Not as much as they used to be anyway. Games used to have a much steeper learning curve. For example, old FPS games used to drop you into the standard world... enemies were strong and your weapons weak. Occasionally you might encounter a new type of monster or weapon... but the difficulty remained steady. Nowadays, they start you off with baby steps and gradually increase the difficulty as you go through the game... I'm not complaining.. but it isn't nearly as hard as it used to be (on average).
1994; Donkey Kong Country, Super Metroid, Ridge Racer 2, Sonic 3, Mortal Kombat II, Warcraft, FF III (NA) and Tekken. 2011; ilomilo, Little Big Plant 2, Mass Effect 2, Dead Space 2, Two Worlds 2, Bulletstorm, Killzone 3, Crysis 2, Dragon Age 2, Fight Night Champion, Portal 2, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Brink, L.A. Noire, also not released yet BF3, Diablo 3, Skyrim, Dead Island, Arkham City, Modern Warfare 3, Guildwars 2. Just to name a few. Yeah, 1994's games were so rewarding compared to 2011's.
Well maybe it's a generational thing. It's also relative. Certainly today's games are fancier and prettier and all of that, but for example, I don't think many games can come close to how I felt beating MKII on my Game Gear (I know, not the proper version, but still). Kintaro and Shao Kahn as the final bosses were insanely hard (for me, anyway) and I don't know... it felt awesome when I finally beat them. Nowadays, and I know this varies from game to game -- some are better than others, I don't feel that same sense of accomplishment, like I really overcame the odds or something. Most games have a very linear path to proceed down, and even if they don't, you can just keep dying and reloading from your checkpoint if you get stuck. In MKII you could choose to continue after being defeated, but that would lock out secret fights and fighting Shao Kahn. So in order to really BEAT the game, you had to have a perfect run... which was a lot more difficult. Less forgiving, to be sure, but, well, I digress. The point of the image (which I did not make) was only that relative to their ancestors, today's games are much more gradual in terms of difficulty. Whether you think it's a good thing or a bad thing, it's due to gaming going mainstream. There are still a few games trying to bring back the super difficulty of the days of yore back: Super Meatboy (XBLA/Steam) and Demon Souls (PS3) are good examples of this. I didn't really feel like I had overcome the odds in Fallout: New Vegas when it was over. I felt more like: "Well, now that's done... I wonder what other achievements I can get... when's the DLC coming out?... etc". Don't get me wrong-- I definitely enjoyed the experience, but it wasn't really rewarding, per se. I think it's because I was constantly rewarding myself throughout the game by purchasing weapons and armor, etc. I'm not sure hardcore mode would have fixed this for me, because you have the same problem. Every little thing you do is an accomplishment, so when you get to the end... you're merely elated that it's over. HOWEVER, today's games are better at making you feel enjoyment throughout, versus varying stages of anger, rage, depression, sense of futility, and so on.
Its all opinions. I feel more accomplished beating games like Mass Effect and Fallout because it takes days to do. Their are places to go and things to do. I feel like I actually put in work. I never really felt rage on any older games. Only rage on those games were that they were so easy and so short. Mortal Kombat and Mario for example I beat those games in one day, and usually a few hours and there was nothing to do afterwards. Back then the image for me would have been joy then rage. Anyways, I wasn't trying to argue the fact that pre 94 games are harder than Xbox 360 games. I was laughing at the fact they said 1994 vs. 2011. The 1994 games are easy, there is no hard game in 1994. DK was pretty fun, but I never had the feeling of pure joy after beating it. I had a lot more joy after beating ME2. And if you want to talk about rage, let me tell you about beating ME2 and not everyone surviving. lol. Either way, we can agree gaming in 2011 is better than 1994l. Even though that ins't really the point.
