In today's moderately form-over-function gaming climate where the Madden's and sequels rule the market share, it appears that some of the diverse qualities of the now multi-billion-dollar industry have been replaced with "sure-fire" hits and developers are using the old "safety dance," using the tried-and-true formula with their gaming series. "If it ain't broke, why pay to have it fixed?" One of the inevitable causalities of this mentality is personality.

Now you might be looking at this piece's name and thinking how personality of something like terminology has lost touch with game players. Perhaps it's because of the fact that the mainstream staple in which the hobby has a solid footing in that has caused this stop, or maybe it's because these technical terms have been around for so long and used so often that they have simply become the norm. Whatever the reason, I believe it is safe to say that some of this so-called personality of video gaming has been forever lost. No, I don't mean entirely the games in and of itself (some series have more than enough attitude)--I refer more to an actual aura of abstractness that ceases to exist amongst the large, detailed storylines and full-color manual pages that articulate each element of the game to a tee. The most revealing of this change is in the games' and industry's terminology or vocabulary. Allow me to reiterate.

A CD is a CD is a CD. Of course to get more technical, the Dreamcast used a patented GD-ROM system to avoid pirate copying (hah). Playstation 2 uses CD-ROM and now more often DVD-ROM for more storage. GameCube works in a Mini-Disc format, but it's still just a spliced CD version that can hold more data. The basis of all this is they all look the same and basically work the same way.

Back in the heyday of the NES, a game was something more -- a cartridge (cart), game pak, etc. Less "educated" gamers (and their mothers) would refer to the games as "videos." Still in some parts (such as in PA) we even called them "tapes." Sure beats plain old "CD-ROM," doesn't it? Therefore, what is the point? Well, the point being is when a region can, from the ground up, name its games whatever it chooses based simplistically on its format medium, the allotted gamer base thereby "feels" more attached to the medium. In short: the medium is personalized and given more leeway to winning a loyalty. This is only one of the smaller examples of 'personal touch' that will help prove my argument.

CHARACTERS

I think of all the categories in this article, characters have suffered the most from this loss of 'gaming personality'. Player One has been replaced with predestined names (not to hint that the NES didn't do the same thing, it's only done at a greater amplitude). Characters are more complex, more well defined, and yet less easily recognized. While this may not be a bad thing at all, in some valves it's a terrific thing, it just feels like the simpler times when the boss didn't have a name but you damn-well-knew who he/she/it was--a "bad ass"--is long gone from action and adventure titles. From the large tentacle-equipped aliens to the tough-looking, smirking, with arms crossed brawler baddies: the more accessible, and flat-out more fun, elements of the past have all but disappeared. Instead they now have feelings. Emotions. Don't get me wrong. I'm not hating on the RPG genre either but instead those adventure and even action games that seem to have adjusted to these unwelcoming qualities. It could be just wacky ol' me talking now, but I do believe that a one-screen story depicting ninjas kidnapping the president sounds peachy keen as long as the action is intense and ninja-infested. I don't care about plot twists - not in my platforming games - especially if (and by "if" I mean 65% and up of the genre-based games don't meet this criteria) they do not have the titillating play or control of action to match all those eye-popping cinematics. Many modern series, like Sony's "Ratchet and Clank" or "Jak II," are more focused than ever on name recognition. When the PSOne first debuted, a gamer couldn't not have heard of Crash Bandicoot. Was it ever a Sony-branded mascot, though? Nope. An independent developing group, Naughty Dog, was responsible for the shaggy bandicoot, however it was nonetheless luring gamers to the system by the character and his name. While we're on the subject, Nintendo has practically stayed afloat on this whole strategy, with the odd unique release here and there. What's the problem then? Well, as I just mentioned Nintendo, I'll give them a hall pass and admit they've managed to handle their successful franchises in amazing, bold ways (the "Legend of Zelda" saga is a perfect model to look at) but for the most part, in these strictly name recogntion games, personality has becomes apart of the name and vice versa. The "Tomb Raider" games started out as revolutionary, commercializing the busty Lara Croft to no end. Now take a look at the series. Tired, boring, repetitive, and solely on life support because of its popular name. The method for judging a really good game in terms of high profile titles is to try to imagine if the acclaimed character/s was/were removed, and unbiasedly ask yourself: Would the game remain to be as fun or amazing as it is without him/her/them? Most of the time, the game would not be. Does this sort of business approach hurt the industry? No, just take a look at this year's E3. Does this hurt the game players looking for something more and fresh? In my belief, yes.

NES HISTORY LESSON 101

• "King Koopa" became known as "Bowser" to give him more of a "recognized" title to which that name has been associated with the mega popular (and best selling) franchise series [Bowser gives the character more appropriateness in order for him to cameo in the multitude of sequels as well as the tried-true formula spawning grounds that have led to Mario Tennis, Golf, Pinball, Parties, and beyond]
• "The Princess" became "Princess Toadstool" became "Peach" for ultimately the same position, beginning with the release of SM64 in the US

SEMANTICS

Earlier I made the comparison of a "CD is a CD is a CD." This is important to note also in a hardware correlation. Nintendo, wanting to avoid any relation to the fallen Atari or the then bad word "video games," christened their flagship the "Nintendo Entertainment System," a powerful toy. Later on, especially in this lazy dialect country of ours, a shorter way of mentioning the Nintendo Entertainment System was an inevitable. [A good way of looking at this is the online community of fansites. How many of them use the full name? Zero. I could just imagine the mail I would receive if I had given the URL http://www.nintendoentertainmentsystemplayer.com to this site.] Back in the day, though, the "NES" acronym wasn't nearly as popular (or even existent) as it is today. Then referring to the system as "The Nintendo" caused no confusion, for it and the Gameboy were the company's only offerings. When in '91 the Super Famicom hit America as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the "Original Nintendo" label replaced the former. Console ages later, after Nintendo's lengthy resume, the phrase "First Nintendo" has seemed to replace "Original," if only in my part of the States. As the popular old school sensation hit experienced players and they returned to the console as collectors, a number of other names were contrived -- specifically two: the "Toaster" or "Top Loader," depending upon the cartridge load of the model.

