The Last Games You'd Play? 529
Rigor Morty asks: "I am an older man (44), an avid fan of video games, and I am faced with a problem; my hands are becoming arthritic as I get older. I fear I will soon have to completely give up the console games I have loved over the years. To that end, let me ask the Slashdot Nation — if you were going to give it up, what games would you insist on playing before you had to quit? I'm willing to make some effort to do this, and spend some cash; I will buy the new consoles if I need to, or try to find obscure titles."
Think outside the xbox. (Score:5, Insightful)
Advanced Gaming (Score:4, Insightful)
Depends on the type of games you enjoy (Score:2, Insightful)
[And if you don't want arthritis, (1) give up meat and (2) improve your elimination -- I take senna leaves daily.]
Go out gracefully (Score:3, Insightful)
The first game you played? (Score:4, Insightful)
Playing the first game you played last at least seems poetic. Nostalgia may help for a pleasant send-off.
For me, though it I'd want to play the original Super Mario Bros for the NES. First game and first console I owned.
More info (Score:5, Insightful)
Generally, if neither hand controllers like traditional joysticks nor shoulder-and-elbow controllers like the Wii suit you, then persistant speed-driven games and twitch games are pretty much out. No more tetris, no more street fighter, no more heli attack. On the other hand, timing based games like You Don't Know Jack and Jeopardy are largely unaffected, if you can type. Most turn based games - not just civilization, but traditional games like chess and poker, untimed puzzle games like bejewelled and bookworm, puzzles like sudoku and crosswords, et cetera.
It's more productive to ask which games are removed, and then to just look at a game catalog or a game site, than it is to ask which games are left. All of the console manufacturers have lists of games on their websites. The internet game sale sites have lists, too, unsurprisingly. Look for games which work with input devices you can still use - mice, keyboards, the microphone, et cetera. If you can use the joystick in some situations but not others, figure out what those situations are. Sure you can't play Tekken anymore, but is that because these two specific fingers are hurting, or all of them? What about your wrists? Can you play Wii Sports? There's only one button press anywhere in Wii Sports, namely letting go of the bowling ball.
The disease you have is terrible, but it's also very different for different people. There are a lot of games that are probably still open to you, but until we know what you can and cannot do, as well as what you do and do not enjoy, we can't give you good advice.
I feel for you, man. It's awful. I'm starting to feel it; I'll be where you are in five, maybe ten years if I'm lucky. There are a lot of games left for you, but you get any five people in the room and you're lucky to find two games in common. We need more data.
Heh. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Depends on the type of games you enjoy (Score:1, Insightful)
Prolonged use of senna has been reported to cause:
chronic diarrhea causing excessive electrolyte and nutrient loss,
worsened constipation after senna withdrawal (laxative dependency),
enlargement of the ends of the fingers and toes, and
pigmentation of the colon.
http://www.drugs.com/mtm/senna.html [drugs.com]
Games I would want to play (Score:2, Insightful)
Katamari Damacy (PS2)
Lego Star Wars (Various)
Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1)
Final Fantasy 7 (Various)
If you're partial to older consoles (and in particular, RPGs):
Secret of Mana (SNES)
Chrono Trigger (SNES)
Final Fantasy 6 (SNES)
Contra (NES) [Not an RPG]
You seemed to specify console gaming. If you somehow haven't yet had the opportunity to play first person shooters on a computer, that is also something I would suggest you do. I'd personally suggest Half-Life. Starcraft and Diablo are also notable computer games (not first person shooters, though). "Must play computer games" is really a whole nother can of worms, though.
You didn't really say what kinds of games you like (Score:4, Insightful)
Additionally, you haven't described the limitations of your medical issue.
Firstly if you like playing games, why stop? Is it only the button mashing games that you like? There are so many games that you don't need to stop playing. Just find something you enjoy that doesn't aggravate your condition.
Second, forget consoles. They are more likely to cause CTS or other issues than support a medical issue. Go PC. Just PC. Unlike consoles, PCs have hundreds of interfaces designed for everything from people with disabilities through to being ergonomic to support sufferers of similar ailments. Even without knowing what your issue is, if you can move a part of your body, you can buy something for a PC that lets you emulate mouse and keyboard.
