Let’s take a step back and talk of the trends of the past, as there was one in every generation. There was a time where every platformer and side scroller was the same, like copying off the success that was The Super Mario Bros. But back then, it was so bad, gaming was just starting off and the technology was not so great – so the developers were limited on what they could do. It was also a time when Nintendo didn’t exactly rehash their own stuff and fun was had by all.

The next step was a small era where the rise of the First Person Shooter happened, where they were called FPSes, but Doom clones. That’s right you younguns, everything for a while that came after Doom was called a Doom clone, not a FPS. Again, this was not so bad it may seem because the FPS had to start off somewhere, even knowing it was just copying off Doom. Of course there was a few that stood out from the rest, my personal favorite of onslaught of Doom clones was Blood.

But let’s get to the point where it starts to get bad, where technology was getting better, innovation could be achieved and now the industry was on the rise. Now there was a point in time where there was a World War II shooter that came out every month or so. Thanks to that onslaught of those WWII games, I can’t filter out the good ones from the all the rest and just refuse to play them all together. Who thought it was a good idea to keep making these generic games? Same setting, same weapons, same thing and of course all these games were made by American companies.

Then came about the hack n’ slashes, simple minded, button mashing crap. I swear it was started by Dynasty Warriors which the epitome of what I am talking about. Some stood out like Devil May Cry but it was a time where every single one of them seems the same, like all the Dynasty Warriors. The whole series seem the same to me as it was mash X to win.

One of the worst trends ever was the Grand Theft Auto clones. With the success of GTA3, every other company out there copies its formula to try to become successful themselves. Sandlot plus violence was where it’s at. Instead of trying to improve upon the formula or trying something new, these companies just made the same cocktail with a twist of their own juice.

Now the new trend is the shovelware we see on the Wii. Don’t get me wrong as I know there was plenty for PS2 and DS as well but I think it has become more of a problem on the Wii. Because of the shovelware, real games tend to be shadowed and forgotten on the console that supports a different play style to its users. Like all trends of the past, companies are just going through with the fad so they can fill their pockets. It doesn’t take effort to stamp a game and call it done and because of all this it hard for the industry as a whole to move forward.

There are many companies to blame for slowing down the industry for starting and following these trends. EA or specifically EA Sports is one of them, as each year their sport games like Madden don’t seem to change anything and yet rake in the cash. Nintendo as of late is also guilty of this, I mean, do we really need all those Mario Party games? Not only some companies are copying others, they’re just copying themselves, or rather, rehashing. There are many more companies that do this as well and because of these companies, other no name companies are going to try to copy these formulas and just create their own games in hopes to reap the rewards. Do we really need a Hollywood version of the video game industry? Resort to copying each other and other mediums of entertainment just to make money?

Soon the trends of shovelware titles will be gone, to be only replaced by a new trend – probably worst than the last. I wish the developers would try to think of something different, to actually spend time on a game rather than to eat the last trendy game to just crap it back out. I want to see some change on the industry, where I can spend my money on a game or several games a month rather than just buying a select few a year. Lately, I’ve been somewhat starved for games and I don’t enjoy playing the same thing over and over again. Do you enjoy eating the exact same thing for every meal? It’s the same thing with games so you game makers out there, think outside of the assembly line. Stop the rehashing, stop the copying, and get creative.

As the consumers, spread the word, stop buying rehashes and copycats to show the developers we don’t want the same thing over and over again.

What am I getting at is the term “Gamer”. Does the culture as a whole really accept to call themselves “Gamers” and not “one who plays video games?”. I truly and always have hated the term “gamer” (and don’t bother pointing out that this place use to be called gamerblag). There are many reason why I might hate the term or maybe I just hate the people who use it.

With people calling each other gamers nowadays, the word has grown some connotative meanings. Some act they are the shit when they call themselves gamer, like the person they’re talking to has to kneel before them because they chose such a hobby – and trust me, I met people like this. Of course the other side of it, how gamer could be a demeaning term such as nerd or geek – of course I don’t know why people would go around calling themselves such these days. Back when I was a kid, these terms were insulting, nowadays they’re badges to put on your wall. So which is it? A glorifying way to call oneself or a insult? I guess it really depends on who are you talking to.

Of course I don’t know how the hell all of this happened, I mean, the term gamer used to mean tabletop players – which I do indulge in. I play with some older men with a couple of younger one and the term gamer has a different meaning between the two generations. And, at this point, do you really want to call yourself a gamer and gloat about it? Because like all stereotypes, my group isn’t far from it.

