I don’t know what it was with 1994, but it sure ushered in some great sports games (well, technically, it was 1993 when the games came out, for the 1994 season). People were getting used to the Wall being down, and America was enjoying a great period of socioeconomic upturn. We had a choice of not one, but two 16-bit consoles for our enjoyment (TG-16 doesn’t count, sorry), and Madden ‘94 could be played on either one. My thoughts on EA have been expressed in the past, but I’m here to whoosh you back to before all the nonsense had started.

…Er, wait. I guess the nonsense really started with the first Madden in 1992. Even back then, each new game was basically the same as the one that came before it, so what makes this one any different? Well, because I owned it, and it has a special place in my heart. Nostalgia has a funny way of polishing a turd, but I think Madden ‘94 is certainly a step up from the common shovelware.

“EA Sports. It’s in the game!” While this was the first game to use that slogan, it was never clear to me what “it” was referring to. Just what is “it” and how is it “in the game”? Is “it” the American football spirit, the pride and quality of the American software developer, or something more literal like assembly code? Another unsolved mystery. But, before Madden got all realistic with penalties like “late hits,” “roughing the passer,” “pass interference,” and yellow flags on every play like the real NFL, Madden ‘94 allowed us to just play the damn game, albeit with a little more realism than Tecmo Bowl. There was no “Madden Assistance” here; you had to choose your own plays and run the ball down. There was a bit of a delay after the play was over, but thankfully, you could still run around as your selected man and late-hit the other team until the cows came home the play selection screen loaded.

In later years, many soundbites were recorded by John Madden and Pat Summerall depicting specific players, plays, analyses and opinions. Back in 1994, there were a limited number of bytes to store these bites, and thus there were only five bites from Madden:

• “Hi everyone, and welcome to John Madden Football!“ – Is it really necessary to say “everyone”? It’s implied he’s talking to everyone in front of the TV. We know you’re John Madden; your name is on the cartridge and your signature is right next to your fat head. They could have shortened this and added another bite.
• “Hey hey, heck of a play!”
• “That is big-time football.”
• “Boom!”
• “Gotta watch the snap.” - After the ref calls you for being offsides. Well, no shit, Madden!
  

Wow, I’m glad they brought you in as a consultant in this game, Madden. Your expertise and detailed team analyses really made the (videogame) sport of football what it is today.

Is it just me, or does the opening credits song sound like National Geographic?

Maybe it’s nostalgia talking again, but the music in this game is really damn awesome. The only music you hear is during the introductory credits, with John Madden’s lips flapping around like a large-mouth bass, and in the game selection screen, but man, it was just so satisfying, like a warm burrito on a chilly fall evening. I’m all about giving credit when credit is due, but does Madden really think I’m going to watch the full credits of the game before heading to the field? With music this satisfying, you bet your sweet ass I’m going to wait!

I played a lot of this game with my brother. He would play as the 1989 49ers and whoop my ass with Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. There weren’t any actual player names in Madden ‘94, but you could tell by their numbers. Sometimes I’d go in as the All-Time All-Madden team, which consisted of the best players across all times and teams, but still usually lost. It’s a fun game to get your butt kicked in.

Another great feature is that you choose your play via the Y/B/A buttons, without any on-screen selector. If you’re playing with someone else locally, they only have a one out of three chance of guessing your play. It amazes me that this “bluff” play selection isn’t on modern systems. They have more buttons on the controllers, but they’re used up on stupid stuff like asking Madden for help. So, your opponent can see exactly what play you’re picking on the more modern Maddens, unless you specifically choose some “sneak” move selection, where you press a different button to choose the real play. I guess that is even more stealthy, but it’s also a pain in the ass.

This is the Sega version. Notice the crappier voice and sound effects (the band music is added to the video). Also, the camera rotates on the X axis for some damn reason. That would drive me nuts!

If you’ve been waiting to play a solid football game with 17-year-old stats and miss the days of being forced to kick a PAT, before all the team management and setting of hot dog prices in your stadium, then Madden ‘94 is the way to go.

