the resonance of great games of the past

In a recent blog post, I was pondering one of the few overlaps I have with Miyamoto-sensei: I don't play games. And, like him, I still love everything about games. if it were not so, I'd pack in my job and do something more interesting, like driving a bus. Which makes you think: why is driving a bus so attractive? I hate being on buses, but driving a bus is a boyish thing to do, kinda like being a sailor, truck-driver or train-driver.

Its the mysogynist in me, but I can't get used to women driving buses ...

Back on topic - why is driving a bus so attracting? Its like a video game, or vice versa, lots of things to avoid, lots of power, lots of 'enemies' (taxis, other cars, etc), lots of targets (pedestrians, cones, etc.). GTA for real would involve buses not naff red sports cars! You just can't get that feel of reality, size and momentum on a computer simulation.

We are all buzz-driven people. We hate being bored, are easily bored, and are always looking for things to create a buzz. A new buzz? This may be why new games don't kick me. I watch them and enjoy watching them, but can't move the hands towards the consoles ...

What I want to talk about is the buzz of the older games. No, I'm not going to do the old fart bit and say Frogger was better than Gears of War. That is clearly rot. What I do want to do is point out that there is so much in the older games that there is little room for new kinds of gameplay in the newer ones. Yes, the graphics, sounds, music, interaction, etc. are better, but the older games seem to have around 95% of what exists in the newer ones.

And humans are t-shirt people. We collect them, the move on. We get bored. Fashions change because we need new experiences.

I have watched my kids grow up, through cheesy pop, to heavy rock, to whatever they find gives them a new buzz. Radio 1 and its ilk are for a group of people who like the crack - often obscene and not possible on private stations - and Radio 2 is for the droll presenters. The music is pap that fills the gaps in chat.

Of course, humans also like familiarity. That's why we get Final Fantasy XIIIIIIIIII being developed. We all live in a safe zone where we get what we expect and feel comfy. For my dear wife it is ITV3 with its endless murders in posh parts of England. For me it is Wagner or Bttehoven. I can actually listen to entire Wagner operas and enjoy them. Because I know what they will provide and it goes on for hours and hours.

So, why do we stand by some old experiences and walk away from others? Why does Star Trek TOS now bore when once it enthralled. Or why does, as a friend told me, Country and Western suddenly appear, bite you on the bum, and you go rabidly for it's twinky zippiness? There is clearly a funny bone being tingled by this new thing.

I can still look at old games and feel the buzz they gave me at the time. The theme tunes and bloops from old games create a huge smile. Its just that the bit of my brain labelled 'video games' lacks a slot that fits GTA, even though I knew it was always going to be a great game.

What fills the gaps when the familiar becomes stale? Life is short, sometimes very so, so it is hard to be exact. I've tried drawing, jazz horn, swimming, cowboy movies and the cover discs on Word. Some new things buzz a little and become an 'interesting I'll get back to it', but few things ever become as hugely hypnotic as games once were.

You see, games have a way of holding your attention that nothing else does. They are all encompassing and engrossing to the point that you'd rather have bum-cramps and bladder pain than hit 'hold' for a few minutes. How many of us have been playing games on a hand-held in a public loo cubicle? (OK, hands down now - and wash them afterwards!)

This 'buzz' thing that games create, even in an echo from decades ago, is as great as a where-were-you-when-kennedy-was-shot, they dig deep into our psyches and carve deep grooves in our memories. WIll these memories ever fade? No, I think not, but perhaps the remembered buzz might do so.

I had a strange thing happened to me recently. I have always loved Neil Young's 70's albums. Perhaps it was because I was listening to his more recent acoustic stuff, but I stuck on Zuma and was, well, bored. I could not believe my response. I felt like I would never enjoy the album again.

So, just when you think you understand entertainment and how it works in memory and the present, the human response changes.

Games are such an insight into how our minds motivate an work. I need to think more on this.