The Interweb and Console Gaming

Since the advent of the Xbox 360, the PS3 and the Wii console manufacturers have taken a lot of time, effort and money to develop online communities and networks. The result has been a gigantic increase in the number of games that allow online user v. user play, and also an increase in update-able games. Both scenarios vastly increase the re-play value of a game.

Games like the original Counter Strike (remember that game?) which served as only an online versus forum could be played over and over without losing their appeal because the high level of competition kept gamers coming back. Conversely, games like Burnout Paradise have a large set of updates which allow users to play both online and add new tasks/goals to the game. Both of these games have large followings of players who continue to play the same game for long periods (in some cases years) after the initial purchase date.

I personally struggle with online versus modes in games. I don't devote enough time to a game to become world class at it, and subsequently go online and punish the rest of the gaming community. I think I played Counter Strike 5 times in college. Each game consisted of a scenario like this: I stock up on ammo, I load up some great looking guns, I walk across the map and before I realize where my team is going I've either been knifed or sniped. After the fifth time of this happening I'd had enough that I simply sat and watched friends polish their skills. Halo produces similar feelings of gaming inadequacy for me. Racing games, like Burnout, aren't quite so bad. Though racing another user and having them log out just before losing is very irritating.

As a gamer I'm a huge fan of the online components of games. I don't agree that users should have to pay for the game network (take note Microsoft) when they also have to pay for a majority of the content (game updates, movies, shows, etc) but I'm still a fan. I think being online creates a great way for players to interact, make friends, keep playing older games and spend time with people that live in different areas. I use the Playstation Network as a way to talk with/hang out with old college chums who have since moved away for “real” jobs. If you don't have high speed internet at home, get it. If you do, then start using it. It's more than worth the effort for set up, and it's a great way to keep playing the games you already have, assuming of course the games you own were made to use the interweb.