Annoying Video Game Terms or Pet Peeves

[ProgrammingAce]

Part of the reason the PlayStation 1 stayed with the nickname PSX is because PS is a crappy abbreviation. Before the PS2 came out, it didn't make sense to call it the PS1.

[Gentlegamer]

Part of the reason the PlayStation 1 stayed with the nickname PSX is because PS is a crappy abbreviation. Before the PS2 came out, it didn't make sense to call it the PS1.And yet, the PlayStation brand symbol is a "PS"

http://pspartout.blog.playersrepublic.fr/images/medium_logo-playstation.jpg

[Cryomancer]

Isn't GCN based on product codes? or all they all DOL? It is sorta weird. At least we don't call the DS "NTR".

[Howie6925]

fanboy is one that really bugs me.

[rbudrick]

Huh, I don't know what this says about me. But I've always read NEC as "neck". But, it's always been S-N-K, A-I-M, N-E-S, I-B-M etc.. so I'm not normally a big enough dork to pronounce abbreviations as words. It's weird. I used to even refer to FAQs (facts) as F-A-Qs until I heard my husband pronounce it. Then I realized why it was clever. :P

That said I hate it when people call the NES a "ness" much the same way I hate "Mary-Oh" for Mario.

FAQ is for Frequently Asked Questions. It is not for "facts." F-A-Q is the correct way to say it.

As for my pet peeves, I hate the word "pet peeve." It's really fucking dumb. Also, NES is NEVER Ness.

-Rob

[Eternal Champion]

I had a friend that always called controllers "paddles." How freakin' lame does that sound? I don't know if that was derived from Atari or whatever (I really have no idea, just blatant speculation), but either way, it's stupid.

I echo the hate on the "Game Pak" term. Sounds so dumb. I also agree with the hatred of the word "mastered." I didn't hear people say it much, but when they did, I wanted to punch 'em! The thing about sports games being rehashed every year was a great thing that was brought up.

"paddle" - probably from Pong, because it was "virtual tennis". Of course, "paddles" are used in table tennis. Sounds very old-school to me.

"game pak" - I believe this is part of Nintendo's PR to distance itself from previous video game associations that public had, because of the crash following E.T. - avoiding the word "cartridge", etc.

Oh, and your roommate is a putz.


And yet, the PlayStation brand symbol is a "PS"Exactly, therefore it makes perfect sense. I remember seeing "PSX" and thinking, "what the hell? A new PS peripheral?" Dumb marketing-speak.

[mr.soul]

GCN - I feel a little stabby every time I see this. WHY is the N at the END??? NGC would make more sense, but I guess that sounds too much like that naturalist food store. But come on, the Dreamcast got away with "DC", it's not called "SDC" or "DCS", is it? Don't freaking call the Gamecube the "GCN".


I was just about to post this. GC is fine and looks better. You don't even need the N in it.

I really hate SHMUP for shoot em up. Really awful abbreviation. But that horse is long dead and beaten as I have seen in this topic so far.

And I can understand people hating "ness" "sness" "nezz" and "snezz". I always say N E S when referring to the Nintendo Entertainment System, but I feel like S N E S is too long to say as an acronym so sometimes I catch myself saying "snezz". For the most part I try to just say Super Nintendo though.

[rbudrick]

"paddle" - probably from Pong, because it was "virtual tennis". Of course, "paddles" are used in table tennis. Sounds very old-school to me.

"game pak" - I believe this is part of Nintendo's PR to distance itself from previous video game associations that public had, because of the crash following E.T. - avoiding the word "cartridge", etc.

Oh, and your roommate is a putz.

Exactly, therefore it makes perfect sense. I remember seeing "PSX" and thinking, "what the hell? A new PS peripheral?" Dumb marketing-speak.

Well, 2600 analog controllers were actually called paddles, so that's where I'd put my bets.

-Rob

[Daria]

That's another thing that always annoyed me. When people say "x game 1" when reffering to the first installment in a series. "Oh, I like Final Fantasy 1, but I don't like 2." Why say 1? The game isn't called FF1, it's just FF. Just say FF, or Mario, or Zelda, or whatever. Or say something like, "my favorite one was the original," or, "the first one," something like that. Don't say, "Castlevania 1 is a hard game."!


It doesn't bother me when other people write it, but I go out of my not to type Game Series 1. I often use the "original" technique, just because it reads better.

[Daria]

FAQ is for Frequently Asked Questions. It is not for "facts." F-A-Q is the correct way to say it.
-Rob

I realize that... but it the context of GameFAQs. Or Game(facts) it is clever. Because they're not questions... just guides. Either way pronouncing each single letter just sounds odd now. I'm corrupted.

