Apparently Microsoft’s XBOX 360 has just been released. I doubt very much that I’ll be lining up to purchase one – all the gee-whizzery seems to be devoted to games of the first-person shooter variety. This is a genre that appeals to me not one jot or tittle. Perhaps it’s just me, but I get a real feeling of dissonance when I read this in Greg Hughes’ blog entry of first impressions of the XBOX:
The crowd was excited. A sign is taped to the end cap where the 360 resides that says "5 minutes, please." The crew of giddy people (mostly adults by the way) quietly contained themselves and politely took turns splattering people with their virtual firearms. It pretty much rocked. Ooohs and Aahhhhs abound.
"Politely took turns splattering people"? I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand it.
And if you want to see something really depressing, then watch and listen to this video of a 9 year-old (a 9! year-old) child playing a first person shooter game. It’s linked to by PZ Myers in his blog entry here. The child is a brat, his mother is completely ineffectual. I don’t know which is worse. All I know is that I think there’s going to be trouble around him when he gets older.
