I think we're entirely too well informed.

[johnlucas]

The_vagabond7 said:

I bought my gamecube late in the game, about 5 months before the 360 was released. The transition between teenager living at home and adult had taken up much time and money, and I had gotten out of the videogame world for a few years. Finally things started to settle down, and I saw an ad for used gamecubes at EBgames for 60 bucks, and a big bin of used games for 10 bucks a pop. I obviously jumped on it.

By this time I knew nothing about what was going on in the videogame world, I had been living under a rock as far as the realm went. I didn't know what was good and what was bad. I didn't have the review scores of every release in the past year memorized from continual debates about what's worth playing and what sucks, and why this system is blah blah ect. So my game choices were completely random, or that is to say based on the same things that appealed to me when I was a kid. I looked at the box art, the screenshots on the back and decided what looked cool. I picked up a game called "lost kingdoms", a Lord Of the Rings hack and slash generic liscensed action game, and "the sims". The kind of choices that I would probably consider choices for a very ill informed casual gamer.

I enjoyed all three immensely. I have no idea what kind of scores those games got, but I'm guessing pretty mediocre ones. Actually looking it up lost kingdoms got a 71% average score on gamerankings. I didn't know or care, it was fun. An average RPG, a liscensed hack and slash, and a poor PC port of an old game. And I loved them, played my gamecube every day after work. Never even thought about whether or not they were good games.

 

Now I'm back in the saddle, got my current gen system and I'm checking the sites everyday, keeping up with reviews, and the gamerankings. These days I don't even rent a game that gets less than an 80% average ranking. I know ballpark figure what kind of scores a game is going to get months before it's ever released. And I really think I'm missing out. Since I've had my wii I haven't even thought about playing alot of games because they didn't perform up to par with the reviewers. I thoroughly research all of my gamecube games that I think about purchasing, and forget about it if it didn't get good scores when it came out. 7.5? That's not worth my 12 bucks! No sir!

Forget that. When I was younger I didn't need research and reviewers to inform me what I should and should not play. That's what box art and screenshots were for! I didn't need a number to know whether or not a game was fun or not. I didn't need a website to tell me all the reasons a game was flawed and probably alot less fun than this other game with a higher metascore. I'm going back to that. I'm playing soul calibur legends, reviews be damned! Where's my red steel, and ninjabread man? COD4 bored me, give me some generic FPS from 2 years ago I never played! There's a good chance I'll enjoy it more.

Reviews are just ammo for console wars. And I will use them as such :) but I'm playing whatever the hell I want.

You've seen the light. I always cautioned myself never to get too caught up with press & critics when it comes to gaming. They've sapped all the fun out of it with the negativity. I always strive to maintain that innocence I had when I first got my NES & when I was a little kid & teenager in the arcades.

Take a chance & play what you like. Step out of your comfort zone & don't get caught up in all that "if a game's AAA" or not. None of that matters. 'AAA' is whatever game makes you laugh & helps you have fun whether it's simple and low budget or expensive and high budget. All games don't need a story & all games don't have to follow certain conventions.

I think my view on gaming is helped by the fact that for a number of years I totally lost track of gaming news and happenings right before the "Revolution" came out. I was just busy buying up retro stuff at used game stores (I miss my Rhino's).

If you like Bratz or High School Musical then so be it. Those games are fun for YOU. It doesn't matter what everybody else likes. YOU'RE the one who's gonna be playing them.

I never have forgotten the feeling when I bought SNES Shadowrun blind purely based off the box cover art. Didn't know it was a manual RPG before, didn't know the history, didn't see any reviews or ratings. Just said that box cover looks cool & I like the concept (when looking on the back of the box). One of my favorite games to this day. Boy WordsOfWisdom hit this DEAD on the head about being able to touch the box.

When I had the NES it didn't matter if Mega Man's sequels came one after the other 'cause I loved Mega Man. It didn't matter that Bad Street Brawler made no damn sense. It was fun to play. It didn't matter that River City Ransom had cover art of two 35 year old men looking like they were in a prison yard rather than high school kids fighting in the neighborhood. I loved River City Ransom. Friday the 13th on NES was one of my faves! Game is more scary than Resident Evil if you ask me. Jason comes out of NOWHERE! Demon Sword was one of the coolest games ever produced!

You just have to keep that innocence alive and don't let others' opinions overwhelm you on what to like or not. Sometimes the press is beneficial (Zack & Wiki) but other times they're just full of themselves. The only review & rating that matters is my own.

For that matter I make it a point not to read or view reviews/previews. I like to be kept in the dark for as much as possible until the game comes out. All I need to know is the release date. I'm taking this approach to Brawl barely going over to see the latest developments. I hardly don't know WHAT they have in store quite frankly & that's what makes it more fun. I get to DISCOVER all the good stuff when I PLAY the game. Not when I read about it beforehand.

Very wise, the_vagabond7. Very wise. You will enjoy gaming much more with your attitude.

John Lucas