Reality versus perception for a gamer

As a gamer in my 20's I often here how I'm a no life for playing or liking video games, never mind the fact that the average gamers age is actually 35. I guess people think once you hit 18 or become an adult your supposed to stop the thing's you enjoyed when you were growing up? Well I don't think so, in fact I feel and think and believe in the same thing's I did when I was 16, 17, 18 years old as I do now.

I actually use online gaming as a nice release, my job tends to see a lot of suffering and abused animals and to be honest I've dealt with a ton of really, really cold hearted people. Animal abusers and such. I pretty much like to think of the outlandish way I act online is just that an act.
It's a fun and entertaining way for me to blow off some steam. Take Howard Stern for example, does anyone still think he is like the person he portrays on the radio? I don't think so.

Does that mean I take crap from people in real life? Hell no! I absolutely don't take crap from anyone, I don't care who they are. Not to brag but I've never lost a fight and anyone with a brain wouldn't want one with me. I am a big guy and there is no shame in my game, my pictures up everywhere, I played High School and College Football, currently I own my own successful Dog training business, but I spend a lot of time volunteering, mostly helping to rehabilitate abused animals.

Success is measured in different ways, I mean I own a business, house, cars, nice things, electronics and I am in school learning how to design Video games and working on computer graphics as well as programing. I am learning these thing's just to expand my knowledge and to get a little change of pace, sometimes dealing with abused animals can be tough, it would be nice to work in a cleaner environment without the harshness that I often see.

I like to think of my clan as being the classic villain, the one with the mustache who is over the top and annoying, the more buttons we can push the better I like it. Not because I'm a bad guy, but because it's all fun and games. If anyone takes what my clan or I say seriously then you need to get some thicker skin.

The perception I here most often is as follows:
1.I'm a no life
2.I live in my moms basement
3.I'm a little punk kid who would get my ass kicked
4.I'm an asshole who must not have a girlfriend or friends in real life

The Reality is:
1."No Life" is all relative, I own and run a business, have a nice personal life, have time to volunteer and go to school and the people who call me a no life because I'm better then them at a video game are on said video game at the same exact time as I am. WTF???
2.I live in Florida, sorry no Basements here. Fact is I have lived on my own since I was 17 years old. I do well for myself and have owned my own house for years.
3.I'm in my 20's and I'm 6'5" and about 330 pounds, I don't take crap from anyone.
4.In real life I'm far from an asshole, I help out whoever I can as often as I can, Animals people, anyone in need. I trained dogs for Domestic violence victims as well as seeing eye dogs for the blind.


Am I competitive? Hell yes! No matter what I'm doing I want to win and be the best I can be. Am I the best at everything? Nope! Not even close. I wont admit it often though. I don't care if it's bowling, fishing, video games, football, cards, pool....It don't matter.

If I were a terrible person or a bad leader I doubt I'd be able to inspire the greatness from my clan over the last 3 years. 100's of members and over a 700% winning percentage.
Are we cocky? Hell Yes! then again I don't claim all these things and spout off that were "humble" I don't apologize for anything over the internet or games.


So in closing, don't take the person at the other end of the voice chat or chat box seriously. Most likely they aren't being themselves, most people feel powerful online because there are no consequences. So just ignore it or have fun back, but remember if your calling someone a "no life" but on the same game at the same time, your an "Idiot" or possibly "Canadian" Just chill and go with it. the internet is where we are freest to do and say what we want. We kill Nazi zombies, Locust hordes and stop terrorists in their tracks! I like to hear colorful people over the mic, so like I said don't take it seriously, don't get mad, just go with it and have some fun.

Why Sony and the PS3 have failed this generation.

Remember the 1990's and early 2000's? WHen you thought of a Sony gaming console what comes to mind? Fun, great selection, affordable. It's not too bold to say that Sony owned the Console market then.

The Playstaion 1 was so great, it had a ton of fantastic titles and a controller that was revolutionary. Then the PS2 came out and was the biggest console EVER! It was everywhere and introduced DVD players into everyone's Home.

