Being an avid gamer since age 8, I can say that at a younger age, the games were more about fun an amazement.When getting older, playing Tiger-Heli just to prove that the game goes into an infinite loop, and how humorous that is. From there, you learn how fun it is to be competitive, and how to talk trash among friends, but keeping the comradery, with Golden Eye or Quake.

When do you realize what type of game you're in to? I find myself nowadays looking for games that can offer me the longest amount of play time to money spent = long story or replay value. If I hear/read/watch a review, or a story from a friend and the length of time it took them to finish the game, and its under 6-8 hours, I'm not dropping $60 bucks(x360) on that. I read my fair share of information on the games that seem interesting, and look at all the lastest trailers for most of them, and wait with bated breath, an occasionally I'll find a gem. I can usually find 1 out of 5 games I buy has replay value at that.

I mean seriously, have the first three Mario Bros. games ever lost their replay value? Mario Bros. even had probably one of the least intreging stories in gaming history,but to this day, if its in reach, I still get a kick out of it. When you were a kid, you never knew he was a plumber, or italian for that matter. It was all about jumping holes, dodging fireballs, run to the end of the level, and kill King Koopa(and why was there always a carefully placed axe at the end of each bridge.. hmm).

I suppose when you're spending your own money on games, instead of your parents, it brings a whole different point of view into your buying sense. I've staved off from buying so many games as well as systems or handhelds lately, cause I just can't push myself to spend the money on it, when I know or at least feel it won't have any replay value for me.

Anytime I see developer interviews, its about pushing the hardware for the system, and check out this great mechanic that seemlessly is really useless. Where's the mindless obstacles, and insane amount of fun packed into 8-bit graphics? I suppose I'm just not as easy to seduce into games as I used to be.

I'm curious to know if anyone else has a similar or completely opposite view on this.;)