Sure, a lot of the mistrust between gamers and non-gamers comes from simple miscommunication, but that doesn’t mean some points aren’t valid. Below are 25 popular (and not so popular) reasons why gamers annoy those who don’t play games.
1. Halo is not a sport. That’s great that you’re really into playing online games, but they’re not a sport. Not anymore than playing Boggle competitively is. Doing something where you get physical exercise rather an avatar is the first step to playing a sport.
2. The controllers are indeed too complicated. Nintendo isn’t crazy. The controllers for the PS3 and Xbox 360 are unwieldy, especially for someone who last played a video game in the Pac-Man or Super Mario Bros. era. Manipulating it is a skill lacked by many, so why be annoyed at them?
Early hype has been that Guitar Hero 4 would “revolutionize” music games with an incredible new feature. Are they going to add a keyboard? How about a kazoo? No, sadly not. Instead, the revolutionary new feature is “create a song.”
Ever since EGM ran their infamous Simon Belmont in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles gag, the gaming world has been obsessed with April Fool’s Day. This has, sadly, led to many groan inducing jokes over the years, some of which can be credited to EGM (you can’t win them all). Still, each year brings the promise of some actually good jokes and this year has delivered.
There isn’t a whole lot that can be said for the new Guitar Hero: Aerosmith expansion. The name basically explains it all. However, it does feel a bit like the Guitar Hero is just gouging fans when Rock Band allows for so much downloadable content without having to purchase entirely new games at full price. Perhaps some people just really, really want a digital Steven Tyler? Perhaps those same people really, really liked Revolution X.
The general economy may be down, but video game sales are up in a big way. Compared with the same period last year, games sales are up 40%. This is obviously a very good sign for the industry’s ability to weather an economic downturn.
Of interesting note among the numbers, the PlayStation 3 topped the Xbox 360 for a second month in a row. Of course, there are apparent shortages of the Xbox 360 in stores, but it’s still a good bit of positive news for Sony’s flagship console. The Wii, of course, continued to sell the best despite its scarcity in stores. (more…)
Whoever said nothing good comes of video games? With the rise of popular music titles such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero, so has there been a rise in the popularity of classic rock music. Everything from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Journey have seen a resurgence in popularity as a younger generation are exposed to the music for the first time. The developers claim it was all part of the plan.
Kids are listening to Journey, Megadeth and Deep Purple? Well, yes say their parents and single sales. Gary Wedbush says it’s a sort of way to connect with his two sons. “Not to over-simplify, but any time you find common interests with your kids it’s a very cool thing,” Wedbush said. “You get to connect in a way that’s different than the normal parent-child relationship.” (more…)
Okay, so you can’t technically play Guitar Hero on your old Commodore 64. However, you can play Shredz64 on it. What is Shredz64? Well, basically it’s a stripped down version of Guitar Hero for a twenty-five year old computer.
Shredz64 won’t play the digital music tracks you’re used to, but programmer Toni Westbrook has assembled a track list of synthesized tunes for you to rock out to. Best of all, he even created a go-between to connect the Guitar Hero controller to the Commodore 64 system. How does it look and sound? Surprisingly, it looks like great fun and an excellent example of how pure computing power alone isn’t needed to make fun games.
Electronic Arts’ Skate was one of the big surprises of 2007. Many had challenged Tony Hawk’s dominance of the extreme sports genre, but Skate was the first to really deliver a knockdown punch with its innovative controls. Now, in the face of being outsold two to one, Activision has plans to innovate with the Tony Hawk franchise.
Speaking with USA Today, Activision Senior Vice President Will Kassoy referenced the “Tony Hawk Innovation Plan,” but refused to elaborate. What could this plan be? The easy speculation is a move toward a new control scheme akin to Skate’s. However, with Activision’s success with the Guitar Hero franchise and now Call of Duty 4 online, one should not rule out the move to a more multiplayer friendly setup. And yes, Tony Hawk Wii featuring the Balance Board seems inevitable. (more…)
Bobby Kotick is a happy guy right now. With the upcoming Vivendi merger, which will bring Blizzard and World of Warcraft under the Activision umbrella, the sky is the limit for what Kotick’s company can do.
At the recent Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in California, the CEO of Activision discussed how they would use Blizzard’s expertise in the world of online gameplay to help open a new door for some of the company’s best selling titles. Starting with the Guitar Hero franchise, Kotick proposed using Blizzard’s “institutional expertise” to bring PC editions of Guitar Hero to the “roughly 300,000 game rooms between China and Korea.” This would be a feat definitely not insurmountable considering the popularity of the title and the fanatical gaming community in Korea. (more…)
Back on February 8th, Activision trademarked the name “DJ Hero” for video game software and video game controllers. The legality of the trademark is as follows: “computer game software and related instruction manual sold together as a unit; interactive video game programs; computer game discs; downloadable software for use in connection with computer games; video game controllers; interactive video game comprised of a CD or DVD sold as a unit with a video game controller.”
What this means is Activision may make a turn and appeal to even more gamers with a rap genre focused game. Reading into the legal terms more you could come to the conclusion that, like the guitar replica controllers for the popular Guitar Hero series, Activision could be coming out with turntable replicas for controllers. If you’ve ever played or heard of Beatmania you know this idea could work if incorporated correctly. Of course, no game has been announced yet, meaning this could have been trademarked to avoid anyone else from taking the “Hero” brand name from Activision. (more…)
The general economy may be down, but 
Whoever said nothing good comes of video games? With the rise of popular music titles such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero, so has there been a 
Electronic Arts’ Skate was one of the big surprises of 2007. Many had challenged Tony Hawk’s dominance of the extreme sports genre, but Skate was the first to really deliver a knockdown punch with its innovative controls. Now, 
Back on February 8th, 
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