Much like any other entertainment medium, videogame genres have grown exponentially in recent years to include every conceivable activity for today’s users. With the Nintendo DS alone, one can perform open-heart surgery, shout “OBJECTION!” on public transport and solve maths puzzles at the behest of an egomaniacal, disembodied Dr. Kawashima. However videogames multitude of formats, genre skill requirements, average length and relatively expensive cost of entry assure that it is considerably much more difficult to sample the best the medium has to offer.

As a child, myself and my brother made the ill-advised decision to ignore purchasing a Playstation in 1995, saving consistently for the day we could buy a Nintendo 64 on launch-day nearly two years later, the optimum period to be firmly kicked in the teeth when Nintendo reduced its price by £100 only two months later. Thanks to our frugality and lack of disposable income, entire franchises’ (Gran Turismo, Silent Hill, Resident Evil) auspicious beginnings passed us by until the Playstation 2 later helped show what the fuss was all about. To this day however it’s still hard to gather the same required levels of excitement for these series’ current-gen instalments without the emotional connection or gained knowledge from previous titles.

As a videogames journalist, I now find myself in the privileged position of being able to sample a large number of titles on a regular basis, without such financial constraints. Whilst this means occasionally reviewing Planet 51 for the Wii, in general it helps fill in any gaps of gaming knowledge for myself so that I can best present a well-rounded opinion for my reviews, or at least that’s my excuse for playing videogames all day. Yet for some of the aforementioned reasons, there are still gamers out there who have never picked up a guitar peripheral, or even played an MMORPG, or perhaps have no compunction to ever do so either. Not that there’s any problem with that; I’ve long since shelved titles and genres I know I’m not fit to review, such is my incredible apathy towards them e.g. in most cases I’d still much rather fling green shells or conquer F-Zero X’s random-track generated X Cup than swoon over meticulously recreated driving simulators.

A quick look at Metacritic’s “Best of 2009” rankings per format reveals a huge swath of well-received titles from a vast array of genres; music titles (Beatles: Rock Band), driving simulators (Forza Motorsport 3), 2D fighters (Street Fighter IV), 2D platformers (New Super Mario Bros Wii), puzzlers (Peggle: Dual Shot), first-person shooters (Modern Warfare 2), third-person action-adventures (Uncharted 2) and fantasy RPG’s (Demon Souls). To have acquired each title would require not just an already eclectic taste but at least four different formats, not something one would consider par for the course amongst today’s average gamer.

There is a strong sense within videogame circles that titles must be consistently ranked and debated alongside each other, or that certain videogames MUST be played by everyone. Nonsense. The widening of videogame audiences has brought new genres and experiences which will resonate on deeper levels than those of others and whilst some barmy or unappealing titles turn out to be enormously satisfying (good ole Kawashima himself), there should no longer be any rush deride those that have not sampled every genre-encompassing 90%+ videogame, especially in such a crowded, thriving marketplace.

This weeks D+BATE is a topic I’m sure nearly every gamer can relate to:

What videogame genre or series have you never played or never want to again, and why? And finally are there any of these wrongs that you’re hoping to put right by sampling in 2010?

Full disclosure – I will immediately put my credentials on the line with a couple of shocking admissions of my own: God of War? Never played it. Ditto Starcraft – you could be the absolute pinnacle of what an RTS can be and yet the genre has never done anything for me. However as for future corrections I’m hoping to make, Yakuza 3 will be my first playthough of a series I’m hoping will finally fill that sad hole in my heart that grows larger the longer Shenmue 3 goes unannounced.

Enough of my own ramblings though, here’s what my fellow D+PADers’ thoughts on the subject and most importantly, I encourage you pass on your own experiences in the comments below and to remember you’re amongst friends here at D+PAD, we won’t ever judge you.
- Emmet Purcell

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