I know there isn’t much sports chatter here @ GameCola, but sports games are a great chance for non-athletic types to juke, putt, dunk, slide tackle, punch, headbutt…whatever your taste may be. In the olden days, sports games weren’t simulations; they were what started the idea of “arcade” style, meaning you could sit down with a group of people and play a sport in an unrealistic and fun way, but still stay true to the basic nature of the sport’s rules. There’s not really that many videogames that do this anymore, and I don’t understand why. Such games have a wide audience of both sports fans and multiplayer-game fans, and they’re so damn fun to play. If you want a realistic sports game, just watch a real-life sport!

Let me give you a rundown of a few of my favorite less-realistic sports games.

From Technos (the guys who use the same sprites in all their games, like River City Ransom) comes Nintendo World Cup. You don’t need to know much about soccer to do well in this soccer game, other than passing and shooting. Your team can perform five super moves per half by doing a bicycle kick or headbutt and blasting the ball into the goal, generally knocking out the goalie. The game also lets you do shoulder charges and slide tackles to hit your opponent. Eventually, a player will get so weak that they’re lying face-up on the field. There’s literally unconscious players lying around on the green. The players all have stereotypical appearances and names similar to those in Punch-Out, so that’s a nice slice of Americana. You can also play on Grass, Rocks, Ice, and other field types. Check out the great action below.

Oh, and I had no idea they made a single cart with Super Mario Bros., Tetris, and Nintendo World Cup on it. All three games for $50? Nice.

A lot of people consider MTPO to be an early rhythm game. And by a lot, I mean me. You learn the punch patterns of your opponents, who are twice your height, and you try to win the championship belt. Goofy sound effects, boxers with bandaids over their guts—this was a really fun game to play. Modern boxing games like Fight Night just don’t do it for me.

MTPO was also laden with stereotypes and absurdity that really made it a gem. Will Honda give you a TKO from Tokyo? Will Soviet slugger Soda Popinski mesmerize you with his cone head and Russian ’stache? Will Super Macho Man make you run away screaming with his pulsating manboobs (see 0:09 in the video below)? Pop it in and give it a go.

The first Tecmo Bowl had four plays for offense, and that’s it. Nothing for defense; the defense just picked the play they thought the offense would do. If they guessed it right, they’d get an instant sack. If not, then get ready for a crazy zig-zag running play, or a huge 100-yard bomb (regardless of stats). This game was off-the-wall unrealistic, but it was great for having the NFL license. The game also had some sweet cutscenes. You can read more about it here.

Robots. Baseball. Machine guns. Jean-Luc Picard’s floating head. Need I say more?

Robots not quite your thing? Check out these titles. I, unfortunately, couldn’t when I was younger, as I didn’t own a Sega Genesis.

Was the NFL hit with a mutagen that turned your pigskin patriots into monstrous maulers with explosive footballs, or was this league founded to cover up the “Secret of the Ooze“? I’m not too sure, but be sure of this—you don’t want to be around when this thing goes off:

Arch Rivals

Arch Rivals was the precursor to NBA Jam. While there was no slamma-jamma yet, you could openly punch your opponents, and the court sometimes had pieces of garbage you could trip on. Oh, and the cutscenes when you scored were pretty silly, especially this guy giving you the shifty eye. NBA Jam took away the ability to punch, but they did add the classic “He’s on fire!” mode, and also let you key in cheat codes to play as Bill and Hillary Clinton, and possibly Ross Perot? I remember fondly as a lad helicopter-dunking as Grover Cleveland on two non-consecutive occasions.

So what happened? What happened to cause these raunchy titles to stop being produced? The NFL Blitz series was created to have some zing, but it wasn’t the same, really. Some of these titles can be played on the Virtual Console, but at least with Tecmo Bowl, they removed the players’ names, as there were some legality issues with the NFL Players Association. They didn’t even substitute the names; they just blanked them out. What the crap? If I’m running as Tecmo Bo Jackson, I want it prominently displayed on my TV screen, bub.

