Ah... I remember when Erik Wolpaw gave this game a 4.8 and said it has terrible gameplay. This game was funny so what does he know.

(I am of course just meaning this as a sort of satire as Erik is himself very funny as well and yes he wrote dialogue for the game Portal).

I agree with you to a certain extent. I take small issue with this on Max Payne 3 actually (its one of my nit picks on it). I don't mind linearity, and some games I feel mesh the concepts well, but a lot of games are leaning to far into cinematic where its no longer a game.

I understand that there is an audience for it, and not all games do this yet (hopefully never will) but there is a lot of them.

FMV didn't die, it just went polygonal haha

@wack_joE once they make their product available to the consumer and start taking money for it, it is reviewable.

I don't really buy used games, but I agree that used games are not the problem. Bloat is part of the problem (to many games being made) as well as them trying to do to much and sometimes failing. It is kind of funny to me the ones complaining, though, are the ones who make boring/failed games. Unfortunately I am no economics professional so I have no answers to the dilemma, but I don't think used games are the problem either.

You guys make me feel old. I started First Person shooters with Wolfenstein 3-d. Half life was definitely important in the evolution of the genre though. And, If I recall, the first half life was the first attempt at a more engaging story in a FPS. I also remember being blown away by the AI ("Dude, what? Their totally talking tactics to each other!"). It's silly I know, and a mask for routines, but it was such an effective way at the time at making the enemies seem smart- something that is still lacking in some FPS' even still. Its not entirely that they were smart (although in Half Life (1), and maybe also F.E.A.R as well they kinda were smart enough) but the illusion at the time that they actually knew what I was doing and reacting to it. so mind blowing.

I comepletely disagree with Ludology, no offense to the author as this is very well written. This opens a very long and heated debate that generally boils down to "is games an art form" for which (as in all things) there are two sides. We forget to take into account everyones opinoins differ [and that doesnt make anyone wrong] (some play for the challenge others play for the story, some are into both). I believe all sides are right, in the end. Storytelling is not defined by way you get from A to B, there is no reason that cant be interactive . All that changes is the outcome of how a players sees a game in the way they played it, is what they decided to do, the story is still there. Rather then the author being the driving force and we the listeners, the author expands the story and we move the story along with our gameplay choices. None of these choices change the game so drastically the story becomes moot (unless the game is horribly designed... it has happened). They only change the way we get from one arc to the next. It makes the experience potentially different for everyone, as in good theatre everyones experience is different based on how they view it (ergo play it). Its really down to the developer to make (if their story is important) it so they define good rules to follow to maintain the well being of the story in the games world. Bleh i have more to say but no room

While the end of sega as a hardware developer, which this timeline ultimately has to portray, is a sad one in some ways, its really great to see how gaming evolves. I remember when they showed off MGS2 for the first time, or even FFVIII before that, and thinking how gaming couldnt get any better. I remember how amazing it was that you could shatter glass in MGS2 (if your unsure why that demo was so long, its because they were showing off all the thijngs you could do in that game which at the time was INCREDIBLE. I remember how a gamespot reviewer was blown away by watching ice melt in the game haha) or hold up one of the guards if you caught them unawares. When I came back from afghanistan at the time it was my intention to get PS2 and that game. Its one I was not unhappy to buy either, great game. Now we're at that point again where I just cant see how we can top where we're in in terms of innovation. When looking at the history though it kind makes you excited for the future. So much has evolved, where will it end up next time? Good memories, enjoyable read.