“Ignorance is bliss” helps to remind us that a peace of mind is contingent with the notion…you’re better off not knowing.

The truth shall set you free…the only problem is: freedom is terrifying

I waxed more philosophically then I initially intended to in my last post, when discussing the utterly trivial nature of traditional reviews, and bemoaning a lack of real depth within the culture wide conversational exchange in the world of gaming, in reference to my current playthrough of Super Meat Boy 3D (SMB3D). Not that meandering into more thoughtful territory is ever truly a problem; that particular moment just being a prime example of me surprising even myself in reference to where my train of thought took me, as when I am feeling insanely depleted, whether it be through sheer exhaustion or the simple collateral of a broken spirit due to the world at large, ideas often creep up unannounced, and taking me by complete surprise.

I suppose speaking to the idea of traditional reviews, the reason they existed (still do technically, but in the modern age, they aren’t the only kid on the block anymore), was/is basically due to money. This should come as a surprise to no one, as most decisions within any industry…and maybe at this point in time, even recreationally speaking, boils down to some weird orbit of financial concern. That’s a big idea for another article, so moving forward having acknowledged that, this thought might be lingering on my mind at the moment, due to this last week being a “pseudo E3” of sorts, as Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo all had massive video showcases of what they were bringing to the table for the rest of the year and beyond this week, during the same period of time that E3 usually happened, which was the event of any gaming year, one that happened in LA; a huge spectacle that acted as kind of an early Christmas for gamers, where you got to see a sneak peak and behind the scenes of stuff you would hopefully be playing by actual Christmas.

Of course, E3 isn’t around anymore, and it wasn’t the pandemics fault (for once) that shit went ass up, but like most modern day alterations in our every day lives, I’m sure the lockdown brought into stark revelation of what was possible, what people really needed, and what they could do without. This ended up translating to the rise of a lot of streaming services and digital content getting a huge boost, as people of course stayed home more. Since a lot of the public was closed, so too was E3 canceled that year, but it would soon come to pass that the trade show would eventually be done for anyways, though the timing of the event I think ended up being more just “of its time” than any kind of contingent finale based on some “unforeseen” “unprecedented affair”.

Bringing this all back around, which was initially spun off from my ire with why traditional reviews were the way they were, was that the eventuality of the end of E3 was due to the same reason and motivations that fed into the notion of reviews: money. Back in the day, it was how retailers could see firsthand what product they had to choose from, and what to carry, and a trade show like E3, where the devs could meet directly with the people responsible for pushing their games, could show their wares, and yes, press coverage of course to get the gamers engines revving to generate hype, pre-orders, sell the things etc. That world is long gone, and E3 a long with it. Once again, like many other moments in modern history, it’s not some crazy coincidence or some out of nowhere blindsiding that ended up putting the kibosh on everything: it literally just boiled down to money.

For any of the more starry eyed romantics out there who like to believe the notion the world is a far more mysterious, mystical, unexplainable phenomena that has this chaotically spurious notion of how history is formed and created, I’m sorry to say, this tends not to be the case, as cause and effect is a powerful element of our reality that makes the world go round, and many metaphysical worlds within that world go around with it. Which is interesting as I even ponder what I’m writing about now, as I’ve pushed back in the past as to why I usually lament about things like fandom or consumerist pride, as ultimately you’re apart of someone else’s financial journey, waving a flag of your preferred vendor of choice, your colors green with the money you spend your dollars on, and what ever escapist reality you desire to thrust your broken spirit into, or cheap plastic crap you want to fill the emotional void with. People see power Ranger Toys, I see a tax bracket appropriate retail therapy session on a shelf.

Which is maybe why I just shake my head at the idea of giving games a number rating, which I guess is what I really mean when I talk about traditional reviews, cause the number monetizes the monotony, negates a larger conversation, and has a reductionist sense of pouring all of the thoughts, mathematics, programming, creativity, hard work, and imagination into a singular number that is suppose to represent the sheer distillation of the notion “buy this”, making all of the fervor of console wars and fanboyism shit flinging competitions all the more tragic, especially where the younger audience is concerned, cause they’re ostensibly arguing about the thing they got that they liked that their family could afford.

This links up with another conversation that floats around in the gaming ether, about the notion of “tell me you were some random kid from a financially stable family living in suburbia without telling me you were” then someone being a hardcore Nintendo-stan, cause everything about your favorite shit is literally circumstantial nonsense that was spawned out of a long line of neo-liberalism that ended up benefiting the arbitrary standards of your birth due to any number of ridiculous factors completely beyond your control, like some idiotically microsized version akin to LEGO nationalism, overpriced sense of self-worth made plastic.

Definitely an unintentional article premise I’ve stumbled into, but one that touches onto some relevant points. Admittedly, I’m painting with some fairly broad strokes here, which means there is a great degree of composite thinking going on, and should be taken with a grain of salt, but there remains enough truth here for me to feel as if I’ve elaborated in a satisfying manner, as to why the sins of the past were dictated by the wallets of the day, and how that helped to cultivate the deals with the financial devils we did, to get the cheap shiny shit to break up the hellish nightmare reality of perpetual stagnation we suffer in everyday.

So, with respects…fuck traditional reviews.

~Pashford