A Dearth of fun at the mall

Evan McKay

Recently, I had money to burn in my pocket while my local mall, Providence Place. I was very excited to be able to walk into Gamestop and get myself a brand-y new game. However....

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After a half hour in there I said to myself, "Damn it, there is nothing in here I want!" It was so sad. I remember as a kid getting all jacked up on candy and getting so psyched to go to the then called "E B Games"...it was the best day of the month! Now, I think I would rather watch the Red Wedding 15 times in a row; I would be less depressed than walking into a Gamestop. I give it 5 years before Steam takes over!

It makes me really sad. Perhaps I am just a jaded old dooshy gamer (probably), but there was not a single game I wanted to play there. So many tired ass shooters... It's so sad. Especially when compared to Steam. Steam has all this amazing content, fresh from young buck developers, that is really, really good! These up and coming game designers are all trying so hard to wow the consumer from the trailer right down to the end credits of a game. Their careers depend on it. So much at stake for these indie game people; you can feel the intensity in the games even if it's bad. The corporate games all feel so soulless lately. The only real charm I got out of Assassin's Creed IV: Blackflag were the clever achievement names. 

The glitches were also amusing, like the comically strewn about bodies. This is an actual screen shot from my play through.

Play Terraria! Get wowed by the colors, the charm, the constant updates, and the direct community input. Play Don't Starve! another incredible game that has so much character I am already sucked in and I have only played the game for 3 hours. You pretty much just die all the time and it's still a big winner. Steam, man...

Seriously, doesn't Terraria look mega-fun??

Sadly, Valve (parent company of Steam) is not publicly traded, but I have a good feeling about these new "Steam Machines." If some hardware company is able to make a Steam machine for under $350, I have a feeling that Valve will take the console market by storm. They already have the internet multiplayer game infrastructure in place due to their many years of lauded PC gaming success. And now, with their current price point already in place, they will have a way to get casual gamers into the Steam-y love cult that is the Steam cloud game store. Then Steam will put Gamestop out of business the way Netflix did to Blockbuster video!!!!