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E3 Giggity Giggity

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Snuphy

 A long time ago, back when I was a virgin, Sears issued a yearly catalog. As far as I knew, it was the only catalog in the whole wide world, or at least the only one of its breadth that I knew about. Because it contained an entire section, seemingly thousands of pages, of nothing but toys. My sister and I would spend days upon days perusing the toy ads debating which ones were the best, which ones were the suck, and which ones we thought Santa might manufacture at the North Pole. Over the course of a couple of months, we would ear mark specific pages and Crayola specific toys we hoped might appear under our tree.  For years, the Sears catalog was known to us as The Christmas Catalog.


These days, my recycle bin is overflowing with catalogs advertising everything from shoes to fishing gear to butt plugs. People call on the phone to sell me real estate, magazines, and salvation. The interwebz is overflowing with sales on all of the above and much, much more. And if I’m willing to pay a little extra for shipping, I can have it all delivered to my door tomorrow.


E3 is an enjoyable amalgamation of two eras, like a modern Christmas Catalog. E3 provides a crap ton of moving pictures depicting shiny new playthings. It provides a larger crap ton of information relative to those shiny new playthings. It is an absolute overload of gaming goodies spewed forth in a short amount of time. It reveals the exiting potential for future fun and frivolity. But after it’s over, those shiny new playthings will only be figments of my imagination. It’s not like I can run out next weekend and buy Bulletstorm or Reach. I’ll have to wait months, if not years, before I find out if these games actually become reality, and whether I’ll deem them worthy of a place in my Xbox tray. It’s a combination of instant gratification and patience that can lead to great fun and satisfaction.  This is a good week to be a gamer.  If I can hold on until September, the Snuphy gratification train will once again be back on track.

Comments (2)

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bunsen27·
I too recall the Sears Christmas catalog and the annual Fall pilgrimage to Children's palace. Truly fond memories. :) E3 is what I like to call Geek Xmas, Kwanzaa, Hanuka, and New Years all wrapped up into a few short days. Yes, once the games actually make it into our Xboxes is exciting too, but it rarely compares to the excitement those first glimpses or pieces of information on a new game bring. It's very akin to the first truly warm days of Spring up North when the many layers of clothing are shed to reveal the smooth supple skin of areas which have not been glimpsed since before the first nips of Winter some months ago. It is these days which complete the trifecta of a 3B day. Beer, Bacon, and Boobies! ;)
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bludjun·
Wow, children's palace. I remember that place fondly. I remember the year I wanted dragon fire for the 2600 for my birthday and that was the only place that had it. I was just 8 years old all over again.