Gareth's Blog
May 16th, 2024

I miss being able to complete a video game in an afternoon

I was chatting with a friend recently about how we both miss the joy of being able to start and finish a video game in a single afternoon. There was just something quite satisfying about completing a game in one go in much the same way that it is better to watch a film in one go rather than watching 10 minutes a day.

For me, SEGA Mega Drive games were the pinnacle for this. You'd stick in a cartridge, turn on the power, play for a few hours, and complete the game.

I'm sure back in the day I would have loved for games to have been longer, but now I am older and have to be an adult doing adult things I don't have much time for gaming. Therefore I look fondly back on those days where completing a game in an afternoon felt like an achievement.

These days I get frustrated when I do get time to play a game as I always seem to go through the process of:

  1. Turning on the console (assuming I don't have to change the controller batteries first).
  2. Realising the HDMI cable isn't plugged in because I unplugged it to use the Apple TV.
  3. Plugging in the HDMI cable.
  4. Struggling to remember my password to log in.
  5. Waiting an age for the console to update.
  6. Spending eternity choosing what to play.
  7. Realising I cancelled Game Pass so I can't play the game I wanted without resubscribing.
  8. Resubscribing then waiting for the game to update at a glacially slow pace.
  9. Loading the game and then forgetting where it was in the game, what's going on and what I needed to do next.
  10. Getting frustrated and turning it all off (forgetting to unsubscribe from Game Pass until I get the reminder a month later that they've taken money from my account).

It all feels very disjointed. It's not exactly plug and play.

I miss the simplicity of gaming back in the early 90s but games had to be short as there was not always a way to save your progress (though you could pause indefinitely!); games cartridges didn't have a large capacity; oh, and Blockbuster typically loaned out games for 3-7 days. I mean, imagine trying to complete something like Red Dead Redemption or GTA V in 3 days!!


Don't get me wrong, I know there are short (often indie) games available and that modern games probably provide better value for money in terms of money spent vs time spent playing them but I'm just being nostalgic!