But there is some shining light.  Released in April 2010 on XBLA and June 2010 on PSN was Tecmo Bowl Throwback: a re-polished Tecmo Bowl with online play, and sweet graphics for $10. I haven’t played this game as I’m a bit reluctant without a demo, but I’m hoping to pick it up soon to support this dying breed.

Tecmo Bowl is the Clint Eastwood of videogames. Now matter how much crap is coming out of Hollywood, Clint is still there to put a barrel in your grill and remind you why you started here in the first place.

EA just made another announcement on top of a recent dump. Now, if you buy a used EA Sports game and want to play online, you’ll need to shell out an additional $10. Considering their earlier announcement that they are killing off the servers for older games, now you have to pay an extra $10 to be able to play a game briefly online.  Once Madden 011 comes out, GameStop will probably be selling Madden 010 for $40 (it’s currently $45), and then you’ll have to pay an extra $10 on XBLA or PSN just to play online…for probably a few months.

The first game to do this will be Tiger Woods 11 (the 12th edition).  Hopefully it will just be to help pay for Tiger’s new hookers. God damn it, EA. You re-release the same damn game every year with new rosters and an extra pixel here or there, and just when it seemed like buying last year’s version at a modest price was a good idea, you pull all this on us. Why don’t you just program the discs to self-destruct the day after the new version comes out. And it’s not even just the used game market. What if I want to go over to my friend’s house and play some shit online? Nope, can’t do it, sonny!

Inverted Lincolns say: Suck my balls.

I can see it now. Madden 2014 will stop being playable as soon as Madden 2015 comes out—basically like a trial demo, except you still have to pay $60. This is why my extent of owning Madden games went from Madden 94 (SNES) and Madden 07 (Wii). I only got 07 because I wanted to try out the Wii controls, really. With all the extra buttons on modern controllers these days, you couldn’t come up with a decent way of hiding which play I’m picking? In Madden 94, I highlighted a row of plays, and hit Y, X, or A to choose play 1, 2, or 3.  Now, there’s just a highlight on one play, and you see what play I’m picking. What a joke. Have you forgotten the days when “multiplayer” didn’t necessarily mean “online” ? Give me a new Mutant League Football or Tecmo Bowl!

Pay me $60 to stop seeing Jim Zorn on the sidelines next year!

Here’s the full set of game server shutdowns:

April 6, 2010 Online Service Shutdown

• Madden 09 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii and Xbox 360

February 9, 2010 Online Service Shutdown

• FIFA 07 for PC
• Madden 07 for Xbox 360
• Madden 08 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PC, Wii and Xbox 360
• NHL 08 for PC
• Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 07 for PC
• UEFA Champions League 07 for PC

February 2, 2010 Online Service Shutdown

• Facebreaker for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
• Fantasy Football 09 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
• FIFA 07 for PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2
• Fight Night Round 3 for PlayStation 2
• March Madness 07 for Xbox 360
• NBA LIVE 07 for PlayStation Portable and Xbox 360
• NBA LIVE 08 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii
• NBA LIVE 09 for Wii (Europe only)
• NBA Street (2007) for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
• NCAA Football for 08 PlayStation 2
• NCAA Football for 09 PlayStation 2
• NASCAR 08 for PlayStation 2
• NASCAR 09 for PlayStation 2
• NASCAR 09 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (Europe Only)
• NFL Tour for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
• NHL 07 for PlayStation Portable and Xbox 360
• UEFA Champions League 07 for Xbox 360

I am sensing a very bleak few months in the future of videogaming. However, that will not stop me from bestowing all of my knowledge to YOU!: the good readers of GameCola. I shall be brave; I shall be strong! I shall enlighten us all on what we will be doing for the foreseeable future, no matter how scary it may be!

