I'm baffled at why this seems to be such a difficult task for developers. Is it really that hard to add the ability to pause cutscenes? Video or in-game, they should be pausable with zero problems. Its especially bad in the MGS series. I don't have problems with 25 minute cutscenes, but let me pause it, nobody else in my household will care that I need to watch a cutscene for "just 5 more minutes."

Wow, I didn't know how good I had it. I was talking about short North American cut scenes. God forbid I play a Japanese game, my wife would have me mow the lawn, paint the house and help her open a jar all in one cut scene.

God, don't I know this pain. I've been there, brother.

With us, the phone is the mortal enemy of cutscene enjoyment. If it were up to me, I'd turn all the ringers off, mute the answering machine and leave a message amounting to "We'll get back to you when we $#$*(#@ well feel like it." on there.

Honestly, I feel bad for you guys. Since I'm a gamer myself, my husband and I have a mutual understanding when it comes down to anything game-related. I can't count the number of times I've told him to be quiet during a cut scene.

On the other hand, when I was living with my mother she acted the way you describe. My brother and I learned the hard way: telling your own mother to be quiet is never a good idea.

I don't see what's so wrong about telling your significant other not to bother you when you're involved with something. I never understood why some woman get so bent out of shape over it. And when the situation is reverse, she'll get bent out of shape for being bothered. As long as you're polite about it, I see no harm done.

Maybe I make too much sense?

Everyone I know understands that Tuesdays nights are offlimits. Whether it be going out to dinner, just hanging out, etc ..

What is Tuesday night you ask? World of Warcraft instance reset night!!! No way I'm missing the fresh high-end instances for real life

I find that disturbing. I'd understand if all they did was play games and completely ignore reality but I doubt that's the case. I hear these stories a lot. When my husband talks about us at work, he ALWAYS comes homes with a compliment for me and a "nagging wife" story.

I find these types of situations very hypocritical. I'm sure if the wife was occupied with a good movie, American Idol or something, and you walked in and started yapping during an important scene, she wouldn't let you get away with it.

Or... along with pausible cutscenes, you could get TiVo and a machine that stops time.

Metal Gear Solid 2's "OH I DON'T KNOW WHO I AM I MISS ROSE I HATE LIFE" speech had to be replayed thrice because of the powering flickering, the cat tripping the cord, and my sister turning off the light switch (which was also connected to my PSX and TV).

Man I hated that cutscene.

Nowadays it seems like someone always asks me to do something when I'm in the middle of a fight in WoW, and then I have to get the whole speech about how games are stupid and you shouldn't have to "wait for someone to finish one". Grandparents suck.

Whenever I read or hear something like this, it feels like I'm slowly being choked :-s I hate people who act like they "own" their significant other, be it man or woman.

Been there, done that (not personally, but had a friend). What was worse was that his wife convinced him that they were satanic, and got him to join the cult she got into. This lead to about $800 worth of games/equipment (read, many new release PS2 games when the system was new, and the system) to get a nice swim in the ocean, when his ship was out to sea.

After hearing that, I gave up on him. If you're that stupid, then you deserve no sympathy from me. It wouldn't have been as bad if he had just ebay'd it all, to help them out financially since she didn't work, and they had two kids, with another on the way... but to just dump it? Ug.

Hehe - I just had to post here, because Guild Wars is a multiplayer game and in older areas you can skip cutscenes, but not pause them.

Recently they started adding the ability to replay cutscenes by talking to NPCs, but in the old days it seemed like my wife always wanted to talk when I was trying to watch.

But at least with the DS you can just close the lid and it goes into standby and continues where you left off. That has to be the single most awesome feature about the DS. In the last week or so, that has saved my ass on the way to work/home with Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. Especially for the first boss, the took me a good 10 minutes to beat: 2 minutes on the bus, 5 in the can, 2 more at the desk, rest on the way home.

I simply cannot count the number of cutscenes I have missed, end-of-game movies (with that special feeling of rubbish accomplishment that comes with finishing a game:) ) that have been ruined, high scores missed etc etc due to my wife's uncanny sense of timing. I can sit playing for 4 hours, completely undisturbed, until a crucial moment and then...

I know what you mean. I really love my wife, but her sense of timing can be so annoying at times. I was in the middle of completing the quest for my epic Paladin mount and she wanted me to take a break, right then. That would have meant leaving the group and then having to start all over again trying to find another group. What a pain. I had wiped once already that night. This was my second group and I was not about to give up while I had a good group willing to go with me. I stayed and wound up in the dog house. Of course, I got the lecture and all that. But then she gets over it until the next time. I did get my mount by the way...

Just wait 'til your wife is watching something important to her, then interrupt her.

Do this repeatedly until she learns her lesson.