The Myth of the 40 Hour Game

Over at Wired, Clive Thompson talks about the myth of the 40 hour game, the typical length of time listed on the side of a game box nowadays. Mr. Thompsons discusses the ways in which that estimate fails to jive with reality. From the article: "This game offers about 40 hours of play. This is precisely what I was told by Eidos — and countless game reviewers — when I picked up Tomb Raider: Legend earlier this year. As I gushed at the time, Legend was the first genuinely superb Lara Croft game in years... I was hooked — and eager to finish the game and solve the mystery. So I shoved it into my PS2, dual-wielded the pistols and began playing... until about four weeks later, when I finally threw in the towel. Why? Because I couldn't get anywhere near the end. I plugged away at the game whenever I could squeeze an hour away from my day job and my family. All told, I spent far more than 40 hours — but still only got two-thirds through."

Comments

ok, so the game gives him MORE than promised

[jimstapleton]

and he complains?

Someone call the waaambulance.

Re:ok, so the game gives him MORE than promised

[Andrewkov]

I learned my sense of direction in Doom. To this day I always turn left when I'm in an umfamiliar building, and I always sraife to avoid any nasty surprises.

Re:ok, so the game gives him MORE than promised

[Com2Kid]

See I never realized about that entire "follow left hand wall" thing until I read a description of it in an intro CS book.

I always just got lost in mazes. o_o

My typical solution to mazes (pen and paper) was to take an ink eraser and draw myself a path to the exit. Likewise in games, I am constantly annoyed that I cannot just blow up walls.

I never saw the appeal of those flower mazes, just take the scrapes and walk through the damn bushes.

I am typically American here, my solution to most problems is to blow something up or cut something down.

I do strafe in RL though...

Re:ok, so the game gives him MORE than promised

[noidentity]

Or get him a console that's a wii bit less hard-core.

Re:ok, so the game gives him MORE than promised

[Weedhopper]

Dude, Ninja Gaiden Black was so hard, I died twice before I even opened the box!

Let's all jive now

[Hao Wu]

Perhaps if the editor played fewer video games, then he wouldn't have made such a classic ass of himself by writing: "fails to jive..."

Dude!

[Otter]

I plugged away at the game whenever I could squeeze an hour away from my day job and my family. All told, I spent far more than 40 hours -- but still only got two-thirds through.

That's because you're old and you suck. I can state that with confidence because I also am old and suck. It's a young person's world, guy.

Clearly...

[onlysolution]

This guy is just angry that he is bad at the video games

Re:Consoles & PC Time Estimates

[voice_of_all_reason]

That's because PC gamers have hax

Fixed.

Re:How long is a piece of string?

[lightspawn]

whats the time to complete for Chess anyway? I'm still working on that one.

Well, what have you managed to unlock so far?

Old Man Sucks At Games: Film at 11

[Rogerborg]

If He Can Stay Awake That Long After His Cocoa.

Re: Chess

[Paradise Pete]

Well, what have you managed to unlock so far?

I'm up to

1. f3 e5
2. g4 ...

Then the damn thing keeps killing me instantly, before I can make another move. Why do they make the bosses battles so hard this early in the game?