The simplest etymological breakdown of the word "cassette" is "little box". The term need not necessarily refer to magnetic tape media. So the terminology is appropriate, if not exactly utilized in the same widespread sense as that which referred to commercial audio recordings.
Remember also that video games in distributed in cartridge form (Fairchild, Atari 2600, et al ) would have come before both magnetic computer media and widespread home ownership of personal computers. I'm not saying that game carts necessarily preceded computer game programs on tapes. I'm just saying that 30 years ago there would have been more of the former than the latter in American households.
Last edited by Pantechnicon; 02-04-2008 at 02:37 PM.
This only really applies to print, but I've been seeing a lot of systems, aka consoles, being referred to as 'councils'. They often have power and a/v 'chords' as well.
I'm also not a fan of "shmup" as a mash-up term for top-down or side-scrolling flying shooters.
Last edited by Frankie_Says_Relax; 02-04-2008 at 03:11 PM.
"And the book says: 'We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us.'"
I guess I heard NEC as "neck" alot when dealing with customers at CompUSA. NEC put there name on LCD monitors from time to time, and we carried them. I would never correct the person, but when I referred to them I always said N, E, C,. Kinda like gently correcting someone without coming right out and saying it. But most people were too dumb to catch on.
Condoleezza Rice is nice, but I prefer A Roni!
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Last edited by DefaultGen; 03-12-2023 at 07:31 PM.
People claiming games are to short even if they take over 20 hours to beat.
I am another person who is annoyed by what the people think the term shooters now days.
People thinking a person is a fanboy right away buy just own one next generation system. That is not always the case. I don't mind a person owning a different game console then I do. This not a sign of a fanboy. People may only buy a game console for reasons like what exclusive games are on the system, the price of the system and the durability of the system.
People saying the system you don't have has better games then the system you own and tells you to buy that system without knowing what type of games you like.
Game companies not putting any effort to a sports game that they have exclusive to rights to develop.
People assume you want a certain game console on a virtual game console because you like the vc. People thought I wanted a 2600 to be a vc system and that was never the case.
People acting like a used game console without games that is $100 to $250.00 is cheap. Not all people have that type of money for spending on a 10 to 30 year old game system like a Turbo duo.
The term "fanboy" is overused. I don't think people know the true meaning of the term anymore.
I hate it when people call game consoles "games." Like today, for instance. At work:
CALLER: "Do you have any Wii games?"
ME: "Yes, we have a lot of Wii games."
CALLER: "You do!?"
ME: "Yeah. Which one are you looking for?"
CALLER: "The game. The Wii game."
ME: "The system?"
CALLER: "Yeah. You have any of those?"
ME: "Oh. No, we don't."
I also hate the term SHMUP. I still call them shooters. If I'm referring to COD4 or Halo, I call them first person shooters.
Oh yeah. I still get annoyed when I hear "RYE-YOO".
One last thing: RARE!! As in, "OMFG, this loose Super Mario Bros. cartridge is so rare, that's why I'm selling it for $49.99!"
Kind of an aside, but did anyone used to call beating a game "rapping" it? Maybe it is "wrapping", since that would make more sense, but phonetically it's all the same. It used to be a great honor in grade school to have rapped Mario 3.
Shmup? Not so bad, and plus, when we're dealing with eBay listings, it's just short enough to put in the heading without it being too distracting. Would I ever get caught saying it in person? I hope not, but it writes nice and succinct.
"Enduro" is a symbolic journey through life via the media of a race.
My "SKU" peeve was taken, but these days I also get pissed off when I hear gaming mags (or gamers even, sheesh) refer to "assets" and "IP" in a game rather than stuff like characters or art. It sounds like it came straight from the mouth of a game company lawyer or publicist.
Oh, and when I was a kid, one of my friends would forever use the word "solve".
"Oh, hey, I solved Zelda last night." "This game is easy to solve." "I solved Contra."
C'mon, it isn't a math problem. It wasn't that tough to beat!
I don't have any of my own pet peeves to add, but my wife absolutely hates it when I call a cartridge a "cart".
on a similar note, but off-topic, i hate when people refer to a pregnant women as "preggers"...it just sounds very creepy to me. i just went back to waiting tables, and i am working in a mall. the store next to us is called "EPregger's", and it disturbs me greatly to walk past it. i know that whenever i have kids, my future wife will get irate at me when i inevitably freak out one day when she says "preggers" (which i find is a term that almost all females use, and invariably think it is an adorable thing to say)
to get back on a related note, i hate when i mention Nintendo, and people assume that I am talking about the Wii or something. i play regular nintendo dammit, not this new-fangled stuff!
Before the Wii came out, (or whoever so-called claims to invent the "remote"), I knew people who would call NES, Genesis and SNES controllers, "remotes", which for some odd reason bothered me. Maybe it was a glimpse of the future?
Also, is a 1up called, a ...free man, extra man, extra life, free life???...????
I used to dislike the term "shmup" as well, but have gotten over it because the multitudes of FPS fans stole our common term. It is also easier to type than the alternative "shoot 'em up".
As another contribution, it drives me crazy when people say they "solved" a game as opposed to "finishing" or "beating" or said game. I think it was a more common term in the NES era. It makes a bit more sense for a game like a Zelda or Final Fantasy, or for a PC adventure title especially, but not for action oriented games.
"Yo, I just solved Contra!" doesn't work.
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.