Do your friends ask your advice?

[emjay2kay]

I was in Game the other week with my friend, and he picked up NFS:U on the Gamecube, showed the box to me and gave a look that said "Should I get this?" Immediately I said "No." and shook my head like he was a small child who needed to be told not to play with mummy's fine china.

So he put it down and I said "Get Burnout. Or Burnout 2. There it is" and so I picked Burnout 2 up, and told him he could probably find it for twenty quid now if he looked around in the pre-owned section, and that it was a far superior game to NFS:U

So he nods and tells me how he has been meaning to buy Burnout 2 because I keep telling him it's a really good game, but he'll get it another day when he has a bit more money.

So I saw him again on Saturday, "Guess what I got!?!" and before I can happily say Burnout 2, he's already gone and said Need for Speed: Underground. Inside I start screaming.

So do your friends ask for your advice on games? And do they listen? Mine clearly don't, and I don't know if I should be bothered by that or not. I don't want them to start importing Japanese only RPG adventures which they require translations for and all sorts. But I do want to point them in the direction of good games. Reccomend Pro Evo instead of FIFA, Halo instead of Red Faction 2, and so on and so on. Is that wrong of me, or should I just let them do what they want?

[DJ Sack]

My friends listen, as to them im the Game Guru who knows everything about games and just memories cheat codes and everything, just because i like games. Thankfully they listen to me when i tell them what to get.

[Richard]

I got my mate into the Pro Evo series as he was previously a Fifa fanatic.

He does still buy a lot of crap though.

[Uncle Mike]

So I saw him again on Saturday, "Guess what I got!?!" and before I can happily say Burnout 2, he's already gone and said Need for Speed: Underground. Inside I start screaming.

And does he like it? Knowing what scores things got isn't the same as giving good advice.

[Landshead]

Just let them get whatever they want, unless its something really shit like army men or fur fighters.

I did however tell my friend to get F-zero gx instead of Need for Speed: underground.

[emjay2kay]

So I saw him again on Saturday, "Guess what I got!?!" and before I can happily say Burnout 2, he's already gone and said Need for Speed: Underground. Inside I start screaming.

And does he like it? Knowing what scores things got isn't the same as giving good advice.

He likes bits of it, although he wasn't terribly specific. Drag mode had him entertained I think, and he said his car looked "incredible." He didn't say much more than that as he was playing, ironically, Burnout 2 on my Gamecube at the time. I offered to lend him the original Burnout, to see what he thought of that (Burnout 2 is US) but he just said "Yeah yeah, whatever." Meaning "I can't be bothered."

[Beertiger]

that's the only thing people who like NFSU say. It's either oh look at my car to which you reply, well that's nice but it plays like shit. but you can change the headlights they tell you.

tits.

on sat we had PGR2 and NFSU running next to each other and it made PGR2 look even better than it already does. Jesus the graphics are good and i'm not usually a whore of the graphics.

[Guest somerseteye]

One of my friends always asks me what to get before he gets something. He doesn't always get what I recommend, but I don't think he's bought something I said specifically not to.

I really like NFSU - it's great for what it is, which is a superficial arcade racer. But that's neither here nor there.

[ryodi]

My friend came perilously close to getting Unlimited Sage. I kept pointing out to him that the overall opinion was that it was dire. Eventually after much persuasion he got Mario and Luigi instead and after watching footage of US on Cybernet he thanked me for telling him not to get it.

[Poet]

All my friends and family listen. Well, the few that play games. Happy to dish out advice on an individual basis (hence buying stuff like Zelda and Metroid Prime for one younger bro even though, for me, they're shit gaming experiences) and when you're right just about every time, people pay attention.

MJ2K - your mate's a sheep. A sheep that prefers to be led by the flock rather than the shepherd. But there are many. Help them, if not with your intellect, then with a hammer. (Book of Poet, Chapter 14, Verse 11)

Here endeth the lesson.

[IronChicken]

I get asked for advice and am then promptly ignored.

So instead of buying Viewtiful Joe they end up with some shitty X-Men beat 'em up.

