And now for something completely different: a discussion about videogames.

What are the cardinal sins of game design?

My vote: Defeating a boss, just to have me lose to him in a cutscene.

Megaman: Maverick Hunter X -> At the end of the intro stage in the original game you had a "supposed to lose" fight, which is fine, it does put the player and the character in a similar state of mind. In the remake they decided to turn this into a full fledged boss fight, despite not changing the final outcome. The least they could do is trigger the cutscene regardless of whether or not you win the fight, but no, you'll be forced to retry it and beat him, just to see X get his ass handed to him right after.

DRM?

Cut scenes that you CAN'T SKIP!!!!

Poorly placed checkpoints. I hate it when the checkpoint is not just before some really hard part, but some five minutes earlier. Then you have to replay those five minutes again and again. It's the boss that kills you but you have to fight some four henchmen over and over. Or there is a very hard platforming to be done, but to try again you'll have to go through some corridors of absolutely nothing a dozen times. It's like the designer are intentionally wasting my time.

It's such a rollercoaster of a ride and all you want to do is to finish the game on a high note, only to be confronted with 'meh' - awesome games with a disappointingly lame/easy final boss fight.

Two examples I can think of: Cold Fear and Bioshock.

Additionally, cutscenes that you can't pause. For some unfathomable reason, most games make the "skip cutscene" button the same as the pause button (usually ESC, which opens the in-game menu). This means that if I'm playing something and there's a cutscene, and my wife or son needs my help with something, I have the choice of asking them to wait, or to skip the cutscene and pause the game, thus missing out on potentially important plot points or clues.

You are going to have to explain that one to me.

Autosaves with only one save slot.

Sometimes I feel like replaying Arkham Asylum because there was this or that great moment/level/boss that was really fun to play, but then I remember I can't because the game doesn't let you save, and the only way to replay something is starting another playthrough from scratch. Fuck that.

Missing FOV options
which exclude a good portion of your customer from playing your fucking game AT ALL because they get literally SICK.

It's what distinguishes side-scrolling platformers I can play from side-scrolling platformers I can't. For me, movement is left right down jump. I can't wire my brain to hit a different key (space, J, or whatever horror they want me to) when I want my character to, well, hurl itself upwards.

OH!

Platformers are the only reason I bought a gamepad. It's been years since I used a keyboard for one and I'm not about to go back and play around to see if I agree with you or not. :P

Not being Freddi Fish 2!

Clumsy interfaces, like some old DOS games. I'm looking at you, System Shock.

Spending time/ressources to make pre-order exclusive and DAY-1 DLC.