I would ride my scooter over to his house and we would play. I still remember beating Donkey Kong Country after spending months getting to the end. Life was good as far as I'm concerned.
 
Several months later, the day care I was imprisoned in gets a Gamecube. Happiest day of my life. The day we get Smash Bros. Melee would probably be the second best day of my life. We would hold 20-kid tournaments for bragging rights on the playground. Toon Link was my go-to character. (hence my avatar)
 
Fast forward. I'm 12 or 13, and I now own an Xbox and am holding the forbidden fruit in my hands. I stole a copy of Halo 2 from my cousin. I was always a good kid, but here I was with an M rated game. I was a badass. My friends and I played through the campaign in one sitting. That was also the first time I've stayed up all night. This would be the 3rd happiest day of my life.
 
Now, take a look at my current position. I have played and beaten just about every good game to come out in the past 4 years on the 360. I have 42,000 (!) gamerscore. And yet, video games no longer interest me. I've had an advanced copy of the new Call of Duty game for a week and a half and haven't even taken it out of the packaging.
 
I sold my Xbox 360 and TV last week. I haven't packed up my Xbox 360 yet, it's still over there, cold and lonely.
 
Before I sat down, I decided I would give it a last go, you know, for old time's sake. I got bored in minutes and turned it off. 
 
What happened? I miss the old days. I miss running to my friends house and trying to beat Donkey Kong. I miss sitting next to someone and just playing for the sake of playing. To get lost in a fantasy world, if even for a little while. Those moments are long gone. I worry about the newest generation, they don't have anything like this anymore. I could get online and play with someone over the internet, but it's not the same. You're still alone. They're still alone. Video games are depressing reminders of what's wrong with the world. 
 
Who knew a 16 year old could be sentimental?
 
Farewell Video Games, it's been fun while it lasted.

 

[Ttvetjanu]

Your fondest youth memories are from playing games? oh my... Perhaps it's time you start enjoying the real life, like your first kiss, first girlfriend etc. I also have "good gaming memories" from my youth, but I would not even place them in the top 10.
 
I'm 22 and still play occasionally, although haven't really been interested in solo/console games. For me it has to be social, so online is the only way to go. I used to be a very serious semi-pro gamer in DoD, CS and most recently DotA.

 

[BobSaysHi]

Quote:

Your fondest youth memories are from playing games? oh my... Perhaps it's time you start enjoying the real life, like your first kiss, first girlfriend etc. I also have "good gaming memories" from my youth, but I would not even place them in the top 10.

You obviously haven't beaten Donkey Kong Country. That ranks way above my first kiss. 

 

[Kukuk]

I too am drifting away from games. There's just nothing that really catches my interest. As online FPS and the like grow in popularity, offline RPGs and adventure games die out. There's been some games this gen that I've really enjoyed, but nothing I've totally loved. It hasn't even been a slow process either. I absolutely loved late-gen PS2 games like Persona 3 and 4. I was really "into" games come the launch of the PS3 and 360 because I was so amazed by the technology. But now the novelty of the tech has worn off, and nothing really memorable has come out of it. I think the closest thing to a memorable game I've played this gen was Resistance: Fall of Man. It was just such a blast to play around with the different guns in coop and multiplayer. It was almost like Golden Eye was to a lot of people (including me!).
 
I think right now I'm putting all my hopes into The Last Guardian. It looks so fantastic, I'm hoping it will not only be great, but sell well. It could mean the rise of more Japanese games hitting the states, and more development of adventure games.
 
21 years old here.

 

[joomongj]

Good riddance. I wish I was like you guys. I just got CoD BO right after work and gonna get my soaked in it for a while. Cannot wait for Crysis 2 by which I will perform some major rehashing on my rig. My quad 295s have been for the most part satisfactory for nearly 2 years. I'm in my mid 20s.

 

[BobSaysHi]

I guess what I'm trying to say is that gaming used to be a social event. I feel that gaming is simply a competition now. I've never been one to compete.

 

[earthpeople]

I think it also has to do with the kind of games that are more popular nowadays. I find myself playing far fewer games than I used to. Most of the games I've played these past couple years I end up not completing, though in many cases I am close to the end already and I could probably finish them in a few short hours.
 
Nowadays, I mostly play fighting games and music/rhythm games. Things like Street Fighter, Guilty Gear, DJ Max. It's the kind of thing I can pick up and play a couple of matches/songs and then go do something else.
[edit: Oh, and sometimes racing games. Forza 3 was pretty good, but I sold my 360. Been waiting for GT5 forever though!]
 
There have been several game releases in Japan that I'm interested in, but I'm not confident enough in my Japanese to want to try them. Eh.
 