Which brings to another point, the term gamer has begun to develop stereotypes of that culture. Now back on track to video games, the most obvious stereotypes would be that they are all fat, smelly, man-children who live with their moms. They are nothing but a bunch of worthless bags of meat that will never do anything to further themselves in society and will stay forever a virgin not knowing the touch of a loving women (or man) – of course this can apply to some, but not all. Do you really want to keep priding yourselves on the term gamer even after that?

Well then, let’s move on the most atrocious part of the term gamer, “The Girl Gamer”. I mean no offense to you ladies out there who enjoy video games, but I still think you know what I am talking about. We wouldn’t have these abominations if the term gamer didn’t exist in the first place. It’s like I said before, these people wish the world would kiss their ass because they are part of the “cool” clique, which was never “cool” in the first place. Girls, or people in general, who go around flaunting their ego because of a single simple term and thus cause much destruction to the point where steam just might come out of one’s ears, mostly to those other “gamers”. This has become quite a phenomenon because when a girl says “I play video games”, nothing goes around but as soon as she says “I’m a girl gamer”, not just “gamer” but the whole “girl gamer” then hell suddenly breaks through the ground beneath you and the raging flames of death rain down upon to anyone in earshot, or in most cases, the internet. This is all the because of the connotative meanings that have grown with the term “gamer”.

What’s up with this god damn label? Do we really need it? Are we still in high school and gather around in a circle in the middle of the courtyard because we’re all gamers? I thought when one becomes an adult, they forget the ways of stupid youth and move onward. The worst part is there are also different terms for “gamer”. The Hardcore Gamer, The Casual Gamer, The Tourny/Pro Gamer, etc. So what now? Are we drawing lines in our circle now? The fact of the matter is, we all play video games and we do it as a hobby, for entertainment, to enjoy oneself; not to create a blemish on the culture – so break the damn circle.

Why do some of you call yourselves gamers? Been around the internet for long enough to know, that most of you hate when other people call themselves gamers, and yet you call yourself a gamer – which I know applies to a lot of you. As soon as that madden playing fratboy says “I’m a gamer” that holocaust siren goes off, the moment the bejeweled playing soccer mom says “I’m a gamer” the Earth shatters, so on and so forth. The term gamer causes so much anguish and yet we continue to use the term. I don’t remember this term being used over a decade ago where my graphics only came in eight bits so why is it that today we use it so much? If you’re any self respecting person who enjoys playing video games then just say that “I play video games” instead of the “I’m a gamer” tripe, it’ll give us all a better name.

Seriously, what the hell happened when people where nice to each other after a friendly game? Now days, when I lose match, I get called a cuntface douchenozzle faggot, not just by the other team, but my own team as well. Recently with the release of Left 4 Dead, this has become very apparent to me. I get insulted by both my team and the other team. Not just Left 4 Dead, other modern FPSes on the PC have players with similiar attitudes – except Quake III, never really saw bad sportsmanship on there. The rage, anger, and bigotry are so strong in that cyber air that it’s enough to give one a stroke after a good single breath. Of course this has been around for quite a while, specifically around Xbox Live.

Now I’m not exactly blaming the community as a whole or am I trying to insult any Xbox players – but the travesty that is the hate-filled ignorance which is Xbox live is hard to ignore. Simply playing around a few games on Xbox live, I will be insulted by every single profane word that is in the English dictionary, and maybe a few other languages as well. I can simple say, “Nice round man” and I get replied with “You sound like a butthurt cunt, you know I’m the best there is”. Is this any way for players to treat each other in, what I thought was, a friendly game?

After all that malarkey, a few days ago I decided I want to take it old school and play some Starcraft on battle dot net. Of course there isn’t much a player base, but I was able to join a few games here and there. Most of which were Top vs. Bottom so I had to be in a team. The one thing that I noticed is that, it’s the exact god damn thing. I get bashed by my teammate who got killed quickly and blames their team. The other team was, of course, talking smack throughout the game. And out of all those games, guess what’s the one thing I never saw in the chat? “gg” or “good game” That’s right. No one said “good game” after a match, the equivalent of shaking hands with the other team in sports, the “gg” I thought was a courteous thing to do after a game. I would be saying “gg” and all I get is “lol i pwn u fgt”.

