Remowned

One of the guys in the band in which I play is sort of a casual hardcore gamer–that is, he plays “hardcore” games, but it is not a dominant form of entertainment for him, he does not follow video game news, and he probably doesn’t fight to the proverbial death on the internet in passionate support of a particular console. He’s up on the big console games, but probably not as much on those that don’t hit the top 10; he’s played StarCraft, but doesn’t generally play a lot of PC games.

In other words, he’s pretty similar in his gaming habits to what I imagine the vast majority of the game-buying public is like. As he does not eat, sleep, and breathe this wacky form of entertainment, he is not quite as indoctrinated with all of the fairly ridiculous conventions that most of us take for granted every time we pick up a controller.

He’s played God of War, for example, and he really enjoyed it, like most who played it have. His one negative comment, though, I felt bore repeating. In God of War, you pick up all sorts of mystical objects that help you with various stats and abilities–orbs, eyes, feathers, and probably some other crap. This is of course par for the course in video games, doubly so in third-person action/adventure games.

My bandmate’s reaction? “God of War, it’s good, but man, that Kratos–he collects the most weird-ass stupid shit.” (more…)