Gamers are slaves, forced to battle in virtual arenas to amuse our masters and kept happy with occasional sequels and tall storeys of those who earn big bucks in the sunshine as professional gamers. But what if you wanted more? What if you started asking questions like "who are the masters"?
if your thinking Peter Molyneax and John Carmak or even EA and Eidos, you'd be so very wrong, even the biggest names in the games development are slaves themselves to the vested interests of perpetual struggle was our only destiny. Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony and Intel control gaming and have done ever since the bloody coup that saw the much-loved Emperor Sega stabbed repeatedly in the back. Now this Cabal continues to plot how we spend our money and they do it by the age-old practice of Divide & Conquer.
Ask your self this. Why do we need six different hardware platforms (PC, PS3, XBox360, Wii, DS & PSP)? Ok, Perhaps the handhelds do have the justification of size and portability, but in real terms maintaining four rival standards makes sense only to the manufacturers. Thirty five years into its history, gaming remains the only mainstream medium forced to divide its creative resources on the whim of companies who'd flog 'Preparation H' instead if they thought there was more money in it . But we've allowed them to get away with it for so long.
And pity the humble Developer, forced to reinvent the wheel every five years when the Cabal decides its time to upgrade. Can you imagine needing to buy a new TV to watch the next series of your favorite TV show? Of course not. The history of gaming is littered with forgotten heroes whose only crime was being so good they failed to notice someone moving the goalposts and then relocating the pitch 30 miles up the road.
To the hardware industry, gamers are there to be milked for every penny they have, we're suckers because we care about games and believe our masters do too. Wake up and smell the BS people!
So here's your chance to be counted. Wait until the launch of the next generation of games consols, queue up at midnight for the overprices boxes, and then smash one to pieces in the street. When the media gather round and ask you why, tell them:
"I'm Spartacus..."