Keeping it simple

When did games get so complicated?
Honestly, I don't know, that's why I'm asking. It's not been a recent thing, that's for sure...but over the last several years it's gotten worse. It's not just playing the games themselves that has gotten complicated, though they certainly have. Even before one can start a new game, there is the matter of installation, of patches, of DLC, whether or not multiplayer is good or not. Once a game is installed to the hard drive, has been patched to fix numerous glitches, you make sure you have the latest DLC, and you have good connection with no lag in multiplayer, THEN you can enjoy your new game. Once you get used to the control scheme on the gamepad after re-reading the instruction manual twice (if the game even comes with one.)
This is why am very leery of jumping into the very deep waters of this current console generation and enjoy splashing around in the shallows of the last console generation, to take the beach metaphor a little too far. Plus there are sharks (teenagers very adept at head shots and swearing) in those deep multiplayer waters. (Ok, definately too far.)
Video games, in the beginning, were simple in nature and content. They had to be, of course, the tech was just not there. Yet since they were simple, pretty much anyone could play and enjoy them, as long as their reflexes were not shot to hell. I believe gaming in the beginning was pretty much all casual, pretty much pick and play:simple. Unfortunately this simplicity made video games seeming only for kids, a misconception that has dogged the industry to this day with the government trying to keep mature rated games out of the hands of the young and impressionable while also trying keep them out of hands of those old enough to play them! But that is a rant for another day.
Anyway, I was thinking about how video games have gotten complicated in that I often have to restart a game, and usually read the manual again, if I want to go back to a game I have not played in a while. Granted, I think my memory is already getting spotty in my early forties, and I often jump from one game to the next willy-nilly, so that when I come back to an older game, I wonder 'why am I standing here? What should I be doing? Who is that guy and how do I shoot him in the head'?(come to think of it, I often do that at home, minus the shooting part of course.)
Ever wonder why ipad, iphone and independent games are so popular now? Because they take simple, back-to-basic approaches to gameplay. Easy and fun. Granted, these games cost in the 5 to 10 dollar range, while a new console game is 60 dollars new. One would want a lot gaming for that much money...but does it have to be so complicated?
Maybe it does. Gaming has been around for about 30 years, and in those years, the technology that enables one to interact with the television (or computer, or phone, or handheld, or pad) screen has evolved incredibly. Maybe the technology has surpassed me, and I should just stop gaming.
Nahhh. I love my hobby too much.
I know I will jump into the deep waters one day. I will either sink, or I will swim.
It's as simple as that.

Knees and JRPGs

Sorry I have not blogged in while, my wife just had major knee replacement surgery, which she has been wanting to get for a while. We wanted to make sure insurance paid for it, which it seems it will. Two accidents severly damaged her right knee, and arthritus destroyed what was left. The knee has been caused her considerable pain for years; so the operation is a very good thing. The flip side is that it may take a while for her to walk on her own, and she will need some rehabilatation. The knees are the most important joints in the body after all!
After this I am going to get myself checked out, as I have pain in the left side of my back, shoulder, and hip. I think it may be crushed spinal nerves, kinda afraid to find out. Getting old sucks!!
In the meantime, I have been playing Atelier Iris:The Azoth of Destiny on the PS2. I love this game so much I want to give it a hug! Great sprite graphics, wonderful combat, good story...the kind of JRPGs they don't really make anymore. Plus it's fun finding recipes and making stuff using alchemy. This game is both fun AND funny, and better yet I also have the sequel, AI 3:Grand Phantasm. Now if I can just find the first game...
Anyone else enjoying a sweet JRPG?