Men Of Honour
There's a lot to be said for valiance. The captain who goes down with his ship. The officer who covers his men's evacuation. The firefighter who dashes into the towering inferno. We don't like that nowadays of course, because we like scorning things we couldn't and wouldn't do ourselves, but valiance and honour are great things, and Nintendo knows it.
I'm a Sony kind of guy. I always have been, since the first console that was all my own. I've been raised in a world of cobalt blue and cool chrome. I was taught to jeer at Nintendo's followers, and they were taught likewise. And when the Green Monster arrived, I was taught to jeer them too. But now the time has come for me to look at the gaming industry for what it is - and when you do that things start to sharpen up a bit more.
I'm a number to Sony and Microsoft. I'm the 896,582nd person to buy a Playstation 2 in the UK and I own the 651,900th copy of Age of Mythology. Like my dentist, they appreciate my disposable income but they'd rather not have the drawn out conversations that often go with it. But I don't mind. They sell games I want to play. They sell experiences I want to have. So I part with my money, and their advertising smiles false smiles onto me and I fill in equally false answers to their irritating postal questionnaires. It's a mutual dislike born out of necessity - I want their games, they want my money. And that's it.
Recently, someone I know bought a Gamecube. Inevitably, I began flicking through magazines, playing the occasional game (Mario Kart in particular is a polished affair) and indulging myself in a new kind of culture. I felt a bit heretic, but the hyperbolic days of yore where Sony were within 600 miles of me were long gone, and my money/games relationship seemed to allow a bit of polygamy. And it was whilst I was reading NGC that this feeling began to wash over me - Nintendo cares. And you know what? It made me want to care back.
Whilst my games at home fire Big Brother-esque mottos at me, or show me blank logos and faceless PR events, the Nintendo community felt like - well - a community. It felt close-knit, understanding, loving and above all (a little pointer for Electronic Arts and Sony) it felt loyal.
And yes, folks, Nintendo probably is in decline. Yes, it probably will stagger through the next round of the console war. And how many of its followers are jumping ship? None. No man gets left behind, death before surrender and so on - that's what its all about.
And who knows? Maybe it'll be enough to save Nintendo from the pit inhabited by Sega and Atari. The People have the power. Nintendo want to hear what their consumers think. They want to talk back. And they do. Challenge Everything? Not many of us really do that any more. Perhaps the Nintendites aren't as childish and geeky as others would have you believe. Like I said, there's a lot to be said for valiance.
I'm a Sony kind of guy. I always have been, since the first console that was all my own. I've been raised in a world of cobalt blue and cool chrome. I was taught to jeer at Nintendo's followers, and they were taught likewise. And when the Green Monster arrived, I was taught to jeer them too. But now the time has come for me to look at the gaming industry for what it is - and when you do that things start to sharpen up a bit more.
I'm a number to Sony and Microsoft. I'm the 896,582nd person to buy a Playstation 2 in the UK and I own the 651,900th copy of Age of Mythology. Like my dentist, they appreciate my disposable income but they'd rather not have the drawn out conversations that often go with it. But I don't mind. They sell games I want to play. They sell experiences I want to have. So I part with my money, and their advertising smiles false smiles onto me and I fill in equally false answers to their irritating postal questionnaires. It's a mutual dislike born out of necessity - I want their games, they want my money. And that's it.
Recently, someone I know bought a Gamecube. Inevitably, I began flicking through magazines, playing the occasional game (Mario Kart in particular is a polished affair) and indulging myself in a new kind of culture. I felt a bit heretic, but the hyperbolic days of yore where Sony were within 600 miles of me were long gone, and my money/games relationship seemed to allow a bit of polygamy. And it was whilst I was reading NGC that this feeling began to wash over me - Nintendo cares. And you know what? It made me want to care back.
Whilst my games at home fire Big Brother-esque mottos at me, or show me blank logos and faceless PR events, the Nintendo community felt like - well - a community. It felt close-knit, understanding, loving and above all (a little pointer for Electronic Arts and Sony) it felt loyal.
And yes, folks, Nintendo probably is in decline. Yes, it probably will stagger through the next round of the console war. And how many of its followers are jumping ship? None. No man gets left behind, death before surrender and so on - that's what its all about.
And who knows? Maybe it'll be enough to save Nintendo from the pit inhabited by Sega and Atari. The People have the power. Nintendo want to hear what their consumers think. They want to talk back. And they do. Challenge Everything? Not many of us really do that any more. Perhaps the Nintendites aren't as childish and geeky as others would have you believe. Like I said, there's a lot to be said for valiance.
posted by FinalSin at 7:30 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home