Er, okay, so tired brain when I first posted this.
There's a lot of replies so let me just generally address some of the common themes.
What I meant by "real gamer" might have been more clear if I'd said "hardcore gamer" or "real hardcore gamer". Note, I don't actually have a PS3 in my living room (I have one in a box somewhere, never opened, yep, I have that little free time... or maybe I'm just lazy). Additionally I don't get to play that many games and I don't count "buying a lot of games that you don't play" as being a real gamer either. I certainly wasn't including myself in the category of real gamer.
You see, I used to be a hardcore gamer, I too owned every console imaginable (including many handhelds) and most of them still work, but I don't hold the illusion that I am anymore. Yes, I do love to play as many games as possible, but I just don't get through that many. Deus Ex 3, yep, haven't played it. Catherine, own it, haven't played it. The list is a lot larger than this but you get the idea.
So yeah, many of us here may have been hardcore or "real gamers" back in the day but that was back in the day.
As to conferences, yep, PAX is awesome. I guess I can see why it gets lumped in there with Comic Con or any of the other lambasted conferences, but really anyone who thinks so really hasn't experienced it. Yes there is hype in several areas of of the Expo Hall, what people don't realize is that's just a small part of PAX, it's 3-4 days of pen and paper, card games, board games, video games, drinking with people you just met, talking to devs and artists who actually worked on the games, etc. For someone like me, who used to be a hardcore gamer and now just doesn't find the time very often, it's nirvana. You see I write software, but the boring kind. Like any other gamer I dreamed of making games, but the fiction is usually better than the reality. Talking to these people lets me touch something I never really get to touch. Hell, it's not even just the video game developers who are there, Steve Jackson was there playing Munchkin with people, I've met board game developers there, if I looked hard enough I'm sure I'd find people who write novels and pen and paper modules/supplements as well.
So if you think PAX is for fanboys and kiddies, I guess that's fine, for me it's about doing something that I don't often get to engage in 100% for 3 days straight.
As for my reason for posting this (as in the video article), I think it does a good job of illustrating that what a lot of people jump to when trying to illustrate that PC gaming is superior (graphics) isn't actually what makes PC gaming enjoyable 90% of the time. I'm pretty sure Minecraft could run on a Sega Dreamcast and it's gotten as much press and aggregate playtime as literally any game in the last year or two. As well, I make no bones about the weird complex I get from people about consoles, "I'm a PC gamer ONLY, it's ALWAYS better." Well, sorry, it's not always better, it's sometimes better and sometimes worse, I prefer to pick up games on the platform on which I think I'll enjoy them the most, not the one that can shit out some extra AA but will otherwise be a worse experience.
So I say PC and console, great. In addition a lot of the stuff I used to love about PC gaming is kind of gone now, which makes me a sad orc. I've addressed that many times in other threads so I won't go into it anymore here.
As for The Witcher 2, great example of free DLC on PC, I wish it was more common now days because it sure as hell used to be, I haven't actually played my copy yet so I forgot about that one:(
As for Jim Sterling, yes, he started out somewhat annoying, he is starting to hit his stride, which is good for him. If you're shooting him down because it's him and he's annoying to you, that's a logical fallacy. I understand his method of presentation may grate (it grates on my nerves at times) but in the end I think he's right on this point and it's a worthwhile point to make. Look at how much Serious Sam the dude shows in his video (probably the GOG version, fuck, the dude could be reading this for all I know), I really believe he plays the games he says he does, the guy eats his own dogfood, so if you don't like him, I understand, but I'm inclined to think he has a valid point on this subject and that he sincerely believes it.
