I think that games like CoD and FIFA have absolutely 'ruined' (for want of a better word) the gaming experience for a lot of people. Granted, the on-line aspect are fantastic, and thoroughly enjoyable. But for the most part, people, unless they're a trophy whore, will boot the game and just get straight into a bit of multiplayer.
A few years back, I spent a couple of weeks unemployed. They were the worst couple of weeks of my life. I spent all day everyday on CoD and FIFA, alternating between them both every 5 or 6 hours. It sounds like a party, like you've not got a care in the world and you can just play games all day. But I can honestly say, it was horrific. I realised i had to get my arse in gear when I noticed that I was having a ciggy pretty much every other match (10 mins or so) on CoD.
The problem is that it's extremely addictive. I've known people to lose their jobs due to the fact that they couldn't draw themselves away from CoD until it was practically time for work the next day. I've a mate now who point blank refuses (and has done for years) to set up a PSN ID for the simple fact that he knows he'd be the same. The allure of landing a headshot on someone half way round the world from the comfort of your own home, or netting a screamer against your mate and 'ripping' him via your wireless headset is all the majority of gamers live for it would seem.
The 'innocence' of games has been lost with it all as well. I mean, look back at the old Sega vs. Nintendo days. Mario and Sonic didn't require on-line connections, and we managed alright, didn't we? Granted, we live in a different, somewhat 'net-centric' time now, but you catch my drift. I do still have my NES, SNES and Mega Drive set up so that I can get my retro on, TBH.
I find the NES and SNES in particular to offer so much more than a lot of the modern games do, in terms of user satisfaction. I have all these memories come rushing back to me when playing all my old games, and nostalgia trumps headshots everyday of the week, IMO. For instance TMNT: II The Arcade Game on NES is the best game ever. I was playing through that the other week and I remembered everything about it from when I was a kid. It was honestly much more enjoyable than lashing CoD on and blowing the same **** up.
I've learned to savour my on-line game playing these days. I can still get lost in hours of FIFA, but I do much prefer a good storyline and gameplay over on-line aspects, it has to be said. Hence why I revert to the retro consoles. That being said, I'll probably buy the PS4 and get a couple of next-gen FPS's just to see what they're like. There's absolutely no way I'll be investing more than a couple of hours a week on them, however.