[Mr Do 71]

My mate listens to me, as he is also getting Rainbow Six 3 for Xmas. He also got an Xbox because I had one, and of course for Halo. But he does still buy crap like MoH:Frontline.

[Mr Do 71]

I was in Game the other week with my friend, and he picked up NFS:U on the Gamecube, showed the box to me and gave a look that said "Should I get this?" Immediately I said "No." and shook my head like he was a small child who needed to be told not to play with mummy's fine china.

So he put it down and I said "Get Burnout. Or Burnout 2. There it is" and so I picked Burnout 2 up, and told him he could probably find it for twenty quid now if he looked around in the pre-owned section, and that it was a far superior game to NFS:U

So he nods and tells me how he has been meaning to buy Burnout 2 because I keep telling him it's a really good game, but he'll get it another day when he has a bit more money.

So I saw him again on Saturday, "Guess what I got!?!" and before I can happily say Burnout 2, he's already gone and said Need for Speed: Underground. Inside I start screaming.

So do your friends ask for your advice on games? And do they listen? Mine clearly don't, and I don't know if I should be bothered by that or not. I don't want them to start importing Japanese only RPG adventures which they require translations for and all sorts. But I do want to point them in the direction of good games. Reccomend Pro Evo instead of FIFA, Halo instead of Red Faction 2, and so on and so on. Is that wrong of me, or should I just let them do what they want?

Sounds likes he seen the adverts

[Jonathan_Kerr]

Most of my mates listen to me as someone else mentioned 'the gaming guru' in my groups of friends. They're quite casual gamers but I know them well enough to know what sort of stuff they'd enjoy and what they often look for in a game.

Those that are heavier gamers don't need my advice.

Usually, I just weigh up the pros and cons for them and present it to them in a balanced argument. If they then want to know what one I'd go for, then I usually say what I'd choose and why.

Did the same for a mate who was trying to decide between Xbox and PS2.

[Uncle Mike]

MJ2K - your mate's a sheep. A sheep that prefers to be led by the flock rather than the shepherd. But there are many. Help them, if not with your intellect, then with a hammer. (Book of Poet, Chapter 14, Verse 11)

I disagree. Or at least, I don't necessarily agree.

Just because we, (or at least, a subset of 'we') say one is better than the other, doesn't make it so.

What if he buys Burnout 2, like what our man here recommended, and doesn't like the fact that you can't do anything to customise the car? Perhaps he enjoys that bit.

It certainly doesn't sound like Burnout 2 inspired him to realise he'd made the wrong decision when he played it at a later date.

Sometimes, you have to realise that other people don't care about things some of us care about. That doesn't make them stupid, or wrong. Just different.

[Poet]

Shut up Mike. The Book of Poet rules all*

*may not rule all

[Uncle Mike]

Shut up Mike.

Yeah! That's me told. I can see why people come to you for your sagely wisdom.

[Alex W.]

Flatmate's tentative comment after Simpsons game ad on telly:

That actually looks quite good.

My response:

Hmm, it might be worth a rental.

After True Crime ad:

I've heard that's great!

Response:

Yeah, I've heard it's good. Not as good as GTA3, but then, what is?

I actually remember a time after we'd been killing time in Virgin during a bit of a browse around Princes Street, and three of us were playing Enter the Matrix on three different formats simaltaneously. My mini-rant on the way out of the shop must've been interesting.

[Poet]

Shut up Mike.

Yeah! That's me told. I can see why people come to you for your sagely wisdom.

Shut up Mike.

[emjay2kay]

I did however tell someone in game that they shouldn't buy enter the matrix. I felt like a really nerdy twat.

Did they listen to you though?

And Uncle Mike, I understand what you're saying, I just find it a shame that a game which is considered by many to be vastly superior to NFSU, gets overlooked because you can't paint the cars purple and stick a lightning bolt decal on the car doors.

[Fry Crayola]

I get asked advice occasionally, and do my best to offer advice. Having said that, the majority of my mates who buy games often don't really need it because they'll check it out for themselves. My flatmate's got a GC with Zelda, Mario Sunshine, Pikmin et al (nice for me), my mate across the road has a PS2 with Deus Ex, Ico, GT3 and the like. When it comes to games, they'll check out reviews or play the game before buying.

