Continuing with a line of thought that I commented to pr0 about (here), I’m rather disillusioned with this generation of games. I love the Wii as a system, and the DS has always been a good thing, but it seems like every time I get excited for something, it falls short. I can carry over that excitement for a few hours into the game, and then I just think about how I’d rather be doing other things.

Maybe it’s me. I have a job where I read all day, I have an apartment and a sick girlfriend, I have music to make, I have photos to take, drawings to doodle, museums to visit, restaurants to eat at, et cetera times infinity. I have a new city to explore.

Maybe it’s the state of gaming. The generation is turning, and developers are still growing into it. Games are generally longer and more involved than I have time for.

Whatever it is, I’m not compelled to play anymore.

The latest victim was Super Paper Mario. I was on Chapter 3-1, and I loved it so far. It’s full of great setpieces and the gameplay is rather enjoyable. However, at a point, I said “I just don’t feel like playing this.” A couple days later, the urge to play it hadn’t hit me. I took it to the Hastings by my new place (awesome store btw. good mishmash of about anything i’m interested in, retail-wise.), and traded it in and bought

wait for it

Pokemon Pearl.

Almost on a whim.

I intended to play it at some point, even just for a little bit as an homage to my high school days, and I’d heard it was a decent Pokemon game. But this idea seemed great at the time. I have no money for games (and at that, barely enough to get by after doctor’s visits and things like that), and I have a very healthy collection. I decided right then: Pokemon Pearl is going to be the last game I buy.

I know I’m not going to stick with it forever, of course. It isn’t a promise, just a threat. But I’m not going to let myself down for a while.

So far, it is a fantastic final game. I’ve been playing it at work. I caught a Shinx. It’s kind of free without being completely lost. It’s self-confident and good enough to make it work. It feels special. I’ve played 1.5 hours of it.

We’ll see!