There's nothing wrong with it as long the level design and what not are still interesting. It also helps if there's a reason given for doing so. Games like Metroid make pretty good use of it where you get power ups and what not to access sections of previously visited areas you couldn't get to before. I liked Prime's level changes when you backtracked. It kept the game more interesting. Halo did something similar when you retread some of the same areas.

I've got it pre-ordered, but I'm far more excited about Bioshock right now. Too bad the release date got moved back from 8/14 to 8/21. I'll pick them up at the same time, but I imagine it's going to be at least a little while before I get to Two Worlds.

We got an Atari 5200 for Christmas when I was 7. We also got Missile Command and Super Breakout with it. My mom was paranoid about damage to the tv, so we never got any others. I think we played it all of 3 or 4 times before boxing it up. Luckily, most of our friends had a 2600 at the time. :p

The NES was the first actual console we owned and played. By that time, we had another tv for gaming so we got some actual use out of it.

It's hard to choose. Especially after the first fighter's guild quest was mentiond earlier. I remember thinking "they're going to rehash that quest?" The twist was pretty funny.

My most overriding memory of the game would either have to be when first leaving the sewer and running across the water to a small encampment and taking down a couple of bandits. Seeing the outdoor scenery for the first time, it was striking. As much as I dislike the leveling in some ways, it was also fun to be able to take on humans right off the bat without first leveling up my skills a whole lot.

The other overriding memory is more an encapsulation of events during the assassin's guild quests. Everything from murdering my first victim and getting a visit in the night onward. It reminded me of playing Thief in a lot of ways, but open in a way I had always wished Thief could have been. I also started doing the thieves guild quests around the same time which added to the feeling. Too bad it ended so soon. I'd love to see an entire game like that.

WoW is popular because it works rather well. It's simple enough to get into, doesn't have steep system requirements, and yet has enough content to keep more hardcore types busy for at least a little while. There's perhaps not the depth of other MMOs, but Blizzard has done a good job of boiling the game down to its more essential elements and making sure they work well. (At least IMO). It's simple, but it's also a lot of fun.

The popularity of the game is a factor as well. I can't really think of another MMO that has had as much reach. At every job I've had since WoW came out, I've run into several people who play. I imagine it's fairly similar for other folks as well if you hang out in any circles where there's some techy oriented people. Server invites and what not are a big reason why I personally keep coming back to this game even after considering giving it another rest.

I've left for other games off and on when I get burnt out with WoW. I've always ended up coming back after a break.

EQ2 is really good. My problem with it was that it didn't play well with either my last computer or my current one. My current one exceeds any quoted recommendations I've seen, but EQ2 turns into a slideshow whenever I get into a populated town or for various other reasons. The odd thing is it doesn't matter what settings I use. My framerates are about the same on very high quality as they are on very high performance.

SOE has always taken a "it's your computer" stance to performance in their games. EQ2 can be very pretty, but a more system friendly art direction like WoW or LOTRO have would be better if they wanted to attract a larger customer base. As much fun as they've made the game more recently, they're not going to attract the kind of player base WoW has with the steep system requirements required to play the game.

CoH/COV is another great game, though personally I find it far too grind intensive. The whole superhero aspect is a lot of fun. Character creation itself is lot of fun. The game does get a bit repetitive, though. I like to revisit this game occasionally, but only for short periods of time.

I can't quite put my finger on what it is about LOTRO it is, but I just haven't been able to really get into it. It's a good game, has a lot of the elements that WoW has going for it (though I wish they added monsters as a faction like WoW to get some actual pvp going rather than just monster play). Using Tolkien's works as a backdrop should make it a no brainer, but I find myself bored with it rather quickly. I think a lot of it is that the classes don't appeal that much to me. I prefer to play caster classes anymore.