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Page 1 of 2 Reinventing the Wiill
Oct. 1, 2006
By stealth_toilet
The gauntlet has been thrown down, with an unusual amount of vigor (http://www.gamespot.com/features/6157683/index.html?tag=features;title;0). With two system launches mere months away the Tokyo Game Show has had a lot to offer gamers in terms of news. None has been more talked about than the overdue release of Wii specifics, more specifically, the price points. And while the internet is quite astir with every arrogant blowhard throwing his two cents into the inter-hat, there's no cents in this arrogant blowhard following suit. The $250 dollar price tag seems to either have been expected or inflated. The price of Virtual Console games is either a steal or a deal. The required $60 for a fully functional second controller (that is $40 wii-mote and $20 nunchuk which apparently is not a necessity but an accessory) is either part and parcel of the Nintendo package or an outrageous extortion. To be fair, I suppose I should mention that there are those who do not advocate either black or white, but fall somewhere in the gray areas (see: PC gamers. See also: gangly, pasty skinned morlock-esque creatures originating from times and places best forgotten), remaining awkwardly silent while the eternal fanboy bickering mobile lurches heavily onward... but those people are neither noteworthy nor cleanly, and I shan't waste one more single word on them so long as they agree that I have noticed and dismissed their moot presence.
With that assertion out of the way, I must say I am always rather fascinated to see how news of this sort clearly shows the varying colors that compose the gamer spectrum. Certain issues demand a fair amount of mud slinging, but in this case I felt obligated to take a step back and try to view the bigger picture. I, as most gamers, have fervent opinions which I must express via anonymous online forums, but my actual position on this specific spectrum seems to be the color of blurple; which means I'm not sure where exactly that is, if that is even a place. Those who frequent the egameaddiction.com forums will no doubt concur amongst themselves that I am being paid (quite well, I might add) by Sony to achieve my PhD in Spindoctory, but the truth of the matter is simply that I have no stake or claim in this argument either way. I do not currently own an Xbox 360, PS3, or Nintendo Wii, and apart from the occurrence of some completely unexpected turn of good fortune it will be an unearthly long time before I have the ability to purchase any one of those. And as everyone knows, without personal monetary investment in an object, idea, or political state, it is impossible for one to have strong opinions on the subject. Thus, the color of Sony does not make up my rainbow, despite evidence that may seem to prove the contrary.
Having said that, I can't help but feel Nintendo is up to their old tricks again (more exactly, the trick where they take candy from an unexpecting baby, and then snatch the baby's wallet once it begins to cry). Having been through the rigorous Nintendo cycle of shame, the one that involves spending as much money on add-ons, extras, and peripherals as I did on actual hardware and software, I can't help but grieve for the unsuspecting generation that is about to enter that cycle. I know all too well what it's like to walk into a store willing to pay any price (i.e.$40) if it means walking out of the store being able to play (with the help of an expansion pak) the latest Zelda installment. Nintendo knew this mentality then just as well as I do now. I assumed that was just the way things worked. I believed that in the end it was worth it, that I had made a good decision, and that my purchase was well warranted. But the truth of the matter was such that I was young, innocent, vulnerable to advertising and hype, and all too ready to throw down $40 for a backup flux capacitor if it meant I was able to play Majora's Mask. Some might say that I am simply holding a grudge for my own mistake, but I trusted Nintendo, and they took advantage of me. I'm the victim here, so don't put me on trial!
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