Annoying Video Game Terms or Pet Peeves

[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

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.