[Gentlegamer]

Exactly, therefore it makes perfect sense. I remember seeing "PSX" and thinking, "what the hell? A new PS peripheral?" Dumb marketing-speak.Wasn't the PSX a Sony home theater system with a PlayStation built-in?

Edit: It looks like the PSX is actually a DVR/Multimedia/PS2 console, link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSX_(DVR))

[spoon]

God, when 12 and 13 year old kids freak out because we sell nintendo 64's

"MAN THAT SHITS SO OLD SCHOOL!!, I remember playing that when I was a kid!"

...your 13 and retarded.

LMAO

CGN and AGB were codes chosen by Nintendo to represent Gamecube and Gameboy Advance. We used to have to write these down when I worked at Wally World. Blame your beloved Nintendo for this one.

I have two more to add.

Referring to Pit as Kid Icarus and Samus as Metroid. Hot damn people, read a manual or pay attention.

I remember this one commercial on G4 with this dbag talking about "Metroid" blowing up in her suit that would piss me off to no end.

I know I complained about Hardcore Gamer earlier. I prefer enthusiasts or collector.

[motley6]

What was really great about this thread were all the annoying video game terms I hadn't heard of. Like ten people said that they hate in when people call the Super NES, "sness". I have never heard anybody refer to it as that and I didn't think it was possible to be that annoying. Great stuff.

[Cryomancer]

What was really great about this thread were all the annoying video game terms I hadn't heard of. Like ten people said that they hate in when people call the Super NES, "sness". I have never heard anybody refer to it as that and I didn't think it was possible to be that annoying. Great stuff.

Snezz is probably more popular in Europe. I've watched some period gaming shows from Britain, and that's how the host would say it.

[TurboGenesis]

P2/P3 - there is this colleague at work who refers to the PlayStation 2 as P-2 and the PlayStation 3 as the P-3. It do not sound right and the other day he ask about the joystick for the "p-3" which bring me to…

Joystick -- In reference to a control pad, I do not like the word "joystick" There is no stick in a traditional pad controller. Joystick would better reference an arcade stick controller or a controller for a console like the 2600/5200/7800 which came with stick oriented control.

Wiimote -- I cannot like the sound of this… It is sound like the words of toddlers… I like to say Wii controller or even Wii remote. Sorry :(

[tcv]

As for my pet peeves, I hate the word "pet peeve." It's really fucking dumb.

But that complaint is, by definition (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pet%20peeve), a pet peeve. You've trapped yourself into a logic loop! Will you survive?!

[boatofcar]

"Mary-oh"

I rarely feel like doing bodily harm to people, but I'd like to give everyone who says Mario this way a charley horse.

[Famidrive-16]

the other day i was talking about the Incredible Crash Test Dummies for NES, and i couldn't remember the term we used to use for when you backtrack a bit and sudden enemies reappear, so i had to say "re-spawn"...i hated myself for a good ten minutes because of that.

I always thought it was 'respawing'...

[emceelokey]

I don't like anything other than an actual joystick being referd to as a "joystick".

[Kitsune Sniper]

"Mary-oh"

I rarely feel like doing bodily harm to people, but I'd like to give everyone who says Mario this way a charley horse.

... Don't get me started on "Rye-You".

[FrakAttack]

Dongle. *shudder*

[thetoxicone]

I think if I ever meet any more people from here, I'll have one big sentence with everyone's annoyances ready as an icebreaker.

[Trevelyan]

Dongle. *shudder*

good one, its anything but a Dongle! surely! I barely believed my friend who was talking about it.

I prefer in real life conversation to use the words in the phrase rather than espouse the acronym letter by letter. This can depend on the situation but most of my friends are not as Video/computer game savvy as myself so i will say, "its a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game" rather than "its a mmorpg". I prefer this because it annoys me when people abbreviate or use acronyms with the presumption that you've understood! lol. I like the terminology and discussion of anything to be concise but also grammatically fathomable and I cant always access my urbandictionary in real life.

Trolls and haters who resist any form of polite & constructive discussion & opt instead for idle denunciation are a pet peeve. I'm guilty of it sometimes I think but some people (even older folks) are content to bask within the gaming community with a childlike, omnipotent brevity, seeking out your nuances and being obtuse whether Online playing games or in Gaming forums. They stop the :villagepeople: , but its not unique to video gamers i suppose.

[Tep]

"I'm a fan of shooters."
"Really? That's awesome, I love them too. What's your favorite?"
"I play a lot of Counter Strike and Halo."
"Oh. I thought you meant like Galaga or Gradius." (Cue mumbling under breath)

Calling an FPS a "shooter" is understandable and acceptable, but it just irks me for some reason. Maybe its because every 2nd game nowadays is an FPS? A shooter is a scrolling shoot 'em up.
And though this doesn't mean much, a large amount of gaming magazines (and me) agree with you.
--------
Using SMS lingo when chatting. Applies to much more than just games. "Yeah, I agree lol" is not a response. It's spam.

