a game must have a story of some sort. The story is the motivator that makes the player want to keep playing the SP. Otherwise players would just want to play the MP.

A good story can make me overlook so many flaws...to a certain extent.

Very good point big_silky. If the game characters barely care about what they are doing why should I? Don't bother telling some half @$$ed story and tell me I have to care. Would rather you tell no story at all and keep silent.

Depends on the person I´d say.
Just like big_silky said I do however need a good story to keep going on through a game.

Sometimes the story is better than the actual game play. I dig immersion and a good story adds to the overall enjoyment of a game. At least to me it does.

Unless it's FPS#200,000 than yes a story does matter. In regards to the FPS genre the Half Life series, Bioshock, System Shock...that's all I can actually think of prove that a great story will help a game stand the test of time, the other half of the FPS equation is gameplay. For RPG's, adventure games (to a certain extent) need good to great stories, or at least interesting characters (At an entertaining battle system) to carry the game.

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The story is central to my evaluation of most games. Half-Life and Half-Life 2 (especially Ep 2) would not be among my favorite games of all time if they had generic space marine storylines.

I also think it's extremely important to note that, just as in books and film, a "great" story doesn't necessarily need to be convoluted or labyrinthine. It just needs to tell it's story well regardless of whether it's the Indiana Jones and pulp adventure themes presented in Hollywood blockbuster style in Uncharted 2, the minimalist but emotionally engrossing games from Team ICO, sci-fi themed adventures of Half-Life 2 or Mass Effect, the brilliant dark comedy in Portal, or convoluted political espionage drama and action of Metal Gear Solid. I'd even give kudos to simplistic games like Age of Zombies for it's hilarious one-liners and satire; comedic, lighthearted fare is also worth of praise and requires talent to do well, and it's great in this respect for what it is.

I would note that I also appreciate multiplayer action that is almost devoid of narrative such as Warhawk or Team Fortress 2, but my favorites tend to feature strong storytelling.

well in most circumstances.(whats the point in a shoot em up). Any body who has played Nier will know this. the graphics suck ass. But the story and the voice acting are some of the best I ever heard. Plus im pretty sure the voice of the evil book is the voice of Solid Snake. Game-play wise its a blast too. 1 or 2 dodgy bits but personally I thought it was Top.

Yes.

What a terrible article.

because all i want are CoD clones is what the author is all about...

while no one will play a broken game with a great story, i dont care how good the gameplay is, if the story doesnt grip me I wont continue to play it. the only real excpetion is a few multiplayer games that I only play online.

I love a great story but judging by COD sales, more people are interested in online broken MP than good storytelling. Hence the dearth of great story campaigns with this generation of games.

Depends on a game. If a game doesnt have a good story, then the gameplay better be fun as HELL. Example-Earth Defense Force 2012. But alot of the times the story gives you a reason for what you r doing, it gives u the will to play.Example-God of War, Final Fantasy X.

games are like movies right now. Company spend millions of dollars to the productions of games on this gen, and i really think that stories are more important than ever since they can do so much more than they did before...

to me a story is just as important as the gameplay. games without stories are always poorly made and only entertain you for awhile. just look at gta if all they had you do was run around with no purpose or goals to achieve the game would get old fast. the missions in gta break up the boring roaming around up. the only genres that don't need stories are puzzle, racing and games like that were you don't control a character.

hmm, it depends on what you mean by 'matter?'

It matters to people who enjoy stories.

I love games that has a good story in it
thats why i love rpg's and star wars games
Star Wars The Force Unleashed had such a great story imo that it made me overlook many flaws in the game

"The dumb are mostly just attracted by the beat of the drum"

-Wu-Tang, Killa Bees

Interpret that, and you'll see if they need a story or not

Reason I say this is because most games have a main character or even characters in them so in order for us gamers to find out about these characters, we need a, "STORY".
The only games I believe that dont need a story are arcade type games that are just built for having fun. I can say the same for alot of fps games & sports games which are mostly enjoyed online that really dont need a story to sell. I bet u anything that if call of duty or halo series didnt have a story, it would still sell as many copies as it does today because its not the story that has given these games the sales we see today, its the fact that u can just pick it up anytime of the day and enjoy them for a long time. U can also say the same for Gran Turismo Series or Madden.
But if u are going to add a story, why not make the best story u can to go along with the great gameplay instead of just tacking on an average story but amazing gameplay? It ruins it for gamers like myself who love games with a great storyline.

If its like metal gear solid you damn skipping.

try watching a movie with no sound...
@writersblock- the example alone is worthy of interpretation,let alone the hidden genius lurking within some miscreants ramblings.Nothing the 'Wu-tang' says should ever be considered worthy of interpretation.It lessens us :)

Do game stories matter? Ummmmmmmmmmm YES.

Yes and no. RPGs must have good stories but games like TF2 can get by without them being totally focused on MP.

Depends. Demon's Souls didn't have much of a story and that's my favourite game in recent memory. I normally say it does, unless all other aspects of the game are so good that you don't even think about it.

Heavy Rain matters lol xD