I'd say there is some validity to the division of design causing more harm than it is worth. But at the same time, that same AAA game with a huge design team tends to have some pretty incredible polish.

Mac user looking at a PC: Wow, that looks complicated.

Why is it this game (Final Fantasy X, that is) never held my interest! I mean, I played pretty far into it, and then one day didn't feel like playing anymore. And that was the END of it! It was like the characters were all just kind of stalling in terms of development and the gameplay wasn't enough to hold my…

The first problem is how general the term "designer" is for Garriott. He's rolling a proper Designer, Level Designer, Technical Designer, Writer, and likely a few other positions all into one. The problem with design has been identified and, for several companies, these divisions exist because design is difficult…

Garriott might have accomplished quite a bit in his career, and may be one of the few game designers to actually become wealthy because of their games... but I just don't see why he is calling people out on the issue of iterative and repetitive development. Just look at his games:

I hope you realize some of us enjoy videogames responsibly. There are even studies that show the benefits of when fathers play games with their kids. Not all of us are sweatpants-wearing bums that just happen to have gotten kids somehow. :P

lol, I have no idea what I just watched.

Did you hold it against friends and family when they gave you gifts as well?

Wow, that price is way higher than I was anticipating. I suppose it makes sense, as it's not subsidized and using very specialized, tiny little components... but I can't remember the last time I spent $1000 on hardware just to run games. My desktop doesn't even have $1000 worth of hardware in it and I use it for way…

Wow, haha, didn't expect to see any other comment here, but this is a great point! The voice acting in twelve was pretty awesome and felt much more genuine to the native English speaker I am, especially compared to a lot of the other JRPG localizations I've seen.

Yeah, League of Legends is a pretty intense one. I played that one pretty habitually for a long time. I still play a match every now and then, but only with friends I know in RL, and only, at the most, a couple times a week.

If a game originally ran at a slow speed, that is not a problem here.

Great article, and definitely some very valid points. I know that a few years ago I would have probably left a nasty comment about how none of this is true, but that's because back then I WANTED to be a heavy gamer, and didn't want anyone to tell me it was an unhealthy habit.

It's actually VERY noticeable when we are talking about accuracy, and it's not just speed that is impacted.

I have an old Samsung Galaxy S that I run emulators off of and play with a bluetooth controller. It outputs to composite video, which some people see as a plus when trying to maintain the "original" look and feel of older games. I wonder now how it would compare side-to-side with some of the original consoles on the…

Personally, I love that iOS and Android are able to compete the way they do. They both have their strengths, they both improve because the other exists, and I feel like the push the next year for tablets and phones as media devices with strong TV out capabilities will only end up being a huge plus for consumers.

These are the kinds of messages that Earthbound fans saw constantly as they hoped Mother 3 would eventually make its way to the West as well. Ultimately, most of the messages were just nods in the direction of the fans, letting them know that the game developers (or in Earthbound's case, Shigesato Itoi) knew that…

Where is he getting all these red shells from?!

Well, there are groups out there who are pushing for real name usage in most places. Specifically Google+. Perhaps We'll see soon exactly how effective it is as Google+ services are used in more places.

Except that most of that information will NOT be available with my screen name, because it is not associated with it. I'm still curious about what you think the long-term benefits will ultimately be.