Well said. When I was a kid there nothing like my first experiences playing NES, Super NES, N64, PS, PS2, and of course all of the classic Arcade games. I remember going to the pizza place and playing the table top Pac Man, what a rush. I remember struggling for ages to beat Megaman X4, the final fight with Sigma was a nightmare, lol. Now you can just choose easy mode, get a super weapon via DLC, and there's not even a challenge anymore. It's funny, but in a way games like Mega Man 9 are a breath of fresh air in an industry dominated by easy games without character. It takes more than just fun game play to pull me into a game, it needs character, power, something unique. I don't play a game over and over again for just the game play.
Sorry, I'm getting OT, lol. It's just.. I remember getting the first Game Boy and just spending hours playing it, fully immersed and captivated. I can still go back and play Final Fantasy II and have a ton of fun. My first year at college, this punk was really into World of Warcraft.. and that was the first time I stopped and realized gaming wasn't a small thing anymore, it didn't matter if you played them or not, b/c now almost everyone does. At least I know one thing though, a casual gamer won't have any platinum trophies on PSN!
Gaming has changed a lot since PS2. I walked away from it for awhile, b/c I wasn't sure about the games. They didn't seem as interesting as they used to be. I'm glad I got back into though, you just have to dig harder for the good games than you used to. At the end of the day you're right, this represents the separation between hardcore and casual gamers, at least to a certain degree I think. All of the memories I have of playing RE2, the memories of how afraid I was, of the character Ada Wong.. there are very few gaming experiences since then that compare. You had to be there to get it, to not be spoiled by what has come since to really get it I think. I don't what I'm trying to say here really, lol, but you guys go ahead and be upset, I could care less. We're finally a getting good Ada Wong figure, one of the only Ada Wong figures, and I won't deny it's imperfections, and it's amazing. No one can spoil that for me and the others here who have waited for something like this.