Where did all the friendly players go? I don’t remember this many assholes in the 90s and even early 2000 when I use to play on battle dot net. Sometimes I wish I was back in the 90s, with my dial-up modem, my piece of paper with quake hubs, and where everyone was actually mature, even knowing that I was still a prepubescent kid. What is the cause of all this hostility in internet games? Is world getting angrier? Is our youth becoming corrupted? Or just because now that you’re grown up, you can talk like sailors? Is this an American thing or is it worldwide?  What is the exact cause?

Now I know there is people out there that still act friendly on the internet and I would love to shake your hand, but nowadays, the unfriendly players outweigh the friendly ones. I can understand the gloat that people do, but it’s no longer gloating if you’re trying to demean the other players. It’s becoming harder and harder to actually enjoy online multiplayer games if this keeps up, so I ask every single one of you – say “gg” after that good game you just had.

I am sure everyone knows what the tutorial level is and I am also sure that some of you readers can agree with me that they are one of the most annoying things about video games today and within the past decade. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, the tutorial level is a level in a game that teaches you the basic mechanics of the game. Why is this so bad that I’m raging about it? It’s the fact every developer out there deems it necessary to have this level mandatory to complete in order to learn how jump and then double-jump. This makes the notion that these developers are targeting their games toward the “casual” crowd, non-gamers, or even your grandmother. Because, hell, everyone is a brand new player into the world of video games but let’s get back on track.

I know neither that all games do not have a tutorial level nor that all games have it mandatory – but I’m not talking about all games. I am talking about the games within this generation and those in last generation where the majority of games had the tutorial level. I am sick of playing a level where it does nothing to teach me, does nothing to advance the story, and most importantly, it does nothing to entertain me. Press A to jump, press square to shoot, swing your controller to awkwardly attack – it’s just plain annoying, especially when the game offers nothing complex to the already copy-and-paste game play of its genre.

I remember back in my day, we would actually read the game manual to know what the hell to do it and I got to admit I find it more entertaining because the manual was there to help get familiar with the game and sometimes double as an art book. It takes mere minutes to completely understand the game when reading the manual which is far greater than listening, waiting, doing, and repeating those same things within the game for good half an hour just to get into the game. Hell, I remember when games didn’t even have tutorial levels at all and that was great because if I rented a game which most likely won’t include a manual, it will require me to think and actually figure it out – to me that was fun.

I want to name a few memorable horrific tutorial levels or tutorial-esque levels to show how horrible that they really are. Let’s start with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time which I’m sure a lot of people have played. This game made it feel like the whole beginning of it was a tutorial level thanks to the nagging little fairy that won’t ever shut up or even that stupid owl that kept blabbing on and on, forcing you to smash the A button until you realize you just made him repeat the same explanation all over again because the developers thought it would be funny if they made “No” or rather “No, I do not understand please waste more of my time” the default choice after the long winded explanation.

If anyone is a fan of the Thief series, knows that the third one had a bad tutorial level as well. I know very well the first two had a “Training level” but guess what? They didn’t force it down your throat; so why make the third in the series any different? It might be the fact to dumb it down for the console playing faggots to tell them that moving slowly equaled sneaking or to try to make the fact that light made it so people can see you. What’s worse is that the tutorial level forced you do it the exact way they wanted. What the hell is this? I did whatever the hell I wanted to complete my mission and that choice of freedom is what made me like the games so much. This just proves the trend that developers are following, to dumb it down for the ADD ridden kids of today or for your mother – thus the “casual” problem that we see today. The first two Thief games,

I think the worst of the worst though is Kingdom Hearts 2. What the hell were the developers thinking to make the first 2 hours a tutorial level? Yeah, 2 hours. That whole entire 2 hours of tutorial and “story” could have been summed up in five minutes, or if you like it easy, a few seconds – press triangle to win. I enjoyed the first Kingdom Hearts fully and its tutorial level was nowhere as bad as its successor. The only entire first two hours of this game felt like a real chore to get to the actual game, it’s like eating broccoli to get that piece of unfulfilling candy – all because of the tutorial level.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I understand that some players out there love the tutorial level to get a grip on the game and that’s fine and dandy. It’s just seems like developers out there forget that, there are people who hate tutorial levels as well as the people who like the tutorial levels. Thus the simple solution to this is that making the tutorial level skippable or even out of the whole story completely. Having that extra option at the main menu of game dedicated to the tutorial level might be a good way to go. Another simple way is having the tutorial level non-intrusive to the game, like a little float saying what button does what and that’s it; not stopping the action completely and waiting for you, the player, to repeat what they just said. I hope the trend of bad, forced tutorial levels will end soon and the developers remember who the original video gaming audience is, because we have not forgotten how to play video games.

