A generation that doesn't know how to hold a controller...

Okay, I work in video game retail and we constantly have demo machines running some of the more recent games. Nintendo has recently provided us with some titles that play very traditionally, namely Punch Out! and New Super Mario Bros Wii. Several times a day I end up having to explain to kids that no, you don't aim the remote at the screen, you hold it sideways, you know, like an NES controller. This often results in bewildered stares and kids awkwardly shifting their hands around the thing, sometimes holding it in completely nonsensical positions as they struggle to comprehend this concept. Thats what struck me, they literally have no frame of reference for what I'm talking about. The Wii remote is what games are to them, they have no knowledge of what came before and cannot understand this old-fashioned way of playing games.
 
Literally feel like Marty McFly just having endured the burn "you have to use your hands? That's like a babies toy!" This future is closer than we think, by 2015 it may in fact be that way.

Okay, I work in video game retail and we constantly have demo machines running some of the more recent games. Nintendo has recently provided us with some titles that play very traditionally, namely Punch Out! and New Super Mario Bros Wii. Several times a day I end up having to explain to kids that no, you don't aim the remote at the screen, you hold it sideways, you know, like an NES controller. This often results in bewildered stares and kids awkwardly shifting their hands around the thing, sometimes holding it in completely nonsensical positions as they struggle to comprehend this concept. Thats what struck me, they literally have no frame of reference for what I'm talking about. The Wii remote is what games are to them, they have no knowledge of what came before and cannot understand this old-fashioned way of playing games.
 
Literally feel like Marty McFly just having endured the burn "you have to use your hands? That's like a babies toy!" This future is closer than we think, by 2015 it may in fact be that way.

" by 2015 it may in fact be that way. "

Oh dude, thats not even the worst. Those 10 year old kids you are talking about (which my little brother is one of) dont have clue one about how to use a computer in general, or how to play a game on the PC. Controller is one thing, but the inability to play a game with the mouse and keyboard is startling. Its not just them either, but console tards who's first experience with videogaming was with the Xbox 1 and then the 360. 
 
<oldtimerrant.> Why when I was a youngen, the first computer I ever owned DID NOT HAVE A CD-ROM DRIVE! Later I would get a computer with a drive and have to boot into DOS to play a lot of my games, SOME OF THEM CAME ON FLOPPY DISK. My brother can't even install a game on XP, hell he can barely type. Then the internet happened, and I couldn't use the phone when i was on the internet. <oldtimerant>
 
I realize what i just described is nothing special for those of us in my age bracket, its just how things were back then. But it does worry me when a generation grows up not understanding what goes on within the computer, i guess that's what happens when everything streamlines.

Still, it's good enough that they know to hold the controller. Don't know what I mean? Go to YouTube and search "Wii Broken TV."

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Oddly, I noticed this when I started up New Super Mario Bros. for two of my younger relatives. 
 
But of course they knew how to play Xbox 360.

" Oddly, I noticed this when I started up New Super Mario Bros. for two of my younger relatives.  But of course they knew how to play Xbox 360. "

The worst was the N64 controller, most my friends could not understand you have to hold the middle stick while playing Goldeneye.

" The worst was the N64 controller, most my friends could not understand you have to hold the middle stick while playing Goldeneye. "

If they ever make motion control the standard I will stop buying new games.

Yeah it sucks...

I know exactly what you all are talking about. But to be fair, not every ones first game was Metal Gear on the PC. Hit the turbo button to make it go from 35Mhz to 77Mhz! Etc. I also got lucky and got to play the C64 that my grandparents had. All that trouble trying to enter the commands to start the games. I wouldn't trade those experience for any new game. Oh yeah, Ski Free CHiPS challenge Alone in the dark Speed racer TMNT (some weird PC version) X-Men (weird side scroller) Good times.

" @Emilio said:

" Oddly, I noticed this when I started up New Super Mario Bros. for two of my younger relatives.  But of course they knew how to play Xbox 360. "

I pointed it at the screen. I honestly had no clue what the menu was going to be like. I knew you could play it sideways, but I thought Nintendo might pull a SSB: Brawl and put multiple control schemes in there. "

" Oh dude, thats not even the worst. Those 10 year old kids you are talking about (which my little brother is one of) dont have clue one about how to use a computer in general, or how to play a game on the PC. Controller is one thing, but the inability to play a game with the mouse and keyboard is startling. Its not just them either, but console tards who's first experience with videogaming was with the Xbox 1 and then the 360.   <oldtimerrant.> Why when I was a youngen, the first computer I ever owned DID NOT HAVE A CD-ROM DRIVE! Later I would get a computer with a drive and have to boot into DOS to play a lot of my games, SOME OF THEM CAME ON FLOPPY DISK. My brother can't even install a game on XP, hell he can barely type. Then the internet happened, and I couldn't use the phone when i was on the internet. <oldtimerant>  I realize what i just described is nothing special for those of us in my age bracket, its just how things were back then. But it does worry me when a generation grows up not understanding what goes on within the computer, i guess that's what happens when everything streamlines. "

I love the Wii games that let me hold it horizontally. Makes me feel like I live in a simpler time. 

