Also, when Aeris dies in FF7 I felt really lost.

And when YOU die in Modern Warfare 1, victim of helicopter fall because it was hit by a nuclear bomb, it was an impressive experience. You die. And thats final.

@Rotondi I have the same line of thought of your previous self. I'll try hardcore mode more. Thank you for sharing your experience.

Great post Tom. Delightful reading and great points.

I loved Dark Souls mainly because of its dificulty. Every step was meaningful. Every skeleton were supposed to be treated as an dangerous foe. I couldnt finish Gears of War 3 cause it was no fun. I didnt have to do anything, my AI comrades would kill them all for me.

Videogames became so close to movies that made it lose its inner point: gameplay. Chris Crawford once said: "Its not a movie, its not a book, its a game", and infinite saves/lives takes most of the fun away. I've skipped the new XCOM, but now i got interested.

@Biggs613 Dark Souls is my favorite game for the last 4 years (since Dead Space 1). And the comunity behind it is amazing.

@zekepliskin Totally agree. I'd add to that list the comunity. After all, you have friends and game-buddies that are only available by Xbox Live. And the energy that you should invest to switch plataforms and get 60 bucks/year really does not worth it. And Microsoft knows their market.

I agree. Actually the problem is not the money, or the act of paying, its receiving what the biggest competitor offers for free. If it was a REAL premium service, like most freemium services on the web, it would be ok to pay that.

And I just can't move to ps3 since I bought lots of content in XBLA and dozens games for the plataform.

I read the whole Dark elf trilogy and starting on Cristal Shard. He is a terrific writer.

Dark Souls brings me back to the old gaming days, like you said. Mentally challenged. Games nowaday just keep you in a confortable position to enjoy the experience... more like a toy than a game.