As the new year approaches, it seems like everyone is contractually obligated to publish at least one end of 2008 list. So here is our humble contribution to this strange ritual for this year: the top core gamer grievances of 2008.
10. What is with the Wii?
What are all those people doing with all those Wii consoles anyway? There is no Bloodsport Deathspank 4 deathmatch to play. The Wii is a blight on the industry because it encourages people to buy what they want at a fair price and then have fun with it. Consoles should be overpriced and overpowered so that they can support “high quality” content that will keep gaming in its proper niche as a vehicle for masturbatory juvenile fantasy.
9. What is with the DS?
Portable systems are all for the kiddies to play on the bus anyway. They just don’t have the horsepower to run a real game with, ya know, blood.
8. The iPhone will never succeed
It’s like a DS without a d-pad. And that restrictive “app store” will never attract any audience because that DRM is so draconian. You can’t expect people to give up their software freedom for a streamlined turnkey application delivery system. They’d rather maintain their high principles and build everything from source.
7. The PS3 would sell better if it only had better graphics
Anyone who is serious about games should be willing to pay twice as much for 10% more resolution.
6. DRM is harmless
I don’t understand why all these people bitch and moan about how DRM is keeping their games from working. I mean, just torrent the game from thepiratebay after buying it if the copy protection bothers you.
5. Building PCs is cheap and easy
You’re going to buy a Dell? Are you retarded? Dells are crap. You can build a killer “rig” by buying parts from Newegg and putting them together. It will save you at least $75, and only takes a few hours to get built, plus a little bit of time tweaking. If you’re not serious enough to build your own PC, you’re an idiot and a sucker.
PS: Does anyone have a Windows XP license? Vista keeps crashing on my new rig.
PPS: OK, I got XP installed but I keep seeing lockups in Fallout 3. Maybe I should upgrade my NVidia drivers?
PPPS: I bought a new video card to replace the NVidia. At least I’m not using those crap integrated graphics.
PPPPS: I’m writing this from my girlfriend’s Macbook. My power supply exploded. Does anyone know whether Newegg charges a restocking fee?
4. Online High Poly Boob Armor
I can’t believe that they patched the high polygon breasts out of Age of Conan. I just bought a new double SLI liquid cooled 1GB graphics card so I could play that game on extra-high detail with the boob physics. Why must the powers that be oppress us with this kind of censorship?
3. Casual Games are Kiddie
All those casual games are dumbing down the mature core gaming experience. Instead of a tedious 50 hour epic storyline with 20 hours of filler fetch quests in the middle they deliver a well executed compact gameplay experience in 15-minute intervals. And there are no hookers to shoot. And why can’t I shoot children in Fallout 3? That’s censorship.
2. Lack of Innovation
There is never anything new in AAA titles these days. All we get are the same old sequels every year, and 2008 was no exception. Also, I hated Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge and that new Prince of Persia game because EA and Ubisoft wasted so much time changing stuff that didn’t need to be changed and creating half-baked gameplay systems that I’m not used to.
1. When will the Xbox 720 and PS 4 be released?
Because I haven’t paid enough money for the same old garbage yet.
See you next year.
Brilliant list. One possible addition: thank god Home is finally here so PSN can kick XBL’s ass.
I’m not really a hard-core gamer. In fact, I only ever play casual games and old stuff. (Starport, lately) I buy a lot of Dell systems for my parents, my wife, my kids, as my laptop, and even as my home server. But when it comes to my “main” computer, I don’t see how a serious computer user would NOT build their own system. I do 3D animation, and a lot of programming so I’m probably not really a typical user. But I am cost-conscious.
I spent about $1200 for the computer I built this year (the first new desktop I’ve had in four years). It has a quad-core processor, four monitors on two dual-headed nVidia 9500 PCIe x16 cards, 4 GB of ram, and 1.5 TB of disk space. $1200 included the Windows Vista Ultimate (OEM) that I bought. I had all the monitors from my previous system. Your post is silly on the pre-built system portion. There is no way that you would buy a turn-key system approximating these specs, except possibly with the multi-thousand dollar alienware systems. It was a snap to put together, and I didn’t have any driver or compatibility issues, either. Beyond that, any mac will be whole-number factors more expensive than a comparable turn-key windows system.