" @Kraznor said:

" by 2015 it may in fact be that way. "

No, never. "

cd C:\games <enter>
dir /p/w <enter>
cd oldtimegame
dir /p/w
game.exe

" cd C:\games <enter> dir /p/w <enter> cd oldtimegame dir /p/w game.exe "

I remember the days of wrecking autoexec.bat just to get something running. Oh the good old days of explaining to dad why the computer wasnt working for the moment while I had to reinstall everything, Apparently trial-and-error is not a good enough excuse for bricking the computer. But I needed to hear Mega Mans blaster over the speakers dammit.

" The worst was the N64 controller, most my friends could not understand you have to hold the middle stick while playing Goldeneye. "

I would think that it was because the Wii remote is very awkward to hold sideways. I know plenty of kids who know who to hold a 360 controller.

" I would think that it was because the Wii remote is very awkward to hold sideways. I know plenty of kids who know who to hold a 360 controller. "

OH NOES KIDS TODAY THEY'RE NOT IDENTICAL TO US THAT MEANS THEYRE WORSE 
 
 
You would think that after thousands of years, man would have realized by now that just because the follow-up generation is different and irritating, it doesn't make them worse. But no, for hundreds of generations, every generation the same crap. "Kids today! What a messed up generation! You wouldn't have seen such behavious in my time!"

So we should just make the next generation have no controllers and they use keyboards. And that's pretty sad that kids now don't know how to use a controller. Thats something parents should teach their kids. Just dont teach them how to use a head set or how to set one up or how to plug it in.

" OH NOES KIDS TODAY THEY'RE NOT IDENTICAL TO US THAT MEANS THEYRE WORSE    You would think that after thousands of years, man would have realized by now that just because the follow-up generation is different and irritating, it doesn't make them worse. But no, for hundreds of generations, every generation the same crap. "Kids today! What a messed up generation! You wouldn't have seen such behavious in my time!" "

And I bet those kids knew alot more about a certain subject/thing than you do.  People here are obviously interested in video games and computers, so it isn't very surprising the average user here knows more than usual when it comes to such a thing.  
 
Most of the people here probably have no idea their car works.  So what?

" @PulledaBrad said:

" cd C:\games <enter> dir /p/w <enter> cd oldtimegame dir /p/w game.exe "

This looks familiar.  Face it, man.  We are the in-between generation.  The computer was introduced to our parents too late, so they didn't learn the ins-and-outs.  Kids today have their fancy-pants Windows with their nice UIs and shit, so they don't need to know the ins-and-outs.  Us? Well, we had to know DOS/Linux to get our fucking games to run.  Back in the day, getting TMNT to play on your computer was like taking a crash course in computer programing. "

I vivdly remember when my father got an N64 for his birthday. I also remember when OoT came out and i was told it was too complicated for me, and for a little while it was sort of true.

Dude to each there own.  We all have grown up in different times and you are there to teach them.  Just because a 10 year old kid don't look up the history of gaming don't mean anything.  We all had to start somewhere.  So let them grow up and learn for them selves about games and stop moaning.

" @CowMuffins said:

" @Emilio said:

" Oddly, I noticed this when I started up New Super Mario Bros. for two of my younger relatives.  But of course they knew how to play Xbox 360. "

I pointed it at the screen. I honestly had no clue what the menu was going to be like. I knew you could play it sideways, but I thought Nintendo might pull a SSB: Brawl and put multiple control schemes in there. "

Sweet Jesus...   Care to explain how you thought motion controls would work in a Mario game, a side scrolling one that is. "

All my nephews and younger cousins learnt how to use controllers very quickly. My 7 year cousin is still better at games then many of my cousins in there 20s-30s.

It's nothing more than a learning curve and the probability that they want to learn.
 
I quit playing PC games in 1992 and focused primarily on console games. I started playing PC games again in early 2000. I had no idea what WASD or DirectX was. You should have seen me trying to play games on my PC. It took a while and a willingness to learn, but I got there.
 
I'm 44 years old and don't own a cell phone. I couldn't text if you taught me... probably. We all live in our own little world divided by age, peers and the illusion of what's real.