Deus Ex

[the dark side]

yes, they were used in a few games before Call of Duty, but in many cases they were either a mild effect that was only available on easy (health regeneration was in a few on easy difficulty on the bottom 25% of the lifebar) could be turned OFF (Dynamic scaling) or were in select few games and less than popular until 2006 (gun limit, many games got a whole POINT knocked off there score for this back before 2006), its only been since MW part1 took off in 2006 that the mechanics have been Mandatory and major gameplay elements.

if they are mild and dissapear on harder difficulties (such as regen) or optional (dynamic scaling, sadly, the LAST game i remember with the option to turn the scaling effect "off" was S.T.A.L.K.E.R Series in 2007-2009..(damn good games, rest in peace GSC)) i am fine, but if forced, and COD was the first game to popularise "Forcing" those mechanics, i am not fine, and i will call Any game that forces them a "call of duty clone" because they are copying what "call of duty" is doing, forcing inferior mechanics and "dumbed down" difficulty, and Damaging the games industry, doubtless in a foolish attempt to zerox its Inexplicable popularity.

its even MORE annoying when you look at the fact sales of both the "call of duty" franchise and games that copy its mechanics are flagging (mw3 failed to sell 2 million units in the UK), and the sales of more traditional games are starting to overtake them, and yet the publishers are STILL blind to the fact the "modern shooter" has literally been done to death and people are thankfully loosing interest in them.

As much as a games crash is Needed, to get rid of the money grabbing american megacorps, Inept dead wood developers (ea black box as an example from the racing genre, ONE good game in a decade is less than a stellar record, criterion is another example of inept dead wood, Not ONE good game, EVER, they should have just stuck to making graphics engines) and mainstream casual gamers who are all damaging the industry beyond repair, it still makes me sad to know there will be one as a lot of people are going to loose there jobs when they dont really deserve too, as i said, a lot of publishers are Forced to make "Modern casual" games by greedy, inept, publishers, when personally, they would much rather make a more traditional title.

yes, indeed, although the mechanics mentioned are not a problem for the majority of Neurologically Typical people, they are OFTEN, in particular focal distraction issues with Dynamic scaling, a major issue for people with autism spectrum disorders.

(hmm, i wonder, could we actually have a disability discrimination case against the industry there?)

like i said, i do have learning difficulties, i am not the most intelligent of people in some areas, and explaining things to the majority of people is one of the areas i do not really excell at. so i have to use generalised sayings, such as "call of duty clone", so i can give people a rough idea what i am on about so they can understand what my problem with the games and the mainstream games industry in general is.