There are two types of people in the world. The group of people who see full-grown adults playing video games and say, “C’mon, now — how old are you?” and the group of people who see full-grown adults playing video games and say, “Hey, can I try?” To each other, they are two sides of the perpetual coin.
A lot of us have had the unique opportunity to have been around when video games were first hitting the scene — from Pong to the Atari 2600 to ColecoVision and Sega Genesis. At that point in time, price points were extremely unbearable since we were (a) kids without disposal income and (b) had parents who had no concept of why they should drop $200 on a game system when there was no precedent for such technology before.
But something strange happened over time — video games evolved, those kids grew up, got jobs and acquired disposable income and transformed the video game industry into something much more lucrative than the Motion Picture Industry. And so, here we sit — in 2005, at a time when men spend more of their disposable income on video games than music, clothing and corn dogs combined.
Recently, Sony released their new uber game system, the PSP (see above). It is a video game device that allows one to play games whose quality almost rival the Playstation 2. The device allows you to transfer your MP3s, photo, home videos and DVD footage to the system, and take it on the go. It is a geek’s dream.
When the system came out about a week and a half ago, I found myself torn. I had work to do. But I wanted it badly. But I had work to do. It would distract me. But it was so cool. But I had work to do.
I drove halfway to Best Buy, then like Cameron from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off I attacked my car and the seats in transit, finally giving into my conscience and driving back home. I literally drove halfway there three times before finally being unable to purchase it due to it being sold out.
Phew, I thought.
Then I had an unfortunate situation befall me. I happened to be in a Walmart in Chicago. They happened to have the damn things. And there was no where for me to turn. I was trapped, like a caged animal with no way out.
I caved.
Like I said – there are two groups of people. The ones who can’t believe that you’re an adult playing video games and the other group of people who ask to play them with you.
Yes, indeed.