My current opinion.

[iloveannie]

Has Halo 2 been a nail in the coffin? Metroid 2, POP2, can't think of any others, can't be bothered to think of any others. Oh GTA:SA. That's another one.

I feel like my gaming desires are slipping away. It could be the Strat my wife bought me for Christmas or just that post-festive lull. Last night I had a game of Halo with my mate (he's just bought broadband) and to be honest I had so little fun it was upsetting. We joined in a few other games but for me the spark was missing. FPS's online have never been a strong point for me. In fact online gaming just shows my weaknesses as a player. I'd rather play some pathetic AI anyday as at least I'll win occasionally. I like to be good at something as you get more enjoyment, but I don't have time to sit in front of my telly all day. I'd get frustrated and feel I was wasting time for one thing.

But to go back to my vague point, I have no desire to purchase any sequels at the moment. I took San An' back after a week as I just knew I couldn't be arsed to put in the time. Funny because I had no choice when playing VC. It just dragged me in by the balls and I'd sit in the gaming void till the early hours.

Prime was the same. So absorbing but never got past 50% as I just got stuck. Do I really want to play the same thing again when, from what I hear, the bosses are just as hard? It's a lot of money to waste.

Prince of Persia appears to be combat based. I hated the combat in the first but loved the world I was in and the way I could move within it. ?9.99 would see it appear on my shelf.

And so I find myself with a silly amount of games that sit there hoping to be worth something one day. My nipper has her DS but I'm not really jealous. I did buy it after all. The PSP? It can wait. It's only lovely in the way a new mobile phone is. Big rush for a month and then every ****er has one.

I think I may be suffering from sequelitis. I have Resident Evil 4 on pre-order and I'm actually looking forward to that. It looks new. Something I'll enjoy.

I hate this frame of mind. Think I'll open the case.

[AllYourBase]

sequelitis can be tiresome, as much as a step forward halo 2 might have been from the word go I felt disillusioned with it and yearn for something new that isn't a tweaked and improved FPS

The DS has been a good purchase and is getting me back into small screen gaming, Along with all the innovative (well some of them) DS titles like the mario mini games I have loved returning to some GBA games on a nice backlit screeen.... metroid zero is one game I intend to play all the way through, ok so it is the ultimate in sequels, many incarinations, but I am loving it.... I haven't played GTA:SA yet, my cousin just got it and is bigging it up, I am afraid it will be a big let down for me as I really wasn't captured by vice city all that much

So here's to a new year of innovation I hope! I have high hopes for resident evil 4 and killer 7 also, bring it on!

[Paul3704]

Yeah I've been through that. You either come out of it on the other side, or you don't.

That said, I enjoyed GTA : SA so much more than Vice City. Halo 2 is a bit tiresome online, though i am enjoying Ghost Recon 2 and Outrun 2 at the moment.

[superkully]

What Paul says. Now that we're not kids any more we have many other wonderous toys to play with and gaming is just one of them.

I get into and then out of gaming over the course of the year as work, relationships and other interests take a greater or lesser amount of my time. My advice would be not to force yourself to play games for the sake of it, but take a break and come back later on in the year...

[PeteJ]

We all go through phases of liking and disliking games, I think it is only natural due to the intensity of of hobby and how we approach it (like madmen). As superkully quite rightly says, just don't force it - you're love for gaming will come back when the time is right. The more you force yourself the less you'll enjoy it, and then coming back will be even harder.

[Chadruharazzeb]

I never get bored of games. Probably because I really don't have anything better to do when I'm not in the pub.

[mid]

Well, having got San Andreas, Donkey Konga and Gradius V at Christmas, I'm pretty happy, actually. Somehow, though, I spent 4 hours (the biggest gaming session I managed all holiday) yesterday playing none of them, but OutRun 2 instead. The main telly was taken over by my Pikmin 2-playing wife, and only the XBox is hooked up to the monitor in the other room.

[MatWoods]

Know what you mean, I spent a few years playing my Les Paul instead of gaming, just for a break, as it was just not floating my boat anymore.

But she's afloat again now though courtesy of Outrun 2 (good starter for 10) and with a GAFIA (old EGM mag term - Get Away From It all) of 2 years, I'm enjoying some titles I missed and looking forward to a few new ones - Splinter Cell 3 is next.

The whole scene has changed though in the time i've had off, arcades are gone (one of my favourtie weekend pastimes) and the whole market has changed, but there is still fun to be had, you just need to avoid looking for it in a box with FIFA written on it!

Totally agree on sequelitis, but it is the way the big houses control a lot (BUT NOT ALL) of the titles - don't fix the cash cow if she ain't broke, jut clean her up and put her out in the field again.

Aaaah, that's better, now think calm thoughts!

[Ady]

I feel the same way as you do. None of the games you mention hold any interest for me whatsoever. More of the same but with slightly better visuals.

It's what they think we want though, so as long as they keep gettng bought in droves, they'll continue being bought in droves.

[charlesr]

When I went though a similar patch last year, I decided to change genres completely. Instead of playing long term games that require hours of input (RPGs, FPSs etc), I started playing arcade style shooters - perfect for pick-up-and-play. Perhaps you need to focus on a different genre for a while (choose your weapon - shooters, fighters, arcade racers whatever). You only need to play the for a few minutes to get your fix and to feel you have had a satisfying gaming session, but once you start getting good at them, you can build up the time spent on them. I got to the stage where I spent sooooo much time playing Psyvariar2, Border Down and Zero Gunner2 (mainly Psy2) that I came full circle and needed to get back into longer term games - Beyond Good and Evil was my choice and I enjoyed it immensely - far more than I would have done if I hadn't taken time off from that sort of game.
Moral - quit ya whining and do something about it.

[Neon Ignition]

I go in and out of having the attention span for games. Even with San Andreas I started to have trouble but it comes into its own in Venturas and that kept me in, now I'm on the short games till I can build up the pace for a large game again.

But don't worry, as far as Halo 2 goes, it really was because it isn't as good as is made out