That being said,  something that doesn’t always make a game enjoyable is the graphics. Sure, graphics can be nice, especially in a game where it serves a purpose. However, in my time, I have heard far too many people tell me that they wouldn’t play a game simpily because it wasn’t top notch graphics or it didn’t push the hardware of the machine to the max. Why would you wanna do that to your machine?

If a game is fun and has good graphics, that’s great, but what if it’s not the best image capture top notch stuff? Some games look amazing even without the magic of the third dimension. Ever take a look at Cave Story? The game would pass for a SNES game, the gameplay is something that’s involving and fun, and the story, while confusing at first, will have you in tears.  Ever take a look at Sonic the Hedgehog on the PS3 and 360? I’m a huge Sonic fan and this game, while very pretty, was a nightmare to play. Sonic clips through curbs, jumps make him slow to a near stop and a personal killer for me: I can see his feet the entire time. I never ever wanna see Sonic’s feet when he’s running. Ever.

Good, pretty, but short

When you think about it, you were a kid once. When you were younger, you sure as heck didn’t have near realistic graphics and amazing surround sound, but you still played your game and man you had a blast! Why wouldn’t that work again? I gotta give Capcom kudos for giving us a new “classic” game, even if I still can’t beat one robot master, the joy it gives me is huge. Partially from nostalgia, partially from frustration and greatly from the gameplay… It’s been years since I felt this way.

I guess partially because I feel this way is that when I go to work at my game store, and kids come in and tell me about how old the Gamecube and PS2 are and I wanna strangle them. They’re telling me I sat down and played a new game for last week is old school. I could have been a little more understanding if it was a clueless old gramma or something, but a kid of 10 – 12? Come on, you’d have to live under a rock. Last week I was cleaning up Gamecube discs for a kid and said he had no idea what a cartridge was. I know not every game in the past is worth playing, but they won’t even give them a second glance.

Dear youngins,

Put down your Halo and Grand Theft Auto and play Doom and Vectorman.

Love,

Jumpluff

]]> http://giantenemyblog.com/graphics-dont-make-the-game/feed/ 0 http://giantenemyblog.com/king-of-fighters-xii-roster-revealed/ http://giantenemyblog.com/king-of-fighters-xii-roster-revealed/#comments Fri, 02 Jan 2009 01:00:47 +0000 mulmeltia http://gamerblag.com/?p=2525

Well, I know ONE fellow Gamerblag member will be raging about this bit of news, but as it is, I’m currently raging too.

The full roster of the upcoming King of Fighters XII has already been announced, and as you can see from the picture above, one specific character is missing. One who’s always been a staple of the series, and definitely recognizable no matter where she gets to. Athena? Generic schoolgirl. Kim Kaphwan? Generic korean badass (although one of my favorite characters). But where the fuck is my fan-throwing, fanservice-drooling, cleavage-bouncing titty-monster MAI? OR YURI? OR WHIP FOR THAT MATTER?

They better be unlockables, Playmore. They’d better be.

For those of us unable to view images for some reason, here’s the roster in convenient list form:

• Ash
• Duo Lon
• Shen
• Kyo
• Benimaru
• Daimon
• Iori
• Athena
• Kensou
• Chin
• Terry
• Andy
• Joe
• Kim
• Raiden
• Ryo
• Robert
• Ralf
• Clark
• Leona

Not even Vanessa? NOT EVEN VANESSA?

The last Street Fighter movie was terrible, but at least it made an effort to present the material as is. We got to see Guile do the somersault, we got to see Zangief and Honda have an impromptu wrestling/sumo match, hell, we even got to see a half-assed hadouken (although it’s more or less a consensus that the Ryu/Ken duo was the worst of it). But at least we saw the characters, as ridiculous as they may seem, to resemble the characters they were supposed to portray. And lambast me if you will but I still think that Raul Julia made a very convincing M. Bison.

Fast forward to NOW, with another upcoming Street Fighter movie, one that centers on everyone’s favorite thunder-thighed Chinese beauty, Chun Li. And it sounds easy enough, right? Just give a chinese actress her costume, those cute bun-things on her hair, and a license to kick the shit out of people. Doesn’t even have to be Bison, it can be just thugs.

Except we get this.

M.Bison is a ruthless businessman with a beard instead of the psychotic megalomaniac in a general’s suit and cape like he should be.Vega is just a thug in a mask. Balrog is a bald, black dude with a bazooka who’s really really strong.

I hate you, Hollywood. I hate you. I wish I could hate you to death.