Madden NFL 09 (MANY)

There is this little hidden gem of a sports game series that I’ve been enjoying over the past few years, and I think that now is a good time to share it with the world so that it can finally get its due credit. It’s called Madden, and while, at times, it’s riddled with bug upon bug, it is still a fun little football game. However, this year it is going to be even BETTER. The fine people at the Madden HQ just grew too tried of sitting in obscurity with this great product. So they decided to make some MAJOR changes that just SOUNDED amazing.

First thing—you know how I said it’s a football game? Well, not anymore. You see, the general feeling is that football is on a steady down-slope, and to really energize the series they are going in a new direction…RUGBY! While the developers were really pumped about rugby, though, they weren’t so pumped about the star power that the professional rugby scene currently has. I mean, everyone KNOWS that rugby will be the next big thing, and they wanted to be on top of that, but right now it’s just WAITING to be the next big thing, so they thought they’d kick it up a notch and add a little spice.

What sort of spice, you ask? Maybe summer blockbuster movie star Ironman as your starting…uhh…you know, whatever positions they have in rugby. I hear New Zealand loves rugby, so it’s a good thing Frodo and his Hobbit pals will be lining up to do whatever you do to get points in rugby! Rugby does have points…right? Well, whatever it does have, the new Madden is bringing together a colossal collection of explosive sports action and super-huge figures straight from pop culture! Seriously, this one is a CAN NOT MISS!

Captain Eric’s Psychic Thumb says… Thumbs Up!

Wizard101 (PC)

If there is one thing that wizardry has done for the youth of the world, it’s that it’s helped them start reading via Harry Potter and the like. Well youth, it’s time to pay wizardry back and move on to more important things, like MMOs and card games…or, an MMO with card game-based combat!! Yes, everyone knows that, if you like wizards, you’re already a huge nerd who knows too much and shouldn’t be reading books anyhow. What they should be doing is learning how to become a wizard! THAT is what the world needs.

Thankfully, Wizard101 offers all the wizardly schooling needs your child could never want, desire, and need. As I said earlier, two things every child should be doing is playing MMOs and playing collectable card games. Thankfully, this game sets kids straight along that path. I mean, card games are great, but who wants to carry all that cardboard around. Wizard101 lets you have all the joy of those kind of games ADDED to all the joy of an MMO, and all from the comfort of your computer screen!

One of the greatest concerns about youths today is that they are just outside running around way too much! Hopefully, with amazing games like Wizard101, we can finally put those worrisome ways to rest.

Captain Eric’s Psychic Thumb says… Thumbs Up!

Easy Way to Stop Smoking (DS)

Now, as I have said numerous times, the DS has given up on creating “normal” games and has moved on to an entirely new generation of “gaming.” First it was helping us cry; now it is going to help us stop smoking. Because everyone knows that when you think of videogames, you’re thinking personal improvement.

Unfortunately, this GAME fails miserably, I mean it’s just a DS version of a book! How are words supposed to stop me from smoking! I need funny hats to wear and guys with shiny things distracting me, or big globs of nasty goo shoved in my mouth! Where is the FUN of learning how to stop smoking? This game falls shorts of all expectations when your head combines the words “game” and “stop smoking.” I mean, where is the entertainment! Make me box clowns or roll down some steps. I would even settle for some voodoo magic of some sort. But READING?? C’mon DS; you can do better than that.

Captain Eric’s Psychic Thumb says… Thumbs Down.

Beer Pong (Wii-WiiWare)

Have you ever been so drunk that you made up a really stupid little game that other drunk people around you enjoyed? Yeah, that’s what beer pong is. Have you ever been a videogame developer that has been so drunk that you made up a stupid little game other drunk people enjoyed…so you decided to go ahead and make it a videogame? Yeah, that’s what Beer Pong for WiiWare is. No amount of jazzy words can make this one any more exciting, I am afraid! That silly game that is only entertaining based on the amount of drinks you get to have while playing it is coming to the Wii! I guess getting hammered and being amazed at the twirly little jumps your Soul Caliber character can do just isn’t cutting it anymore.

Captain Eric’s Psychic Thumb says… Thumbs Down.

