classy_cat18
15th May 2003, 11:49 AM
Okay, I was thinking that since the mods allow nonfiction in here, I could show you my essay for my writing class and tell me what you think of it. It's supposed to be explaining a moment I had with consumer culture, and I wrote about my history with video games. So here it is!
Shonta Jones
EH 102
Professor Andersen
13 May 2003
Nintendo vs. The World
There are three types of gamers in the world: those who own a Sony Playstation 2 and brag about its superiority, those who own an Microsoft Xbox and curse those who own a Playstation 2 until they end up buying one themselves, and those who own a Nintendo Gamecube and are frequently cursed by those who own the first two until they cave in and buy a Playstation 2 or Xbox just to shut them up. I’m part of the third type, although I haven’t caved in yet. That will probably happen around Christmas.
I have been playing Nintendo games for years and have owned every one of its consoles except the Game Boy Color and the Virtual Boy (which wasn’t good, anyway). But I wasn’t as obsessed with Nintendo as I am now. Mario the plumber had to slowly pull me from the clutches of Barbie for me to really enjoy video games. After that I had to fight my way out of my Lego phase and my stuffed animal phase. I feel like I’m still in my stuffed animal phase, though.
My interest in video games started when Dad bought a Nintendo Entertainment System when they first came out around 1985. I was too little to play video games then, but I would still watch my Dad and other relatives play it until I had to go to bed, and went back to watching them when I woke up in the morning. Dad indirectly taught me that video games were addictive and would make you say things that made you get spankings if you repeat them. Good thing I never indirectly listened.
It got badly damaged when we moved to Alabama, but my dad’s grandmother bought one just for me. I was around eight then and Dad wasn’t with us to hog it. My brother would want to play with me, but then would choke as he repeatedly died on the first level. Unfortunately for my pride, he got better. He got better very quickly. Even now he’s my main competitor in video games.
The NES slowly collected dust and then one day just stopped working. I was left with nothing to do but to wreak havoc around the house. But around this time I started to go to the Boys & Girls Club in Hueytown. They had two game rooms, furnished with ping pong tables, pool tables, bumper pool tables and video games of all kinds. This was how I got hooked on Sonic the Hedgehog, who was Sega’s mascot at the time. But the thing that got me was the Super Nintendo games. The graphics were pretty, the controllers had more buttons, and there was more Mario. This is also when I got hooked on Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong Country was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I had to get a Super Nintendo. I dropped my only chance to see the Power Rangers for this. Dad got the Super Nintendo and many games to go with it. I said bye-bye to Barbie and hello to bad grades in school.
Over the years kids gave me reasons to drop the Nintendo for a Sega, and the Sega Channel was one of them. For an hourly playing fee, the cable company would let you use the Sega Genesis to play many games without having to buy any cartridges. My brother was one of those kids. He played Mortal Kombat while I was getting hooked on Donkey Kong Country. This was probably why he had such a bad temper; all that animated blood must have skyrocketed his testosterone level. I played it before, but that kind of fighting game wasn’t me. I liked bloodless fighting games like Street Fighter. I followed the bandwagon when I convinced Dad to get us Game Gears, which were handheld games from Sega that were similar to Game Boys but showed games in color. They were good at the time, but they sucked up batteries like there was no tomorrow. In a year, I had a Game Boy in my possession.
That’s why I don’t really own any systems other than those made by Nintendo. I didn’t like following the fad; the fad sucked. When everyone was buying Sega Genesis, I was upgrading my Super Nintendo library with games I had tried out at the Boys & Girls Club. When everyone was buying a Sony Playstation, I was trying out a Sega Saturn and realizing that Sega, in general, sucked and that I should stick to Nintendo no matter what. Playstation sucks, Nintendo’s better, my mind kept saying. So what if Sony has Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon and they were really fun? It would just fade like the Sega Saturn faded. Boy, was I both wrong and stupid for thinking that. Even Mom told me that as I went for buying a Nintendo 64. But I was always the stubborn one, never jumping on the bandwagon again unless it involved Nintendo. My instincts were right about Sega, though; they couldn’t make another long-lasting system if their lives depended on it. I was laughing at my fellow classmates about that as they groaned over the very few good games that the Sega Dreamcast owned and that I would soon own when they would come out for the Nintendo Gamecube and the Game Boy Advance.
Now my family has all three types of gamers that I had mentioned earlier: my cousins and my brother who constantly invite friends over to play sports games and watch DVDs and listen to CDs on their Playstation 2, my older cousins who own a Playstation One or 2 and are saving money to buy a Xbox when it comes out with some decent games, and me, Miss Gamecube. But one day they’ll be sorry. I’ll be right when Playstation 2 becomes yesterday’s news and nobody likes Xbox. I’ll be right when everyone notices the true genius behind Mario and Link and Pokemon. I’ll be right…when hell freezes over.
