What exactly is "fun?"

If you are anything like me, one of the only few reasons one can contemplate as to why one would click an article titled as such is maybe because of the possible, eluding irony of the question and one may wish to find that aforementioned irony within the article itself. EIther that or, the article’s title has sparked a genuine interest that you find yourself asking yourself more and more often as this video game generation continues down its timeline. Whatever the reason, this site (or the general gaming attitude of the gaming population today) has forced me, and now you to seek the right answer. At first glance this article kind of answers itself, in as far as what fun isn’t….which will be what this article is. I mean, reading is boring right?? For some perhaps. Also, when asked, the obvious answer comes right to us. What is fun to you can range through a myriad of things such as: Riding a bike, skating, playing sports, dating, exercising or playing video games. I ask you to focus your attention on the last selection. Playing, Video Games.

Obviously, playing video games is tremendously fun, otherwise I doubt any of us would be on this site. What we play, how we play, who we play with and when we play all vary between us with some starking differences and striking similarities. Some of us like split-screen, some of us like Online Multiplayer, some like long, single campaigns, others like 1 on 1 matches. Whatever your preferences, you enjoy what you do because of your individuality. Something a “professional” reviewer nor a friend can ever take away from you. What is fun to you and who you are, are directly related to one another. Obvious article is obvious right? Yet more and more today, I’m finding gamers around the world surrendering their individual tastes to these “reviewers.” Month after month they allow reviewers from all sorts of mediums to inject what goes into a gamers veins as respected opinion and transform it into a volatile solution which is then extracted or spewed out by that gamer as irrefutable fact or irreparable coercion. Needless to say, this isn’t the case with everybody, I just wish to address it and ultimately try to avoid a possible epidemic.

Before we can find the right answer, we must both find the right question and then make sure we understand what we are asking. According to Dictionary.com, fun can be defined as a noun: something that provides mirth or amusement. A verb: to joke or kid, or an adjective: of or pertaining to fun, esp. to social fun. The part of speech which wish to use this word in today is fun used as a noun or adjective. Now I personally like fighting, racing, TPS’s, FPS’s and RPG’s games usually in that order. Thousands of variables can be drawn to help define how fun these games are to me. Another thousand can show how fun they are not to someone else. All of these possible outcomes only should tell us one very important thing. Why are we letting something as arbitrary and absolute such as a review, help centralized what is constituted as fun? Even more so, why are we so adamant about throwing around what we judge as fun, (something that is unique to us as individuals) and passing it off as fact? Using a system as absolute as one mediums (man, magazine, website, etc.) opinion, no matter how well-respected, and using it to try to define something as capricious and dynamic as our own personal “fun factor systems” is mind-boggling in itself. As you can see, the entire thought process behind it is essentially flawed. It is equivalent to trying to use mathematics to explain social interactions.

Initially, I first conceptualized this article to be focused around the understanding of how and more importantly, why do gamers in this age more so than any other, allow other gamers (because thats all a reviewer is) to contort the notion of what is to be enjoyed on a console beyond their own personal, unmistakable preference? However, I believed the prospect of trying to first understand what compels a person to enjoy a game seem much more profound, essential and relevant to all of us. When I ask the question “What exactly is fun?”, Im doing so in an informal, ironic attempt at using reverse psychology to illicit a particular response from you. The response is one that shouldn’t have to be voiced, just realized and punctuated with a mental “oooooh, i see what he’s doing.” This simple, yet ambiguous question interestingly enough, doesn’t have any one answer and that’s the point of this article. Too many gamers today subject their sense of what’s fun into an arbitrary, numeric value system, designed to delegate what is fun or how fun something is, into how fun is something supposed to be or should be in accordance with a guy’s opinion or the general consensus. If needed be, the concepts, semantics and debates of such a question can go on forever, touching bases on points not brought up, and ones that may not need to be. More so than anything, my words today were just meant as a slither of enlightenment in an effort to awaken that individualism that resides inside all of us and lost within too many. What compelled us to favor sports games more than fighting, or MMO’s over Puzzles, what essentially defines us as a gamer should never be decided by an outside source. We, who enjoy what we do not because we were told to, but because we want to, cannot let the sudden insurrections of these console wars and armchair gaming journalists rob us of the gift that comes with being an individual. Help rekindle and transform that gaming spirit back into your heads then into your hearts, where only you and your unique gaming prowess can define what exactly is the definition of fun.*

A Consideration of the Xbox 360 Platform

I'd like to waste a bit of my time (and yours) considering the Xbox 360 as a gaming platform. Oh, you know what to expect here--console war flamebait. After all, it's impossible to try and criticize any console these days without setting off a riot, or being dismissed for attempting to start a riot. Content and intent are irrelevant.