For those of us who’ve been given the opportunity to see the last chapter of gaming icon’s life – i.e. Solid Snake’s last operation, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the Sony PlayStation 3 – you might have noticed something missing, amidst the stunning revelations, the awesome graphics and the word “nanomachines” being thrown about here and there.

It was a bit subtle, since they made sure we got so much new content that it was hard to keep track of everything, but it was there – or rather, it wasn’t there. Yes, I’m talking about the classic Metal Gear Solid theme, the one we would all hum to ourselves while we’re on a sneaking mission to the ol’ refridgerator at the kitchen, to grab some delicious rations before the parents found out you were staying up late to play Kojima’s goddamn epic. And yes, they left it out of MGS4. Why?

The answer is as simple (and as rage-inducing) as you might think. It seems that some russian composers have gotten wind of the MGS theme (composed by Tappi Iwase and not Harry Gregson-Williams) and have noticed its startling similarity to a piece written by composer Georgy Sviridov. Long story short, accusations of theft were thrown around, and after some legal brouhaha Kojima had to leave it out of the PS3 sequel. Here’s the exact quote:

The truth is, Konami [had legal problems with] Russian composers who said we stole their music. They didn’t [steal their music], actually. But Konami was too sensitive about the situation and just decided not to use that music in the game.

You’ve got to love people being overprotective of IPs when everyone’ s obviously taking creative cues and references from everyone these days.

MMORPG = Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. 

I don’t see the word “dating” in the above acronym.

Before I continue, let me get something straight first: I don’t have any complaints about people hooking up through online games per se. That’s cool; you managed to bump into someone who shares the same interests as you (as do a bazillion other people, no doubt), and it’s way better to meet someone who at least shares your interests than meeting someone from a random bar, or a dating site.

If you could help it, though, it’s best to steer clear from checking out that cute pally in your guild.

Online romance is inevitable, but nonsensical

The concept of having in-game relationships is already inevitable, thanks to the boom of cyber-romance in the past decade. It’s not entirely a bad thing – after all, one of the biggest draws in online gaming is the forging of friendships and alliances between gamers who roleplay as knights, archers, magicians, etc. Of course, this also includes romantic relationships.

However, should the quest for romance be one of the main reasons of playing online games? The common consensus – or just plain common sense – may probably dictate a big fat NO. Problem is, common sense does not always prevail, and players wooing fellow gamers online is already an everyday affair. Some of them even make a career out of it.

Most of the time in online gaming relationships, you haven’t seen the other person aside from receiving a couple of pictures whose authenticity could not even be proven, save for meeting IRL – and even that isn’t foolproof. I’ve seen men who ask their sisters or girlfriends to act as the pilots of their female avatars, and they themselves usually tag along as “chaperones” to make sure their accomplices act in character.

I am aware that I’m painting online romances in a somewhat negative light, and I should; aside from dating those who you already met IRL, it doesn’t make sense to pursue a relationship with someone whom you do not know, assuming that you haven’t met yet in person. You may say “but I like her for what she is!” The question is, is the person who you met and fell in love with in an online game truly real? 

Can’t trust ‘em girls…and pseudo-girls

Let me go off-tangent a bit.

It’s a tried and tested theory that when you opt to play a female character, other players will tend to be more patronizing or generous towards you, generally speaking.

In many instances I have found myself to be on the receiving end of such contrived generosity, especially back when I was still starting out in my first online game, Ragnarok Online (yes, I went there). 

My first ever character, created six years ago, was an archer with a maxed out Str attribute – don’t laugh, RO players – and being the clueless ditz I was back then I began to ask other players how to this or that. Most of the time I got help, and some even went so far as to accompany in my quests. I would have thought that their virtual kindness stemmed from…well, being kind, if it weren’t for the fact that they asked for personal information almost each and every time I asked for help.

Eventually I got sick and tired of that annoying trend, and it never failed to grate on my nerves: the player who, upon meeting a female character in-game, know nothing else to do aside from asking for “her” contact details. The players who seem to have the annoying non-word “asl?” hotkeyed, ready to be pressed upon seeing a nubile virtual princess prance along gaily in the fields of god-knows-where. The player who, upon refusal to give him personal details or contact information, will then harrass the female character about not having a vagoo.

Apparently, men caught on as well, and decided to advantage of the male’s innate desire to be immensely gallant and generous towards females. Most of them took to roleplaying as girls, charming equipment off every eligible virtual bachelor they see. Some even go so far as to use voice changers and modified their voices to keep the illusion even in Skype, Vent, or TeamSpeak. 