I'm also very much looking forward to The Last Guardian. Hope it's not another game by Team ICO that gets largely overlooked even though they received pretty nice reviews.
 
And for reference, I'm 19 years old.

 

[kingtz]

I'm 28 and I still play games. However, I outgrew the simplistic console games years ago (almost 6 years now). After I became bored with console games (last system was PS2), I graduated to playing PC games. Generally speaking, you can find much better and deeper games on the PC (although a lot of console ports have been making their way into PC gaming lately, much to the chagrin of serious PC gamers). Especially if you wish to play role playing games or FPS, I highly recommend PC games. The downside, however, is that buying a decent PC is substantially more expensive than console gaming. Heck, a good graphics card alone costs $200-$500.
 
But yeah, OP, if you wish to game, just try PC gaming. If you're into RPGs, I can recommend some nice titles to get your feet wet.

 

[Satellite_6]

I got bored of videogames at ~17, still love them occasionally though. 
 
Partially because of growing up an bit and becoming less competitive, partially because of less games that interest me. 

 

[arnesto]

You only got so much time before you die. Video games are a waste of time and your life.
 
You weren't put on this earth to waste your time on video games.
 
Go out and do something meaningful with your life. Go learn something new and have a new experience.
 
Get out of the house and live! Come to think of it, I wasted so much time writing meaningless post here on head-fi.
 
: )

 

[Kukuk]

Quote:

You only got so much time before you die. Video games are a waste of time and your life.
 
You weren't put on this earth to waste your time on video games.
 
Go out and do something meaningful with your life. Go learn something new and have a new experience.
 
Get out of the house and live! Come to think of it, I wasted so much time writing meaningless post here on head-fi.
 
: )

 
Not everyone devotes 100% of their life to video games. You can, like, play video games, and do something else in the same day, ya know? I think on average, at my peak gaming age, I probably played no more than 10 hours a week of games. Generally it was done in that time of the day where it's too late to go out and do something, but too early to go to bed.

 

[NapalmK]

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm pretty sure it's normal for most of us.
 
I grew up with video games. I vividly remember when I was 3 my cousin upgraded his console to a Sega Genesis and he handed down his old NES to me with a bunch of games. It was one of the most exciting moments of my childhood. I would play with my dad for an hour or two whenever I could and my parents would let me. After years of playing my trusty NES my friend got a N64 which was one of the most miraculous things I'd ever seen. Needless to say I went over to his house all the time.
 
My favorite game had to be Melee. Oh man I can't even tell you how many hours I put into that game. When I got back from school that's where I'd go. My brother and I would play for hours on end every day and it got to the point where we had 'death combos' set up to where whoever got the first hit would win that life. It ended up being an obsession to be honest but then again every hobby I've ever had has been that way.
 
After the Wii (which I bought because of Zelda), I built a computer thanks to my cousin showing me Crysis the most stunning graphics I'd ever seen. It reignited my gaming passion and I went on a FPS binge to the point of almost joining a pro team for a couple of them but never had the time. I've been playing FPSs and RPGs for the most part but games are losing their luster. Shooters seem boring and predictable for the most part and a lot of other games seem like a recycled idea with new characters or a slightly different environment. I still play every once in a while and have a couple of games on my radar but nothing remotely close to my previous level of excitement.
 
I'm 20 by the way.

 

[Region2]

This is a little depressing to read.
 
I'm a rather large collector of video games and consoles.  I must have at least a dozen Dreamcasts alone.  Yet I have no time to play any games.
 
Admittedly a lot of the games are becoming worse and worse.  RPGs, once my favorite, have become more boring wastes of time than anything thoroughly memorable.  The last RPG I spent a considerably amount of playing was the first DIsgea though even that didn't have the same place in my heart I have reserved for such greats as FF1 (my first console RPG) FF4-6, Suikoden, Lunar (both Silver Star and Eternal Blue) Chrono Trigger, Skies of Arcadia, etc.
 
Due to long work hours and responsibility creeping their ugly heads, I have found I have less time and patience for games.  I only have time for the first player campaigns of games as long as Modern Warfare 2.  But there was a period where I completely stopped playing video games if it wasn't at a friend's or at an arcade and that was because I was burnt out.  A break from games might respark your love of them.  And it doesn't hurt that if you take a break for a while you can develop a nice stock pile of games you can play.

 

[wenhui]

Do your friends or you, still visit each other's homes to play together? The physical presence helps a lot actually.. Makes the game more fun and builds memories. Perhaps that's what you really miss...? The company? Just shooting in the dark here

 

[MomijiTMO]

Hehe

Full time job killed my video game life. 22 here.