Guitar Hero: World Tour (MANY)

How do you know when Guitar Hero has jumped the shark? When it starts adding things that aren’t…you know…GUITARS. Frightened by the fact that not EVERYONE in the world already thought Guitar Hero and Rock Band were the same game already, the fine people that make Guitar Hero have decided to add a drum to their game.

Pretty sad, don’t you think? Well, yeah, pretty much! BUT this is not just any drum you might imagine. No, no, see, this is a SPECIAL… MAGICAL drum. It was forged in a secret volcano millions of miles beneath the surface of the earth. Oh yes; it’s true. This wasn’t just any ordinary underground volcano, either! NO! This was an ICE volcano filled with lots of magics of yesterday!

Every touch of this drum will bring out a piece of your very soul into the music you are playing! It truly is the next step into fake-musical-instrument-playing videogames. Well, either that, or they thought hey, let’s add a drum to Guitar Hero so people will still buy our game. One of those.

Captain Eric’s Psychic Thumb says… Thumbs Down.

Well, that is all that I have the strength—the ENERGY—to bring you fine people this month. Hopefully next month I will again be able to muster up the powers to scry into the future and bring you the very cutting edge of videogaming technology

You know him from his monthly reviews and from last month’s Versus Mode, and you know her from Pretty in Pixels! This month in Versus Mode it’s:

Alex Jedraszczak vs. Jamie Juett

1. Videogame limited editions are a huge rip-off.

Alex: Urgh. Don’t get me started on limited editions. I mean, sure, some of the extras might even be kind of cool, but is it really worth buying the entire game again just to have them? Limited editions are only a step above anthologies and re-releases. After ten years, I’m pretty sure I’d be happier to have $70 extra in my bank account than to have some figures and posters or something.

Jamie: Sure, limited-edition games are a huge rip-off. I know I would not spend an extra 10 dollars for a little figurine and a “behind the scenes” DVD. Of course, there are always fanboys and fangirls who are totally gay for Blizzard/Epic/Bungie/Ubisoft/whoever and, to THEM, ten bucks for a few more pieces of fodder for their shrine? Totally worth it. So, you know, win/win. Companies get to milk fans for more cash, and uberfans get to pleasure themselves to videos of Cliffy B talking about how wicked cool Gears of War is.

2. The Sims would make a killer movie.

Alex: Wait…what? No, seriously. What is this? There is no way this is going to be good.

Jamie: I am sorry, but no. I am apparently the only girl in history to not understand the appeal of this game. You make little people and buy them things and watch them? Seriously? I am not seeing this, and that is saying a lot because back home I can see movies for free in the theater.

3. Videogame addiction is a legitimate psychological disorder.

Alex: I can see this one. I mean, they’re not really saying that people who play a lot of videogames are addicted; they’re just saying that there are people who are addicted to videogames through preexisting mental problems. As long as this doesn’t become the new ADD, where medication is given to anyone who plays videogames, I think that this is realistic and that it’s probably good that it’s going to be researched and treated. It’ll mean fewer level 99 poopsockers to deal with, at least.

Jamie: Yeah, OK. I could buy this. As a recovering WoWaholic, I can totally understand that sometimes you just wake up at 3 a.m. and you just gotta play, man. Of course I think that, to become addicted to games like that, you’d have to already have a pre-disposition to be an addict. I for one cannot wait to see recovering MMORPG addict support groups cropping up all over the nation.

4. Madden is one of the manliest games out there.

Alex: Just further proof that anyone who actually watches Spike TV is a moron.

Jamie: Is Madden the manliest game ever? I seriously have no idea. My ideal “manly-man” is not a football player. I did my time at EB Games as a retail slave, and I can tell you—the ones that came in to buy Madden were rarely my “type.” That’s what’s wrong with this category—”manly” is too subjective. I would have thought that the stereotypical “manly” game would have been one of the “space marine kills a bunch of aliens and saves the world” games. You know the ones. I guess the definitive answer to this question is: I don’t really care.

