Be Excellent To Each Other

Last week, I wrote a Geekiest Moments in Gaming article which detailed stuff that makes me ashamed to be a gamer. Now it's time to present the other side of the coin - the Coolest Moments in Gaming. I don't mean cool 'in-game' moments, like taking out level three's R-Type boss for the first time -- I'm talking about games and events that improved gaming's cultural standing in society. Stuff like the PSX launching, Lara Croft's debut, the Bitmap Brothers not being nerds, etc.

Thing is, I can only think of about seven. I need twelve. Does anyone have any suggestions?

the whole wipeout/dance culture thing?

Yeah, I already have that one. That's exactly the kind of thing I'm after though.

Space Invaders causes coin shortage in Japan.
Megadrive/Sonic the Hedgehog launch. Much as I despise the little worm-muncher, Sega were, briefly, very cool around that period.

Um, I can't think of anything else.

Although i have to question what is considered cool? what was so cool about beating the 3rd boss on r-type, or the ps1 launch or the bitmap brothers? did they buck young lasses and sniff glue?

I know I said the whole wipeout mixed with dance music thing but was that cool if you didnt like dance music or even did like it.

I'd argue that Space Invaders actually perpetuated the 'videogame nerd' stereotype; popular though it may have been.

MegaDrive is a good one though.

I guess it has to do with fitting in with the zeitgeist of the time. When Wipeout came out, clubbing was a big deal, so it was 'cool' whether you liked dance music or not.

cool for me would be David Lynch doing the PS2 commercials.

or the intro of Devil May Cry 3.

Those Lynch commercials were truly bizarre. I seem to remember the slogan being 'Welcome to the 4th place'. What did that mean, exactly?

Ooh, I'd be tempted to disagree there. If the stories are true, it took the place by storm - to the point where Space Invaders parlours were being set up just to handle the insane demand. Obviously, it would be interesting to see what primary news sources were saying at the time. If it was "Hee hee, what a bunch of nerds getting all worked up about a load of flashing lights!" then I'd obviously concede the point, but you could certainly make the argument that it was the first time video games had really been shoved into the national consciousness anywhere - which makes it pretty cool regardless of how you debate the nerdiness (or not) of the target audience. It was, in effect, the first time that gamers (even the nerdy ones) could feel at least a little bit cool about their past-time.

Killing the non-boss at the end of Far Cry. A weird juxtapose to the mind numbing annoyance that happened moments before it.
Becoming Elite.
When zombies become your playthings in Dead Rising.
Thrashing your mates while they are sitting next to you (old school style).
There are many others I will think of some later.

We are talking cool in the gamer sense?

<chuckles>

There's a whole thread dedicated to people playing with plastic musical instruments.

I think we must be.

You'd have to include the DS and Wii then, for drawing in the casual and non-gamers.

I'd imagine mentioning the popularity of rock band/guitar hero would be something to consider. Especially with the imminent launch of the Beastles Rock Band. First time their songs have been available to download and all that.

No sleep till Bootle?

That's not cool. Nothing you've mentioned is 'cool'. I honestly can't think of a single thing you could write that isn't going to look utterly, utterly pathetic to non-hardcore gamers.

Yes, there's nothing much cool about gaming really. There are some crossovers between it and some things that actually are cool but fuck it, it's a hobby, something that you do for yourself not to impress anyone or try and get laid. Hobbies don't need to be cool, just fun.

yeah thats what I was thinking.

I think the one about the Wii would be ok, otherwise you're probably right...

The problem is that it doesn't matter what you're doing, playing toy guitars, driving racing cars, 'dancing' or shooting aliens, whatever, you're still doing it in front of a TV. Playing Rock Band like a fucking God doesn't even start to compare to being in a band, even a small one with your mates. Want to dance? Go clubbing. Do a round of sporting birds at a clay pigeon centre. Drive an actual racing car - doesn't have to be a McLaren F1 GTR, just a fast road car (or even a slow one) around a race track (either a proper one, or one your mates have carved out in a field).
Gaming isn't cool. It's fun, sure, and I love it, but it's not cool.
If I were chatting up the pretty ladies, I wouldn't start off by telling them my gamerscore.