[rkotm]

extra man, extra live, calling levels(or multiplayer maps) "boards". UGH. I hate those.

side note:when people who dont normally use l33t speak try to. just.dont.do.it.

[consolecrusader]

- calling ps PSX
- playing cod4 or RFOM saying "petes sake" anytime something goes wrong
- "Unbelieveable"
- "pajwned" : you'd have to hear me say it in person to know how to say it lol

[Iron Draggon]

I too find it repulsive to hear FPS referred to as shooters... how dare they use that term for an oversaturated genre, when they dissed MY shooters for being an oversaturated genre back in the glory days, and then went on to praise fighters for being an oversaturated genre without any complaints...

I blame EGM for the death of SHMUPS... it was their constant benoaning the arrival of yet another new SHMUP while simultaneously praising the arrival of yet another new fighter that oppressed the SHMUP genre and fueled the fires of the emerging fighter genre to glory... and yes I hate the term SHMUP too, but it does get the point across in a way that differentiates them from FPS... what else would we call them? HPS, VPS, IPS, & 3DPS? it's much easier to lump them all together under SHMUPS... and I'll be even more pissed the day that anyone dares to refer to an FPS as a SHMUP... that'll be the last straw... :angry:

NES & SNES: yes I refer to them as ness & sness for brevity... deal with it... I was always a Sega loyalist, and I was only saved from being a Sega fanboy through the good graces of DKC and Nintendo's Play It Loud ad campaigns... so I never owned a NES, although of course I did had a friend who did, and I was only finally able to force myself to get the SNES I always wanted by surrendering myself and my wallet to the undeniable awesomeness of DKC... which wasn't hard to do, after having already surrendered myself and my wallet to the Sega CD & the 32X... and so it began... I got a shiny new SNES to add to my Genesis, Sega CD & 32X collection, and soon I'd go on to aquire a 3DO, a GG, a VB, a Nomad, a Saturn, a PS, a Jaguar, a Jag CD, and an N64... it was DKC that set me free in a way that Sonic never did, and Sonic set me free in more ways than I could ever have imagined... but I'd still rather call the NES & SNES the ness & sness than to ever refer to the Genesis as the Genny... I know it's meant to be affectionate, but it sounds disrespectful!

Genny: see above... don't disrespect my baby boy by shortening his name! it makes him sound like a girl, and he is not a she... he's a very happy gay man!

pet peeve: yep, the fire burns in me when I hear that word too... but I have to admit they really nailed the feeling when they decided on that moniker...

game paks: it took me forever to accept carts as an appropriate abbreviation for cartridges, so don't ask me to call them anything else... game paks? WTF?

wii: OMG, it can't possibly get any worse, can it? WTF is up with all the fucking WIITARDS? yeah, the whole concept ROCKS, but the name SUCKS!

Wiitard: my new pet peeve word for Wii fanboys... spread it like the virus that it is... and remember, you read it here on DP from MY mouth FIRST!

[mnbren05]

Heard another one today, while I was tutoring middle school stuents for college credit in my senior seminar. One thirteen year old asked me "Hey, whats your favorite video game dungeon? Like the funnest one you ever played through?" Thinking back to early days of NES, SNES etc I decided on naming The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past and Brain Lord in general because both were fun to me and had great action/puzzles.

Needless to say the group was confused. One explained to me that dungeon refers to the best level of a game, like his favorite the Flood covered ship in Halo 3. Another asks me if the two games I named came out before or after Windwaker. :frustrated:

[Gamingking]

I live in Texas, And we say "Beat the game".

[DragonBomber]

It drives me apeshit when people refer to console bundles as "sku's". Sku souds like a generic term that should only used by stiffs in sales & marketing. Or by someone trying too hard to sound like game journalist.

Just say "bundle" instead, for cyrin' out loud.

On a related note, but not game related per say, think of the acronym MFHD. It's in books sometimes, in library records and such. The library industry slang for this term is "muffhead" and I guess it's something someone in Chicago writing software to catalog books started. It might just be slang used by the company whose software we use, I don't know. Literally three of us in a training session a few months ago had wet eyes from laughing at this. I think our game of trying and succeeding in getting the trainer to say "muffhead" more was the highlight of the week. Getting paid to bait someone to say dirty phrases = A+.

[DragonBomber]

Someone beat me to pointing out the multimedia machine named PSX that Sony put out, which by its existence should force all the people out there peddling, and buying games to stop the insanity of its use. I was as guilty as anyone, but have since amended that choice.

After reading all 5 pages I am surprised no one said retro.

I cannot stand that word. I see it everywhere from big name convention operators to eBay auctions, and it just ticks this little box inside my head that makes me want to punch things randomly until the circus clown music stops playing...seriously I cannot stand it. I may be lame for preferring the term classic and piss off other people who adore retro, but everyone has their own opinions on this.

