Words of Wisdom From An Older Gamer

yodaLearn from my mistakes. I am 28 years old and I have played games all my life. I have learned some lessons about games and thought it might be beneficial to pass those on to you whippersnappers, to prevent you from making some of the mistakes I made.

1. Don’t buy a game you aren’t going to play right away. If you are buying it the day it comes out with the intention of playing it down the road, don’t. If the drive to play it isn’t there now because you have something else to play, then what makes you think it will suddenly appear later on? Answer: it won’t. And you will end up with a giant backlog of games that most likely you will never play because something new is always coming out. If you wait a week or two, I promise that insatiable need you feel to possess that game will dissipate, leaving a profound and new understanding about yourself. Also, it leaves $60 bucks or so in your wallet. Win/win?

2. Don’t be blindly loyal to a console. I was a Nintendo kid, like millions of others. But when Final Fantasy left Nintendo for Sony, I bought a Playstation and I have been with Sony ever since. Now, I still buy whatever Nintendo console is out there, but later, for a cheaper price and I use it as a second system and nothing more. If the 360 is your thing, but the games on the Wii or PS3 look good, don’t punish yourself out of some misguided loyalty to Microsoft. Trust me: they, nor Sony or Nintendo, give a crap. Play the games you want. Whatever system it may be for.

3. Games matter. Consoles don’t. Graphics? Sound? Online? These things matter not. If you want to know what console is right for you, then look at the games. Games determine what wins in the console wars, nothing else. Not fervent message board chatter, not how many people play online and not who has the better E3. It’s the games, stupid.

4. Reviews do matter. But they also don’t. See, don’t worry about the score a game gets. Read the review, in fact, read several reviews of a game you are looking at buying. You know what type of game you like, right? Scan the reviews to decipher if it is the kind of game you will like. If so, then the score doesn’t matter quite as much to you. If you love hack & slash RPGs and the reviewer gives one a 5, but for you it sounds like a 10, then get it! On the other hand, reviews don’t matter. No one really cares what game gets a 10. No one will remember that. So if a game you love gets a low score, who cares? Are you so insecure that someone else’s opinion might alter yours?

5. It’s a game. Enjoy it. We all forgot this sometimes, but don’t let the extraneous crap let you forget the fact that you are playing this game for fun. For enjoyment. To escape from the horrors of the real world for a bit. Don’t become obsessed with tiny details that ruin the fun for you. If you like single-player games and despise online games, that’s fine. There is nothing wrong with that. If you only like playing in groups, then do so. Don’t let someone else try to tell you what you should like or dislike. Have fun.

6. Don’t cosplay. Seriously. Never do this. Unless you are a really hot girl, don’t ever do this on any day that is not Halloween and even then, it might be pushing it.

Written by

Age: 34 PSN ID: Starkiller81. I've played games since before I can remember, starting with my dad's Atari and I haven't stopped yet. Keep them coming and I will keep playing them.

16 thoughts on “Words of Wisdom From An Older Gamer”

  1. I shall treasure this information always o wise one lol. Your rules on cosplay are also wise. Hot chicks ftw!

  2. 3 is so true…The PS1 is still my favorite console, PC aside, because there are just so many great games for it; FF, the early Crash Bandicoots, the early Spyro the dragons (don’t laugh – those were amazing platformers).

  3. The vosplay advice made me laugh for quite some time. However the advice about game reviews is very important.

    I use IGN as my main source of game reviews and for me, if it gets lower than a 7, I will rent it at best. Luckily for me though, IGN is pretty on par with my views on games, so I’m rarley disappointed.

  4. [quote comment=”7477″]The vosplay advice made me laugh for quite some time. However the advice about game reviews is very important.

    I use IGN as my main source of game reviews and for me, if it gets lower than a 7, I will rent it at best. Luckily for me though, IGN is pretty on par with my views on games, so I’m rarley disappointed.[/quote]

    This is the way to be. Find a site that seems fit with your view on games. For me, it’s 1UP.com. I read reviews from tons of sites, but they get the final word for me.

  5. “learn from my mistakes”
    “don’t cosplay”

    Sounds like someone has some skeletons in their closet…

  6. [quote comment=”7479″]”learn from my mistakes”
    “don’t cosplay”

    Sounds like someone has some skeletons in their closet…[/quote]

    Ha ha, no thankfully, I have never cos played. I only dress up at Halloween. And have yet to be a video game character.

    Yeah, that Fallout costume is awesome, but at the end of the day, it still implies a serious social malady. Namely: virginity.

  7. Yeah, I didn’t think you did, either. I just totally had to make that crack due to the whole “learn from my mistakes” act, haha.

  8. [quote comment=”7480″]Damn, number one is so true. I bought Bully for the 360 a few months back, and haven’t even unwrapped it. I’m sure I’ll play it at some point, but not anytime soon.

    As for the last one, did you see that Brotherhood of Steel cosplay? Sure, not as sexy as that chick who dresses up as Samus, but still cool:

    http://www.gossipgamers.com/fallout-3-cosplay-brotherhood-of-steel-power-armor/%5B/quote%5D

    Tesla Armor would be a whole lot more intimidating 🙂

  9. Great tips. It’s amazing that after reading this, I remember how many people dont understand these things. All the whiners and people arguing about things that seem like Fact to them when really they are just Opinion.

    Long live Gamersushi and its honest, horsesh*t free ways!

  10. I agree with Wox. The Ps1 was amazing :). Spyro, Crash Bandicoot and Tekken were my favourite games. Shame the had to F**k up Spyro and Crash Bandicoot but i’ve never played a tekken since 3 so i dont know about that series anymore.

  11. 1. WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME EARLIER! lol

    2. Nobody likes fanboys. Not even fanboys like fanboys. Or fangirls.

    3. Word. Give me a reliable console and a large library of kickass games and I’m so good.

    4. I only read blogs and indie reviews on like TGWTG.com. (Yes, I am advertising That Guy with the Glasses. He and his colleagues are awesome. And Spoony’s awesome in bed.)

  12. EDIT Accidentally pressed Submit Comment. Sozz.

    5. lol I’ll be the first one to admit I can get really pissed off at a game. But at the end of the day, I have fun…unless I’m getting raped or there are too many flaws to let me have fun. But if I can have a good time with friends or just by myself with a fun and easy-to-control game, I’m happy.

    6. Nobody likes Cosplay. Not even Cosplayers. Well, fine, maybe they do, but…

  13. [quote comment=”7528″]Anthony, how old are you?[/quote]

    28. It’s the first line of the article,lol. I will be 29 in Feb

Comments are closed.