OMG! This game is SO HARD!!!

[2D Brain]

I love a good challenge in a good game, but I don't specifically choose games based on difficulty. I don't enjoy masochism in games without polish and reward, and I don't find any reason to play anything that might as well be, or would be better as a movie.

I really think the industry's constant endeavor towards casual cinematic experience stems from assembly line style development that never meditates on the language of gaming. They know only the bluntness of tutorials and the design sensibilities of television and film. Follow an established archetype, don't bother to develop it as a self evident piece of interaction, and assume every game is someone's first game. It's stagnant and it's one dimensional.

There is a place for the $15 impulse-buy world but it doesn't belong everywhere. The concept of modern Dragon's Lair with no game over is an orthodox marketering agency's dream and their audience is a TV audience. They're like Mad Men in the cigarette days trying to make tampons that can be smoked. Journey did most of it right, concerning approchability, and plenty will do it wrong because it recieved so many accoldes... way wrong