Classic to me carries the weight of class, of age, of some refinement, with commercials of Phil Hartman ripping off his tshirt because he's so angry and excited about the new Intellivision games. That is class. Retro to me reminds me of my long hell in California around poser surfer dudes who were far too popular and needed a swift ass kicking. I don't mind real surfers, just the skater/surfer posers who need to be cast as extras in any remake of Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Retro reminds me too much of assholes trying to puff up sales with a buzzword, often times misrepresenting the product in auctions and generally driving prices up with some obscene jive talk. It also reminds me of something that I might hear come out of Keanu Reeves in some f'd up movie I shouldn't be watching but got tricked into by some friend or my own silly foolishness in my fortitude, and I pray for death.

[fairyland]

Saying "Game Genies", "Game Sharks", or even the extremely rude "cheat device" instead of the proper term of "video game enhancer."

[DTJAAAAMJSLM]

"Videogame". It needs to be two words, damn it!

[DragonBomber]

Meet the gamers with a decidedly retro edge. Remember Burgertime, Jungle Hunt, Gunstar Heroes, Streets of Rage and Radiant Silvergun but have no problem wreaking havoc in Halo? Well then... welcome home.

Just read this at the top of the page and died a little more inside.:texaschain:

[rkotm]

"Classic to me carries the weight of class, of age, of some refinement, with commercials of Phil Hartman ripping off his tshirt because he's so angry and excited about the new Intellivision games. That is class." lmao yeah Dragonbomber, classic. Seen his CDI (or was it 3DO?) commercials?

[ReaXan]

Game Tapes-I hate this. EGM seems tto like pushing this one. They were called cartridges last I knew.

LMAO!

[Meltd0wn]

I'm a fan of the PSX over PS1/PSOne. I do not know why but that has stuck with me. I always say PSX system and then someone will say "Wait. They released another system?"
Actually SONY used PS1 when they released the newer smaller version of the Playstation. this was how you can tell the 2 systems apart in retail.


I had a friend that always called controllers "paddles." How freakin' lame does that sound? I don't know if that was derived from Atari or whatever (I really have no idea, just blatant speculation), but either way, it's stupid.
How old is your friend? I ask because the original home video games "Odyssey", "PONG", "Odyssey2000" called the controllers Paddles because thats basically what they controlled, on screen paddles.


Ok now for mine.

This is my BIGGEST pet peeve in video games and I know im going to get the haters after me for this but I hate hearing any video game being called a RPG. Even games that are actually based on RPGs don't even live up to any true Role Playing Game. Until I have complete freedom of choice for my characters actions like I do in real RPGs I will never accept the term for any video game.

I also hate when people call the Nintendo DS a Gameboy or worse a Gameboy DS. I've even had customers ask me back in my days of retail for "Gameboy PSP's" I had to fight back the urge to laugh at them. Of course then I would have to ask them if they were looking for Gameboy SP's or if they were looking for PSP's? and usually I would get a blank or confused expression as a response.

Oh and another big one for me is calling anyone who uses a 'Game Enhancer' a "HACKER". Um no!! it doesn't take any hacking skills to type in a code to activate a game enhancer.
I also don't like the term 'cheater' for using game enhancers. Most people don't even realize that many of the codes on game enhancers actually make games more difficult and challenging. thus prolonging the play value.

I also hate all the attachments for the Wii Controller. (tennis racket, baseball bat, golf club, blaster, etc) Even the Guitar Hero III controller requires the wii controller to be stuck inside of it. Come on people do you really need all the extra plastic crap stuck to your controller to make it work better? not only a waste of money, but a total waste of storage space as well.


For those who don't like the term "wiimote" blame Nintendo, even the top executives were calling it the wiimote back before the system was even launched. I guess because it resembles a entertainment system remote.

There are many more things that annoy me, but I don't have the time to list them all. LOL

[The 1 2 P]

Without a doubt, calling someone a "BK" is the most annoying of all terms. At first I thought they were talking about Burger King, but it turns out this is short for "bad kid". Um, very clever high school kid. Now stop making up stupid words and get me my fries.

[Niku-Sama]

heh i always thought burger king too

[ssjlance]

Whenever people mispronounce a word, it bothers me. I was in a thrift store the other day, and my mom started talking with this older woman who was looking for a certain book. She kept saying it was part of a "tree-ology." I'm also bothered by bad grammar. If it's just a small slip up every now and then, that's fine, but when every post looks like a dyslexic 3 year old child overdosing on PCP could have typed it, I want to scream. Just to clarify, I don't have the problem here. It's other boards with that problem.

