Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Grandma Theft Auto III

Play PS2 with your great-grandparents!
  (+27, -3)(+27, -3)(+27, -3)
(+27, -3)
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Mom: "Boys, turn that off. Grampa's here."

Grampa: "That looks like fun, lemme try!" -- uh-oh, he'll never figure it out...

OK, here's half a good idea for you. In the old days, video games had one knob ya turn and maybe one button. You could hand a controller to Grandpa, and he'd be racing right along with you and two other kids, no further instructions required. I propose a Super Simple Control Mode for games. You get the same terrific realistic graphics of the latest games, with up/down/right/left & shoot (at most). Many games require a lot of options/controls. But some could be distilled to their essence.

For example: My Dad's a big football fan. I know he'd have fun playing Denver against whoever, in Madden Football. But he's NOT arcade literate. AT ALL. It would be so cool if he could select each play and watch'em go. A play as in "Pass", "Run", or "Kick". His grandkids might have all their controls available.

Who would even BUY this super-simple game? "Grandma doesn't play video games" so she won't find out that she could, and the kids "don't need simplified games". Catch-22. But what if multiple generations COULD get together and all play like kids again?

Amos Kito, Sep 12 2002

Steel Battalion http://capcom.com/SB/
You think an XBox controller's complicated, huh? This one's $200, and it's fucking crazy. [AfroAssault, Apr 03 2005]

Current Git Surfing link http://www.youtube....watch?v=D-RS_yEI7IM
[normzone, Jan 26 2008]


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Annotation:







       Why, when I was your age, we had to kick ROCKS down the street for fun. And, boy, let me tell you, kicking rocks uphill both ways is HARD! You kids don't know how easy you have it nowadays, with your play stations and nintendos and all...   

       //It would be so cool if he could select each play and watch'em go.//   

       NFL 2K1 had a coach mode that let you do this.. not sure if newer releases still offer it.
Mr Burns, Sep 12 2002
  

       I think the real reason old people don't play video games is that the games don't engage the interests of the codgers. Perhaps if there was a "Watching snooker" video game or a "Sucking mints and falling asleep in front of the fire" game, then old people would play.   

       <off topic already> In one episode of "The Day Today" (seminal mid 90s BBC2 news satire) there was a report on youths who were joyriding on the backs of the elderly. Which is what I thought this idea would be. </off topic already>
calum, Sep 12 2002
  

       The AI needed to support a 'back seat driver mode' would be incredible. Basically it would need to do everything the person isn't doing. It would be fun to see just how effective the intuition could get.   

       It would also be interesting to see how that sort of supporting intuition could be applied to real gaming, allowing the development of games with more options than even a seventeen-button mouse and keyboard will allow, and with less fiddling for the different things you're doing.
sadie, Sep 12 2002
  

       >"youths who were joyriding on the backs of the elderly."<   

       calum, that happens to ME when I visit my niece & nephews.   

       On another unrelated topic -- The definition of "Nintentions": The things I WOULD be doing if I weren't busy playing video games.
Amos Kito, Sep 12 2002
  

       Controllers are ridiculously overcomplicated. Games should be written to work as you say anyway.
waugsqueke, Sep 12 2002
  

       And I thought this would be like that Iron-Bru advert with the old granny with the baloclava... oh well...
RobertKidney, Sep 13 2002
  

       I'm neutral about the idea itself, but I have to croissant it just for the title.
8th of 7, Sep 13 2002
  

       We put baseball cards in our bike spokes, not in no damn fancy-schmancy lucite cardholder whatchamacallits, and "cranked up the volume" - as you damn whippersnappers say - by pedaling faster while on our way to play catch with an actual person - even if it was gramma* - you know what a baseball bat is - you little punk? <swings at head>
*Mine played a damn good game of baseball, even at the age of 1,000 - she could put that sucker right-down-the-middle-of-the-plate
thumbwax, Sep 13 2002
  

       [calum] Actually, that was on Brass Eye (seminal mid-late 90s Channel 4 current affairs satire). The game was known as 'Git Surfing'.
-alx, Sep 13 2002
  

       //video games...don't engage the interests of the codgers//

I think that that needs backing up with some evidence, so let's ask an old codger shall we?

hippo, do video games engage your interest?
DrBob, Sep 13 2002
  

       That's funny. I was about to ask you, DrBob..
yamahito, Sep 13 2002
  

       Soon, we'll all be telling our grandkids, 'When I was your age, we had to watch screens and push buttons to get our player to kick rocks down the street. And we had to kick them uphill! Both ways!'
RayfordSteele, Sep 13 2002
  

       I can't stand video games. Does that make me an old codger? I think I was born an old codger.
half, Sep 13 2002
  

       This idea is almost already (what's the term) baked. In the Gamecube game "Super Smash Brothers Melee" they have the "single-button mode" where the only button that does anything is "A". Then you can move around and jump with the control stick. It’s supposed to be for beginners, but personally I think it's impossible to control. (Then again, I’m not a beginner)
tustin, Sep 11 2003
  

       We should just program the Nintendos to take over the world and eat us.
disbomber, Apr 03 2005
  

       They have remakes of old games too. Some games are just not possible to play with super simplicity. You should just go and buy a NES. They are great systems, I have one and really enjoy sniffing out great games (which is suprisingly easy because , I used to work at a mom and pop videogame store).   

       Besides, alot of older people/non-gamers get some sort of motion sickness from controlling whats going on screen in a 3d world. Both my sister and my grandma do .   

       Or, instead of making poor old set in his ways grandpa play something new, you could take interest in what he has to say, since no one listens to him anyway.   

       Then again, for fun, you could just show grandpa a WWII game, and watch him curl up into the fetal position before throwing the T.V. out of the window and punching you in the mouth. [ ]   

       : (
Night, Jun 26 2005
  

       + the name made me laughed !!
neuromancer, Oct 06 2005
  

       My grandma used to rule at Super Smash Bros. I always got beaten by her insane attacks. I am making a character in her memory for Doom Slayer, even though she would have hated the game. R.I.P.
Shadow Phoenix, Oct 22 2007
  

       My grandpa could rock your grandpa in pocket pool.
quantum_flux, Oct 27 2007
  

       I like it. I don't know if my grandparents would use it, but my mom would. She can't figure out any video game.
TahuNuva, Jan 27 2008
  


 

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