Learn To Swim -
October 16, 2001 - Brooke Bolander
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed
within this column are those of the participants and the
moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the
GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive
material afoot. I didn't know they stacked shit that high. Don't say we didn't warn you.
I've come to the conclusion that all game companies are money-grubbing hyenas. This sudden influx of games and systems two months before Christmas is just a prime example, not to mention the X-Box and Game Cube coming out within weeks of each other. Bah. Who needs all those shiny consoles with their stacks and stacks of games? Beckoning...calling...
...Let's just get to the freaking topic, alright?
| SO LONELY. |
| "I mean who needs people when you got the best friend
in the world right in front of you, a little plastic
box and a CD carrier full of shiny toys."
This sentence made me cry. So now, Brooke, you can
feel special because, despite your relatively small
time of Q&Aing, your column was powerful enough to
make someone out there cry.
I was also somewhat reminded of that bit in Brave New
World where John is almost killed by the Epsilons
because he foolishly tried to give them liberty - and
didn't know that they cared jack shit for such things,
being quite content with their "soma"-guzzling lives.
*sob*
====
Sephiroth Katana
|
Eh, I thought they were being sarcastic. At least, I hope they were being sarcastic...video games are great and all, but they can go to hell when compared to the person I care about. Although to be honest, when you're in high school and you don't fit in, there isn't much else to do but play games. Either that or do something creative - but who needs that?
Oh, and we're already in the brave new world, buddy. Prozac is just warmed-over soma, and cloning isn't that far down the road. Personally, I hope I'm dead before we get as far as all that, but I dunno...
| He should really have his own talk show. |
| Hey Brooke,
Funny you should mention this topic of "flooding the market" and scaring away consumers because this is the exact issue that Yamauchi has been chastising the industry with for a while. I know, I know, I think he's a bit of a crazy old bird myself, but I have to admit that he what he says has some merit to it. He believes that the the oversurgence of games with beautiful, life-like graphics will take precedence over gameplay: poor quality software will become the norm. Eventually, people are going to look at everything on the market and just say, "Enough is enough."
Yamauchi argues that, like most other forms of entertainment, you don't need games to survive.
So if you don't need games to survive, then the theory goes on to say that consumers are going to wisen up and take a stand against this "flood" of gaming products; perhaps they'll start buying less. Yamauchi predicts that a gaming depression, much like the fall of the Atari days, is not far away if we keep up this unrelenting pace. His theory is quite biblical when you think about it.
Of course, this is just what Yamauchi says and we should all take what he says with a grain of salt. But I figured it would be an interesting addition to your conversation today.
I just wanted to quickly add that I was sincerely touched by Celestra's stories yesterday, especially the one about that guy who stood you up on Prom Night. Celestra, I really felt bad for you when I read that and I would [b]sooooooooo[/b] beat the shit outta that guy. But I'm glad to know that you curled up with a videogame to pass the night away - even ugly ducklings deserve to be at peace. Take care.
Your friend,
Saint7
|
You know, Yamauchi says this, and yet Nintendo's got as many games coming out on the brand-new Game Cube as any of the other companies. What do you expect, the guy's a bit....er, 'special.' In that seventy-year old lovable dictator sort of way.
Maybe he's just like one of those crazy Old Testament prophets and we don't know it yet. You know, the guys who would wander around in the desert for several years eating locusts and screaming at god? Something like that. Only he screams at Square.
| "I feel sick." |
| Well, on the one hand this glut is disturbingly reminiscent of the one that
resulted in the big Gaming Apocalypse. On the other hand, there's a part of
me saying that the industry may not exist in five years ANYWAY, so we might
as well take as much as we can while there are still people to give it. Of
course, I can't AFFORD any of them right now, so I'm just hoping they'll be
circulating for non-ludicrous prices for some time to come.
-AJ
|
Um, would someone care to clue me on this mysterious gaming Second Impact that hit way back in the mystery days before my memory starts? I remember a glut of systems/games during that time period when the Genesis/SNES were going out and the PSX and N64 were coming in (along with the 3DO, Saturn, Jaguar, Virtua Boy, and Neo-Geo) but I don't think that's what you're talking about. Little help here?
I don't think the industry is going to implode and disappear like you seem to be implying, though. There will always be at least one or two consoles around, because there will always be people with cash and a hankering for some gaming mayhem. That thought should cheer us all up, at least a bit.
| People kinda have to buy food now, thanks. |
| 125 games? Bring it on. The gaming collective that currently consists of
I and my suitemates will, at best, purchase 12 of them.
Yeah, yeah, we're serious gamers, but we're also picky, and poor
students to boot. But not to fear: Sturgeon's law saves us from having
to sell blood to game. Sturgeon's law, is, of course, the statement that
"90% of everything is crap". This, of course, extends to games in
general. For every immortal game that is still remembered today, there
are at least nine games that were barely remembered a week later. For
every SSX a CoolBoarders, for every Metroid a NARCS, etc. The gaming
market gets saturated, sure, but that just means that when they bring
out a hundred new games, maybe ten will be good, and maybe five will
appeal to me. So bring it on, I say, bring it on! Release a thousand
games, and then there will be a hundred good ones, and then I'll worry
about there being too many games.