It is interesting to compare and contrast the other console manufacturers in the industry with that of Nintendo's. SEGA most closely relates, beginning with their own three-letter acronym, the SMS (SEGA Master System), and becoming more liberal with its names as time went on (Saturn, Dreamcast). Sony was really the first to revert back to the numbering process after the Atari crash, referring to the first as the "PSOne" and the current as "PS2." Not a very elaborate, memorable system, is it? Again, my point? It's the semantics of the thing. When paved in the history books (or more importantly, your own memories) what will appeal more: a distinguishable name or a pattern of ascending numbers? It goes to show anything and everything in linguistics of gaming can ultimately be very important. It's a matter of comparing a generic mumble jumble label, like Game.Com, with Waldo Geraldo Faldo from Family Matters. 'Ya just can't.

NES HISTORY LESSON 101

• "The Nintendo" became "N-E-S/Nes" became "Original Nintendo"/"First Nintendo" became known to collectors as "Toaster/Top Loader", depending on models
• "Pad", "Controller", "Accessory"
• "Control Deck", "System", "Hardware", "Console", "Machine"

THE LUCAS COMPLEX, ACE EBB SYNDROME, AND EXTRA GUYS

Following close beyond the terminology of the system is the elements of the software itself. There are too many divisions to list when it comes to specific game elements naming, but I think you'll agree the two most commonly found are "Extra Lives" and "Levels." Growing up as a kid (how I sound so much older than I really am), we called "continues" - as in chances for the character to re-attempt a task after dying -"guys." [e.x. "How many guys do you have left?"] Sometime in the natural progression of my Zelda sheets being replaced with a Ralph Lauren comforter and then back again to Zelda on my bed, "guys" have turned into "lives." The intellectual inside of me wants to draw a wordy psychoanalysis, that the loss of immortality and the realization of progression through life, and acknowledgement of death, has made alteration to my vision of Mario popping up after a fireball as a "lost life" instead of a separate "guy." Either that conclusion or it's my Roman(tic) Catholic upbringing in blame for placing emphasis on life after death than the Eastern philosophy of reincarnation... as in, becoming another "guy." I did precisely what I didn't want to do and rambled didn't I? Damn it all!

Anyway, where was I? It's surprisingly easy to lose track of the stellar late '80s to early 90's "cool" slang while tossing around hardware and software terms. Dialogue is, of course, of the people -- of our own tongue. What I'm getting at with this is there happens to be one final side of gaming personality: the actual gamer himself. Precisely the same as you've seen the personalized touches some use to call different segments of games in certain fashions, the out-of-game spoken responses to happenings on-screen also heavily rely on the time period you're playing during. A universal example of this is winning. A player is afterall playing, not only to enjoy the act, but to hopefully (and ultimately) win. Of course there are always those who are more... shall we say... "comforted" or "creatively poised" in allowing a great bellow echo the halls when the final boss has been slayed or after beating another player in a match up (even if it's been the fifth time that day). I refer to these outbursts as the "Lucas Complex," from The Wizard's Mattel Power Glove-wielding antagonist game master, too often diagnosed as the "Ace Ebb Syndrome" (AES) - it's very obvious that kid (shudder, grown adult now) has much more than esteem problems to overcome.* Besides the creative cross-linking of curse words developing a verbal splatter comparable to a possessed child speaking in tongues, lingo of the times affect your claim. Back then, when the braces were on, the glasses thick, and the hair slick there you were quietly celebrating: "I mastered the game!", "I met the challenge!", or "Rocking!" sitting on the carpeted floor of the family room next to a friend surrounded by empty Ninja Turtles cereal bowls. Fast-forward to today and you have the largest NES community assembled, all online. This change from a single friend to thousands of virtual buddies you have never met in real life has added (or taken away, whichever way you see it) other new "vocabulary" to replace the old. Such words as "pwned," in order to describe your wins, have become the norm. Just goes to show that the evolution is working. I guess as they say, with the domain comes everything else. Or something to that effect. I was never much into sayings.

Hmph. Not a good way to end a report about linguistics. Not a very good way at all.

NES HISTORY LESSON 101

• "Lives", "Guys", "Hearts", "Continues" (e.x. How many guys do you have left?)
• "Boards", "Stages", "Levels", "Worlds", "Lands", "Areas"
• "I mastered the game", "I beat the game", "I dominated the competition", "I met the challenge!" to modern PC-literate folk: "I pwned dis izschwat"

Have I missed something? Agree or disagree? Mail me!

*If you, yourself, or a close one you know has inflicted AES, please consult the proper counseling.