Any mates I have that don't ask advice usually don't buy many games. Or own a console.

[dam_aks]

I would have told him to get NFS:U over Burnout 2.

There is a boy-racer inside us all. Not sure if this is a good thing, but I do like this game.

[ChrisN]

I did however tell someone in game that they shouldn't buy enter the matrix. I felt like a really nerdy twat.

This sort of thing baffles me. Would you tell someone not to buy Blue's album if you saw them pick it up in HMV? Sure, you might think its crap, but really, thats just your opinion and unless someone actually asks you you ought to stop thinking you're so fucking important.

[Corranga]

My mate consistently buys Medal of honour (GC, ok 2 then) games it seems... I keep telling them there are better (ie not the same as the last one) games out there...

His bro asked my advice for buying a PC...

After about 30 minutes writing down some numbers for him, and telling him where to and not to go, I would have thought he'd be on the ball...

I think he spend 600 quid on a 2.0 celeron, no gfx card, onboard sound, 96 (96!?!) MB of RAM, very limited expansion potential (only room for 1 CD drive!!)... etc....

Ah well, his money, not mine

Chris

[Beertiger]

I would have told him to get NFS:U over Burnout 2.

There is a boy-racer inside us all. Not sure if this is a good thing, but I do like this game.

No it's not a godd thing because the more shit you buy the more shit gets made because that's what they think you want.

It's horrible to think how much that game has sold just because you can change the spoiler on the car.

[Hawkeye]

Most of my mates are really in to gaming, only a couple fall in to the "casual" end of the market. They do tend to ask us what games to get as they know the rest of us do keep up with all the new releases, and read all the reviews/previews.

The thing I've found to be strange is when they offer a comment on a new game such as "that's supposed to be great", but when you ask them where they heard that they can never remember. All the more strange as they never visit gaming web-sites, read gaming magazines etc. Surely adverts don't fool people that much, for instance not every film with a TV trailer gets hyped like that.

The "realism" thing is always a big hit though. Anything that looks remotely realistic is seen as being brilliant, anything else is seen as being "weird" or "those Japs are bonkers". Although if you get them to sit down in front of these wierd games they suddenly love them, Viewtiful Joe is a recent one that was labeled "weird" by some of them but now they all love to bits, Super Monkey Ball as another.

[ChrisN]

All the more strange as they never visit gaming web-sites, read gaming magazines etc. Surely adverts don't fool people that much, for instance not every film with a TV trailer gets hyped like that.

Yeah, coz no newspapers or magazines have a small regular gaming section unless they're specifically gaming press.

No.. wait.. almost all of them do.

[Hello Goaty ♥]

NFS:U

It gets better you know!

I quite like it now.

[Swainy]

I don't bother trying to help my mates out when it comes to games anymore. Most of them dislike anything I regard as a good game and tend to go for most the EA releases.

The other day I mentioned to a mate that I had been playing Ico, he immediately starts laughing, then saying it must be shit because he had never heard of it. Wtf???

[Hawkeye]

All the more strange as they never visit gaming web-sites, read gaming magazines etc. Surely adverts don't fool people that much, for instance not every film with a TV trailer gets hyped like that.

Yeah, coz no newspapers or magazines have a small regular gaming section unless they're specifically gaming press.

No.. wait.. almost all of them do.

Yeah, and I can say that when they ever do pick up a paper they read the sports pages and then throw it away, plus most tabloid gaming news is just re-written press release crap.

Plus, get off your high horse bawbag. I'm not questioning their taste in games, I'm trying to help them not waste £40 a go. The reason they tend to ask us for advise is not because we are some all knowing gaming guru, but rather that we are serious about our hobby and they have been caught out buying a really bad game (in their opinion) as they don't follow the gameing scene as much as we do.

In fact I doubt anyone could make a decent run of good purchases based on the dire coverage of gaming in the mainstream media.