Gaming is Dying

 I miss those days when an 85% average was still considered to be good for a game to have. Now anything below a 90% is declared a flop. I miss those days when a game that sold a million copies was considered a success. Now if it doesn't sell 1 million on day 1 it is considered a failure. People are falling victim to popularity as the Wii refuses to stay on store shelves. I have no problem with people buying the wii because of the software. The issue arrises when people buy the wii because "its hot right now." This is the same reason why avid hip-hop fans are up in arms concerning soulja boy. It use to be about the lyrical content and the message, but now it's been transformed to some sing-a-long dance-a-long crap. I put it in that context because I consider the wii the soulja boy equivalent of the gaming industry. Now before you flame me, I love Nintendo. Some of my favorites like Mystical Ninja, Super Double Dragon, and Strider were on NES. But I'm going to keep it real and say that Nintendo has dropped the ball as far as evolution is conscerned. The changes made from gamecube to wii are so insignifanct that they are almost non-existent. On the other hand, you have the controller. But what else is there?  Suprisingly, in a sense the wii has created less tension because it's not in direct competition with the others. For that I give Nintendo props because they made the purchase decision a lot easier by separating from the crowd. Now let's talk about the fanboy plague. The fanboy epidemic is spreading like chicken pox with both sides arguing back and forth with little logic in between. It seems as though people put more trust in a review than their own judgment when it comes to getting a game. Then you have people slandering a game on a rival console not because it's a bad game, but just for the fact that it's not on their system. People are more apt to boast about sales as though it reinforces some kind of self-assurance that they bought the right console. This also applies to game averages as well. A lot of people love throwing around game averages when most of the time its subjective to the critics opinion. That's where the self-assurance comes back.  If a game is fun to you than it shouldn't matter what the critics say because you have your own voice. I can say personally that I don't always agree with the critics. Deus Ex and Halo are two of the most critically acclaimed games in the industry, with emphasis being on "the industry". I don't agree with all the 9's and 10's tossed at the feet of theses games because I have played them. That's the difference between being a sheep and actually being able to substantiate a claim. Don't get me wrong, these are two good games, but to me they are over-hyped. So before you say a game is a flop, fail or whatever diss you can come up with, play it. Gaming is about playing first then expressing your opinion not ad-libbing with the majority.