I’m back, and i’m full of the rage felt only by an ice cream seller in the rain! It’s time to conquer the ultimate question: Is this the end? Let’s spark the fires of controversy during debate week, as I expose the industry.

The Tank of Consumerism.

Unless you’ve been living under a lamp shade, you’ll have noticed our friendly recession. As it persues, obviously the grave of the gaming industry has been dug ever deeper. We seem to be in a direct collision course with a culture shock: we have to adapt to this. In true ‘me’ style, I haven’t bought a game for some time. However, when I go to purchase my lovely games I find holographs, shiny boxes, music tracks, figurines, novels, graphic novels, films, DLC, featurettes, chickens, geese, cereal, flowers, mugs, cupcakes, large pots filled with po-pari -

Yes.

Regardless of your opinion on storyline and thought, we’re becoming ever more pretentious, as consumerism arrives in a large tank to crush gaming as we know it. I appreciate feign attempts at remembering the classics; such as Google’s ‘Pac man’ exhibit, however I really feel gaming is absolutely being crushed. We’re on the brink of pretentious people taking a knife to graphic appreciation. I myself am a great believer in storyline, and use of simplicity. Games such as ‘Lost Planet 2′, in my opinion map a filthy concept to do with, strange beings and no explanation! In comparison, ‘Assassins Creed’ is creating compelling sticky grenades to combat the tank, and doing it incredibly well…as well!

Let’s Make Some Money.

If anyone’s still reading, read on! GTA4 on it’s own is worth over $500million, which says something about complementary goods! Although I believe this game’s DLCs and additions were brought out with great sincerity to GTA as a franchise, other games are silly billies! Gears of War has sold out to the max, selling rights to image use, and ensuring even bearded nuns in Calypso’s House of Plenty have seen their CONCEPT ART. In fact, all of you, personally email me and tell me if you’ve seen their concept art without chasing it: Social Experiments FTW!

On a serious note, this is for debate. I understand entirely that many people reading this will disagree with what i’m saying completely. We need to remember that debating will ensure we continue to get awesome games! However, as you’ll see as I continue, I also think that we’re becoming obsessed critics of games. Let’s read every bit of material around the game, and clear out ambiguoity completely! We buy Assassins Creed for the lovely mystery, as we try to predict what’s to come up. We buy Call of Duty just so we can scour around for clues about the next game. We bought those Kinder Eggs as kids because we had no idea what toy we’d get! Let’s get back to our roots!

Ask the nOObs!

Are you kidding? Wrapping your wounds with Pac Man?!

To prove my point, I decided to ask an ambitious game designer, hoping to go into gaming for a career, to see what he thought about the new culture of gaming:

As a game designer, do you think people are buying games for the game itself, or for the culture?

“What an hopeful question, not! As a smaller game designer, I can’t really comment on the massive franchises and culture that other game companies have experienced. However, I did do a bit of work experience with one such company, and found the halls draped with complementary goods. I was actually really annoyed at the lack of graphics and remembrance of the actual game play. I mean, there was like, no evidence of the technological advancements made, and the impression they had on gaming.”

The Evidence, Before the Court…

See? I have supporters! The growing band of Saving Private Ryan bridge smashes to stop the tank is actually massing on particular games. No I don’t mean the poxy protesters outside ‘Dante’s Inferno’ HQ, I mean the guys and gals’ reading this thinking ‘I want Mayonnaise AND Cheese! I want the Game AND the Novel!’

Come on world, lets come to a rounded compromise. Let’s collect wine bottles with the Bomberman logo imprinted on them, but let’s also play the games we were born to.

And that my friends, is my contribution, to Debate Week.