Video games are a fairly niche market. However, among people who enjoy them, there are a high proportion of people who are intense in their opinions. For example: The Playstation Portable Go by Sony. The PSP Go is a handheld video game system, a derivative of the PSP, that includes all of the original's features except where it completely omits physical media (game discs) for digital media (games downloaded from the internet) [the original PSP has this feature as well, the Go merely has a complete focus on it]. A few people who own the system are very vocal about their opinions and try to speak for all owners of the system, as if there was a kind of "PSP Go Community."
Recently, a very popular video game franchise received an iteration on the PSP system. In celebration of the event (A marketing ploy to entice non-system-owners to purchase the PSP), Sony released special editions of the regular PSP in special colors that came packaged with a physical copy of the new game. The response was generally positive- many franchise fans who did not already own the system felt that this was a very good opportunity, since they wanted the system specifically for this game. However, among these previously mentioned PSP Go owners, there was... a different opinion. They cried out that Sony had forsaken them and that the PSP Go deserved a bundle with the game and that Sony was giving "nothing for PSP Go owners." People who already owned a PSP Go were begging for Sony to release a version of the PSP Go that came packaged with a version of a game that would be unplayable on the system it was bundled with. People flagrantly ignored that the game was available in digital form because it was not part of a special bundle. They were angry at Sony for not giving them an excuse to waste their money on things they would not be able to use.
In other words, they complained because they didn't have a waste of money to be complaining about.
(The game itself was released as both a physical version and as a digital version on Sony's Playstation Network, which is the standard practice for most new games on the system.)
(The game in question is Konami's Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, which is not actually out yet, but vocal people on the internet do not really care to wait to complain about something. The game will be released at the beginning of June)
Monday, May 10, 2010
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