The game selections, the online service, while raw, was still there. The exclusive titles. Sony had a foot hold on the gaming community and it didn't look like they would ever give it up.

Then came the next generation of consoles. Microsoft took notes on what Sony did before. They offered an affordable console, great exclusives and the best online you could have. See the Original Xbox had the best graphics and the best technology the previous generation, but the PS2 still won because, even with less tech it had games and was fun. People don't care as much about Graphics and people tend to think.

So Microsoft does the right thing, what does Sony do?

Well they cram a bunch of high tech and a lot of useless stuff in the PS3, 2 proscessors, 4 USB ports, All kinds of different flash drive ports, backwards compatability, Wi-Fi, Blu Tooth, Blu Ray and a whole list of other stuff that most people didn't have a need for. All of this could be yours for the low low price of $600 + tax.

See, while Microsoft was busy taking notes, Sony was not paying attention to what people actually wanted.

The high powered graphics, which really aren't much better then the 360, but cost much, much more to make, weren't that important to people as a whole. If Sony had just made a next generation console that was affordable and then had some of those add-on's for the people that needed them. Personally, I don't need Wi-Fi or 4 usb ports or 4 flash drives or Blu tooth on a GAMING CONSOLE.

If they had just gone back and done what they did with the PS2 and PS1 then they would be owning this generation too. The mass amounts of people who owned a PS2 (130+ million units sold) were all waiting and willing and wanting the next Sony Console. Then Sony went and alienated there fanbase.

Sony needed to make the PS3 competitive, affordable and easy to use. Keep it simple, but most of all, they should have saw how well the original Xbox' Superior online service was doing and tried to improve on there own online service.

Instead of good online on the PS3, we get a laggy, uninspired, Mess. Now only did PS3 people have to wait almost three years for a decent game to play, they had to pay $600 for the console itself. Then had to buy High Def cables and a headset for online. That's before you even have a game.

Another failure for Sony this round is the PSP, while I actually kind of liked the PSP, I bought one, then quickly realized there are no good games for it, so I sold it. Then what does Sony do? Makes a PsP Go and sells it for $250, and it only offers "Download only games" plus any PSP games you already had, you had to re-purchase for the PSP Go.

That thing flopped big time.

I know there are hard core PS3 and Sony fans, but the numbers don't lie. The PS3 could have and should have the market this generation. If you go by the numbers, the PS2 was out-selling the PS3 for the first year and people with PS3's were buying more PS2 games and playing them on there PS3's, which is a big reason they stopped the backwards compatability feature in PS3's.

It was Sony's Generation to lose and they sure lost it.

I was one of the suckers to buy into some of the hype, wish I hadn't. Sony needs to go simple next cycle. Simple, affordable console, with great online and great online features. Like Better voice chat and headsets.

I think we are stuck with the PS3 for the next few years at least with the recession, and with the PSP Go Flop, I doubt Sony rushes to make a new console or handheld system anytime soon.

Microsoft took nots and expanded on what had worked previosly, there console only sold 25 million, but 20+ million had sined up for there paid online service. So they expanded on that and now have the best online service around.

Sony, likes to point out that their online service is free, but you tend to get what you pay for. Also, anyone who paid $600 for their PS3 did pay for online, it was built in to the cost of the machine.

See Sony didn't give their customers a choice really, they thought people would follow them into Hell, but people were smarter this time around.

If you just wanted a bare bones gaming machince you could pick up a Xbox 360 for less then $200, there was no option like that for PS3.

I was a fan of Sony, now I see it was all about the money. They didn't even lower the price on the PS3 until game developers threatened to stop support for there console.

Sony, you have failed this generation, the numbers don't lie. How people can claim otherwise is a mystery to me.

Clearly going from 1st place to last place and from selling 130+ million consoles to under 35 million should tell you something about the product your shoveling.

We don't want 3-D Sony, we don't want expensive, we don't want a million flash drives, USB drives, Blu tooth drives etc... We want affordable, easy to use and good online.