But I don't care: I'm here to vent.

I own a 360, and I have to say, I don't like it. Not one bit. And I'm not a recent convert, no no no, I've had the thing for years, and my opinion has soured with each passing month. The thing of it is, the 360 has a lot of potential to be a great gaming machine, but Microsoft has completely squandered most (if not all) of that potential.

I wont bore you with the litany of legitimate complaints about Microsoft's console--the microcurrency, hardware failure rates, costly peripherals, etc., etc.--like I said, I'm really only here vent. I'm not pushing an agenda or advocating one platform at the expense of another: I'm just whining. And what, in all of my verbose meanderings, am I whining about?

My 360 has no games. Not now, not in the future.

Content. That's it. Library-wise is where the 360 fails as a platform. There's simply too few top-tier games on the platform right now, and as far as I can tell, absolutely nothing to ever look forward to in the future. I don't like this. I've mentioned this before, and been insulted for it: apparently, people assume I somehow enjoy purchasing electronics and never using them. In 2011 I've spent more time cleaning dust of my 360 than playing games.

Why? Because I've got a PC. And a PS3. And when it comes to exclusive (legitimately exclusive) games, the 360 is getting less and less. In the begining, things were great. We were getting top-quality titles from a variety of genres--Ace Combat 6, Chromehounds, Lost Odyssey, Tales of Vesperia, Halo Wars... but now, nothing.

Yes, the 360 has some decent shooters. Personally, that's not a genre I'm particularly fond of. And you know what, even if you ARE that kind of person, even if you adore every Halo game out there, you should STILL be irritated by the lack of variety. Where are the 360's new RPGs? I've seen nothing worthwhile since Fable III, and what a stinker that was. Where are the flight simulators worth looking at? The mech games? The strategy games? The adventure games? The platformer games?

I don't care who you are or what kind of games you like, if you own a 360 you ought to be disappointed at the line-up of future titles, and you ought to have been disappointed at that line up for the past long while. People need to calm down and realize that not every complaint is about perpetuating some juvenile "console war." That kind of hostile environment is detrimental to EVERY consumer. These complaints MUST be verbalized by gamers, or else we run the risk of the exact same thing happening with the next console generation.

Breaking: Duke Nukem Forever Delayed Indefinitely

After 14 long years in development it looked liked the Duke was finally going to see the light of day. It’s easily my most anticipate game so it pains me to share with you the news that Duke Nukem Forever will never make it to retail shelves. What, exactly, is going to keep it from your grubby little hands, you ask? Is it lawsuits? Was the source code stolen like Half-Life 2, back in 2003? Or worse, is George Broussard at the helm again, endlessly perfecting every minute detail?

It’s none of the above, my friends, for I have received a message from the highest authority. No, I’m not talking about Dog the Bounty Hunter. I’m talking about his big brother, God. Yes, God. For He has saith unto thy eyes via pamphlet left on windshield, “The end of the world is almost here! Holy God will bring Judgment Day on May 21, 2011.”

What the…?! DNF won’t be out for another 24 days! Oh please, merciful God, can you possibly postpone the Rapture? For I need to flash virtual money to lay witness upon polygonal women as they shake what You gave them. I need to draw tallywhackers on in-game whiteboards and play with fecal matter. I promise to be a good apocalypse victim if You push back the fire and brimstone a couple months.

So what’s so special about May 21, 2011? How dare you ask such a ridiculous question, sinner! Okay, you’re forgiven, because it’s what Jebus would do; but back on point, we are about to embark on a journey that involves the two greatest things in history: math and religion. C’mon, who doesn’t enjoy a little math with their religion? It goes together like tuna fish and cigarettes. *sigh* Like mom used to make…

In the year 4990 B.C., it rained for forty days and forty nights, flooding the entire world. Noah, seven other people, and two of every animal were saved by boarding the tiny 450 foot ark before the catastrophe hit. They were able to survive the flood because Noah was given a heads up by God, seven days in advance. Now, if two trains were traveling towards one another, one from Poughkeepsie at 56 mph and another from Tallahassee at 45 mph, where would they crash, horribly ending the lives of many innocent women and children within its twisted and tangled metal mess?

