Overly Positive Thoughts – Miyamoto Trumps Easy Mode

Over at the multiple author gaming blog site Multiplaying, there’s a post by Abberant about Nintendo patenting the “I Win” easy button – a system wherein designer ShigeruMiyamoto is going to have a mode that allows players to skip parts of the games that are too difficult for them to accomplish. Apparently, this new system may make it into the next Super Mario Bros’ Wii game, making the platformer beatable no matter how bad you are at getting mushrooms or jumping gaps.

Now there’s been a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth over this new little development in gaming. Already hurt by the idea that Wii games are at times played by people who they could totally pull a teabagging manuever on in Halo, some core gamers feel that this system dumbs games down even more. They purport that this mechanic makes games lazy and unwilling to earn victory in a manner that requires effort. Some have even declared this the beginning of the end of any game that is challenging, since you can simply skip past any of it like a DVD.

Now, since I’m such a nice guy, I’m going to not mention the glorious irony of the typical hardcore gamer, couch potato and devourer of the food groups of Deep Fried, Grease-Filled, and Pizza, calling this something that makes people lazy. I would never be so crass.

Instead, let’s try to focus on how great this will be for the industry.

How about for the obvious benefit of games like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Xenosaga that have cutscenes that make you go “oooooh” and “ahhhhh” with their wonderful, 20 – 90 minute goodness? If you just want to sit back and watch the game unfold, being able to skip that annoying area where you actually hae to use stealth or beat the boss’s weak point will get you to your CGI goodness faster. Obviously, you bought a game to watch the cinema and not play it, so why not make it easier?

What about the fact that guides and videos for doing something will go up much faster? No longer will you have to wait for that obsessive youtube speed run uploader to spend the first 24 hours of the game beating it flawlessly. Now, by pressing the “I Win” button, you’ll be able to not only watch how to beat something in the most effective manner, but also brag to your friends about your achievement. How are they gonna know that that isn’t you at the controller and just some mindless bot? Maybe you’re just that good, right? World firsts, here you come!

Achievement whores should be praising this as a wet dream. Why? Simple – now there is at least one built-in achievement for each game to get – beating the game without using the “I Win” button. Hell, these borderline OCD collectors are already losing sleep over trying to get that one achievement that makes them the king of their own gamer profile. By showing people that you can beat a game without making it do it for you, you can reach a whole new level of finding merit in your own existence by simply being a “have” in a world of “have nots”. Sure, that “have” is “I have actually spent more time beating this game than being laid” but it’s a “have” nonetheless.

So let’s rejoice the introduction of the “I Win” button, folks – Miyamoto’s at least allowed two more strikes since Wii Music was such a raging success, right?