--
David Siegel
|
Yeah, but there's gooood stuff coming out too! MGS2, Devil May Cry, Kingdom Hearts, Harvest Moon...you get what I'm saying. There may be a large amount of suckage coming out in the next few months, but there's also lots of good ones. Which is, in a way, bad. We're in a recession here; is now the best time to be releasing a glut of games and gaming systems, some of which cost upwards of 500 dollars? People don't have a whole lot of cash to throw around right now, you know.
Of course, you could make an argument that buying games/systems would help the economy, but that's rather hard to do when you've just gotten a pink slip. Ahh, the joys of capitalism.
| And me without my credit card. |
| This market saturation is no accident mon petit chou chou; think Christmas
and everything comes into perspective. Most people still do the bulk of
their shopping at the last minute, but with the preparation for the holiday
season stretching out further and further into the preceding year, it makes
sense to put stuff out there a couple months in advance.
Commercialized Christmas makes me absolutely sick, by the way. Nothing
"merry" about it. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
- El Cactuar
|
But that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Cactuar! Only sixty-nine more shopping days until the biggest gift-giving holiday of the year! They are crafty devils, putting most of the consoles and games out about a month before the big day. Santa's riding to town on an X-Box piled with gifts this year, methinks.
| I'm joking guys, really. |
| Hiya Brookie...
You know that girl who beat her sister up with the rubber Xena weapon? Think I can have her phone number? Also...um...what was the topic again?
-- Jon "Long time reader, first time...ahh...screw it"
|
Dammit people, this column is not your personal dating service. It's a question and answer column, about gaming, not Savage Love.
...Sigh. I'll see what I can do.
| The Big Flood. |
| The sheer number of games that are to be released in the near future
is kinda scary. Wait, not kinda, definitely. And the thing that really
scares me is that even though there are _so_ many titles that I
"want", I'm still not overly worried about getting them. I know I
can't afford them, I know that one day I'll finish them when I play
them, and I know that somewhere in the near future, one of my friends
is going to break the law and get his overseas copy, so we can all
watch and play.
I just don't care anymore. It's sad. I once had great aspirations to
become synonymous with "Miyamoto" and "Suzuki", or maybe just "Romero"
- I think I could handle being the most beautiful mistaken woman of
the gaming community. But now I look at what they're doing with these
games - 125 for the PS2 in a short time period, and odds are that at
least a quarter of them are "must-have"s - and I feel saddened,
disheartened, angry... but most of all, I just feel very little at
all.
And then I see "Advance Wars" and "Bomberman Tournament", and it all
becomes good again. Good enough to keep me writing that design for
that game that "The Bouncer" tried to imitate. Or to fire up my copy
of "Shining Force 2" or "Landstalker" and get lost for a while. I love
having my Genesis. I love having my Saturn, although my copy of
Guardian Heroes is scratched on the data side, rendering it just a
collectors' item. Excuse me while I offer up some silence for
Treasure.
...
Ahem.
I must say, Bill should have been an influence to all. He definitely
influenced my small group of game-playing friends, right down to the
hours upon hours of Super Bomberman 2. But monikeys and wheelchairs
and unicorns are other direct influences - Game Players, with all of
its classic moments ("...and if I click on THIS icon, Mike's desk
blows up!"), was just the binding agent in that conglomerate of
useless, inane idea.
- Kyo Misfire, decidedly and partially "old-school"
|
I guess it's not as bad as we make it out to be, when you really get down to it. You can always wait awhile until you have money or the prices drop or something, but for some reason instant gratification seems to be the name of the game. Hmmm...that might make an interesting topic.
Of course, some of us have to be patient...
| The Controller That Ate Chicago. |
| Hi Brooke,
Is anybody else getting a strange, "Third Impact except with video games"
feel from the coming months? I wasn't alive to experience the first crash of
the gaming world back in the early to mid 80s, but from what I read, the
situation seems similar except that there aren't as many crappy games.
By the way, have you seen the special PSOv2 Gamecube controller? Even I,
with my monstrously large hands, will have trouble holding it. I guess the
same guy that designed the Xbox controller helped with this sucker.
-Rune, who wants a damn PS2 after reading the MGS2 thing
|
Once again, I have to ask - there was a crash back then? Erm...I wasn't aware of this, probably because I was still in diapers during the early eighties, but I guess that just proves the point. And if you don't think there aren't as many crappy games right now, take a better look around. For every MGS2 there's a Frogger Quest. Let's look on the bright side here - if there is a crash, the industry will just have to start over with a clean slate, which is a good thing. I think.
I don't know what's caused this sudden influx of giant monster controllers, by the way, but I wish it would stop. Jesus guys, take a hint from the PS2 Dual Shock, eh?
Closing Comments:
How's this for a topic - why the heck do people have to have games and systems on the first day/days they come out? Why can't they just wait a year or something, thus letting the price drop instead of getting scalped for 400 dollars? Is it some sort of weird 'instant gratification' thing foisted onto us by the commercialism-driven media? I want topic and debate and good, thought-out letters. Make my dreams come true, magical pretty girls!
- Brooke Bolander, who is buying Christmas presents for other people than herself, thanks.
|
