Look at Oblivion to Skyrim for example....gaming is being dumbed down and in some cases screwing over loyal fan bases to gain a bigger audience when in the end it won't matter.

I don't play games to be frustrated or to challenge myself overly much; I buy them for and adventure and escape from daily real life frustrations.

So I want a mildly challenging experience that is fun.

For this reason I have avoided (reluctantly) great games like Demon's Souls.

I don't get a great deal of satisfaction from passing difficult areas...I get relief.

Ok the article is good and guy knows his gaming but one has to wonder, he part of the editorial team of a gaming site and he just now bought a PS3?

Not sure about you but ps3 has been a big part of this gen and if I was working for a gaming website it would only be appropriate to own that piece of this ging gen.

I don't work for a gaming site and yet I have every console ( except the wii U )

It is for me...I'm just a gaming stud like that. ;)

Killzone 2 on elite is one hell of a challange.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

The Lion King game is harder than anything that came out this gen.

Well... I'm not looking for a challenge. I play a game for fun.

Halo 4 had a good difficulty. But i really miss those early N64 games type of difficulty. It's not the fact that gameplay has become easier to master, but it's more that games tend to hold you in the hand by telling you exactly what to do to complete your goal. If you're getting stuck trying to solve a puzzle, the games give you obvious hints about where to go next.

I hate how coreographed games have become. Full of setpiece moments that most people seem blinded by, because of how big in scale they are, but they seem to miss the fact that most of these moments are basically a cutscene playing out ingame, and the player can't really interact with it in a genuine way.

At least these scripted moments never seem to occur dynamically. I'm obviously hinting at CoD, Uncharted and all the other franchises that try to rip these franchises off. The latest addition is Dead Space 3 which is seemingly completely ignorant of where it has its roots.

What baffles me is the Assassin's Creed franchise. This franchise has been played by millions and millions for years. They have become adapted to parkour, combat, etc. However, they haven't been offered an additional challenge in the way of difficulty settings - which would solve all the problems.

Sleeping Dogs had adaptive AI - I'd think as a developer you'd at least try something like that. I just hope difficulty settings are a continued practice and implemented into Watch Dogs and new AC titles.

Have games gotten easier? Yes. But have they gotten too easy? Nope.

There are tons of games out there that are considered insane on their highest difficulty. Try Halo Reach with 4 players on Legendary. Or the Destroyer from Borderlands 1 DLC with 4 players. What about the Resistance games on Superhuman or Gears of War on insane?

Games these days give you the options for easier settings, but they still do have the hardcore difficulties that you're looking for. But to be honest, why would you want it that hard anyways? Like to the point where you constantly die and struggle to the next checkpoint? That doesn't seem fun. I find it more engaging when the game is challenging but not overly cheap to the point where I'm dying every 10 steps.

The games that were really hard 20 years ago lacked in content. The original Contra takes only 30 minutes to beat

go play the jetski level on battletoads for SNES thats all i have to say about this subject

Really? Back in the late 1980's early 1990's, most games could be completed in 1 to 2 hours. And this was in spite of the questionable design choices that made the games hard where cheap deaths and limited continues were common.

<Campaigns are being hastily completed in four to five
hours, when the norm used to be around ten to fifteen.>

people have lives, who on earth has the time to play really difficult games eg dead space really,three saves

Yeah... I only found 3 games to be difficult this whole gen. Demon souls, Dark souls, and dragons dogma. Most games now give you an in depth tutorial as if you've never touched a game. Also alot of games now focus much more on story then challenging and rewarding gameplay. Game movies usually sell better than game games though, so it's what we're going to be seeing more of.

I definitely think that games are easier today, but I also think this is a good thing for the gaming industry in the long run because it makes the entire medium a lot more accessible.

Hardest MP this gen goes too MAG.Hardest SP goes too God of War 3......

