So I just got Mario Kart for the Wii recently. I've been holding off on buying this game for a long time because I knew a few things about this game.
1) It's going to be a fun game.
2) My friends will come over to my apartment just to play this game.
3) It will begin the slippery slope into "geeky consumerism".
It all begins very innocently, with this game I will finally have a reason to get a second Wii-mote. (Although I've been wanting one ever since I bought Trauma Center, but no one else really was willing to appreciate my love of hospital drama.) This second Wii-mote is quite an investment. It's 60 dollars for both the Wii-mote and a nunchuck. (Not to mention the 10 dollar Wii-wheel)
Of course buying begets buying. Now I'm happy with two Wii-motes, and the two GameCube controllers I already got for Super Smash Brother's Brawl, and I have three friends who actually want to play on my Wii. But now I realize that my TV is too small to play the game.
For most guys of my generation this is not a problem. They just slip on some sandals get in their light truck and drive out to the newly rezoned commerical area 40 miles out from the city and buy a bigger TV at a big box store. A decent size LCD TV isn't that expensive these days, and I can afford it even on my salary. But that's not the point. The point is I know that once I let that door open, I'll release the flood gate of even more buying.
If I get a bigger LCD TV, then I will be tempted to buy a gaming PC to hook into it. This is because I really would want to do things like play Mass Effect, (Which I don't own) Skype StarTrek style to my friends, and watch Homestarrunner and AdultSwim. You see what I mean, buying this one game has set off a chain of more consumption. Now I don't mean to imply that there are some marketing guys at some company laughing at their genius marketing plan, but there is something insidious with how our consumer culture has prepped us to buy things.
No comments:
Post a Comment