Oh and the whole thing about calling a Genesis a Sega. I tell people I used to have a Sega all the time when they say it to me. I start talking about how I got it when it was new, and how I still have Street Fighter, Sonic, and other classic titles. Then they're confused when I show them my Dreamcast with Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Sonic Adventure. It's even funnier, though, when they see my "Sega" and ask what all the crap is hooked up to it (CD and 32X).

[Nodtveidt]

I have no problem with the word "retro" unless it's used improperly. When someone refers to a Playstation game as "retro", I want to put a knife through their face.

I can understand some people's dislike of "fanboy", as it's become a derogatory phrase nowadays. I find myself using it from time to time though, usually to talk about Nintendo geeks who think that Nintendo is God and anything else is "ghetto", another word I detest.

Whenever I'm scoping out a new MMORPG to try out, I check the forum for the game. If enemies are refered to as "mobs", I avoid the game. "Mob" is used in MMORPGs where combat is the #1 focus of the game, and that just bores the hell out of me. I've stuck with RuneScape for many years now because it's not just about combat.

Referring to a Zelda game as an RPG. Complete BS. While some people will dispute the purity of the genre, and others will say "if you don't have complete control then it's not an RPG", console-based RPGs are pretty damn specific. I've debated this with many people over the years and no one seems to have asolid understanding of the phrase. I liken them to books...an RPG is a novel. Zelda plays like a short story, not a novel, so therefore it could never be called an RPG. Those unfamiliar with the two types of books should look it up, it's a pretty simple difference in concepts, really, yet so many are absolutely clueless.

People who misspell TurboGrafx, or assign it weird variations. It's NOT that hard to interpret. People who write Turbographx, TurbografX, Turbo Graphics, etc. make me want to murder a kitten.

Building off of the previous issue, people who refer to the TurboGrafx 16 as an 8 bit system. As if the bits of the CPU determine everything. This was a popular selling point during the "16 bit era", and it was then and is still now absolute BS. The bits of the CPU do not determine squat. Then you've got lamers who're all like "but that's only an 8 bit game, it can't be fun, I've got a much better 16 bit game, blah blah blah I don't know a damn thing because I'm Wiitarded". I've been in countless debates over this over the years as well, and there are many people who just simply don't get it. It mostly comes from Sega loyalists who believe that their Genesis was "the most powerful system of the 16 bit era". Sorry kids, hate to break it to you but in terms of the CPU, the Genesis took second place to the TurboGrafx 16. As one who's programmed all three "16 bit" consoles, I can tell you all without a shadow of a doubt that the 6280 used in the PC Engine/TurboGrafx has a bit of an edge over the stock Motorolla 68000 used in the Genesis, and both put the 65816-based CPU used in the SNES to shame many times over. But then the Sega loyalists come back with "but the Genny can do parallax! The Turbo can't! You suck! blah blah blah", and I'm always quick to remind them of many, many PCE/TG16 games which use parallax, then I'm also quick to counter with "and the Genesis also has a poor color encoder, far fewer colors on-screen, and smaller sprites". Usually shuts them up because they wouldn't know that the Genesis features tile-flipping...a feature I wish the PCE/TG16 had.

More on the Genesis stuff...old catch-phrases Sega used. "Blast Processing"...complete BS. And of course, their old marketing campaign: "Genesis Does What Nintendont". AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAARG. Stupid marketing!

People who say "the Jaguar has a 16 bit CPU!", referring to the governor 68000 in the Jag. Man, get a clue and do your research. Likewise, Atari geeks who're all like "the Jag is 64 bit dammit! It has better games than all those stupid 16 bit consoles!". I do believe that this was really the end of the bit-naming...although Sega tried it a little at first with the Saturn, naming it a 96 bit system (3x32) but they dropped that dead meme pretty quickly. I was glad to see the bit crap disappear. What, for example, would you call the Xbox 360? 32 bit? 128 bit? 256 bit? 384 bit? It makes no sense nowadays, but it made no sense back then either.

When I was growing up, my foster mother referred to her son's Genesis as "Intendo". Arg, I wanted to beat her with a rake.

Nintendo fans in general, or at least on eBay, seem to be the largest idiots of the gaming world. I sell a lot of video games on eBay, but almost always TurboGrafx stuff. However, once I sold a DS Lite. I'll never do it again. I got the most idiotic questions from potential buyers, questions that were SO incredibly stupid that you wonder how these people dress themselves in the morning. I'll occasionally get ONE stupid question on one of my TG auctions, but only one, and at huge intervals. Here, I'm talking 8 Wiitarded questions on the SAME AUCTION.

I love that word...Wiitard. :D

[Slate]

I never understood why people called genesis systems "Segas". It never bothered me much though. If I was running a game repair service it might.

Hmm.. I can't think of any annoying game terms or pet peeves.

Really, I can't.

I'm sure they'll come to me later.

