Good points, Matt. The other thing with those old games besides the need for imagination and the great joy that could bring is that modern games are often too "down to the ground" for their own good. Let me clarify. Using "Phantasie" as an example, everything took place on a single screen (though the overworld map obviously took up many screens). There was no first person or third person view, all of the views were either overhead or modified overhead, giving you a superb sense of where you were at all times, i.e., your place in the game world. While not every game would benefit from this use of perspective, some games are TOO immersive and overwhelming because they always want to give you the "you are there" type of experience. So certainly I have an argument for too much "immersion" in the traditional videogame sense not always being a good thing either, let alone a complete sensory experience. Of course that's probably just an old guy (in videogame terms) talking...

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Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
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