Geek4ever

Remember back in the day of playing video games when you got stuck and couldn’t get any further in the game? Remember that you could generally get a cheat code for invincibility, unlimited ammo or something similar?

Now there are no cheat codes for any of the current crop of video games. Most video games will give you the invincibility or unlimited ammo feature AFTER you finish the game. Why bother? Once I have finished a video game, then its over and I am not playing it again.

Cheat codes used to be a way to make a boring or bad game fun, you could make yourself invincible and then not have to worry about the save system if you felt it frustrating. Give yourself unlimited ammo if the going gets too tough and you need the more powerful weapons.
What about video game rentals? You got an decent video game on your hands, you want to finish it, but it might be taking too long, its too hard, or you don’t have enough time. Enter in a quick cheat code and you get to see the ending of the game.

Needless to say, without cheat codes, it can mean that some games just don’t get played to the end. If I was a video game developer I would want people to see the entire storyline of my video game if it had one.

Cheat codes are great for the 2nd time through a video game as well and I can see why in some games they let you have the cheat codes after you finish, this allows you to go back and explore the game in more detail if you want to. Though whats wrong with doing this the first time through?
I wonder how movies would do if you had to pass a quiz halfway through the movie to see the rest of it. Video games are a form of entertainment and when the video game requires a skill level you don’t possess, then it no longer becomes entertaining.

When I was a kid, I had all the time in the world to hone my video game skills and finish everything, now some video games I don’t even try because unless its a AAA video game, then I won’t be inclined to spend the time to master the game and finish it. Cheat codes allow me to experience a video game’s storyline if I don’t have the skill for the video game itself.

Even the old Action Replay was released for video games to help with custom cheat codes that let you do what you want. I haven’t seen any mention of the Action Replay for any of the new next generation consoles such as the XBOX 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii.

So I guess we have to come up with some other way to hone our game playing skills, maybe a geek out there will invent a way to use a video game controller for our PC keyboard in a way that hones our skills for Halo 3. This way with all the time at work I spend using the keyboard, I would be a video game master in no time. :-)

Geek out.