[Xian042]

I have a habit of still saying "paddles" when referring to game controllers, this quite irritates some people.

[Pantechnicon]

"Old school" is starting to stick in my craw a little bit, particularly when I hear people clamoring to apply it to systems which frankly haven't yet earned such a distinction, e.g - "Old school X-Box games". I suppose that might - might - seem like a valid sentiment if, back in 2001, you were in 7th grade and your parents put one of these brand new machines under the Christmas tree. And now you're in college, pining for your roots. Sorry, junior. Come back in 10 to 15 years when the public utterance of the name of your console d'amour is the kind of thing that causes 14-year-olds to vacantly stare and say, "Uh...X-what?" Then you'll really understand "old school" and we'll have something to talk about.

Until then, I'm from the Atari 2600 generation, so get off my lawn.

[skaar]

I LOATHE the word Urban.

[Smashed Brother]

What really chaps my ass is the ubiquitous term "Limited/Collector's Edition/Version" what-have-you that's labeled on everything released nowadays, gaming-wise or not. This term is so overused, so blown out of proportion, that those words possess very little merit anymore. Back in the day, when you saw those words slapped onto something, you knew that you were getting that something special which appealed to the inner fanboy in you... something that you spent that little extra on because you love the product and knew that this version of it wouldn't be around for long. Now, an outer slipcase for a DVD, or an extra disc with about 3 minutes of making-of footage apparently deserves the right to use this terminology! Even better, these 'limited' versions are usually just as or more plentiful than the regular product.

The Halo 2 tin case is a good example. I bought this thinking that maybe it might hold a little value in the future. Yeah right.... I saw more of those on the shelves than the regular version! Same thing with Doom 3 on the Xbox. I don't know, I might be alone on this one. But, whenever I see those words on whatever new product is out there, I silently weep to myself...

[CelticJobber]

It really annoys me when people pronounce "Super Smash Brothers" as "Super Smash Bro's" (the same thing applies to Super Mario Bros.).

And I also get annoyed when people pronounce "Mario" as "Mary-O".

[JunkTheMagicDragon]

one of my pet peeves is when in-game characters refer to real-life buttons on the controller. break the illusion every time.

just tell me what you want me to do, and i'll look it up on the controller map, mkay?

[Brian Deuel]

"I collect Atari coin-operated arcade games."
"Oh, that's cool. I had an Atari when I was a kid."

For some reason, that bothers me. It's almost as if the REAL Atari (the coinop company) didn't exist and all there was, was the 2600.

Along the same lines, but more derogatory:

"Atari? HAHAHAHH! They died in like, 1995. The Jaguar sucked!"
*reaches out and strangles the moron*

Um... the REAL Atari went out of business in 2003, idiot!

My point is, the real, true Atari was a coinop company. Their roots stemmed from that, and they went out of business as a coinop company. The Tramiel Atari was a joke and a sham, and the fact that Atari Games doesn't get any respect from these dolts pisses me off.

[Brian Deuel]

Oh... here's some more:

Bullet Hell
Arena Shooter
bullet reflection
terrain engine
etc.

The myriad of stupid new technology terms used by certain game bloggers, highlighted in each post, and taking precedence over how the game actually plays. Do a search for any of those terms and you'll see some examples.

Also, Gamasutra and their annoying overuse of the initials IP for EVERY GODDAMN GAME!!! That site sucks.

Ok... I'm done :)

[motley6]

We always called it an extra life when I was growing up. Or maybe 1-Up.

[SpaceHarrier]

Tri-Linear Interpolation
Z-Buffering
Mip-Mapping
any similar techy buzzwords that originated around the time of N64
Blast processing

Ninja Gayden
Mayrio

(though I must admit I still mispronounce Raiden as Rayden)

Killer app
And yes, shmup. I hate you.

[mezrabad]

Two things:

Thing the First:
I'm sure I'm not going to change how anyone prefers to spell "videogame" with this explanation but I hope it peeves people less to know that there is some reasoning behind it.

Tape you play on a video screen is a videotape.
A game you play on a video screen is videogame.

Then again, I've always spelled it "boardgame" and I'm sure others put the space in. I guess I just like compound words.

Thing the Second:
It bugs me when people say they've "beaten a game". I like to ask how many times the game beat them before they managed to beat it. I've never met anyone who'd kept track.

With single-player games especially...they might've "finished" the game...I'll even grant that they might've "won" the game...but they didn't "beat" it. It's as odd to me as if a musician were to say they'd "beaten" a piece of music they'd learned to play correctly.

[MachineGex]

Referring to the PlayStation as the "PSX" bothers me. Where did the "X" come from?


PSX came from sony itself. They had several ads and poster with different clever ways they spell out P S X.

So, you can really get too pissed because sony themselves refer to it as PSX. I have found the people who bought the Playstation at release call it a PSX. I still refer to the original design as a PSX and the new design PSOne.

