Menu screens.
Everybody LOVES menu screens. They let you choose so many things – game modes, characters, options, levels, save games. Wow, that’s five awesome things right there. Who doesn’t remember such classic game moments as “Ranking Mode”, “Game Speed 8 Selected” and, of course, “GAME SAVED”? Wow… such memories.
Menus are great. If I were to record a radio or television programme about games, I would make sure I included as much footage and discussion�of the game’s menus as possible. How do you know whether you’ll like the game unless you see someone carefully moving the cursor up and down? “Story mode… multiplayer mode… edit mode… options…”
Do you disagree? I should bloody well hope so.
Menus are BORING and NOBODY LIKES THEM. The best thing about games is what happens BETWEEN the menus. This is called THE GAME.
This post has been inspired by the single greatest videogame programme of all time – GameLife. I love this show – really. Probably in an ironic way yes, but all the same I have a lot of admiration for these guys. I remember the time when recording a video or a radio show was cool; I used to record Sonic stories on a cassette player so I could listen to them. I made a Sonic newsletter in the days before the Internet, and it was cool. Yes, the Internet has ruined everything.
The guys from GameLife are doing the same thing – making something creative and cool about something they love. Unfortunately, the Internet has happened and they will probably get mauled for it, but I salute them. Their website is http://gamelife.exehq.com – please visit them, watch the videos and enjoy yourself. Relax!
My name is James Newton, and this is my website - a collection of my writings about
videogames, music and all my other thoughts.