Now when is Final Fantasy X-2 coming out for the Playstation 2?
Shonta Jones
EH 102
Professor Andersen
13 May 2003
Nintendo vs. The World
There are three types of gamers in the world: those who own a Sony Playstation 2 and brag about its superiority, those who own an Microsoft Xbox and curse those who own a Playstation 2 until they end up buying one themselves, and those who own a Nintendo Gamecube and are frequently cursed by those who own the first two until they cave in and buy a Playstation 2 or Xbox just to shut them up. I’m part of the third type, although I haven’t caved in yet. That will probably happen around Christmas.
I have been playing Nintendo games for years and have owned every one of its consoles except the Game Boy Color and the Virtual Boy (which wasn’t good, anyway). But I wasn’t as obsessed with Nintendo as I am now. Mario the plumber had to slowly pull me from the clutches of Barbie for me to really enjoy video games. After that I had to fight my way out of my Lego phase and my stuffed animal phase. I feel like I’m still in my stuffed animal phase, though.
My interest in video games started when Dad bought a Nintendo Entertainment System when they first came out around 1985. I was too little to play video games then, but I would still watch my Dad and other relatives play it until I had to go to bed, and went back to watching them when I woke up in the morning. Dad indirectly taught me that video games were addictive and would make you say things that made you get spankings if you repeat them. Good thing I never indirectly listened.
It got badly damaged when we moved to Alabama, but my dad’s grandmother bought one just for me. I was around eight then and Dad wasn’t with us to hog it. My brother would want to play with me, but then would choke as he repeatedly died on the first level. Unfortunately for my pride, he got better. He got better very quickly. Even now he’s my main competitor in video games.
The NES slowly collected dust and then one day just stopped working. I was left with nothing to do but to wreak havoc around the house. But around this time I started to go to the Boys & Girls Club in Hueytown. They had two game rooms, furnished with ping pong tables, pool tables, bumper pool tables and video games of all kinds. This was how I got hooked on Sonic the Hedgehog, who was Sega’s mascot at the time. But the thing that got me was the Super Nintendo games. The graphics were pretty, the controllers had more buttons, and there was more Mario. This is also when I got hooked on Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong Country was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I had to get a Super Nintendo. I dropped my only chance to see the Power Rangers for this. Dad got the Super Nintendo and many games to go with it. I said bye-bye to Barbie and hello to bad grades in school.
Over the years kids gave me reasons to drop the Nintendo for a Sega, and the Sega Channel was one of them. For an hourly playing fee, the cable company would let you use the Sega Genesis to play many games without having to buy any cartridges. My brother was one of those kids. He played Mortal Kombat while I was getting hooked on Donkey Kong Country. This was probably why he had such a bad temper; all that animated blood must have skyrocketed his testosterone level. I played it before, but that kind of fighting game wasn’t me. I liked bloodless fighting games like Street Fighter. I followed the bandwagon when I convinced Dad to get us Game Gears, which were handheld games from Sega that were similar to Game Boys but showed games in color. They were good at the time, but they sucked up batteries like there was no tomorrow. In a year, I had a Game Boy in my possession.
That’s why I don’t really own any systems other than those made by Nintendo. I didn’t like following the fad; the fad sucked. When everyone was buying Sega Genesis, I was upgrading my Super Nintendo library with games I had tried out at the Boys & Girls Club. When everyone was buying a Sony Playstation, I was trying out a Sega Saturn and realizing that Sega, in general, sucked and that I should stick to Nintendo no matter what. Playstation sucks, Nintendo’s better, my mind kept saying. So what if Sony has Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon and they were really fun? It would just fade like the Sega Saturn faded. Boy, was I both wrong and stupid for thinking that. Even Mom told me that as I went for buying a Nintendo 64. But I was always the stubborn one, never jumping on the bandwagon again unless it involved Nintendo. My instincts were right about Sega, though; they couldn’t make another long-lasting system if their lives depended on it. I was laughing at my fellow classmates about that as they groaned over the very few good games that the Sega Dreamcast owned and that I would soon own when they would come out for the Nintendo Gamecube and the Game Boy Advance.
Now my family has all three types of gamers that I had mentioned earlier: my cousins and my brother who constantly invite friends over to play sports games and watch DVDs and listen to CDs on their Playstation 2, my older cousins who own a Playstation One or 2 and are saving money to buy a Xbox when it comes out with some decent games, and me, Miss Gamecube. But one day they’ll be sorry. I’ll be right when Playstation 2 becomes yesterday’s news and nobody likes Xbox. I’ll be right when everyone notices the true genius behind Mario and Link and Pokemon. I’ll be right…when hell freezes over.
Now when is Final Fantasy X-2 coming out for the Playstation 2?