[theChad]

PSX came from sony itself. They had several ads and poster with different clever ways they spell out P S X.

So, you can really get too pissed because sony themselves refer to it as PSX. I have found the people who bought the Playstation at release call it a PSX. I still refer to the original design as a PSX and the new design PSOne.

Wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSX_(DVR)

[Ed Oscuro]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSX_(DVR)
So?

That was launched in 2005 and the history of the PSX DVR doesn't disprove any of the points MachineGex was talking about.

PSOne and PSX (as the DVR) are both revisions on the original name of the unit.

<- I'm another guy who calls the original PlayStation the PSX in casual writing; when I need to be technical I use the long name to eliminate confusion.

[theChad]

So?

That was launched in 2005 and the history of the PSX DVR doesn't disprove any of the points MachineGex was talking about.

PSOne and PSX (as the DVR) are both revisions on the original name of the unit.

<- I'm another guy who calls the original PlayStation the PSX in casual writing; when I need to be technical I use the long name to eliminate confusion.

He said Sony itself was responsible for the PSX/Playstation confusion, while Sony specifically refers to the PSX as the PSX. The PSX is the name of the DVR unit, period. Playstation is the original. There's not much more to it, really.

[Ed Oscuro]

He said Sony itself was responsible for the PSX/Playstation confusion, while Sony specifically refers to the PSX as the PSX.
They only have been doing that since 2004, so that part isn't relevant.

That said, you're right that I don't know of an instance where Sony themselves used the term. Nowadays when you go to a PlayStation site you see that PlayStation, the logo, and PSX (amongst other terms) are registered trademarks of Sony, but in the old days PSX wasn't a trademark of theirs.

Of course, that doesn't mean that they didn't use it in some informal capacity, or at some later time (before 2004).

I wish I knew how it got started; even so I agree with MachineGex that many original PlayStation users tend to call it the PSX.

[theChad]

They only have been doing that since 2004, so that part isn't relevant.

That said, you're right that I don't know of an instance where Sony themselves used the term. Nowadays when you go to a PlayStation site you see that PlayStation, the logo, and PSX (amongst other terms) are registered trademarks of Sony, but in the old days PSX wasn't a trademark of theirs.

Of course, that doesn't mean that they didn't use it in some informal capacity, or at some later time (before 2004).

I wish I knew how it got started; even so I agree with MachineGex that many original PlayStation users tend to call it the PSX.

I think it got started from when the PlayStation was in development as the PlayStation Experimental. I know PSX is what a lot of fans call it, I'm just in the camp that would have added that as one of the "annoying video game terms". I mean, yes, it's understood that when most people say PSX they are talking about the PlayStation, so to say that it's confusing would be kind of ridiculous, but I think with the advent of a system by that name, some disambiguation is required.

It's like the people who mentioned the Sega Genesis just being called a "Sega" except in that case there were even more systems before it that could be mixed up.

[Ed Oscuro]

It was also a bad move for Sony to release such an unspectacular system as the actual PSX and use the name for it - it's quite common (in Japan and elsewhere) to put an X at the end of something where you can switch in whatever numbers you desire, i.e. 19XX. Logically speaking, then, PSX would be "any system in the PlayStation sequence," so psx.massivegamesite.com would cover everything from PS1 on up. But no, they had to go all eXtreme on us and foul it up :p

Edit: I now see that disambiguation page's spiel on PlayStation Experimental (and I'm also apparently mirroring some of the thoughts of whatever editors added that).

Can we get a better source than a Wiki disambiguation page? There's no mention of "PlayStation Experimental" in the regular Wiki article, and this is the first I've heard of it in any case.

[Ruudos]

It annoys me when somebody call the Super Nintendo a S-N-E-S or sness. What's wrong just calling it Super Nintendo.


Oh, and NEC should be pronounced as N, E, C. But NAC should be pronounced as nack. Except when they play against each other, than you can say neck - nack.

[Astrosmash]

"Game Pak" always bugged me too. Maybe I wouldn't mind it quite as much if they spelled out "pack," I don't know, but even as a kid I never liked it much. I already knew "cartridge" was the standard term.

Also bothered me when Nintendo carried the "Pak" to other accessories in the N64 era (Rumble Pak, Expansion Pak).

Today calling an NES just "Nintendo" would be a peeve too, but I do remember being guilty of it as a kid... of course, this was before SNES came out, so if one of your friends asked you to come over and play Nintendo, there was only one system they'd be talking about.

[MachineGex]

I think it got started from when the PlayStation was in development as the PlayStation Experimental. I know PSX is what a lot of fans call it, I'm just in the camp that would have added that as one of the "annoying video game terms". I mean, yes, it's understood that when most people say PSX they are talking about the PlayStation, so to say that it's confusing would be kind of ridiculous, but I think with the advent of a system by that name, some disambiguation is required.