See where I’m getting at?

Here’s the tl;dr version of this part of my article – every time you communicate with your online beloved, try to imagine an unwashed, topless man living in a basement controlling the virtual apple of your eye, laughing and smirking all the while professing “her” love for you.

Yes, it is a crass over-generalization, but it helps to keep this fact in proper perspective: you do NOT know who your online sweetheart really is. Sure, things may turn out for the better and the girl you’ve been raiding with all this time may be a Felicia Day, but are you willing to gamble your sanity and dignity over pixellated hormones?

I hate Felicia Day

While I don’t have any personal hate for Ms Day (she’s awfully cute, I’ll give her that), I hate her Asylum interview that also happened to be featured in Kotaku. In the article titled “Felicia Day Explains How to Meet Girls in World of Warcraft,” Felicia gives advice on how to snag the hearts of girl WoW players. Some of her tips include:

If you’re a noob you probably won’t get a second glance. Just like in real life when a guy drives a Ferrari, it might not be an automatic thumbs up, but it does catch the eye. So if you have the Ferrari of broadswords, yeah. 

One of the things that make online relationships different from real-life ones is that the boundaries that separate the rich and the not-so-rich (as long as they can pay for the games and broadband connection), the whites from the colored, and pretty much other distinctions are not only blurred, they are blotted out altogether. However, Felicia’s ‘tip’ somehow defeats that ideology with implying that your character has to be draped in legendary equipment to catch attention. 

But I didn’t mention Felicia because of her opinions. I mentioned her because I hate the fact that the interview existed in the first place, further reinforcing the annoying trend of male players constantly seeking the attention and affection of their female counterparts. Nay, the existence of the interview practically tells people that the whole affair is awwrriiight and no one finds fault in it.

No love for me

By now, you would probably want to tell me that I should just use a male character when playing online games. Sure, that worked, until one of my former guilds decided to use TeamSpeak during guild wars. No, I cannot be bothered with using voice changers and risk lagging my already clunky machine. That, regrettably, is only a short-term solution, even if it worked.

I realize that I am ranting against an established social contruct that happened to be reflected on online games, but please, next time you see a cute female character, just try to see her as that character and that character only – do not talk to her as a female player playing an online game. Chances are that you would just be disappointed in the long run, and it would her good to be spared from the usual “asl plz” lines.

This is what I deal with every day on the internet.

You see, butt-hurt console war crap come mostly from internal regret. From wasting a paycheck and waiting in the rain for a console, or underestimating your mother’s “you can only have one” rule, regret can be, and probably IS the biggest driving force behind console fanboys.

The Wii had the best launch by far, and is still beating the crap out of the competition, leaving old school Nintendo fanboys and once regretful 1st generation DS owners (who lucked out on the system’s initial lackluster success) laughing all the way to their mother’s basements. The problem is, after Brawl was released, Wii owners noticed not only that there are very few good exclusives, but there doesn’t seem to be many good games on the horizon. Slowly, many are realizing that the Wii may truly be a ‘Gamecube 1.5′.

The PlayStation’s fall from grace is by far the biggest story to come from this generation. The initial failure of the overpriced console left it’s purchases restrained only to Sony loyalists, optimists, graphics whores, and kids that got shafted come Christmas time. Things looked entirely grim, until the turning point at last year’s E3, along with the release of MGS4 and the so-called ‘Blue-Ray victory’ led to pessimists dropping their guards and embracing the console. It’s sudden upturn, in addition to a slew of new exclusives, has not only returned hope to Sony’s eyes, but has led fanboys to strike back at their opposite competition with a violent vengeance.

Which leaves the 360. With good sales and the highest number of quality exclusives, the 360 owners should be the happiest fanboys of the bunch. But lately, with the rise of the PS3’s sales and the Wii’s dominance, the possibility of the 360, once the shining star of the generation, ending up the least successful, has fanboys absolutely livid. Even worse, the constant comments from casual and non-fanboy PS3 owners raving about their new console for no reason other than the fact that they just like to play the games has led to hilariously horrible fanboy wars being ‘fought’ on every corner of the internet.

This combination of groupthink and regret felt on every side has led to the most blatant and annoying generation of video game fanboyism ever seen. Even worse, more and more aging children are being brought into this gloriously unhealthy fandom with this powerful fanboy mindset, which may mean that all future generations of video games inspire the same undeserved rage this one has.

P.S.: Venom is from Spider-Man.