5. Videogames can negatively affect the body images of young males.

Alex: Negatively affecting their body images? As much as I may be a member of the Girly Boy Club, I can say that most kids could use a little more muscle. I can imagine the kids reading these magazines just being fat and lazy and could stand lose some weight to begin with.

I have to agree with some of the people in the comments, though. It’s likely that the kids reading videogame magazines are just total nerds and want to stop being beaten up at school. The fact is that, aside from Mario, their favorite videogame characters are all pretty beefy just adds to this. The real question is this: Will there be a day that muscley nerds rule the world? I mean, really, the only thing keeping nerds down right now is their physical weakness. Just imagine if there was a race of nerds with muscles as large as their brains.

Jamie: It’s hard to tell from this study how serious the boys are affected. Did a percentage of them decide to start using steroids? Did an alarming amount of them spend their allowances on gym memberships? Yeah, it sucks when you feel bad about your body, but is it really that big of a deal? As we all know, girls have looked up to Barbie as being the ideal way that a woman should look for generations. This may or may not have led to a rise in eating disorders and other desperate attempts at getting thin and “hot.” I don’t mean to turn this into an argument about whether or not girls have it worse than boys, but let’s face it—girls have been subjected to similar, if not worse, manipulations of self-image and self-esteem. The world has not come to an end. I’m sure these poor boys will pull through whatever self-image issues they’ve accrued from the evil videogaming industry.

Casey Levine vs. Eric Regan~!

1. E3 is ruined.

Casey: I will miss E3.  It was the time of year that I always got re-excited about videogaming.  I wouldn’t say that it’s completely ruined, but I don’t think it will ever be the same. Perhaps we’ll begin to see more game expos popping up to fill the void.  In any event, I’m not going to give up all hope.  It is kind of sad that E3 is becoming all closed-off, but hopefully other expos will move in to fill the void.

Eric: E3 is ruined. Sorta. Well I mean, from the videogame fan’s perspective and the large videogame company’s perspectives, it is. The small time game companies won out on this move, well again sort of, because who really buys those games?

E3 was a huge event that brought a ton of attention to the videogame world from tons of different media that, during the rest of the year, pay no attention to it. So I really do think this really doesn’t help out the industry as a whole, and it kind of kills the magic that was E3, or at least, the magic everyone claimed it was. However, I don’t see E3 staying down, The kinds of revenue that it attracted will be missed, and if not E3, some other sort of huge videogame showcase will likely sprout up in it’s place.

2. Denzel Washington would make the perfect Master Chief.

Casey: Honestly, to me Master Chief is so generic a character that almost anyone could play him. I really couldn’t care less, since I am sure that the acting ability will take a backseat to the action, anyway.

Eric: Denzel wouldn’t be a great fit for Master Chief because Denzel is a fine upstanding actor who really shouldn’t be associated with any sort of videogame movie, ESPECIALLY one as POOR as Halo!! HA!!!

OK, why I REALLY don’t think it would be the best of ideas is because Denzel is, well, he is Denzel! He already has his persona and his image ingrained in the hearts of millions of the movie going public. On the other hand Master Mhief…is…Master Chief! That weird green shiny dude with the helmet on—they don’t go together at all. Master Chief just wouldn’t be the same unmasked, but you can not have a movie with Denzel and not show everyone it is Denzel! It really is a poor match up that should not come to be.

3. You’d have to be out of your friggin’ mind to pay 20 bucks for a Madden ‘07 promo show.

Casey: Well, it’s not something I would ever do, but then I would never play a Madden game anyway.  I would bet that there are plenty of people out there who are willing to pay to see a promo show.  Although why you would ever do that is beyond me…it’s not as if it’s going to be much different from last year’s game.

Eric: If you ordered a Madden promo, you’re insane. If you thought about it, you should also think about committing yourself. If you think its not that bad of an idea, then you have made A LOT of bad decisions in your life!! Twenty dollars to watch a COMMERCIAL?! I remember back in the day when Nintendo would send me promo videos all the time for FREE hoping to get me addicted to their crack-esque games.