WRONG!
Fans call it PSX because sony use to have posters of it refering to it as PSX. It was a play on words. I use to own the poster and they were hung everywhere the first 6 month of release.
Quoting something on wiki isnt going to prove anything. Unless you have seen the posters or remember them, you might not want to comment on them.
I hope this clears up some confusion on your part.

[FrakAttack]

Since when is "lich," as in Wrath of the Lich King, pronounced "litch?" It's "like."

[TheRealist50]

It annoys me when somebody call the Super Nintendo a S-N-E-S or sness. What's wrong just calling it Super Nintendo.

I find it very annoying and dumb when your talking to somebody and they actually say "SNES" instead of saying "Super Nintendo"

I don't mind when your typing it out, its faster. But when your talking to somebody and they say it...its just annoying.

[Ed Oscuro]

WRONG!
Fans call it PSX because sony use to have posters of it refering to it as PSX. It was a play on words. I use to own the poster and they were hung everywhere the first 6 month of release.
Quoting something on wiki isnt going to prove anything. Unless you have seen the posters or remember them, you might not want to comment on them.
I hope this clears up some confusion on your part.
I should just be quiet, but I now remember that I've read about the early advertisements here on DP some years ago, so MachineGex gets my +1.

Silly Wikipedia.

[theChad]

WRONG!
Fans call it PSX because sony use to have posters of it refering to it as PSX. It was a play on words. I use to own the poster and they were hung everywhere the first 6 month of release.
Quoting something on wiki isnt going to prove anything. Unless you have seen the posters or remember them, you might not want to comment on them.
I hope this clears up some confusion on your part.

Well if I've never seen the posters it's not as if I could have known whether it was right or wrong, but that still doesn't change my point that there is a console called the PSX and it's definitely not the PlayStation. That's where the frustration lies, there's no confusion.

[Ed Oscuro]

but that still doesn't change my point that there is a console called the PSX and it's definitely not the PlayStation. That's where the frustration lies, there's no confusion.
I don't really see the need to honor Sony's decision to put out a failed console. But since they did it there's not really much reason to be stubborn about it. I hate saying PSOne; PS1 is a term I started using back about the time the 2004 PSX was released. Later I suppose I got my dander up and said "f%&! them" and started calling the PlayStation the PSX again. Now I kinda switch back and forth a little.

Anyhow, I have heard about the fabled PSX ads but never seen them (seen lots of the Neo Geo Weenie ad scans, though).

Instead, after a short and fruitless search, I present controllerboobs.jpg (http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/kevinsblogger/controllerboobs.jpg) (slight warning for mild content appealing to the prurient interest)

[Sudo]

I've been calling it the PSX since Sony itself did so, and I'll be damned if I'm going to stop now. :p

[slapdash]

It's spelled "PSX", but it's pronounced "PlayStation".

Unlike PSX, which is pronounced "expensive and silly".

[tcv]

It's spelled "PSX", but it's pronounced "PlayStation".

No, it's spelled "PSX," but it's pronounced "throatwobbler mangrove. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyQvjKqXA0Y)"

[slapdash]

Ha ha, good catch, though I BELIEVE it's "throatWARBLER mangrove"...

[alexkidd2000]

Well when I had a Sega Master System, I called it a Sega. But when Genesis came along it was a Sega Genesis. I plead guitly to calling a NES a ness, not going to change either haha.

My little guy calls Playstation a Spacestation haha. Can I play Spacestation 2? Too funny to correct..

[Superman]

The one term that I really don't like is cheezing? cheesing?

I remember when Street Fighter II came out and my friends would be playing it and they would say to each other, "don't cheeze."

Everytime I heard that word, I thought of - Cheese. I just never understood it. I didn't see how cheese was related to Street Fighter II.

I remember asking them why don't you just tell the person not to cheat. Their response was simply, because, "cheezing is the term."

[j_factor]

I don't like terminology that's given ex post facto. Like "PS1". I hate seeing (or hearing) PS1. The system is called Playstation, or PSX for short. I have no problem with "PSX" because it's always been called that, and I always thought it was accepted practice to use an "X" to stand for other syllables in an abbreviation. Like, in airport terms Los Angeles is LAX. "PS" is acceptable in theory but I always think of "P.S." as in "post script".

I've never liked "GCN". What's wrong with "GC"? I don't think anyone will confuse it as meaning Game.com. Sometimes I shorten it as "Cube" just to be different. I also don't like hearing "Nintendo" in front of every system they've made. Why do people say "Nintendo DS"? Is there another brand of DS? It makes me think that DS is a system like 3DO with multiple manufacturers. One time someone said "Nintendo NES" and I just about punched him in the face.