A guide for the aspiring import gamer: Part 3

New post about import gaming? New post about import gaming.

Alright guys, it's time to take a trip back to a simpler time. A time when idiots weren't running amok on an online gaming service. A time when no one cared whether or not there was online multiplayer. A time before crippiling hardware errors that caused you to go without your games for weeks because you had to ship it back while millions of others were shipping their borked consoles at the same time because rather than have quality control do their job they chose to get a head start on everyone else for the sake of money (deep breath). That time my friends, is the 90's.

A guide for the aspiring import gamer: Part 2

Back for more import tips? Alrighty then, you want it? You got it!

Nintendo DS

The Nintendo DS, like the Game Boy, is capable of playing any game from any region. The DS phat, DS Lite, DSi, and DSi XL all can play any game. However, the DSi and DSi XL can not play DSi Ware games from outside of the system's region, so no Japanese DSi Ware titles will work on an American DSi, and vise versa. Another thing to note, is that as of now, the 3DS is region protected, and no ways have been found to get around it. But it is possible to play imported DS games on a 3DS without any problems.

A guide for the aspiring import gamer: Part 1

Gaming is an activity enjoyed by many Americans. Some of those that are more active in the gaming community are probably well aware that there are games that never make it out of Japan, which is a disappointment, as there are many great games that are never seen in American stores. However, thanks to places like Ebay and Play-Asia, import gaming has become much easier to get into. But just because it is easy to acquire the games, it doesn't mean it is easy to play them. Many game consoles have some form of regional lockout, keeping people from playing games that weren't released in their country. Some are easy to bypass, some aren't, and some have no region protection whatsoever. Over the next few days, I'll be showing how to get around these lockouts, and even highlighting some games that you should play.

"But MrNelson, I don't know any Japanese!"

Neither do I! But thankfully, there are plenty of games that require no knowledge of the language to play.

Now, let's get started, shall we?

Console wars: Why?

PS3 SUXORZ!!

NO, XBOX 360 SUXORZ!!

No matter where you go, be it with your friends, or on some random internet forum, you're going to find some gamer that has a passionate hatred for a game system, and will defend to the death their system of choice. 

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a fanboy

Wild Blog has appeared!

It's 2 am kids! Know what that means? It's blogging time!

What better way to start off a blog than with a rant, a gaming rant to be more specific.

I've been gaming for about the last 16 years, and while that may not be as long as some people out there, it is definitely longer than a lot of people playing today. Over the last few years, I've noticed gaming has become more and more mainstream in our culture. I can remember back when people would make fun of me because I did a lot more gaming than other people did. I honestly thought I did a lot of gaming when I was younger, but compared to what some people are doing now, that was nothing. Go boot up a copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops, and look at how much play time a majority of the people playing have. Go ahead, I'll wait.

......

See what I mean? There are many people on there with weeks worth of play time logged. WEEKS!! I've even seen some with at least a months worth of play time. And these aren't your stereotypical nerds, these are (basically) the same kind of people that would mock gamers back when gaming wasn't as mainstream. So what happened? What created this double standard where it was not ok to dump dozens of hours into, say, an RPG, but it is totally fine to dump weeks and weeks into Halo or Call of Duty?

I think it has to do two things: gaming companies trying to expand their audience, and that expanded audience liking to see s*** blow up.

Playing any of these games is like watching a Michael Bay film. Tons of over the top action and violence are the substance du jour, and judging from the sales of Black Ops, people love it more than air. I'll admit, it is fun, but it does get repetitive, especially since every Call of Duty for the last few years has just been a re-skinned Call of Duty 4. I wonder what will happen when everyone else tires of it. Will these people stop gaming? Will they move onto another genre? Will gaming go back to being more niche like it used to be? Who knows? Only time will tell.