So Welcome to Part 2. Part One is on the blog called Cartoon Electro, and it seems that what things are not what they seem.

Back in 2005, Sony announced the third entry in the Playstation family, the Playstation 3. Using a new disk format (Blu-Ray) an new Type of Processor (The Eight Core Cell) removable storage and updates that would allow much more expanded file recognition, web options; with access to multiple friends via a Skype like interface, and a better version of second life – called Home.

Oh, and don’t forget HD gaming done right.

So what went wrong? Plenty. Some of it, maybe twenty percent of it was on the feet of Sony; mostly in the Japan side. But most of it was a backlash not unlike what happened in the PC world back in the late 90’s with some of the reasons being – well censorship, the changing dynamic of gaming, and so on.

But that backlash is pretty much hurting where gaming got its stride – its storytelling and gameplay and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The Zeitgeist was created because of not only for the memories of the Playstation’s great franchises and concepts that were born out of the machine, but to pretty much stop the spin from those 360 fans and the WII conglomerates and why their the problem and will continue to be so.

I’m not saying people should stop playing with the 360 or the WII. But I’m not going to be politically correct. The 360 had WAY, WAY too many motherboard issues. Its actual digital backbone – the whole thing that connects the motherboard to the processor and other such things, was badly thought out. Nearly 3 to 4% of most early 360’s had the Red Ring of Death (Also called RRoD), and the problems got worse from there. The only reason 360 had its lead – it started early and it showed. Not to say the games were bad, it’s what Americans wanted because the TV Industry was heading to A Strike (which did take place around the time GTA4 came around). But because they could make it cheaper (and they made some of these in Mexico, which has have problems of its own) they could get more families, with more of those shootem kids (i.e. the Frag Boys as I call them) with Halo and Gears of War. They also had Live, which PSN has now has them beat, soon two times over.

As for the Wii, that’s the main crux of this post. Nintendo has been the biggest Thorn of Sony’s side for years. It started with the Game Boy, the first great system Nintendo made since the NES (I was a Genesis boy then) Then, as everybody and There momma should know – Sony and Nintendo were about to come up with SNES CD, but that fell through, which lead into the Playstation where it went up against the Nintendo 64 and won its first generation. For the next 15 years, that how it was going to be – Nintendo losing to Sony – those that brought the country out of the disaster of WWII in more ways than one can possibly understand. (That’s why there is still a strong Radio Industry in Japan) The most important reason was that the 1990’s was the first decade we started to discover about humanity and life via the dark edge of the mirror. Censorship was not the way to continue as business as usual. You could have evil Transsexuals in Castlevania, deal with death in a mature matter in Final Fantasy (7) – have mature drama, action, explosions and concepts (Like in Metal Gear Solid) that were never even thought of or believed to have existed. To put it bluntly the Japanese gaming metaculture finally had a say in the world wide hobby. We took it like it was manna from heaven.

Of course, the western side had to stay completive. From GTA, to Ratchet and Clank, Spyro, Driver, Colony Wars (That game was hard and had a great story ill talk about that soon) etc, the 90’s were a time where exploration was the key, gameplay was being experimented and new challengers tried to get in on the action.

But 2005 was a different story. It is where we saw what could be the hammer, that many governments have been waiting for and many of us have feared. Yes, today even Obama has made a choice of change and it isn’t pretty for us who came to this hobby from places that weren’t doing it well anymore or didn’t even care.

The Governments around the world, even Japan were “worried” of societal “changes” that were coming out of the 90’s. It isn’t conspiracy – just look at the PNAC report if you wish and you would be shocked.  These Governments, while protecting secrets they do behind the closed doors, were placing, and planning more censorship – they did during the Great Depression with the Hays acts (they were overturned after the first Counter Culture uprising in 1968) and they did it again in 1972 with the FCC now looking over content (after another recession) and did it again 1982 (but this time it was for wiser reasons) and in 1994 the video games ratings board was created, but it wasn’t until the Asian Crisis in 1998 and 1999 that led into what we now today as the ESRB. Japan created theirs in 2002 after massive backlashes by several consertive groups. The PEGI (Europe’s version) does the same but doesn’t include Germany. Why? Because the system is voluntary – and if the producer doesn’t use the PEGI, they use the BBFC which was started 1912 (at first it was to prevent fires, but as the first world war ended, and the second world war began, it became apparent that it could be used for propaganda), and Germany uses their own, where Herkel Merkel’s law treats a majority of games almost to the status of Pornographic Material. It’s a damn miracle that Metal Gear Solid stays intact…

But that leads into what was about to happen. Nintendo announced the WII. Next, came the controller. Then came the sexualized but not sexualized commercials “We would like to Play.” Then came the drive by media blitz…Then came Christmas 2005 then 2006… then 2.2 million sales a month. WII Sports, WII Play, WII Fit.

We were getting drowned.

Genericism had arrived.

Girls who never touched a gaming system (and quite honestly shouldn’t) now wondered how this work like it was some dildo she never saw before…What you mean you never saw a ball and nunchuck before? Kids who wouldn’t know any better were just given the thing (and it doesn’t help matters if Nick and Disney are airing the advertisements again, and again and again.) And pussy whipped “gamers” tired of Sony’s “lies” and Microsoft’s “issues” when back to the censorship, back to the safety of that old sweet song called World 1.1 – In a Galaxy neither in HD nor in DVD.

It’s what these Guys want don’t it – its not that they love to do the Censoring, I mean that’s Governments job right? But maybe – just maybe this is the WRONG time and the WRONG Generation to Censor anything (outside of really, really bad shit and everybody knows what it is but even that will be used to Censor things more – I will explain that on V-Queen) because right now – the Censoring – has lead into Bernie Madoff making off with fifty billion dollars. It has lead into now hearing that the media gave Obama a boost he didn’t need (just look at the damn Pepsi advertisements) during the election. It has lead to changing metrics about how women live their lives to gender wars, culture wars and newer deeper wars – but not the war for sovereignty, for freedom (with responsibility) for truth and understanding that hypocrisy never works. The WII is being used as a Crux for Governments – to use its 2.2 million sales to say – your “dark” games don’t work here – you do this type or game or get out.

That is what is starting to happen, In Germany – The WII has taken a foot hold, and in Australia (which is already suffering way too much) the same things are just starting. It will be only a matter of time.

But that’s where the PS3 comes in. That’s where God of War and Killzone come in. That’s where Yakuza 3 and Little Big Planet, Patapon, Loco Roco enter in. That’s where Home comes in. That’s where a product with an actual emotion, actual history, actual will and substance without the lackadaisical generisim of the modern world comes in. It is a world. It is just a hobby, but it is a world. And when we lose that – were going to lose more than you ever realized. So play that Parlor game, That Circus game, that WII Dance to the end of the earth game. It doesn’t matter a damn lick. You’re only playing for the future of thought in the world… You’re only playing for the future of rights… You’re only playing…just a game…right?

There is More at Virtuous Queen, coming soon.