E3 has been going on for days and I’ve been caught up in a sea of game trailers. It’s hard to believe how far we’ve come since I played Atari in my basement as a tot. I’ve been loving everything from “God of War” to “Skyrim,” but a tweet really struck me today and I guess it describes why I’ve been playing “Zelda: Breath of the Wild for so long. “
The tweet was from @aevanko, and it said, “MS: People shooting people Sony: People stabbing people Nintendo: Birds with accordions”
Now, please don’t get me wrong. I love violent video games. I really, really do. If you look closely, you can see me in the special features for the “God of War 3” game. I’m dying to play the new one! I love shooting stuff. I love hack and slash games. I love destroying stuff in “World of Warcraft.” But…I guess lately it’s been nice to play something where you’re only killing cartoon monsters and you gather odd fruit like durian and feed apples to your horse.
Today, while covering the Nintendo presentation for E3 for ComingSoon.net, I found myself bopping quietly to avoid waking up our houseguest. I was rocking out to the Yoshi music and grinning like an idiot before I checked to see if anyone had witnessed my silliness. I couldn’t stop smiling! A little dragon who poops out eggs and a very hungry pink guy who shoots out hearts — it just warms the cockles of my heart.
I guess I never really thought about the differences that much before. I mean, I’ve always owned all the systems. (I’m missing PS4, but that is about to be remedied.) I knew that Nintendo was different than the others. Maybe I didn’t think about it because I love my dark games as well. I just think that now, with everything going on in the world the way it is, I like to have both options. I can take out my anger about world events by shooting up bad guys in “Call of Duty” or hacking them to bits in “God of War.” Then I can go and get a giant fairy to upgrade my armor and marvel at the weirdness of the character. (Seriously, look at some screenshots of the history of the Great Fairy. It boggles the mind.)
I noticed it last night during the Sony press conference. I loved everything, but the VR game “Moss” with the adorable little mouse just made me smile. I will be first in line for “God of War,” but I’ll probably find a way to hang with a mouse in virtual reality as well.
Anyone else noticing this about themselves? Just me?
Follow Jenna Busch on Twitter @jennabusch and visit her site, Legion of Leia
