I recently saw the newest batch of screenshots for the 3DS remake of one of my favorte games of all time (Ocarina of Time). The game looked greatas I always thought it had. However, upon looking up the screenshots of the original N64 version, I realized how much better the grahpics were. It shocked me! This game that I had held in such high esteem looked terrible on its original system, yet somehow, in my mind, I didn't remember it looking any worse than its 3DS remake.

The reflection off of that shield alone is probably using most of the graphics powerz of the 64.

It appears my imagination had filled in the missing pixels of that terrible looking game due to my being so immersed in its atmosphere and gameplay. At the time I suppose its graphics were pretty cutting edge, but they just don't hold up. I can't imagine a 9 year old picking up this game and being over to get past the fact that it looks so bad compared to similar games today.

In a way its nice that some of my favorite games growing up are being graphically overhauled in a way that the current generation of gamers can enjoy the same experience I had when I was their age, but at the same time, am I willing to pay the $250 cost of the 3DS as well as the cost of the Ocarina of Time 3D cartridge to get to re-experience this awesome adventure? At this point in my life I can't justify that cost. If I'm going to fork out that amount of money, I'm going to have to get something brand new, not just a shiny polish on my old shoes. I love the fact that developers are going back and remastering these awesome titles that I enjoyed back in the day, but I think its a bit of a slap in the face to charge such high prices for these ventures. (Though I would REALLY love to have this game on a portable…)

Instead, I agree with the Perfect Dark HD type of remake. A company goes back and fixes the lack of polygons in old games such as Perfect Dark and releases them for an already established venue (XBLA) with a price tag of $10-$20. This not only encourages people that already own the game on a different platform to purchase the game again to reminisce through old memories, but also encourages younger audiences or those who didn't get to play the game its first go round to get to see its content without breaking their bank.

On the podcast I mentioned I had also recently bought Shining Force 2 because of its $3 availability of Steam. A developer can spend little time and resources (Compared to creating an entirely new experience) and bring an old game up to modern standards for a new generation to play through and see the hard work that a developer has created.

For this reason, for $10, I recently picked up the HD remake of Beyond Good and Evil off of XBLA. I've always wanted to play this game, but didn't want to take the time to hook up an old console and invent time in a game that would be so dated looking/feeling. I now get to take part in a piece of gaming culture that I wouldn't have otherwise.

Thank you game developers for understanding this issue and allowing my generation to experience the games of my father and my future children to play the games I loved.

Special notes go out to XBLA, Steam, and Good old Games for putting out so much of these games that I've heard of, but not been able to play until now. You guys are awesome! Keep doing what you are doing!

~RANT ALERT~

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 launches. It breaks sales records. Within 2 weeks numerous bugs including the uber-powered rocket launcher and supply crate bugs rear their head.

Final Fantasy XIV menu navigation takes minutes to do simple tasks.

Borderlands coop online sometimes causes character level/data/money to be erased.

The examples don't stop there; there are countless giant problems with video game servers when games launch these days. Online gaming is over 10 years old now, but endless issues seem to arise when a video game goes live, despite having multiplayer betas. World of Warcraft continually releases patches and immediately must alters them with hotfixes. Clearly a developer can't be 100% sure what will happen when their game takes off and becomes live, but sometimes it seems they are a little bit lazy when such big problems are continually being brought to the surface.

A problem that may never get fixed...

Are we as gamers being too picky to developers? It takes a lot of work to make a game. Ther are so many different processes that have to take place for games such as Super Street Fighter IV to be created and hosted for hundreds of thousands to people to entertain themselves with. So many different moving pieces have to be working just right for a game to come off just right.

On the other hand we as a consumer are paying $60 for a product that SHOULD work. If it doesn't work or fixes aren't applied to the problems in a reasonable time related to the severity of the issue, then we feel we are getting gipped. Its a little bit like ordering pancakes at a restaurant and being denied the normality of syrup.

My point for bringing this issue up is that I just purchase Marvel Vs Capcom 3 on opening day, and when I got to que up for a ranked matchmaking game to throw my virtual hat in the ring, my 360 errors out and kicks me back to the menu screen. Assuming it was an error I went back and requed. After nearly 10 kick backs I gain the pleasure of playing one game. After the match (I lost of coursesighlol) I receive more errors kicking me out. I can't get into a match nearly 90% of the time. Clearly something was wrong with my system, I think, but when I google my error, tons of players are having this issue. The ranked matchmaking system is nearly unplayable in this form.

A game doesn't have to be online to be filled with bugs...

Now maybe this is a complicated issue to fix, and whether it is complicated enough that Capcom should have spotted before release I may never know, but when glaring hole problems like this happen with any game I would like developers to at least acknowledge the problem and say they will be working on a solution. Is that too much to ask?

Discuss.

Near the middle of last year, I found out that I was gaming the most I had ever gamed in my life. However, I seemed to be less satisfied while playing than ever. I would play video games for long periods of time and not really have any fun. A strange problem for me to be sure, since I was a HUGE lover of gaming and the gaming community.

Why I would not make a good video game tester:

I was looking at games through the wrong perspective. Different people have different playstyles. Gaming is a hobby as relevant or irrelevant as any other hobby such as watching sports or reading a book, and just like with those hobbies, there are different types of gamers.

The more I played, the more I realized I was trying to play games the wrong way. I was currently heavily playing World of Warcraft, and I realized that I was grinding so much to try and have gear that was able to compete with my friends, that I wasn't actually having ANY fun at all. This was when my World of Warcraft playing started changing, and declining, and when I once again became a true gamer.

Don't get me wrong, I love World of Warcraft still, and its a great game, but someone can't call themself a gamer if they try and play a game in a way that isn't true to their own personality. When I slowly weened myself off of WoW, I began to play other games, and played them differently. Instead of trying to max everything out as fast as possible, I would take my time if I found something that I really enjoyed. If I wanted to see the story progress, I would hurry through the game to see the story, but if I had fun with a certain minigame, I would just play the mini game everyday during my playtime.

Once again, I slowly started loving gaming again! I was playing video games to have fun instead of letting the game play me and suck all my fun away!

My collection also is a little different. Instead of merely looking at just the single-player games that look awesome, I have been buying games that are great for co-op so I can play with my brother, or my friends. The result is my new outlook on video games, they are just entertainment, but really good at what they do :-)

I recently read a soapbox article on this site about video game addiction, which is a very real thing despite what some people try and tell you. I believe that to a point, I had fallen into a certain type of gaming addiciton, and the freedom is amazing!

All of this said, as much as I like gaming, I will never be the master at any one game. My friends will all probably be able to own me at MW2 forever, and I will definitely never be the best at any Halo game, but I'm now having fun again. I also love to research games on Gamespot, something I've recently started doing again. Sometimes, its just as fun to follow the game's community as it is to actually play it.

This is why I would be a terrible game tester... It would take me forever to force myself through every aspect of a game in order to test it. On top of that, I would probably hate gaming period if I actually HAD to do it for a job.

Nevertheless, I love being a gamer :-)