Gaming: from Hard Core to Sentimental 

On page 82 of Games of Empire, Dyer-Witheford and de Peuter discuss the beginnings of Xbox as a system set up for hard core gamer.  My first purchase of an Xbox gaming system was made in 2003 as a Christmas present for my then husband who was an intense on-line gamer and wanted the system because of its online gaming capabilities.  For a person who still owns the original Nintendo gaming system complete with Duck Hunt and the original Tetris, I found myself nodding in agreement with the authors discussions of the complexity of the controller. However, on Christmas day 2003, my 6 year old son had no such qualms and was soon bonding with his dad playing Halo: Combat Evolved.

Fast forward to present day and a discussions over dinner about what my now 17 year old son Chase and his 13 year old brother Cole want for Christmas.  Chase would prefer the new Play Station 4 (PS4) and Cole wants the new Xbox One (XB1).  As a single Mom, I can't afford both, so holding with our family tradition, I asked each son to argue why their choice of system is superior, after which we would make a joint decision.

Chase started by stating that the Play Station 4 ends up being more affordable because it serves as a blue-ray player and will play all the games Play Station has made so we don't have to re-purchase our gaming library which, if sold, would fund a small revolution in a 3rd world country or pay for his 4 year college degree.  Cole, my youngest, familiar with our system of decision making came prepared.  Typed on a piece of paper, he read the specs for each system and then pointed out that the Xbox will now play blue-ray and the PS4 will now only play PS4 generation games.  In addition, the PS4 with Call of Duty: Ghost retails at $519.97 while the XB1 standard is a mere $499.99, a substantial financial saving in the mind of a 13 year old.

Chase's rebuttal was eloquent but in the end we agreed it was a draw so the decision needed to be made between the boys.  Chase pointed out that "Mom would like the PS4 better because she loves movies but Cole ultimately won with his final statement "Well, Mom won't have to learn a new controller or Call of Duty so she can still play Halo with us and do you remember the first time we played Halo together?  Its my favorite memory and playing Halo with you takes me back to the happy time."  Chase smiled then conceded to Cole, so it looks like Xbox One for a Christmas and a second job for Mom.

The point of this story is that after I read Games of Empire I gained a whole new appreciation for the capitalistic empire that gaming has created, acknowledged that I am a paying member and related my entrance into this world to a hard core gamer that fell in love with Xbox.  I also marveled at the fact that sentimentality between brothers makes me a consumer that doesn't plan on stopping any time soon.