Am I Old?

[elfs]

This morning, Kouryou-chan asked me to play a video game with her. It was Sonic Heroes, which she knows inside and out, and I've almost never played. And by the time we'd played three levels and she'd won all three, I was frustrated and annoyed by it.

Part of the reason was because I couldn't make sense of it. The camera algorithm was terrible. I spent most of the game looking at my character's feet, or worse, with the camera stuck behind the alligator teammate with a butt so broad so I couldn't see anything at all.

It felt unfair. Every time I peeked over at her screen, the camera was doing a great job of lining her up with her destination, showing her where she should go. I couldn't tell if there was some setting I needed to pull the camera back or what, but I couldn't make it happen and believe me I tried every button and key combination I could imagine.

I had one of those cognitive failure moments. I couldn't help but wonder if this was how my parents felt when they were trying to deal with me and the huge inrushes of knowledge I would absorb in very short bursts, or trying to understand my fascinating with the fast, flickering new world of the Commodore 64.

Or maybe there just really is something wrong with the Player 2 setting on Sonic Heroes.

Comments

I think I know what you mean...

[geak.livejournal.com]

Every year my office gets a new batch of teenaged interns for the summer rush and every year I find myself feeling more and more detached from the current 'youth culture'. It seems to me I'm increasingly less able to understand kids. I don't want to be old yet! :/

[sianmink.livejournal.com]

the 3d Sonic games have always,ALWAYS had a horrid camera that WILL get you killed. It's possible Kouryou-chan has just learned the levels well enough to know where the good camera angles are. ;)