I was reading something this morning about CVs and it says, and makes it clear it's quite important:

The flip side to that is: most people are knobheads so it makes sense to limit your interactions with them

Yes yes, whatever it takes for me to convince myself yadda yadda...

I wouldn't either - yours is rubbish!

some bananas

Okay, I agree with the "not cool", but if you change that to "more socially acceptable" and ignore the aspect that any popular activity will gain credence with passing time, then I would put forward gamer chat on XBL. Being able to chat to your friends is a social aspect which is viewed as far less geeky than sitting on a room by yourself.

No, it really isn't.

mrsA thinks it's hilarious when she comes home and I'm sat with my headset on chatting to peoples over XBox.

Yeah, I'm told I look fucking ridiculous with my headset on. I can imagine that's true, too.

"have you sold any yet"

or

"hit me baby one more time"

That's what Mrs Grim... says!

VR was pretty cool, shame it died as a concept.

I think acceptance of it as being non-geeky is really to be found amongst the younger generations. Younger people (not just kids) can discuss games in the same way as anyone else might discuss films or music without the piss taking from their peers that us in our 30s get.

Yep, Ange bought me a Gears of War wallet for Christmas. I feel a bit embarrassed about getting it out in public to pay for stuff, but I get chidren and teens going 'Wow! You like Gears!' whenever they're standing next to me in the line for something. I just mumble 'Er, yeah...' and look at the ground a lot.

I use a NES joypad wallet. Although I do have an Initial D wallet somewhere at home too. (Not that it's any cooler, obviously)

I meant more in concept rather than execution. "I am going to chat to a friend while at the same time I may be going pewpewpew" cf "I am going to pewpewpew"

It's brilliant, but it really isn't cool. At all.

That seems to stop when they become a bit older.

I dunno, less so now I think. I think it's far more common than it used to be for people in their twenties to out themselves.

Also, trying to appear cool isn't cool. Anything claiming to be the top ten cool anything is going to look desperate and sad.

wii fit? (anf the whole wii culture)

when italian business women began playing Tetris on the gameboy..

When they got a cool tv show (oh wait, that hasn't really happend, although they are part of the TMF (our local mtv variant) music awards

Our generation, yes. I'm not so sure whether that will be the case in the future. How much did Halo 3 gross? More than most films, didn't it? I think gaming will be more popular than films in the next 10-15 years or so. The more popular it gets, the less people there are deriding you for liking it, hence attitudes will change.

Now now, no need to start saying things like "hence". There'll be an "ergo" on the way before you know it

Slippy slidey ice world levels were always pretty cool

Well, I would say that they will merge so you end up with interactive films, you are already getting that to a certain extent. Then we can deride people who still watch old fashioned films.

They already tried interactive films in the 90s. The result was an enormous flop, because interactive films are monstrously awful. It'll never happen - games are fun because they're interactive, and films are fun because they're not. Merging the two renders both crap.

"If you want Calculon to double-check his paperwork, press 2."

'Cool' is such a slippery word, but it's the only one that fits neatly into a headline.

I don't think it can be denied that gaming has become more socially acceptable compared to the 8-bit days. Obviously, certain things transpired to bring about this change. Some of you seem resistant to this idea, for some reason.

I love games, but they've never done anything inherently cool. Cool is basically a subset of sexy, and games aren't sexy if you're not a nerd. They're fun, certainly, but that's as far as it goes. I wouldn't consider cooking to be cool either, but I still do it because it's fun. Also I need to eat, but shut up.

MailA, didn't some one put that they Played Eve on their CV, as it showed a good concept of business

Well, yes - games started selling more copies. Things like getting Lara Croft on the front of Vogue was because of that, not the cause of it.