Magic Mushrooms #1 - Sex Appeal |
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Written by James Hamilton |
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Saturday, 29 January 2005
Welcome to the first edition of one of AltGaming's numerous columns, entitled 'Magic Mushrooms' - with the sole purpose of pointing out the oddities, ironies and flaws of the videogames industry. In the very first edition, we look at how some consoles are trying to use their looks to sell themselves to gamers.
Recently I was having a discussion with a small group of friends, as you do when you’re forced to put down the controller and endure hours of tedious lectures. You aren’t at liberty to choose whether you’d rather be in a nuclear weapons facility dodging a hail of bullets with a team comprised of incompetent soldiers behind you, or in a cramped classroom listening to your French teacher explain for the fortieth time why the English language is inferior to French. Unfortunately, saving the world will have to wait – not that it matters when the world you’re saving has a ‘Pause’ button. But I digress. While having an (admittedly rare) discussion about videogames with a group of around five or six friends, the conversation moved onto the industry’s current buzzword – handheld gaming. I let slip that I was the proud owner of a DS, to which I was met with expressions of surprise. My associates insisted on knowing why I went for Nintendo’s handheld when I could have gone for the PSP. I admitted that I was interested in both, and asked them which they would be purchasing. Simultaneously, unanimously and unsurprisingly came the answer ‘PSP’. So much for Nintendo’s success in
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