The Console Divorce UPDATE: Make-Up Gaming
Posted by jason in Gaming on Feb 2nd, 2009 | 5 commentsLast week I openly confessed my love for portable gaming, but I knew the act of touching my PS3 and 360’s power buttons would inevitably go beyond the Netflix and Blu-Ray flirtation phase once again. This past weekend, it did.
In late November of 2008 I loaned Rock Band 2 and a fake plastic guitar to my little brother, after practically killing myself during The Endless Setlist. I’d had my fill, I was satiated. This past weekend, however, an unrequited urge to once again bang those plastic skins washed over me, and I rented the disc and set up a rock-date with Rob and Gabe.
The first half hour consisted of constant connection problems. Everyone would involuntarily drop out of the party (but not the multiplayer itself), disrupting the voice chat, but ultimately would sign out of Xbox Live completely. We couldn’t finish a song, and it was literally 30 minutes until Xbox Live’s problems were corrected, but by that time we weren’t too thrilled about playing “Bodhisattva” again.
2 songs into our 80’s throwback setlist, my bass drum pedal snapped in half, spelling the end. I resigned myself to vocals for a few songs, and called it quits, feeling completely unsatisfied and frustrated.
Following that, I played The World Ends With You (yep, back to my 1st love) for 2 hours while I casually sipped coffee and sat outside under the stars.
I’m positive my love affair with the living room consoles will resume itself at some point, but I am firmly convinced they won’t ever acquire the title of gaming soul mate :-)
Until Podcast #3, take care.
UPDATE: Rob just sent me this amazing tutorial on how to fix your Rock Band drums using only household materials. Perhaps I’ll journey back to the 360 soon. Perhaps…
If you enjoyed these words, buy Jason a coffee.5 Responses to “ “The Console Divorce UPDATE: Make-Up Gaming”
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Who’s Jason?
My gaming soul mate would have to be the Xbox 360.. hands down. While I love all of my other gaming devices (Wii, PS3, PSP, DS, GameCube, DreamCast, NES, XBOX), the console that has really grabbed me and pushed me towards the community of online gaming has been the 360. Without Xbox Live I don’t know that my love for gaming would be anywhere near as strong as it is today.
If I *had* to choose a favorite home console, it would be the Dreamcast by a large margin. Mostly because of the nostalgia, and how fresh their hardware & software was.
This really brings up something for me – the difference between the types of console. When I first got a PSP, I wanted it to REPLACE my living room console. I wanted a console-level experience in the palm of my hand.
This never worked out, not-too-surprisingly. But if we look at portables as a type of gaming experience, separate and different from the “Living Room Console,” then we can see why we might choose one over the other.
There are times i JUST DON”T WANT to boot up the 360Beast and wait for the online, and spin up the game disc, connect to multiplayer, see who’s out there, or even wait for the titles and credits to play a single player game.
Portable gaming, for me, is all about ease of entry and gaming in spaces not my living room. The DS, the PSP and the iPhone all have “sleep” modes (though the iPhone’s is less game-centric) that allow me to click it on (or open it, in the case of the DS), play for a few minutes, then put it down. OR not. I am in control. I love it. Instant On is the way to play any portable game, I’m convinced.
Anyway, great post. Made me think. Yay!
Rob, I think you're coming ever closer to nailing those subtle tendencies I have towards portable gaming. You've realized the magic of it because you've embraced it for WHAT IT IS, rather than what you WANT it to be.
Another equally important aspect of it is the hurry up and wait mentality of multiplayer gaming. How many hours of our life have been sucked away waiting to connect to a round of halo 3 or COD 4? TOO many ;-)
Note to defenders: I'm not saying those games aren't amazing, I'm merely stating that time is valuable to me.
This is great folks, keep the discussion flowing.
Thanks that was a fantastic post!