Right now i'm playing Demon's Souls (thx for the tips from N4G members) and UC3 in crushing mode. Demon's Souls...well...i died a lotttt xD (just beat Dragon God [WTF! dat fists!] and Adjucator. But those ghost like enemies with the flying manta in Shrine of Storm are sooo anoying xD). But i really like this game. It's been a while since i play a hard & challenging games like Demon's Souls. Last time i died a lot when i'm playing Ninja Gaiden (trilogy in SNES and Sigma).

And for Uncharted, i don't know why but i felt UC2 crushing mode is harder than this. But maybe my gaming skills are increased.

As for the articles, gaming this days are about acessible for all type of gamers, including the casual ones. That's why games like Demon's Souls / Ninja Gaiden are becoming very rare. But i'm not against games that isn't challenging as Demon's Souls / Ninja Gaiden. It's about balance i think and hardcore gamers require games that removed the stress from dying a lot after playing games like Demon's Souls ^^

i'd have to agree. the first time i played through the first Assassin's Creed. there was some learning curve involved. over time you tend to master the controls, and eventually come AC3, i admit that up to now i've been dragging myself just to complete the game. not because it's hard, in fact it's become too easy for me. too easy that i've somehow become bored with it. i'm just playing it now to follow the storyline; part of the gameplay is exciting but overall, i just find it too easy.

same thing for shooters like COD (referring to single player campaign only, since multiplayer is player-controlled). yes, once in a while you end up dead, but the "challenge" aspect is mediocre; it's practically the action and visual flair that keeps you going at it.

That's right, there is nothing as hard today as Space Invaders or Asteroids was.. :)

The Cave is a bit easy, to easy i supose.

Too much hand holding nowadays. It's like developers think that we, gamers, are getting older and dumber.

the problem for me isn't the difficulty levels. . Games have become stale. . There are only very, very few games that are worth playin' anymore. .

Consoles never made games easy.

HALFLIFE 2 is the easiest game I've ever played. Even on hard it's a breeze.

HL1 was the better game with worse graphics.

I feel that games are becoming easier because my personal skill level have increased. Unfortunately, Developers don't try to scale difficulty with player age. Most games maker assumes we are teenagers with teenagers skill level for maximum accessibility to the audiences. Even the highest difficulty level is scaled and measured by a teenager limits. For a player with 10+ or 20+ years of gaming, the difficulty is a joke. In other words, "been there, done that".

The highest difficulty should cater to someone with years of gaming and have seen it all. Sadly, that is mostly not the case.

I think the 2 biggest problems with games nowadays that make them easy are

1. Tons of checkpoints

and

2. Regenerative health (Worst idea ever)

I find it funny how many people gave up on the MoHF remake due to the lack of these, claiming it was too hard. Personally I had no problems adjusting to the more cautious approach.

I play to relax if its frustrating i trade it and dont look back no more grinding hard levels for me.

Some easy games are fun, some easy games are not
Some difficult games are fun, some difficult games are not.

I could care less whether its easy or difficult. Is the game any GOOD is all I care about.

But.....to each his own.

I don't understand why "hard" difficulties can't be.... you know.... hard?

The only explanation I can think of is that its because of the trophy whores that don't want to do the effort. Personally I LOVED the 10k kill trophy in Resistance, it actually felt earned unlike a majority of my other trophies. People don't like earning them though.

I started playing a lot again and I'm putting games on hard and most of the time I have to check to make sure because its too easy.... even on hard it still holds your hand through it all.

I'm not saying make things frustrating by throwing 50 guys at you, constant grenades, or random spawns behind you. However actually forcing you to think of a strategy is fun. Max Payne 3 was actually rather hard on the upper difficulties, I was stunned by it.

Of to agree with games getting easy but ninja g was pretty hard.

Dark Fantasy with some horror elements.

Gothic Horror - “the battle between humanity and unnatural forces of evil (sometimes man-made, sometimes supernatural) within an oppressive, inescapable, and bleak landscape.”

eh what?

its always been a gothic horror inspired game.

not sure anyone thought different

Horror simply means fear, shock, and disgust. I felt all of those things my first time seeing the Gaping Dragon.