The Cult of the Game Launch
I debated for a while whether or not I wanted to use any space on this page to get into a habit of ranting, but ultimately I decided that I can just file it under a category and if someone doesn’t want to read stuff like that they can just ignore it. It might also save my friends some of their sanity.
So if you read the title you may see where this is going already, but what the heck is the deal with video game launches? I have seen people like really upset about not getting a game or system on day one. Even I have been subject to this recently with the new PlayStation 3 bundle coming out in a few days. The fact that I am also a victim makes me even more angry because I feel it is dumb and irrational.
Despite my feelings of late, I don’t think I could ever reach the heights that I’ve seen lots of people reach. I got a Wii eventually, but I didn’t try super hard to do it. I certainly wasn’t paying more than retail price for it. And of course I didn’t buy it until quite a few months after launch. Obviously I haven’t bothered about the PlayStation 3 until now, either. Topping it off, I don’t have a 360. (Probably lost some gamer cred there.) So while I feel the tug, I’d say resisting it isn’t too terribly hard most of the time. Having no money helps, of course. It’s not that I don’t desire these things–I very much do–it’s that I don’t care the least bit about being timely.
People lining up at Halo 3 launches and things baffle me. I’m not much of a Halo fan, so let me just state also that if you are a huge fan of something, I can see the draw. There are people that seem drawn to the whole thing just for the hype of it, though. The need to be on the bleeding edge. Day one purchases for only the shiniest new console. I’m just more laid back and spread out about the whole thing, I guess. I’m still adding random games to a NES and SNES library. For the most part these games aren’t going anywhere. Settle down a little, guys.
By the way, rant inspired by someone screaming on a forum that if they didn’t get Metal Gear Solid 4 like IMMEDIATELY their crotch would explode. Or something.
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