letmejustdothisity.

That seems like a good way to describe it.

It's that thing that very few games have that keeps you playing hours after you wanted to do something else.

Football Manager has it. The letmejustdothisity factor in Football Manager is pretty intense.

Let me just search for a player, then I'll switch off...

let me just keep playing until I see if they accepted my bid...

Let me just offer a contract...

Let me just see if the contract offer is accepted...

Let me just play one game with the new player...

Wow! The new player is playing well. Let me just play a few games, then save, as they might not play so well the next time I load up...

That's just one example of letmejustdothisity in the game.

This isn't simple addiction. Addiction is not being able to stop doing the same thing over and over again.

Like winning an online Gears match. You get the same reward every time.

Same screen, same end and you start the next match with nothing new.

This is continuing to play so that you can get bigger and bigger rewards.

Just doing that little bit more, because you feel like you're only a fraction away from getting something that you didn't have in the game before.

Well, Forza Motorsport 2 is the first game that I've played in a long while that has so much letmejustdothisity.

I keep finding myself 'just doing one more race'

Let me just try me new turbo for one lap of my next race...

Let me just finish this race. Might as well. I've already done one lap...

Let me just buy some new brakes, then turn off...

Let me just try these brakes on another lap...

Let me just finish this tournament. Might as well. I've already done two races...

On and on it goes.

Not many games keep you playing and feeling rewarded like this.

Some games keep you playing for ages because you can't get past that STUPID bit.

You only feel rewarded once you manage to beat the stupid thing. Then you don't feel like going through all the stress again.

Some games keep you playing because they're just so long and spaced out.

You have to get 1,000,000 credits to buy that super-mega-nova-ray-weapon-upgrade, so you put up with the long dull bits for the rewarding feeling when you finally buy the thing.


Anyway, I've been playing Forza 2 since it came out, and will probably continue to do so until I get at least around 900 gamerpoints.

I've had a look at the achievements, and they all seem pretty straightforward.

Dirt is supposed to be coming out tomorrow, but I don't think I'll be buying it for a while, as it probably won't even get put in my 360 until I've done all of the single player achievements on Forza.

I haven't been playing my 360 for a while, but have now managed to get 500 points out of King Kong with almost no effort at all.

The lack of challenge from at least about a couple of hours of gaming doesn't make me feel eager to pick up a joypad any time soon.

I suppose it might be a bit like going on a really long car journey.

You want to go, but the 5 or 6 hours of not really doing anything stops you from going unless you have a really good reason.

King King isn't giving me much of a reason.

These are the sort of games that go into development 7-8 months before the scheduled release date.

No planning, no careful design, no real thought.

Just read the script and put it into polygons as quick as you can. Use an already successful game mechanic and add a twist.

ZZZzzz...

The problem with these games is that they still sell really well.

Spiderman 3 was just knocked off the top of the UK charts by the latest Pirates of the Caribbean game, both of which got pretty bad reviews.

Which means that there is money in mediocrity.

A lot of money.

Anyway, Forza 2 is due for release on friday and I want to get the last hour or so of King Kong finished before then.

I don't think that I'll mind too much if I don't though, since I already have the 500 from it that I planned to get from each of my games.

I don't think I'll be buying a game purely for the ease of its points from now on though.

So if there is at least one thing that King Kong has done, it looks like it's saved me some money.