PCs cost more, and you'll need to aim high for a games box, but the disadvantage of consoles is that they are designed with a difficulty level around the controller for normal people. This is something you clearly are not (by your own admission). So if you already have problems, then why waste it playing games on a controller designed for hands without medical issues.
Also, use the benefits of age. If you don't want to mash buttons, play more adventure games, where reaction time isn't critical. And when you play action games, choose games where you can play in a way that suits you.
As an example - consider BF2 for the PC. Even if you were nearly crippled, you could still play commander online, without any difficulty at all... Just with a voice interface alone. No keyboard or mouse. Of course, you'd probably want a Push To Talk button set up for your headset, although you could just use VOX. And if you want to get into the action, play sniper... Just sit, wait and take your time on each shot.
Additionally, for flight sims, you can use full size controllers... Joysticks. No rapid movement needed there. If you can still drive a car, you can use a wheel interface. Again, nothing complex there. (And Wheel interfaces are available on most consoles.)
But as I mentioned, console games tend (though not always) be designed around the console controller and controller limitations to provide an element of difficulty. PC games are designed around a keyboard that no two people seem to have the same one of, mouses that vary from house to house and the odd USB connected device that someone bought on special. The only thing left for PC game designers to challenge is your mind.
Avoid games that require precise timing and button mashing. They cause issues for those older players amongst us that don't have arthritis too!.
Finally, don't take the attitude of playing games quickly while you still can. That's pessimistic and you're setting your own limitation. Work to enjoy games for as long as you live and while you still enjoy them. For most of us, that's as long as we live.
Anyway an opinion. I'm not that far of where you say your are. I am starting to feel something in my fingers that I suspect is the onset of age. But unless I end up so crippled I can't live a normal life anymore, I don't ever think I'll stop playing games, and often I remind myself they are one of the few things I can still enjoy even if I do.
GrpA.
Re:Think outside the xbox. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:What about fingering your wife's vagina? (Score:1, Insightful)
~Rebecca
Surely you jest! (Score:1, Insightful)
You make it sound like 100 hours is a long time.
Kid, I've spent more time on Civ in one sitting.
Don't you have some homework to do?
Re:Dance Dance Revolution (Score:3, Insightful)
Hold on there Nic. (Score:4, Insightful)
I won't bore you with all the injuries I've suffered in my life from sports to Vietnam to the fire service or tell you about my arthritis or skin cancer and other minor problems. I will tell you that I am a month and a few days shy of 62, I run 6 miles every other day, surf whenever I can get to an ocean and I can sport a nice rod just thinking about shanking my neighbor's girlfriend; I'd never do that because he is a brother firefighter....on the other hand......
Sorry to get off on a tangent. My point is, you can not let pain or the disability that comes with older age rule your life. It can be overcome with spirit and determination.
Re:this has got to be (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm 41 and I know that if I agree that 44 is old then I will be paying for it in three years time. The fact is that this has little to do with age. I am in better shape than I was when I was 20 and I plan to be in better condition by 60.
The poster may have an overuse injury or an illness which could strike at literally any age. In my case I worked around my hand problems by changing to a left handed mouse when I was ~30. It did wonders for me. I have met people who use age as an excuse not to engineer around their problems, because then you can't do anything about it.
I want to be shot dead at the age of 100 by a jealous husband - Robert Anson Heinlein
Change what you eat, drink more fresh water. (Score:3, Insightful)
That way you can be dealing more directly with the arthritis, which may allow you to game for much longer.
Eat everything as fresh as possible. Start with more calcium (dodge meat, the calcium & acid ratios suck). Sulfur-containing foods are helpful (asparagus, eggs, garlic, & onions) as they help calcium assimilation as well as repair in general, as is fresh pineapple for the bromelain in it. Stick to green, leafy vegetables, oatmeal, whole grains (especially for the Vitmain K). Add potatoes, lots of veggie juice, bananas, food with histidine (wheat, rye, rice), & some vitamins (B-12 & C, at least).
Avoid milk, fatty foods, salt, caffeine, anything really hot, tobacco, sugar & of course avoid meat as much as possible, since they all do nasty things to arthritic suffering. It helps to view arthritis as a class of diseases instead of just one way of suffering; what you’re trying to do here is axe the whole class.
If you can do that, a lot more than the games will benefit, but they’ll be amongst the first.
