作者：Jesse Meixsell

电子游戏自诞生以来，已经有了日新月异的发展；与十年前相比，现在的电子游戏不仅在声音和视觉表达上登峰造极，而且在叙述剧情和唤起玩家情绪方面也达到了前所未有的高度。这大概是我们当中许多人始料不及的。

随着电子游戏的继续发展，更多新概念和创意不断涌现出来，但过去在游戏中常见的东西却开始消失了。这些东西一度被证明是有效的游戏配方而保留下来—-作为从小玩到大的东西，我们根本无法想象没有这些内容的电子游戏将会怎么样。目睹了行业的风云变幻，我们开始明确，开发商和发行商正在开辟新的游戏制作和媒体革命道路。技术革命是一把双刃剑，一方面使作为玩家的我们以全新的、更先进的方式体验自己所喜欢的娱乐形式；另一方面也在淘汰着电子游戏中的某些功能，我们也许将与它们永远告别。

作弊代码

作弊代码一度是游戏世界的基石，特别是在大型游戏社区。如果你对作弊代码的概念不熟悉，那我就这么解释：它们是输入游戏中的字母、数字或按键，玩家借此获得某种优势或走捷径而打开某些以正常方式难以获得的内容。有时候，这些代码也可能包含某些以其他方式无法激活的效果。

Konami-Code（from ventureBeat）

自任天堂娱乐系统的时代以来，许多玩家都在电子游戏中插入作弊代码。随着我们经历一个又一个新的游戏时代，作弊代码已经让希望揭开游戏秘密的玩家形成一种集体感。最终，所有杂志和书籍都接纳了作弊代码，之后，具有相同性质的网站也开始流行作弊代码。

但是自从Xbox 360和PlayStation 3发行以后，作弊代码已经开始出现衰退的迹象，变得越来越少，并差不多完全消失了。确实，不靠额外帮助自己完成游戏绝对不是坏事（游戏邦注：毕竟这就是游戏的初衷），但那种占到便宜的新鲜感和神秘感也随之一去不复返了，至少不会以作弊代码的形式出现了。

手册本

越来越多消费者在扯掉游戏包装袋后都发现里面没有附带手册本了。

Manual-Lot（from ventureBeat）

这并不是说玩家就像被抛出鸟巢的雏鸟一样无依无靠了。事实上，大多数游戏都在起始关卡里设置了游戏指南，从某种程度上来看这就是早前手册本的替代品。

可以说手册本消失在数字时代的黎明中。游戏手册仍然存在，只是不在我们手中。怀旧的玩家可能喜欢阅读新买来的游戏的手册的感觉，但现在许多游戏都将完整的手册放在选项菜单里。玩家既没有失落感也没有收获感，也许他们只是认清了自己所熟悉的手册形式已经升级成为一种全新的版本了。

秘密

当我们回忆电子游戏中的秘密（不止是游戏世界里的几个传说）时，我们总是会想到的一些老游戏。这主要是因为现在的游戏并不像以前的游戏那样设置各种秘密。当然，它们仍然偶尔会露面，但肯定不像过去那么常见了。

Chris_Houlihan_Secret_Room（from ventureBeat）

现在，当我说“秘密”时，我指的是所有隐藏在游戏的开始，并需要玩家在游戏过程中解开的内容，有些非常明显，有些则相当隐蔽。而在老游戏中，玩家总是能发现各种隐藏的武器、角色、关卡，甚至是包含于游戏中的另一个完整世界。虽然现在的游戏也仍带有秘密，仍有许多可解开的内容，但是玩家总是能够更轻松地找到这些秘密。

我们必须花大量时间玩可下载内容；并且通常情况下这些“可下载内容”都是包含在游戏光盘中。后来，游戏中有人提出，玩家必须拿真钱购买这些不能解锁的内容，而不是通过游戏进程获得—-不过这就是另一回事了。事实是，秘密不再像以前那样存在于内容中，玩家必须支付额外的费用才能玩到之前很普遍的一些内容。

本地多人模式

在线多人模式是现在的电子游戏的主要特点，并且往往是游戏产业中赢利的决定因素。其实现在已经很难找到没有在线多人模式的游戏了，即使有许多游戏的这种模式更像是填补上去的。有些游戏甚至靠这种模式才获得销售成功。随着在线多人模式的流行，曾经风靡的本地多人模式开始走向消失。

goldeneye-multiplayer（from ventureBeat）

本文提到的几个特征中，这可能是最不需要我们担心的，因为有些开发商仍然会在游戏中加入这种模式。然而，我们不得不承认，本地多人模式可能会在未来的某一天退出游戏，被在线模式彻底取代。

有些玩家可能会因为本地多人模式的消失而感到不变，主要有几点原因。首先，尽管我们已经进入数字时代，仍然有小部分玩家连不到网或无法在线游戏。这些人可能只是小部分，但仍然有可能影响销售。甚至能够将游戏机和PC连网的我们，可能也仍然喜欢和别人在相同的游戏机上玩最喜欢的游戏。如果不能同时同机玩游戏，和朋友玩游戏又有什么意思呢？不过，这不是世界末日，具有本地多人模式的老游戏也还未完全从地球上消失。

结论

随着作为娱乐和叙述媒体的电子游戏继续发展，玩家不得不接受这个现实：进步是有代价的。没关系，我们还活着。可能怀旧的人才会觉得进退两难，但回顾老游戏和我们曾经热爱的游戏特征也不是什么坏事。借此，我们也可以期盼新一代游戏给我们带来更多惊喜。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

4 things we may never see again in video games

By Jesse Meixsell

Video games sure have come a long way since their conception. They have not only advanced in audio and visuals but also reached new heights in storytelling and demonstrated the ability to evoke far more emotion in their players than they were capable of doing 10 or so years ago, which is probably far more than many of us expected.

