Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Video game snobbery

Games Radar has a fun (but ironic) article on the seven steps needed to become an elite gaming snob. Below are my thoughts.

Step 1 - Swear that system X has no good games. At all
I don't think I have ever thought about that, apart from maybe dismissing the Xbox console because I was heavily into PC then. I do realise that every system I have never owned has some great games on it. I also had the opportunity to play with both SNES and Mega Drive when I was young so these fanboyism trait is a rather new phenomenon. Yes my gaming habit seems to be 'very Nintendo' of late, but If I have the money I would even buy a PSP.

Step 2 - My console's games can beat up your console's games
I did think that Resident Evil 4 on GCN was better than PS2, but then again I also own a PS2, so in hindsight it does not matter. It is crazy when fanboys love a particular game because it happened to be developed by Nintendo/Rare/Bungie/Sega/Sony/Square Enix. Just to rile people up I think I would probably go... Dragon Quest >>> Blue Dragon. :P

Step 3 - You hate on anything popular
I may be guilty of this. Let's see. Final Fantasy VII. Hated it. Final Fantasy VIII. Hated it. Halo. Hated it. iPod. Despised it. All with good reasons but I won't delve into those. However I am looking forward to playing the immensly popular Final Fantasy XII. For one I heard it is actually quite good. I even own a DS Lite, the first console (revision) I ever got before launch.

Step 4 - You care at all about geeky tech speak
I do care about tech speak, when it comes to PC. I am ashamed that my PC is at least 2 generations old. Heck my Samsung CRT is 6-7 years old. All rubbish. I don't do tech speak on consoles as they are all outdated anyway. I rather concentrate on the games.

Step 5 - Affixing the rose-colored glasses to your face
I believe games are susceptible to age badly. If you ask me to play Ocarina of Time again, I will refuse. And how can people honestly say that Goldeneye > Half-Life 2? Fanboyism does cloud people's judgement.

Step 6 - Bitching about minute, trivial changes
People like me who get bored easily hardly notice minute changes, so this doesn't affect me. Castlevania new art direction? Not that great, but not something I would fuss about. Playing as Raiden in MGS2? Well he is pretty damn cool. 2D Metroid fanboys who bitch about FPS Metroid are bloody annoying.

Step 7 - Obsessing over packaging
I am slightly guilty of this. For one I do not like the 'platinum' edition covers. I would not care about it if it is bloody cheap, but if I can find a used original issued at a heavily discounted price in an almost mint condition, then I would rather have that instead. I am not a sad collector though.

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