Re:Me..? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:You, sir, are obviously not a gamer. (Score:1, Insightful)
Deadly Shadows is a good game. The only problem it had was that the developers made sacrifices so that it could be released on consoles as well. The main sacrifice being large levels. There's way too much damn loading between the areas.
games (Score:1, Insightful)
IKARUGA for dc/gamecube
CASTLEVANIA symphony of the night and rondo of blood
DIABLO
BALDURS GATE
HALF LIFE 2
SYSTEM SHOCK 2
SILENT HILL 2
BANJO KAZOOIE
upcoming games: hellgate london, bioshock, banjo kazooie 3, spore,
My recommendations (Score:1, Insightful)
2. Oblivion
3. Fable: Lost Chronicals
4. Doom 3
5. F.E.A.R.
6. Final Fantasy X
7. Gears of War
Basically all the games that I myself would want, and do want, to replay. The numbers just denote the order I thought them up in and doesn't reflect my actual ranking.
Happy Playing.
Re:You, sir, are obviously not a gamer. (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm 40 and have had consoles since the Odyssey [classicgaming.com], probably before you were born.
Unlike yours, my reply had some reason to it: the submitter is 44 and mentioned arthritis. The games I suggested are quite involved, give a lot of game play for the $ and don't require extensive hammering of the controller thus saving his hands. You could probably suggest some fighting games for him but his hands would be crippled in a few weeks.
Re:What about the Wii? (Score:2, Insightful)
Basically, what I'm trying to say here is that if you suffer from any kind of condition like this, SEE YOUR DOCTOR. If you don't get satisfactory answers, get another opinion. (I went through 3 doctors trying to get diagnosed.) Get a referral to a rheumatologist (or the appropriate specialist for your condition). I've talked to many people that are afraid to go to a doctor, despite the fact that there is obviously something wrong with them.
To keep this rant a bit more on topic, I picked up a Wii, and I've found it to be the most comfortable gaming I've ever done. Instead of sitting hunched over a controller bending my hands into strange configurations to hit all the buttons, I can recline on the sofa and keep my hands in the most comfortable position - and even change that position if I get tired the way I was.
Good luck!
Re:Think outside the xbox. (Score:3, Insightful)
If you think going outside is so terribly dangerous, you've probably been intimidated from watching too many Hollywood movies like Jaws, i.e., you don't have any real experience of outdoor life, and start believing what you see on your precious TV. Truth is, if it was so dangerous out there, there wouldn't be any humans left on the planet now.
For what it's worth here's what I'd go with... (Score:2, Insightful)
First person shooter where you actually have to think, well researched an politically revelant and deep plot. It's also trying to make a point, it's not just gaming for the sake of gaming. The only computer game I've played that approaches good literature.
Rez (Dreamcast/PS2)
On the rails shooter, perhaps one of the most beautiful games ever and also conveys something beyond it's simple mechanic.
Shenmue 1 and 2 (Dreamcast)
Perhaps not as deep as DeusEx or Shenmue but a nice story and well executed. And hay, most expensive video game ever made. At least it was at the time.
Ico (PS2)
Beautiful, really beautiful.
Really it totally depends who you are and what you like, if I could only play one of these games again before I died it would probably be DeusEx.
Deus Ex (Score:3, Insightful)
1) Deus Ex. The original (NOT Deus Ex 2) For PC, probably the best game I ever played and although it's six years old I still play it once a year. It's been superseded in graphics, but not in depth of the story.
2) Oblivion, Xbox 360. Since I got this two months ago I haven't played anything else. It allows you to pause during fights so you can pick spells, change weapon,etc., so you dont have to be Quick draw McGraw on the controls.
3) Half Life 2.
4) Tron 2.0. Probably the most colorful game you will ever play. And it's fun too!
Re:Think outside the xbox. (Score:4, Insightful)
Insightful??
Did nobody consider that rock climbing with early onset arthritis, would be a pretty fucking seriously extreme sport?!
Re: Chess (Score:2, Insightful)
"I didn't play Qc5 so you could take it. J'Adoube, I adjust. I was *trying* to play Qc8 mate."
Problem is, Despite Silvio Danailov's antics, all these classic board games apparently aren't flashy enough to compete with the subject of all the other posts here.