I found the comment Xav made about modern games being more about "survival" to be dead on. Personally, I find my most captivating gaming moments always involve risky situations, where I feel like one wrong move will mean death, or worse, having to replay a lengthy segment. Maybe I'm just a virtual adrenaline junkie, but I simply get no kick when I feel like there is nothing to lose. For example, when I reach a checkpoint, I know I can relax and even mess around. It's a nice break, but if the checkpoints are too often, it means I'm never really feeling the danger; if I die, I'm only being sent back a minute or two. However if you take the same game but take checkpoints out of the levels completely, now my blood is pumping! It's the same feeling I felt when I heard Garnett describe the merciless Crash Bandicoot system of a limited number of lives for the entire game. I love modern games like Bit.trip Runner and Demon Souls, where a borderline-absurd lack of checkpointing forces the player to focus and take every moment seriously. Ultimately this feels more "real" than a game with many save spots, where I can casually play through dangerous areas without fear of repercussion. Worse is Halo Co-op, where every combat scenario is perverted to one player hiding safely while the other charges in recklessly. How is that at all enjoyable?