Death and Destruction in Gameland
According to Gamasutra and an article I didn’t bother to read, it seems that The News Of Console Gaming’s Death Has Been Greatly Exaggerated. How very shocking. I mean, really, who’d have thought? Consoles aren’t dead? Oh, dear, what’s next? Space camels? The again, all hope is not lost. Shock aside, it happily seems that news on the death of PC gaming have also been quite exaggerated, as have been news on the death of adventure games, the western RPG, the strategy game, games in boxes and oddly the death of Tetris clones. Actually, I’m pretty sure that each and every bit of the gaming world has been proclaimed dead at least once in its, err, lifetime.
But, really, what is it with overpaid “analysts” and gaming’s parasitic golden boys and their morbid fascination with extinct genres and platforms?
Simple really. First of all, these people tend to talk right out of their arses, which -as most scientist will tell you- does little to help any discourse. Secondly, they only care about profits (rising profits or rising profit percentages to be exact) and units sold. They can’t seem to grasp the simple fact, that even after all these years both the ZX Spectrum and Interactive Fiction are alive and kicking, though sadly not producing any (or at least not any worthy of a true bastards inhuman appetite) profits whatsoever. Thirdly, it’s the simplicity of the declaration.
“Death!” -so absolute, so shocking, so inline with all those mindless top tens, worst evers and next gens. So inline with mainstream scientific thought, where everything has to be either good or bad, 0 or 1, yes or no. So boringly, stupidly, apolitically positivist. And always simple minded and obvious-seeming enough to cater and help reproduce a mindless, consuming, apolitical audience that can easily be dazzled.
Please stop being dazzled. Thank you.
Related @ Gnome’s Lair:
- Enough with the Gaming Industry!
- A (ZX) Spectrum of Beauty – digital exhibition
- The Super Fighter Team Interview
- Re: Video Game Reviews