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Best Videogames For Enthralling Non-Gamers?
Thanks to GameSpy for its article discussing the best videogame titles that appeal to those unfamiliar with gaming. The list of these 'gateway' titles, games which "...are usually quite easy to pick up and play and remain addictive", includes EyeToy: Play ("It's immensely entertaining to watch your co-workers move around ridiculously while trying to wash a virtual window or fight a virtual boxer"), Dance Dance Revolution ("sits in a strange purgatory between social awkwardness and coolness"), and The Sims ("...breaking boundaries that many thought impenetrable.")
So you mean inviting my pastor over for a few rounds of GTA: Vice City may not be a good idea?
What, you mean like someone's sister ...
If I were you, I probably wouldn't be talking about someone's sister in the same sentence as the word "impenetrable".... just kinda looks bad.
"It's better to have a gun and not need it than need a gun and not have it." ~ Christian Slater, True Romance
Gots to be Monkey Ball for non-gamers - no buttons to push (in the main game), gameplay based around simple physics - everyone knows about gravity and inertia, even if only instinctively - a great learning curve, a simple goal, intuitive control with instant feedback... and all wrapped in a great package. I bought my GameCube into work at Xmas, and one non-gaming coworker had ordered one of their own within five minutes of starting Monkey Ball. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it at all; it's a perfect game.
Having said that, try explaining the Monkey Bowling mode to a novice...
"Okay, there'll be a bouncing line - don't press A yet, or... okay, you pressed it, no problem - there's the line. You have to stop it in the middle. Just press A.... you've only got a few seconds. Don't panic! Right, you've stopped it at the side, you'll start rolling in a second or so - you'll need to spin in the opposite direction. Use the shoulder button. No, the shoulder button. Before you cross that line! Oh, see, you span the wrong way. Your monkey's dead."
(Trying to explain it beforehand is even worse, by the way).
and every single one of her friends all hate anything to do with a video game. That was until I screwed up by going out and renting Crash Bandicoot for the X-Box. Now every night when I get home from work ready to play a little MechAssult online, I have to fight with my girlfriend and all of her friends in order to get any gameplay. So I would say that Crash Bandicoot would fall into the 'easy to play video games'.
HaHaHaHaHa