[Art by DippyDude]
The first time I was called a “videogame hipster” was about two years ago, back when I was hosting The Dtoid Show. Call of Duty: Black Ops had just come out, and I was reviewing the Wii version of the game. I liked it a little more than the 360 version, mostly because I enjoy the feel of pointer controls. That was “hipster” strike one. On top of that, I kept getting sidetracked by Bit.Trip FATE. Black Ops was the game I was supposed to be playing, but every time I’d turn on the Wii, I’d get the uncontrollable urge to fire up FATE one more time to shoot for a perfect score. That was “hipster” strike two.
Two strikes was apparently enough for my housemate and Chill Bros. co-host Venom to go off on a tirade about how I was a “videogame hipster.” Needless to say, I was puzzled. To me, a hipster is someone who intentionally seeks out and aligns themselves with unpopular, uncool things in order to make themselves appear special and different in their own minds, and in the minds of others. That wasn’t me, but of course, that’s exactly what a hipster would think about themselves, right? Jim Sterling doesn’t think he’s a hipster either, but he doesn’t like Shadow of the Colossus. Doesn’t that mean he’s a hipster? If not, then why am I a hipster because I don’t like GTA or Uncharted? Isn’t the videogame world one of the few places where we don’t get caught up in rating people and things by subjective and unquantifiable terms like how “mainstream” or “alternative” they are? That’s how it was when I was young, but maybe times have changed?
These important issues and many more are just a few of the things that we discussed with Tim Rogers (editorialist and game developer) on last week’s Sup Holmes; check out the full episode in video or podcast form if you’re nasty. Tune in this Sunday at 1pm PST/4pm EST when we invite Christine Love, developer of Analogue: A Hate Story on the show to talk about whatever. It’s going to be fantastic.
