Information; the Other stuff
To those who like video games, or who might subscribe to certain gaming magazines, or who frequents certain gaming websites, today is a good day. Today, Mortal Kombat 9 comes out, rather, today Mortal Kombat is released; the reboot of the series created by NetherRealm Studios. Incidentally, today, Portal 2 comes out, the sequel to the almost universally acclaimed Portal, a game made using the same mechanics as a game called Narbacular Drop (a video game by a bunch of DigiPen students; seriously though? Don’t get upset, most of those same students were hired by Valve software to create Portal anyway).
Now, these two games are almost definitely going to be hits; the creators have been hyping them up more some time, and their respective fanbases have done quite a good job with that themselves. More importantly, even if the games fail to introduce any new mechanics, or fail to provide ANYTHING new (that is to say, they release a “new” game that is almost identical to their originals except for pallet swaps) the games will be fantastic. That is how good the original Portal and the last Mortal Kombat games were. The fact that they will be hits, and will sell relatively well is almost a given, considering market tactics and player demands and any other phrases I can put together that sound like I know what I’m talking about (which, unsurprisingly, I do).
However, the point I am trying to get to isn’t that the games are being released. I’m trying to bring up the fact that another brilliant game is being released today; a lovely little gem called “The Conduit 2.” Heard of it? I’m sure you have. It’s the sequel to the original “The Conduit,” a game released in 2009, and also a game that was fantastic on every level. The story was cliche’ in that B-Movie kind of way, which was awesome, the characters were well developed, and, most importantly, it was a Wii game that was worth owning. MORE importantly? It was a first person shooter that proved that the Wii wasn’t just for nuclear families and cardboard cutouts from commercials. The Conduit was one of those games that proved that the Wii was a system worth owning for the rest of the universe. MOST IMPORTANTLY, and the point that stopped it from getting anywhere massive? It was essentially Halo for the Wii. It was a game that tried to be Halo (and I don’t mean that in a negative sense); the game tried to do what Halo tried to do for the Xbox in 2001. Well, it was ONE of the handful (and I don’t use that term lightly) of games that fell under this category, but I digress.
NOW! Apart from the game developers, the studio that funded the creation of the game, the editors of various gaming sources and the ABSOLUTE DIE-HARD fans of the original game, who knew about “The Conduit 2’s” release date? I most certainly didn’t, and I was a FAN of the original, and I mean the kind of fan who beat the game within hours and went online straight away to get my gaming fill. The kind of fan who brings the game out as an argument tactic whenever people make fun of me for owning a Wii, and who loses miserably each and every time; that kind of fan.
However, The Conduit 2 (which I’m going to start calling TC2 for short) is not even the main point of this rant post. The MAIN point is how we, as humans, so easily flock towards the latest and greatest whatever and often ignore the remainder. The worse part is that this causes a divide within the overall and leads to two new groups being form. The worst part is that then these two groups end up attacking one another for not jumping ship like they did. This is most prominent (now anyway) with owners’ of Macs and owners’ of Windows based machines. Yes, the Mac’s graphically devised interface is very nice and shiny, and yes, Windows 7 is SO much better than Windows Vista, but does that mean that one is better than the other OVERALL? One is good for reasons 1-3 and the other is good for reasons 4-6, yet people argue over them in a similar fashion to (and please excuse my vulgarity) political parties fighting over various troublesome and almost meaningless points in Parliament and in Senate. The comparison is this: both parties fight over something meaningless when there is something far more important to debate. Yet the debate is between the pointless stuff when the other stuff is far more prominent.
To get back to the original point, things are announced based on who responds to initial pokes of noise; this is an almost universal truth, and it’s not entirely unfounded or troublesome, so I’ll let it be for today. However, we as a culture (I’m going to start small here) need to stop jumping exclusively on ONE bandwagon. Whether it be in regards to video games, books, movies, songs, political affiliations, religious views, and opinions on Fox News; we need to stop attacking one another just because we don’t agree on certain points. OTHER points are almost painfully obvious, and when THESE points are ignored, problems start to occur. See what I did there?
As always, this has been your Admin, and DO remember! Do what you like to do, watch what you like to watch, hear what you like to hear, and read what you like to read, but don’t bloody well FORCE others to do the same, because chances are, they probably aren’t EXACTLY like you, and the last thing you want is to start a fanboy riot.
-EK
TheByteDaily 