Bloodsucking Freaks

In response to “The Husband & Wife Videogame Super Team” from The Escapist forums:
A) Now I want some sex-bacon.

B) Dude, you rock. Way to go.

C) You couldn’t figure out the puzzles in Portal? Seriously? 😉

– Metal Brother

This is an incredibly cute article, and a great alternative to the standard “How’s the face-shooting going, honey?” school of marital relations and video games.

– Robyrt

Nice article. It was nice to see a sort of human interest story as a change of pace. But even better are the stories it has evoked in the replies. You are really bringing in some lovely nostlagia, as well as shedding a light on a different kind of playing. Kudos.

– Gyrefalcon

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In response to “My Favorite Mistake” from The Escapist forums:
I loved the article, it reminded me of my valiant quest for a 486.

It was an interesting time to be a gamer, when thrilling new technological possiblities opened up and game designers were stuck with the task of figuring out what exactly you could do with them. FMV games with actual actors you’d heard of granted a sort of legitimacy to gaming, however weird those games and casts were in retrospect. 3D graphics you might actually want to look at. New experiences that simply weren’t possible the year before.

I so wish I could go back to the 1990s.

– megs1120

Killing Time was amazing!

I was always creeped out by the “Here Boy” shouted out but the hunters, signaling that soon you were about to be attacked by dogs-from-nowhere.

Also, no matter how many times I heard it, I always think the apparitions say “shoot me,” despite EVERYONE telling me they say “help me.”

Thanks for the trip down nostalgia lane.

– Mumorpuger

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In response to “Ad Wars” from The Escapist forums:
Ah, what a nice trip down memory lane. It really is incredible thinking back on it all. I was in late elementary school during the Console Wars of the early 90s. It really did feel like a deep divide. I had a Genesis first, so obviously that was the shit and the SNES was for losers. Then I actually got a SNES later on, way late to the party. All of the sudden, I realized what I was missing by picking one side or the other. Games like Super Metroid, Final Fantasy 6 (3 at the time), Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, and Super Mario World. It was honestly really revelatory looking back on it now. I don’t think I realized at the time how much it shaped my views on gaming.

I had a similar experience during the CD Wars of the late 90s. I had an N64 first, followed by a PlayStation after. Final Fantasy VII was the catalyst, as I’m sure it was for many other people as well. But I still got games for both, and I realized that both had unique experiences and by that point, I wasn’t interested in the ridiculous vitriol of both camps. Ever since the 16 bit days, I’ve owned almost every major console.

– Dorkmaster Flek

Marketing was, and possibly still is, the worst part of the video games industry. Because of marketing, some poor fools actually bought Shaq-Fu.

– Michael O’Hair

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In response to “The Making (and Unmaking) of a Nintendo Fanboy” from The Escapist forums:
This pretty much hits it perfectly. A lot of us grew up in those times. It’s hard to resist the pull.

You touched briefly on a subject that I think deserves more attention as an instigator of fanboyishness among the grew-up-in-the-80s sect: Nintendo Power. I think back then a lot of us had that as our only video game magazine, our only exposure to the greater video-game world. And it was squarely targetted at those of us who were too young to understand that it was pure, shameless propaganda. Sure, it had tips and strategies for the games we were playing, but it was Nintendo’s house organ, and they pushed games they wanted to push by giving them heavy coverage (*gives Battletoads the evil, evil eye*). Nintendo Power was in-house propaganda on the grandest scale. And it did its job brilliantly on those of us who barely even considered Sega as a competitor. (I actually knew someone with a Master System, a console that I immediately discounted when I discovered the system design was so bizarre that they put the pause button on the console.)

I still refer back to my old Nintendo Powers sometimes, because it’s more fun than just looking up GameFAQs. But now I know well enough to look past the shameless pushing, and instead just laugh at how out-of-date the late-80s, early-90s vibe looks today.

– Sabrestar

Back in the days pre-internet (basically before everyone had it available on 10 different devices you use daily), the console wars actually made sense. Unless you picked up every gaming magazine available worldwide, you wouldn’t know the specifics of all the games and systems so you felt a need to be loyal to the system you chose. Now thanks to the web it’s an archaic thing, you know what has what and what does what, if you don’t it’s only because you failed using Google.

I had all the systems from the dedicated Pong units to the 360. The only reason I don’t have a PS3 yet is because I had a stroke and had to quit working. I’ll get one (by saving what little money I get from family from doing things for them) but I don’t feel that I should make tax payers buy me one from my disability check.

Great article.

– RowdyRodimus