If you have ever done any of the things on this list, you might just be a FanBoy.  If you find that you have done more then three of the things on this list, it is time to face the facts that you are probably a FanBoy.

• If you get into long flaming comment wars with people on blogs or forums, that take you hours to write.  You might be a FanBoy.
• If you took the time to write WikipediA entries about the public figures that represent your favorite console, you might be a FanBoy.
• You talk about why your console of choice is better because of the Teraflops it can process.  You might be a FanBoy.
• If you have ever signed a petition trying to get a Publisher or Developer to not publish a game on another console.  You might be a FanBoy.
• If you go to websites that are dedicated to other consoles, to leave derogatory comments about that system or the titles exclusive to that system.  You might be a FanBoy.
• If you went in and bashed someone else’s WikipediA entry about a public figure that represents a console that you do not like, you might be a FanBoy.
• If the degrading comments posted about your favorite console get you so angry that you forget to spell check your five page response to them.  You might just be a FanBoy.
• If you have ever destroyed a game console that cost you money just to post a video on YouTube.  You might be a FanBoy.
• If you have ever posted a message on the Internet that reads “(Insert Console Name Here) SUCKS!”, and that was the all you wrote.  You might be a FanBoy.
• If you think that a Publishers and Developers are there strictly for the games and the gamers, and expect companies to forgo huge profits or even make a profit as a whole just to maintain a specific brand loyalty or some tradition of a series of games.  You might be a FanBoy.

Within hours of the horrible tragedy at Virginia Tech, USA many so called experts were jumping in front of the camera and blaming video games.  They used the old catch line “He probably trained for this on shooter video games!”  I have noticed something, the people who make these wild and in this most recent case completely unfounded accusations have almost always never played video games.

With living in Minnesota I have done a fair amount of hunting in my life.  And I can tell you from my experience that no amount of playing Halo, or Resistance Fall of Man, or Metroid is going to train a person on how to shoot a firearm.

So I played the Nintendo DS Trauma Center, and the Nintendo Wii Trauma Center: Second Opinion.  Now to also elaborate on my personal background, until last year I was a nationally registered Paramedic.  I was an EMT for four years, and a Paramedic after that.  So I actually do have a little bit of a medical background.  After playing Trauma Center on Nintendo DS, and then playing Trauma Center on the Nintendo Wii I called on a couple of Hospital Human Resource departments.  I asked if they were actively recruiting Surgeons at this time.  And then explained my credentials, and as you expected there was a real long pause and then the question “You did attend Medical School correct?”  When I explained the situation that I had not graduated or attended medical school nor did I even have a pre-med degree, but I had trained very hard on these two medical based games, and then sited several industry sources like Jack Thompson, Dr. Phil, and Lt. Col. Dave Grossman that playing shooter games can train you to be a killer.  So I reasoned that I should be able to be a Surgeon based on playing Trauma Center.  I got a mixed set of reactions, one just hung up the phone on me, another started to laugh but then caught herself, and the other just simply stated that I could send them a resume (I bet they were just dying to see that resume so they could post it on the wall!).

I have decided to pick several games and turn this into a weekly column.  I think it should be good for a few good laughs.  Think of it as The Around the Controller version of JackAss, only without the pain or eating nasty stuff!  Look for next week’s article on Training with Splinter Cell.  And feel free to add comments about ideas for proposed video game training.

I have to admit last spring when I started reading that the PS3 was going to support the Fold@Home project I thought this was going to be more empty promises similar to the PS3 supporting two HDMI outputs and support for six controllers at once.  But when Sony announced that the 1.60 firmware update had the client built into it I was very happy. 

So if you do not have a team to belong to we would welcome you to our team.  The Around the Controller Network is happy to have you help the smart people at Stanford and other research facilities find a cure for some of the terrible diseases that are plaguing mankind today.

I will post a You Tube video of how to get this working on the PS3 and how to get signed up for our team or any other team.  But for the rest of you it is very easy to get started.  Our team number is 61882.

Let’s get folding.

There is an interesting article over at our sister site www.liveforxbox.com, the article talks about the benefits of the XBox 360 coming out an entire year earlier.  I know what you are thinking yeah-yeah-yeah you are going to talk about sales figures and market placement and install base.  But those have been discussed to death already, the hidden benefit I see is getting comfortable with the XBox 360 and XBox LIVE to the point that we compare the Nintendo Wii and Sony PS3 not to the Nintendo GameCube or the Sony PS2 but to the Microsoft XBox 360?  Click on over there and give it a read!

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My wife made the demand that I get rid of some of the clutter in the house, so I started clearing out some of the magazines that seem to pile up in the living room.  As I was going through the piles I saw a headline on the cover of PSM of June 2006 entitled “Warning Games are under attack!” which caught my eye.  The author brings up six points that he feels are a danger to the video game industry.  So after reading the article I could not help but be offended that several of the points out right blamed customers for the problems the video game industry is experiencing.

