Picking Sides

People are always picking sides and it makes no sense to me. For example the console wars. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all have their good points and their bad. But people choose to ignore their merits and instead side with one team or the other for no apparent reason other than that's the one they bought. Same goes for publishers. Valve is held up as this godly development/publishing studio and EA is villainized. But I think chances are pretty good that most people played a lot more titles by EA than they did by Valve. That's not to say that EA does no wrong, Clearly they do. But Valve isn't without flaws either. All I'm saying is I don't think it's good to take either extreme on a company or "team".

 

I get frustrated with the idea that X game is bad because it was made by Y developer. If that's the case then games like Uncharted would have never been made because that game is made by Naughty Dog and they made Way of the Warrior so it can't be good. Similarly I don't like the idea that giving Spirit Tracks a score like an 8 is stupid because "It's Zelda it must be a 10, you are a Nintendo Hater!"

I'm not saying there aren't trends, but saying "I don't like a game because it's made by a certain publisher or developer" is lame. If you don't like a game, dislike it because it's not fun, not because of which team it's tied to.

On the same note stop telling me how awesome Nintendo is. I get that you like them, I like them too! But can't I say one bad thing about them without people getting upset? If no one says anything then they'll stay the way they are until they no longer exist. I don't want that and neither should you.

Everyone has things that they prefer over others. That's fine. For example I like Mario and do not enjoy Half-Life. But if a Mario game is boring (Dream Team) and a Valve game is fun (Left 4 Dead), then I'm just as happy to say so and you should be too. Brand loyalty is dangerous and ultimately it's bad for the consumer.

In conclusion, Be nice to others and consider how your point of view might be skewed by brand loyalty before you accuse others of it. If we all did that then the gaming world would just be a little bit better.