Curmudgeon Gamer
17 March 2007
Please tell me the childish crap will end someday
JohnH pointed me to the video earlier, but I only now saw the abstract about Jeff Minter's talk via Simon at GameSetWatch. I haven't watched the video, but the abstract has hit one of my buttons at a time when I'm short of patience.
As with anything having to do with the Atari Jaguar, the abstract (not written by Simon or JohnH) takes time out to insult the platform:
You know why it's funny? Let me tell you! Because most of the people writing that kind of crap are just repeating what they've heard others say and seen others write. They've never actually played Tempest 2000 or Defender 2000 or Power Drive Rally or Club Drive. They've probably never held the Jaguar controller that apparently ranks #1 on a list of the worst controllers ever. They just repeat the Conventional Wisdom, even if they have no basis on which to judge that wisdom.
I really don't get it.
Again, this is an industry struggling to take itself seriously, and most writers for IGN, GameSpy, and GameSpot probably can't say a single intelligent thing about the Jaguar. Not that their ignorance will stop them from writing.
And this kind of juvenile, uninformed tripe isn't limited to the Jaguar. The Sega Saturn is similarly maligned for things as stupid as its ability to do transparency effects. For the love of all that's good and wholesome, people, you didn't even know what transparency effects were before someone did them on the PlayStation and suddenly they're an important point in deciding which console has games worth playing?
Remember the size of the original Xbox? Or its original controller? Also good for a laugh, right? Because those two qualities defined how good the games would be. Like Halo.
At least when people bring up Pac-man for the Atari 2600, many who have actually played it can agree that -- similarity to the arcade original aside-- it just wasn't a very fun game.
If you haven't played Tempest 2000 then, let me tell you: you missed out. It was -- and still is -- a fantastic game. And Defender 2000 is capable of inducing a deep, trancelike gaming state that I wish I could find in more games. The definitive versions of those games are only on the Jaguar
Let's just say you get a Jaguar and those games and you play. When you get hooked on them, you won't notice the Jaguar or Atari logos on the machine. It won't matter that someone saw you playing an old system that people like to ridicule. Even the controller will feel natural in your hands. All of that manhood measuring that people like to do will seem awfully stupid while you're doing what we all want to do in the first place -- have fun playing games.
As with anything having to do with the Atari Jaguar, the abstract (not written by Simon or JohnH) takes time out to insult the platform:
If you were one of the 30 people to buy an Atari Jaguar, you probably bought his "Tempest 2000" and "Defender 2000" cartridges.Isn't that funny? It is, right? Side-splittingly, fall of the floor and roll around funny! In fact, it gets funnier every time someone uses it.
You know why it's funny? Let me tell you! Because most of the people writing that kind of crap are just repeating what they've heard others say and seen others write. They've never actually played Tempest 2000 or Defender 2000 or Power Drive Rally or Club Drive. They've probably never held the Jaguar controller that apparently ranks #1 on a list of the worst controllers ever. They just repeat the Conventional Wisdom, even if they have no basis on which to judge that wisdom.
I really don't get it.
Again, this is an industry struggling to take itself seriously, and most writers for IGN, GameSpy, and GameSpot probably can't say a single intelligent thing about the Jaguar. Not that their ignorance will stop them from writing.
And this kind of juvenile, uninformed tripe isn't limited to the Jaguar. The Sega Saturn is similarly maligned for things as stupid as its ability to do transparency effects. For the love of all that's good and wholesome, people, you didn't even know what transparency effects were before someone did them on the PlayStation and suddenly they're an important point in deciding which console has games worth playing?
Remember the size of the original Xbox? Or its original controller? Also good for a laugh, right? Because those two qualities defined how good the games would be. Like Halo.
At least when people bring up Pac-man for the Atari 2600, many who have actually played it can agree that -- similarity to the arcade original aside-- it just wasn't a very fun game.
If you haven't played Tempest 2000 then, let me tell you: you missed out. It was -- and still is -- a fantastic game. And Defender 2000 is capable of inducing a deep, trancelike gaming state that I wish I could find in more games. The definitive versions of those games are only on the Jaguar
Let's just say you get a Jaguar and those games and you play. When you get hooked on them, you won't notice the Jaguar or Atari logos on the machine. It won't matter that someone saw you playing an old system that people like to ridicule. Even the controller will feel natural in your hands. All of that manhood measuring that people like to do will seem awfully stupid while you're doing what we all want to do in the first place -- have fun playing games.
--jvm at 01:27
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