In appreciation of games that are only as long as they need to be
Insert Penis Joke Here
Tucked away in Joe Keiser’s review of South Park: The Stick Of Truth was a mention of the game’s (approximate) runtime. This quickly led to some commenters dusting off a classic video game conversation topic: judging a game’s merit based on price relative to length. Although plenty of people were down on Stick Of Truth’s 15-hour length, the shorter games defense force made some darn good points. (Since when is 15 hours short? Yeesh.) DL, for one, has learned to embrace shorter trips:
The $60 price is certainly a challenge, but once I reached a certain point in my game collecting, I found that I was repeatedly investing way less than 15 hours in $60 games and leaving them to collect dust unfinished, my satisfaction unfulfilled. I’m willing to purchase this game at full price knowing that I have a chance to enjoy it in its entirety, allowing me to move on to the myriad other titles I want to play but struggle to make and find time to complete.
Gone Home was a wake-up call for me after many years of trying to find my way back in to video gaming. I found that I could more effectively commit my time to complete a game if I knew it was manageable over a few days. For Gone Home, I had three nights of entertainment for the price of one night out at the movies, and now I have a complete story to remember, discuss, and relish. If I extend that out over a couple of weeks with Stick Of Truth, its value is a bit lower in “cost per hour,” but I know I’ll be getting every penny invested into the game out of it.
Duwease weighed in as well:
To be honest, we are in a golden age of affordable gaming, where time is the premium resource over money. (This is especially true for myself, a father.) “60 HOURS OF GAMEPLAY!” now reads more like a threat than a treat. It’s basically informing me that, if I want to encounter the interesting parts and finish the plot, there’s going to be an awful lot of repetitive tasks that I’m going to be doing in between.
I get why it persists, though. When paying full price, most of us still regard length as value, despite the quality (although 15 hours of fun for $60 is still well above the curve for entertainment value). And that padding is relatively cheap for the developer. Fetch quests, collectibles, and reskinned enemy encounters are a lot cheaper to churn out after the heavy lifting is done on the important events. But I do hope we perhaps turn the corner one day and realize that going home tired and bloated from binging on quantity at a cheap buffet isn’t quite as rewarding as simply sating your hunger on a meal where every bite was appreciated.
It’s All Part Of Growing Up
Matt Kodner reported from the multiplayer games showcase of IndieCade East, an annual games festival held in New York City. One of the games on display was Tenya Wanya Teens, a bizarre game about adolescence and farting on skunks from the creator of Katamari Damacy. Tenya Wanya uses a custom controller that’s constantly trying to trip you up. Mr. Martini found the controller metaphor to be particularly apt and had some advice for youngsters: