Hi,
(Bapu ... some bathroom material for you! Good for your bowels!)
Some things are better than others, but the only games that are improving, seem to be the likes of WoW, EQ (though its lost its fanbase!) and maybe one or two other games out there. The guy at the Game Spot here near us, even has said that the sale of many of the games that some computer magazines love to tell you is great, is almost not worth discussing, and I asked him that if the download side of things is the part that hurts his business ... he thinks it's about 50/50 right now, as there are way too many folks that learn about the game from friends and the store and the pictures.
The best designed game, probably would be WoW, although there are portions of it that is repetitive, and you can see it, the color is the difference and the shading goes that way, instead of another way, but in general there are several issues that WoW is introducing to the game, that is disconcerting, and something that I think will be a part of the games in the future even if they are in the X-box (talk about copy!!!!).
Wow has created an intentional mouse mis-direction for your character when a mob/npc uses an AoE (area effect) and it changes your direction from 90 to 180 degrees, which means you can not do your next cast until you turn around, and no magazines are totally ripping this apart ... as inapropriate and bad code, and an intentional process to disable the abilities of each player enough for the fight to last longer ... which, of course, is a benefit to the mob/npc, not you, the player.
There are other small details that are really improper, and not checked or are left intentionally undocumented, so you have to go figure it out ... quests where the information is evasive and intentionally mis-directed ... which is OK to a point ... and fun in lower levels, but at high levels, this is not fun at all.
But perhaps, the worst of it all, is the amount of lies and mis-direction by many of the programmers themselves ... as was the situation with one guy proudly saying that Blizzard is very happy with how they setup the flying process in their new expansion, which was a continuation of many other factions and factors from the previous situation, when in the end, what he did not say was that 4 to 5 years ago, a player could BUY the flying ... and all that Blizzard did was ensure that you had to play for it ... but a kid thought it was far out that they had setup 1452 quests, so you could finally fly in this expansion!
In essence, they have turned the game over to the cheaters and the power players ... and will eventually lose the rest of the folks, just like EQ did, because the separation was horrendous, and the majority of the players could not achieve anything, including getting pieces for their epic armor, some of which would take months to drop ... no kidding! WoW might not be doing that, but they are saying that if you are not a full time, serious player, then you are not going to fly in this expansion, and if you do, you will finally get there some two expansions or 3 years behind everyone else ... you are no longer a serious player and probably will quit any time.
The hard part for me, is that I have not been able to record something, play it back on my ears, and be able to add another part to it ... and trying to get some help and someone to come over (and get paid for it) to show me, is worst than pulling teeth on an elephant, or I might as well not bother with music ... because it's become a world of geek'ery that is not interested in music ... in my days and time, this was something you shared with lots of love and affection ... but nowadays, it's become ... I know more than you and I'm not sharing my secrets ... like I would ever need any of your secrets!
Gaming, is for fun ... and something I enjoy still, and for an old foggie, it is magnificent for hand/eye co-ordination and maintaining a reasonable ability in your hands, some active movement that otherwise might not be there. But it also adds your brain, since you have to think a wee bit and then do, and this is a very good thing as you get old. I'm not saying that this does not happen in music, but I think that preventing and not helping people take their first steps in the DAW world, is about as bad as you just kicking your kid and tell him/her to go ahead and fall off the bike and get your knee scraped! I'm not helping you learn how to ride. Some kids need some help. Some kids don't.
And the gaming business is no different. And neither are the folks involved in it, anywhere else! Sonar is no different!