Blowing through the first point of governmental restrictions and other such nonsense, I got to the second point which is what caught my attention “Used Games”.  The writer went on to explain that developers see this as customers taking money out of their pocket.  If a consumer purchases a used copy of a game the developer and publisher do not receive any additional revenue from that sale.  All the profit goes to the company or person who sold the game.  And this is now one less new copy that is sold.  All morning long this was really gnawing at me.  It really reminds me of the RIAA whom I have absolutely no love for.  So I sat down and made a list of things that game developers and publishers can do to reduce the number of customers who sell the games they have purchased.

The simple fact is that Publishers and Developers need to produce a product, and then keep interest in that product.  That way the customer will feel the urge to keep using their product, and keep finding value from that product and will not want to sell it.

I know it seems obvious, and should go with out saying but as a consumer I think it needs to be said.  Stop making crappy video games!  I do not know how many games I have purchased that have bugs in them, or need updates, or were just not thought out well at all.  If I start playing a game and the controls are terrible or for any reason I get frustrated and put it down in fifteen minutes, there is probably a ninety percent chance that game is going to end up on EBay or at GameStop.  Game developers and publishers need to remember that we live in an age where information can span the globe in a matter of seconds.  That means if you create a terrible video game, everybody on earth will know it is crap in a matter of hours being released.  With big websites like IGN, GameSpot, and countless Podcast and other forms of Internet media people are going to know that your game is crap and probably not buy it.  So simply put, make great games.  Games should be easy to play, look good, sound good, the computer AI should be reasonably intelligent, and have some sort of interesting story line. Camera angles should have some planning put into them. The controls should be responsive, and sprite collision should be honed as close to perfection as possible.

Second and this is just as equally important. Develop a strong multi player mode with in the game. If this is a game that I can play through on my own then share the experience with others I am much more likely to keep the game instead of trading it in. This means that the game should support split screen, system link, and online game play. I should be able to play through the single player story mode but this time able to share the experience with friends. I should be able to play head to head with a variety of different games types. Halo 2 was released over two years ago and still a group of friends and myself get together every other month and play for an evening, while other games I have played and traded in within a couple of weeks. Lets face it playing a game by yourself is fun for a week maybe two at the most. If you can share that experience with someone you can keep coming back and playing over and over again. Truly great multi player games are played until the system life is over or until the next version of the game comes out.

If you create a great video game, especially a game with a great multi player mode publishers need to keep the game fresh and exciting. Put out new content new maps, new weapons, missions, and new characters. You really should give some of this content away, but charge for some new content also. Free content gives consumers the feeling that they are getting something extra on their original investment. But since all their friends will be online playing the content that you have to pay for, they will want to buy it also. New content should really be distributed every three to four months until the next version of the game available for sale. Release new content a month before the new version comes out so that excitement is built for the new version. This will give publishers one last infusion of profit before the game is put out to pasture.  Online content is another way for developers to get some revenue from new customers who purchased used copies of their games.  Maybe you did miss out on the initial sale of the used game itself, but here is a chance to get some revenue from this customer when they buy up some download only content.

Games need to have more content. I have not played the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, but from what I have read on web forms and blogs it can be played through in one to two sessions of game play. If I laid down $60 and was through the game in two days I would feel ripped off, especially if the game does not have a strong multi player mode. Then publishers wonder why people want to sell the game to get some money back. A good example of large amounts of content is the Grand Theft Auto series, there is enough content in that game for the player to play for many enjoyable nights. The new Mario Brothers for the Nintendo DS is suppose to have 88 levels in it, enough to keep gamers up late at night for weeks. I swore I would never buy another EA game after buying Tiger Woods Golf for the Xbox 360 only to find out it has half the courses that the original Xbox had! And on top of that I had to pay $10 more. Madden 2006 for the Xbox 360 also had less content then the original Xbox plus was $10 more to purchase! This is wrong and when consumers feel ripped off one of the first things they do is sell the game to try to get back some of the money they feel they have been robbed of.

Finally gamers feel that games are getting to expensive. We see game publishers taking money from companies looking for in game advertising, and then the money they charge us for the game itself, and then they are right away looking for you to pay for downloadable content. In game advertising is not a bad thing, as long as it is not obnoxious like Fight Night 2006 and Burger King. Small things like seeing a Nokia phone ad on a computer screen in Splinter Cell:Chaos Theory, or a Dodge truck sign in Ghost Recon:Advance Warfighter are perfectly fine with me. I am more likely to purchase these products knowing that they are helping support an industry that I enjoy.

While I will concede that there must be allot gamers who pirate games and this is something that is a direct problem that consumers are to blame for, I know that part of the reason I have to pay $40 to $60 for a game is because of piracy. But I think the majority of us gamers believe in supporting the industry and do not mind paying a fair price for the entertainment that we enjoy so much.

In short consider dropping the price and you will probably sell more games for a little bit less money and you will mostly likely come out with a better bottom line. I have said it time and time again, if the game is fun people will buy it. If the game has lots of replay ability with in it such as multi player and unlockables people will hold onto the game longer.