Better luck next time.

What I expect at E3 this year and what you can expect

As we close in on another E3 I have an optomistic outlook on what's coming up, I am waiting on a few big announcements and most are from Microsoft. However I am certainly hoping for certain games to be announced as well.

Microsoft:

1.Slim Xbox 360---They are going to rebrand themselves and help this console cycle last longer

2.Project Natal---I am loving this new tech, MS hasn't shown their hand with this yet, unlike Sony's "Move"

3.The Xbox 360 Slim bundled with Project Natal, The biggest rumor is bundled together for $250 or $299

4.3-D gaming and movies--I am not a fan of this new 3-D fad, but I know something is in the works for MS.

5.Gears Of War 3---The first two Gears games sold more then 12 million units, I want to hear details, so far I like the idea of the Double barrel shotguns and dedicated servers

6.Halo Reach--The biggest game of the year is going to be Halo Reach, I want some new details

7.Microsoft Portable---This could very well be the biggest surprise at E3, a handheld system from MS

8.Fable 3---I love the Fable series and I am very interested in seeing what this new chapter holds

9.Natal Games, now most people are writing Natal off (or MS haters anyway) as a "Mini game" or "Casual gamer" device, but with "Rare" "Konami" "microsoft Studios" "Lionhead Studios" "EA" all working on projects to use with Natal, I suspect it will have a lot more applications then just casual stuff. Rumor has it a Metal Gear Solid game, Ghost Recon, Fable 3 we know will work with it. So I am excited.

10.Crackdown 2---This underrated game could be a sleeper hit, the stylish graphics and sandbox gameplay are addicting

11.Dead or Alive game--This rumor is running crazy these days

12.Killer Instinct 3---Another Rumor, but weould be amazing to see

13.Ninja Gaiden----This is almost a certainty at this point, new Ninja Gaiden game, whats not to love?

14.Forza 4--Could Microsoft really get 3 Forza games out before Sony get's GT out? Yes!

15.Lost Odyssey 2--This will most likely happen and be announced

16.Blue Dragon 2---A great RPG series and a sequel I've been looking forward to for a long time.

17.Final Fantasy Versus will be announced as being no longer a Sony Exclusive.

Now on to

Nintendo:

1. The 3-DS--Word is it's a portable gamecube with 3-D, 3-D without wearing glasses. There is a switch to turn it off though, So I am very interested to see where this is going.

2.Zelda, a new Zelda game is going to be announced this E3 and I am looking forward to it.

3.Super Mario Galexy 2--Nuff said

4.Mario Kart racing 2--The first one was amazing and I really cant wait for this

5.Metroid, other M--This game has had me drooling since last year

6.Mad World 2---The First one was amazing, too bad it didn't sell too well, but an amazing game

7.Resident Evil game---We know ones coming out

8.New colors? Here's hoping for all the flashy colors Nintendo Promised us years ago

Now on to

Sony:

1.Resistance 3-Will be announced

2.Killzone 3--*Sigh*

3.Infamous 2---We wont see much on it, and it wont be out this year, but expect to see something on it

4.Playstation Wiimote...err I mean "Move"--- Party games anyone? Wii HD anyone?

5.Little Big Planet 2--Even though they said they wouldn't make a sequel because it would alienate the fans

6.Gran Turismo 5? Maybe.......

The other big thing I am hoping for is.....

The announcement of STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT 3!!!!!!

Star Wars Battlefront 2 was my first online game and how I got into clan gaming, it's been 5 years and nothing has come out for next generation consoles yet. Production has been halted due to studios closing, thanks to terrible games (Haze, Lord of The Rings Conquest, Socom Confrontation) When we saw the leaked video of what was going to be SWBF3, it was amazing. I am looking forward to this very much.

All in all it's Microsoft's year to lose, they sat back and weathered the storm from Sony last year and now they get to make their move, slim 360, Natal, games almost every month. possible handheld....It's not there time to shine.