I’ll use this as an excuse to share two mildly-funny stories that have been sitting in my drafts here for a while. I love hearing video game impressions from people who don’t pay attention to video games.
I’ve talked to my boss once about video games, mostly the snes games she played growing up, but she did throw out this zinger: “I didn’t know anyone with a sega. What games did sega have? Sonic and that’s it.” I told her I knew some people who have probably committed assault over accusations like that.
While geting a long & boring medical test recently, I was making small talk with the very normie nurse. Video games came up a few times but it was clear she mostly only knew what had made it through to the mainstream – the mario movie and hey, isn’t that new hbo show based on a game? She asked if there was anywhere I’d like to travel and when I said Japan, she asked why. I said I liked japanese video games. She thought for a minute, clearly trying to imagine a japanese video game, and then said “You mean like konami?”
(so if Jaffe still needs an answer to who’d represent japan at the video game olympics, apparently it’s not nintendo or sony or sega or squenix, but konami)