Advertisements: A Stunning Leap Forward for Games as a Medium

(This is going to be different than my usual articles, but stick with it. I think you'll enjoy it.)

This month, I've had trouble deciding what to write about. I haven't played many games this month other than The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe, Tetris, and Animal Crossing, and I have already talked about most of those in the past. (Tetris doesn't seem like an article I could realistically do.)

I was on the bus this morning, thinking about this, when a phrase popped into my head from some advertising that I had seen recently. "This is a stunning leap forward for video games as a medium!" if only I had a nickel for the amount of times I've heard that, verbatim...

I was thinking about that and realized just how much this phrase is thrown around on the regular these days. It seems like the people who say it aren't even sure what THEY are talking about.

If we analyze the phrase word by word, it would become obvious that this should only be said when there is something substantial and new. And as I was sitting there, thinking about it, I realized that seemingly all reviewers treat new technology as revolutionary. I mean, this is obvious, right? Of course they would. They're reviewers. They're paid to give good reviews.

Wait, what? They're paid to give good reviews? This seems so normal to us now that we don't even take a second to think about it. But, it is so backwards when you even give a second of thought to it. Reviewers are supposed to be honest, right? A review is supposed to give you an honesty opinion. But so often you hear, "I was given a copy of this game for free" or "thank you to [company] for giving me this gift box". At that point, can that even be called a review?

"A stunning leap forward for games as a medium"

This goes back to my point from before, but shouldn't this only be said when there's something substantial? When the PS5 was announced, you heard it. The PS5 didn't really change things all that much, honestly. It's got not a lot of exclusives to take advantage of its new power, and even the games "made for PS5" are downgraded for the PS4. I'm not saying the PS5 was bad, (it definitely isn't) but it didn't really add anything to to games as a medium.

When a new PC (or even, a new PC part) comes out, you also hear the phrase that I don't want to repeat over and over again so this article doesn't get dry and boring. PC gaming has stayed the same ever since Windows 10 was released, for the most part. You can make your PC faster by buying a new part, sure, but that doesn't change the landscape as a whole. PC gaming probably won't change from where it is now, realistically.

"A stunning leap forward for video games as a medium"

Leaps forward can only be seen in retrospect. We never know the full picture. When the Wii released, many people made fun of it for its controls, but now we loom over it fondly for its changes to the medium (mostly the addition of enjoyable, functioning motion controls and character avatars).

Don't try to jump the gun. See how new technology is released, and enjoy it in the times. Don't try to overpraise it or overtly bash it. After all, you have no idea if it will truly be a stunning leap forward for video games as a medium.

I've been koola, and I don't think the Xbox Series X was that exciting of a console. Fight me.

(Don't actually. I'm very weak...)