Forums & The 80′s

There’s a truism that’s popped up on forums on the internet that goes something like this, “Arguing on the internet is like participating in the Special Olympics, win or lose, you’re still retarded.”

I really should pay more attention to truisms like that.

Over the last few days, I’ve actually found myself honest to God hating someone. And I don’t even know who it is. On the GameAxis website, they have, surprise, surprise, a forum. And recently there’s been someone who popped up out of the blue that could be diplomatically described as a Sony Fanboy. Although it’s actually more accurate to say that he fits the technical, dictionary definition of a fanatic. His belief in Sony is blind, unwavering, irrational and causes him to actually despise anyone that doesn’t own a Playstation 3 or believe that Sony is the best company in the world.

What amazes me about him is that I’m actually a strong supporter of Sony. Or was. Over the last few days seeing him go on a crusade where he has insulted people and blindly praised the Playstation 3 has done the one thing that years of being nicely treated by Microsoft Singapore has failed to do; it has turned me against Sony and put me in a position where I actively support Microsoft. He repeatedly refers to the Playstation as the “Godstation,” he has called people that own Xbox 360′s “Xbots” and he goes so far as to call anyone that owns an Xbox 360 “retarded.”

I don’t even own one of these machines, and now I want to buy one just to spite him, and I want to see Sony fail because I know it will crush his psyche. I found myself horrified at the way this kid unabashedly praised Sony, and deliberately did not respond to any arguments with sound logic, or that actually presented facts or journalistic references that would disprove his points. Instead, he just replied to posts in the forum that agreed with him, and continued to imply that anyone that didn’t own a Playstation 3 was somehow unworthy of being alive. I even found myself making blog posts and forum posts throughout the GameAxis website that indirectly responded to his remarks without actually naming him, although my constant use of “and for the fanboys out there” probably made it pretty obvious who I was really responding to. I was so disgusted and even disturbed by his zeal that I find I’m actually distancing myself away from any visible support of Sony just so I won’t be associated with him. It’s ironic to me that the one thing that could shake my loyalty to Sony was someone even more loyal than I am, but hatefully, irrationally so.

Oh well, in other news…

This news actually came out in January, but I was so busy with the move, it slipped past my radar. Only people who follow the industry will know this, so I’ll recap. Harmonix is the creator of the Greatest Music Game Ever, Guitar Hero, a game which is published and OWNED by their publisher, Red Octane. Earlier in the year Big Money decided it wanted the piece of the action. Activision went and bought Red Octane–and the Guitar Hero franchise–while MTV bought Harmonix.

The result of this is that Guitar Hero III is being produced over at Activision by Neversoft. These are the guys that normally create the Tony Hawk skateboarding games. Yep, skater guys are making a guitar game. However, before the split, Harmonix, unable to completely let go of their baby, managed to sneak in one last title. That title is coming out June 13th, and it is… wait for it…

GUITAR HERO: 80′S EDITION.

You can weep with gratitude now. God knows I did. The shoulder pads. The make up. THE BIG, BIG HAIR! All coming back in a yuppie, cocaine-snorting package for your plastic Gee-Tar. My GOD, this news made me happy.

While I’m almost completely overwhelmed by the thought of more Guitar Hero this summer, I can only calm myself down enough to have three major requests as far as songs go. So far I would very much like to see:

1) ANYTHING by the Cure. ‘Cause, y’know, Robert Smith kicks ass, and in the immortal words of the South Park kids, “Disintegration was the best album ever!”

2) Turning Japanese by the Vapors. Not only is it a brilliantly funny subversion of punk music, the song is another one of those iconic 80′s tunes that also happens to have some damn fine, DAMN FUN guitar riffs. Perfect Guitar Hero material. And lastly…

I Wanna’ Rock by Twisted Sister. Seriously, can you possibly get any more 80′s hair metal than THIS?!? I mean, for God’s sake, just let your eye swing to the left and LOOK AT THIS FREAKIN’ GUY… Dee Snider, the lead singer, and my illustration example today, went on record as saying that Twisted Sister should not be called Glam because they’re not glamorous. Instead, they should be called “Hid” because they’re hideous. At least he had a firm grip on reality and knew when to call a spade a spade…