Foaming at the mouth, I said, “Great news! Square is making games for Nintendo again!”
She looked at me with a blank stare. “Who?”
And I’m going to marry this girl?
Square developing for Nintendo could probably be the biggest story of the year in the video game world. For the rest of the world it won’t even be a blip on the radar. That made me start thinking about how there are so many sub-cultures in this world that I don’t even realize exist. For example, I was amazed to meet someone who was a rabid collector of salt and peppershakers. This woman had a room filled with a multitude of salt and peppershakers of all shapes, sizes, and themes. Bizarre? How about the lady I know with the Disney-themed house? Yep, every room is like a different attraction at Disney World. Mickey Mouse toilet paper dispensers, Donald Duck pot holders, you name it. Don’t even get me started on the Beanie Babies phenomenon.
As mind-boggling as all these hobbies seem, my fiancée’s reaction to my fantastic news made me realize how my obsession with video games can be just as mind-boggling to someone else as Disney disciples are to me. Just the other day I ordered my 307th, 308th, and 309th video games from a distributor in California that specializes in old, rare games. When I told her what I had just done and how excited I was to receive them in the mail she innocently inquired, “Did you even finish the last one you ordered?”
“Well, not yet, but…that’s not...ah…you don’t understand…”
The thing is, she’s not the only one. I was having a few drinks with some of my friends days after the Square/Nintendo announcement and, feeling a little buzzed, I said, “It’s cool that Yamauchi got off his high horse and gave gamers what they really wanted.”
Their reaction?Dead silence.
Ugh. I’m obsessed. It’s a disease. It’s my digital crack. But yet when I go online and visit my favorite fan sites I feel like part of a community; and it’s amazing how huge of a subculture this “hobby” has created. Hell, it’s a multi-billion dollar industry! Chat rooms are flooded; fan sites are over abundant, and opinions spark heated debates. Just as you can find some old granny showing off her brand new piggy peppershakers, you can find thousands of folks, just like me, pondering the possibilities of this new Square/Nintendo alliance.
The message boards here at GWX are live. Hopefully some of you folks will join me in conversations about my Turbografx/Duo obsession or whatever else might be on our minds at the moment.
It’s good to be part of a community, no matter how obscure. Welcome to ours.