Actually, that all makes more sense than what is asked of you to believe when it comes to why the world is ending in 17 days, because for some reason they are equating seven days to seven thousand years. The same seven days God gave Noah to prepare also equals seven thousand years for us to prepare. How they came to that conclusion beats the Hell out of me, but let’s entertain this theory for a second. So, 7,000 years after 4990 B.C. would be 2012 A.D., but you have to subtract one year because there is no year zero. That leaves us with 2011 A.D.

The PS3 will remain in third place until late 2014

N4g has attracted gamers of all types and has become the preeminent home for gamers and fanboys of various allegiances.
One of the most pointless, albeit heavily debated, issues on the N4g comments section is the ongoing worldwide sales numbers of PS3 and Xbox360 hardware.

The thesis for this blog is not to instigate hateful retaliation or start a flame war.
Instead, this piece merely hopes to demonstrate, with official Sony and MS data that:

1. Subjective sales surveys such as VGchartz and 'active install base research' are flawed and meaningless
2. The PS3 has indeed outsold the 360 worldwide every year since its release in 2006 according to official data
3. The 360/ps3 gap is officially at 3.5 million
4. The PS3 will not catch the 360 until September 2014 according to official data.

Currently the PS3 is thought to be in third place, with the 360 holding a narrow lead over the ps3 in worldwide sales.
Despite launching a year later, PS3 fans maintain that the ps3 has outsold the 360 every year since launch and is rapidly closing the initial sales gap of almost 9 million consoles.

Curiously, repeated posts on N4g speculate that the ps3 may have even caught the 360 in worldwide sales, citing 'research' on active install bases that reports higher ps3 statistics.

However, in truth these reports are likely flawed in much the same way that VGchartz reports are flawed - both are based on limited samples and subjective inferences. As a consequence, these reports are, at best, merely rumours.
Unfortunately such subjective and meaningless rumours are oft favoured by fanboys, as they lend credence to their fanboy agenda.

Realistically, the only accurate guide to hardware sales come from the financial reports that both Microsoft and Sony make to their investors. In these reports, both companies are required by law to supply performance data to their investors.

Despite the fact that this information is readily available to the N4g community, it is rarely used or accessed.
Most likely, N4g users do not know where to look, or do not like the information as it does not fit their agenda.
In the interest of objectivity, I have provided the relevant links:

http://www.microsoft.com/in...
http://scei.co.jp/corporate...

What is particularly important to consider, is that the information in these links is required to be accurate by law.
Thus, we can be assured that this information represents the lawfully required best practice of quoting hardware sales. Indeed, it is infinitely preferable to any other 'research' or 'survey' that is mistakenly quoted by the community.

The only caveat to this official information is the 'lag' introduced by the retrospective nature of accounting in financial quarters. That is, as soon as the information is published it is effectively 'out-of-date' until the next financial report.
Nevertheless, it provides and effective measure that is second to none.

Using this official company data, we are readily able to see that the ps3 has marginally outsold the 360 worldwide since 2006.
Sorry, 360 fans, it is true.

The most recent official reports put the ps3 at 51.3 million sold, while the 360 is at 55.8 million sold.
As can be seen in the reports, in the 5 years that the ps3 has been available, it has closed the original gap of 9 million by only 5.5 million, to 3.5 million.
None too shabby!
PS3 fans are right to point this out - much to the chagrin of 360 fans that care about sales.

Astoundingly, however, this is where Ps3 fanboys get stuck.
They fail to consider the implication of the long term sales that have manifested to date.

On closer inspection, the average rate of growth is too low!
Over 5 years, the ps3 has gained 5.5 million in total sales on the 360, representing an average yearly gain of 1.1 million or less.
Using this long term sales rate, we can estimate at what date the PS3 will finally be even with the 360 in worldwide sales.

The official ps3/360 gap is 3.5 million today.
Thus, to close this gap, assuming the ps3 continues to outsell the 360 in the exact same way it has done for 5 years, will take until September 2014.

Proof:
Sept 2011 Gap = 3.5 million
Sept 2012 Gap = 2.4 million (This year ps3 outsells 360 by 1.1million)
Sept 2013 Gap = 1.3 million (Again, the ps3 outsells 360 by 1.1 million)
Sept 2014 Gap = 0.2 Million (Again, the ps3 outsells 360 by 1.1 million)

As can be seen, when we use the official data, and we make the assumption that the ps3 will continue to outsell the 360 at exactly the same rates as it has done for the last 5 years, we see the ps3 remain in third place until nearly 2015.

Of course, this news will likely anger or even infuriate ps3 fans on N4g.

Nevertheless, the numbers don't lie.
September 2014.
You heard it here first.