Naturally, as video games continue to advance and we are introduced to new concepts and ideas, things that were once commonplace in the medium begin to happen less and less. These are aspects that had at one point reserved a spot in a tried and true formula — qualities that we as gamers have grown used to and couldn’t imagine video games without. Seeing the way things in the industry are changing, it’s become more apparent that developers and publishers are taking new approaches to creating video games and evolving their medium. It’s because of this that we, the players, have new and improved ways of experiencing our favorite form of entertainment. On the other hand, it also eliminates the need for certain features that we may never see again in video games.

Cheat codes
The cheat code was once a cornerstone of the gaming world, specifically within the larger gaming community. If you’re somehow unfamiliar with the concept of cheat codes, they’re letters, digits, or button presses imputed into a video game either to give players an advantage or allow them to take a convenient shortcut toward unlocking content that would normally take hard work to access. Often at times, these codes would also enable certain effects that could not be activated by any other method.

Since the era of the Nintendo Entertainment System, cheat codes were almost always implemented in video games and expected by players. As we progressed into the next era and the one after that, the cheat code had created a sense of community among players looking to uncover a game’s secrets. Eventually, entire magazines and books were dedicated to cheat codes, and later on, websites of the same nature had become popular.

Somewhere around the time of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 launches, cheat codes had begun to decrease in quantity and eventually became rare and almost nonexistent. Truth be told, it’s never a bad thing to complete a game on your own without the extra help (after all, that’s what video games are all about), but that sense of novelty and slight feeling of mystery may never happen again, at least not in the form of cheat codes.

Physical manuals
More and more often consumers peel the plastic off of their new games to find them without paper manuals.

Now, it’s not like we are being thrown out of the nest without any sort of guidance. In fact, most titles nowadays feature tutorials in their opening levels, which have, in a way, become the spiritual successors to the good old paper manuals of past generations.

One can say that it all comes along with the dawn of the digital age. The instructions are still there, just not in our hands. Those of us who are nostalgic may cherish the feeling of reading through a manual after unboxing a recently purchased game, but many if not most titles nowadays feature fully intact manuals within the options menu. Gamers are neither at a loss nor a gain in this particular instance; rather, the form of manuals we are used to have upgraded into a new generation.

Secrets
When we reminisce about secrets within video games (and there are more than a few urban legends in the gaming universe), chances are we are talking about an older title. This is primarily because games these days simply do not feature secrets as extensive or prevalent as they used to be. Sure, they still make the occasional appearance, but they are certainly not as common as they once were.

Now, when I say “secrets,” I’m referring to anything hidden at the start of the game that must be unlocked by the player through progress, which varies from the obvious to the illusive. Players were once able to uncover hidden weapons, characters, levels, and even entire worlds within a game. These secrets still exist, and there is much to unlock, but the discovery is easier for players.

A lot of the time we have to pay extra for these features as downloadable content, and oftentimes, this “downloadable content” is already included on the disc. Someone, somewhere, decided that gamers had to pay for these unlockables with real-world cash instead of simply earning them through gameplay, but that’s a whole other story. The fact is, either secrets do not exist to the extent they once did or players must pay additional fees for what was once a common element in video games.

Local multiplayer
Online multiplayer is one of the primary aspects of video games today and often a deciding factor within the industry. It’s actually quite difficult nowadays to find a game that does not feature an online multiplayer mode, which in many cases feels tacked on. Some games even depend on these modes for success in sales. As online multiplayer begins to take over, the once common local multiplayer mode has begun to disappear completely.

Out of all the points mentioned in this article, this may be the least of our worries seeing as some developers still include this in their games. However, we have to admit that local multiplayer may be thrown out entirely at some point in the future in favor of 100 percent online play.

Some players may see this as an inconvenience for various reasons. First of all, though we are currently in the digital age, there are still a small portion of players who are without Internet and may be unable to play a game online. As small as this percentage may be, it still has chance to impair sales. Even those of us who are able to take our consoles and PCs online may still enjoy playing our favorite games with others on the same console. What’s the point of playing with friends if you can’t actually get together at some point? Again, this is not the end of the world; older titles with local multiplayer have not vanished from the face of the Earth.

Conclusion
As video games continue to grow as a medium of entertainment and storytelling, gamers have to learn to accept that you sacrifices must be made in exchange for progress. And that’s fine. We’ll live. Nostalgia may be the only real dilemma here, but there’s nothing wrong with looking back on past generations of video games and cherishing what we used to love about our hobby — or passion, for some. In return, we can look forward and hope to be amazed by what video games have in store in generations to come … one of which is not too far ahead.(source:venturebeat)