# What were the biggest wastes of your gaming dollars? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 15, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533 "2009-05-15T15:26:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/61 "2009-05-18T01:39:45Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Maybe the 360 version is better, but the PC controls are appalling. Did you try it with a Dual Shock clone pad? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/62 "2009-05-18T02:18:46Z")
A friend of mine paid full price for _Superman_ for the N64. I think he wins. Odesio ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/63 "2009-05-18T03:16:52Z")
An NES game called RoboWarrior got its cartridge pounded into the cement on the front porch with a hammer about two weeks after I bought it. That was probably a waste of money. It was a perfectly good hammer. That’s the only one I remember; I’ve tossed PC games in the garbage 'cause they weren’t fun, but no other games have really pissed me off so much. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/64 "2009-05-18T08:10:22Z")
**Silent Service III ($29.99):** “Sorry, this game requires a 32-bit OS to install.” It’s still sitting here. Honorable Mention: Winning Eleven. Paid $60 for it, played it for 15 minutes, realized it was WAY more involved than I was really looking for, never played it again. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/65 "2009-05-18T13:38:00Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > A friend of mine paid full price for _Superman_ for the N64. I think he wins. > Odesio Somebody, somewhere bought _ET_, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/66 "2009-05-18T13:59:43Z")
Some “Emergency Room” game (diagnose and treat minimally animated patients, etc) I got for about $20 at Target. I think they had one or two of the actresses who played support nurses on ER starring in the quicktime scenes. Eh, not so bad, in that it wasn’t actively malevolent. But the gameplay was unintuitive, and very unforgiving of even minor mistakes. Plus, not much room for experimentation—it quickly failed me out of a level and I got a chewing out from a video clip after I went a _little_ off track, deliberately, on one patient… …Okay, I cracked the chest of a probable clinical depression sufferer—in the exam room—and was just about the apply the internal defibrillators when it pulled the plug on me. Was that _so_ out of line? ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/67 "2009-05-18T15:10:32Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > Masters of Orion 3. I always wait a few weeks after a debut of a game now so I can see what people think of it. This. First day purchase for me, left work during my lunch break to get it, eagerly read through the instructions in between teaching classes. Then got home and realized I bought Excel. I sometimes want to buy it again (I’m sure it’s dirt cheap now) to see if it’s really that bad, or was it just a case of not being able to live up to my expectations. Then I realize I can have more fun playing GalCiv2. Also, World of Warcraft, because the cost is high and it was never as much fun as I wanted. It started feeling like work instead of gaming. And that was without any sort of raid insanity going on (I never got that far). ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/68 "2009-05-18T16:04:55Z")
I’m really careful on games. I read reviews, in detail, I try and visualize the game, I have certain set parameters outside of which I won’t buy a game. And Istill get taken in. For me the biggest disappointment and waste of time was Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. I loved Sands of Time sooooooooo much - in fact, I still play it - I figured I had to like the sequel, right? Wrong. Dark, depressing, angsty, easy to die - I found myself playing through it just out of sheer stubborness. In the end what made me finally stop playing was those goddamn explosive cats, or whatever. You had to make them explode right by the wooden door so you could get through, otherwise you were stuck. Try as I might I could not get them to explode in the right place. I fucking hated those cats. I threw the stupid controller and have never picked up the game again. I am disgusted with everybody who made this game. They took my handsome Prince and turned him into an emo, gothy, angsty nightmare. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/69 "2009-05-18T16:39:01Z")
> [@Cyberhwk](#): > > \*\*Honorable Mention: Winning Eleven. Paid $60 for it, played it for 15 minutes, realized it was WAY more involved than I was really looking for, never played it again. I’m not sure which version of Winning Eleven you bought, but I bought Winning Eleven 9 for a rather lower price. $1. Seriously, one dollar. Didn’t make the price much closer to its value, though. Pro Evolution Soccer is still the only game of its kind worth buying. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/70 "2009-05-18T16:41:00Z")
That NFL coach game for the Xbox was also a tremendous waste, but I feel partially responsible for that. It’s not like they duped me, it’s just that I don’t know why a boardroom meeting game sounded like fun. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/71 "2009-05-18T16:42:10Z")
I am quite firmly of the opinion that the last good soccer games were on the SNES. (I’m talking about _Striker_ and _International Superstar Soccer_, here, not _FIFA_ - EA Sports didn’t learn how to to animate athletes so they didn’t look like they were ice-skating until the PlayStation came along). ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/72 "2009-05-18T17:10:57Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > I’m not sure which version of Winning Eleven you bought, but I bought Winning Eleven 9 for a rather lower price. > > $1. Seriously, one dollar. > > Didn’t make the price much closer to its value, though. Pro Evolution Soccer is still the only game of its kind worth buying. Psst. Winning Eleven and Pro Evolution Soccer are the same game. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/73 "2009-05-18T17:37:38Z")
Well, presumably Winning Eleven would be in Japanese, which might make it a bit trickier. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/74 "2009-05-18T17:47:38Z")
> [@Just\_Some\_Guy](#): > > Gee, popularity contests. That’s definitely an objective measure. Certainly better than the barren environments, the unresponsive controls, and the fact that I can point to dozens of precedents who did the same thing more effectively a dozen different ways. Yes, the consensus of the gaming public is _much_ more subjective than your personal opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/75 "2009-05-18T17:56:02Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Well, presumably Winning Eleven would be in Japanese, which might make it a bit trickier. Depends on the version. Winning Eleven 7, I think, was released in America while the Pro Evolution Soccer name was saved for Europe. Oh, and how’s this for a head scratcher. In the PS1/N64 days, the series was also known as International Superstar Soccer in America. So that’s three of the best soccer franchises in the world, which are technically all part of the same series. The entire world uses the Pro Evolution Soccer name now. Except for certain versions of the game that might still be Winning Eleven in Japan. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/76 "2009-05-18T18:53:49Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Somebody, somewhere bought _ET_, you know. Oh yeah. Uh, actually, my parents bought be ET for the Atari when I was a wee lad. I’m hard pressed to say which game was worse. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/77 "2009-05-18T19:26:05Z")
While we’re on the subject, [this article](http://www.seanbaby.com/nes/egm.htm) is chuckle-worthy. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/78 "2009-05-18T20:01:21Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Psst. Winning Eleven and Pro Evolution Soccer are the same game. Surprisingly, this version of Winning Eleven wasn’t. I can’t remember the version number off the top of my head, but it wasn’t made by Konami. For all I know, it was a rip-off title. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/79 "2009-05-18T20:05:59Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > While we’re on the subject, [this article](http://www.seanbaby.com/nes/egm.htm) is chuckle-worthy. That had to have come out before [Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Rigs:_Over_the_Road_Racing) slithered into existence. YOU’RE WINNER! ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/80 "2009-05-18T20:06:32Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > Surprisingly, this version of Winning Eleven wasn’t. I can’t remember the version number off the top of my head, but it wasn’t made by Konami. For all I know, it was a rip-off title. Could you find out? Because that doesn’t sound right to me at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533.md?page=5)