at Gamecrazy. While the guy was running them through the register, some mother with her six year old son came in and bought halo 2 for him.
Anyways, two friends from school were browsing, and they asked the cashier "When is the PSP coming out?" The guy said that it has no release date, but it'll probably come out in spring, summer, or fall next year, for somewhere around $200, and the games would probably be $40-$50 (Hey, it's what all gamecrazy stores seem to be saying about the PSP. Probably their company estimates or something, who knows if it'll be true or not?)
One of my friends said "$200? That's way out of my league, and absurd for a handheld."
So, they started walking out of the game crazy, and then they noticed the DS. One started playing with it. He didn't know that the screen was a touch screen, so I showed him that; how to jump, how to turn into a morph ball, aim, and shoot on the DS, and as I showed one, he said "Hey, check this out, Michael. You aim and move by touching the screen!" It was actually MY first time playing the DS, too, so it was kind of weird showing people how to play a game when I was playing it for the first time. :lol
Anyways, I got my games, left the store, waited for my mom to finish browsing for about another 10 minutes. As we left the store, I noticed that my two friends were STILL playing the DS, wowed by Metroid, with huge grins on their faces.
Now, I'm a Nintendo fanboy, but this kind of opened my eyes about what casual gamers think. They don't care about Sony, Nintendo, or whatnot, like I and many of us here at GAF do. They don't care about the gimmickyness of the map on the 2nd screen of Metroid. When they find something that makes them think "Woah, that's cool," that's when they're happy with their games. While a lot of people, myself included, argue about the PSP and the DS and how the DS rules for the touch screen and whatnot and how "PSP is so powerful! It's the playstation name," most people just don't care. When something catches their eye, when something makes them react in a surprised way, when they see something fresh and NEW, like full motion video cinematics in an RPG, or a game where you can do whatever the hell you want in a life of crime, or a new touch-interface portable, that's when they are pleased.
Sometimes, it's easy for us to forget why we play games. I and many other "hardcore" gamers consider ourselves to be "true" gamers, to be superior to other gamers because we're in the know of what's going on in the game industry. But, as I was reminded today, that's not why we play games. We play games because they're fun. I guess I got reminded a bit of why I started playing games when I was 3-4 years old; I just wanted to have fun.
So... how was your Friday?
Anyways, two friends from school were browsing, and they asked the cashier "When is the PSP coming out?" The guy said that it has no release date, but it'll probably come out in spring, summer, or fall next year, for somewhere around $200, and the games would probably be $40-$50 (Hey, it's what all gamecrazy stores seem to be saying about the PSP. Probably their company estimates or something, who knows if it'll be true or not?)
One of my friends said "$200? That's way out of my league, and absurd for a handheld."
So, they started walking out of the game crazy, and then they noticed the DS. One started playing with it. He didn't know that the screen was a touch screen, so I showed him that; how to jump, how to turn into a morph ball, aim, and shoot on the DS, and as I showed one, he said "Hey, check this out, Michael. You aim and move by touching the screen!" It was actually MY first time playing the DS, too, so it was kind of weird showing people how to play a game when I was playing it for the first time. :lol
Anyways, I got my games, left the store, waited for my mom to finish browsing for about another 10 minutes. As we left the store, I noticed that my two friends were STILL playing the DS, wowed by Metroid, with huge grins on their faces.
Now, I'm a Nintendo fanboy, but this kind of opened my eyes about what casual gamers think. They don't care about Sony, Nintendo, or whatnot, like I and many of us here at GAF do. They don't care about the gimmickyness of the map on the 2nd screen of Metroid. When they find something that makes them think "Woah, that's cool," that's when they're happy with their games. While a lot of people, myself included, argue about the PSP and the DS and how the DS rules for the touch screen and whatnot and how "PSP is so powerful! It's the playstation name," most people just don't care. When something catches their eye, when something makes them react in a surprised way, when they see something fresh and NEW, like full motion video cinematics in an RPG, or a game where you can do whatever the hell you want in a life of crime, or a new touch-interface portable, that's when they are pleased.
Sometimes, it's easy for us to forget why we play games. I and many other "hardcore" gamers consider ourselves to be "true" gamers, to be superior to other gamers because we're in the know of what's going on in the game industry. But, as I was reminded today, that's not why we play games. We play games because they're fun. I guess I got reminded a bit of why I started playing games when I was 3-4 years old; I just wanted to have fun.
So... how was your Friday?