Madden games do not change all that much year from year—you know what you’re getting with the game, which is probably why you are buying it the first place. Does seeing the game a little earlier than everyone else really seem worth actual, you know…money? You’re already buying it when it comes out! Just wait!! Save yourself the EXTRA stigma of pure loserdom, because if your that hyped up for a game, you’re already knee deep in lamitude.

4. Sony is racist.

Casey: After looking at the advertisement, I can understand why people might get upset about it.  The white model is clearly dominant over the black one, and this could be interpreted as a show of superiority.  I can see what Sony was going for, but clearly they did not consider the racial undertones present in the image.  Bottom line: This was not the smartest marketing decision Sony has made. They should go back to the drawing board with this one, and find another way to advertise their new color.

Eric: Sony isn’t racist—it’s just trying to create a buzz around a NEW product that isn’t actually NEW! Race is always a hot topic in our lives, and Sony just hopes that by using this they can bring attention to a pretty underwhelming product that they still are having problems generating quality games for. When the PSP first came out, if you remember, the commercials then showed lots of people of various skin tones and such playing a PSP and passing it on and so forth. The only color Sony really cares about is green.

5. There won’t and should not be a fourth Halo.

Casey: I can understand why Halo fans would like to see the series continue, but in my opinion the game would just get stale.  Whenever I finish up a great game, I am always torn between wanting more and worrying that another game in the series would ruin the joy.  I think that Halo fans need to accept that the story needs to come to a close before it gets dull and crappy, and look forward to whatever Bungie produces next.

Eric: I personally don’t think there should be another Halo because, well, how many versions of the same game does the world really need? Especially shooters, because they all have at least like five versions of themselves. The gaming world suffers from way too many sequels as it is because, well, people do buy sequels, and its hard to turn down a surefire money maker.

Of course, this is why there absolutely will be a fourth, fifth and maybe even sixth Halo. Now, they may start coming slower than the ridicules pace that they are coming out now, but sooner or later they will make more—that’s a given.

People who hate those of a particular gender are considered sexist.  People who show distaste towards those of a particular race are racists.  What, then, are people who hate or show distaste towards people who play video games, or people who play a particular type of video game?  The answer is quite simple –  those people are gameists.

Some of you may scoff at the idea of such a thing as gameism, but think about this: There ARE people out there who look down upon people, and call them dorks or losers, because they play RPGs and the like, and only consider it socially acceptable to play “cool” games like Madden or Halo.  Don’t even TRY to tell me this isn’t true, because I’ve experienced this first hand.

Now, the people make judgments about others and decide that they are lower or lesser than themselves based solely on the video games they are playing.  Saying that isn’t an example of gameism is like saying the comment “I hate all white people” is not a racist comment.  It is also true that some people look down on those who only play games like Madden and Halo, and refer to themselves as “gamers”.  Although it may be widely agreed that these people are not “gamers”, it is still a form of gameism to look down on them for only playing those types of games (most “true” gamers who would look down on them would do so for their being close-minded, though, not because of their game choices).  

The biggest example of gameism is something I’m sure most gamers have experienced.  It, of course, is when someone ignorant to the world of video gaming sees someone playing ANY video game and automatically likens them to a child or considers them a loser.  Many times the comments will go something like, “Oh.. hehehee.. tehee..tehehe.. you play teehehehehehhe video games hehehe??  Um.. like.. how old are you?” or even, “Stop playin’ those dern games!  They make ya stupid!  Get outside and play football or somethin’!”. 

Anyway, I could go on all day giving examples and ranting about the subtle intricacies of gameism, but I’d better get to the point before I lose everyone that I haven’t already lost.  Gameism exists.  Call it anything you want, but there is no denying the fact that it is there, looming over the heads of all of us who play video games.  If you or someone you know has experienced gameism in any way and and you want to relate the story to GameCola, feel free to send an e-mail our way.  You could see your experience published in a future issue!  (There is, for the record, a 100% chance of getting your experience published in GC if you send it in).