Long live the Golden Era of Gaming.
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There comes a time in every man’s life when he knows he is officially “washed up.”
For athletes, it’s a lot easier to see the signs. Your first step isn’t as quick as it once was, or maybe you can’t make those throws you could in your mid-20s.
Whatever the case may be, Father Time comes for us all the same, but for the everyman, the signs may be a little harder to spot.
GameStop just did every Millennial guy a favor and dropped a truth nuke on an entire generation of gamers with a simple statement released on social media earlier Monday.
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The statement was likely supposed to read as a simple corporate memo, but for everyone who grew up playing Halo 3 or Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, this statement might as well have been a hot knife to the heart.
It certainly did a number on me, and I wasn’t even that big of a gamer by the time the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or Wii U were in circulation.
Here I was, scrolling X and looking for some news about the war in Iran or something some stupid liberal may have said at the Oscars, and instead I was greeted with the social media equivalent of a kid telling me, “It’s time to go to bed, old man.”
My fellow Millennials flooded the comments section with eulogies for our primes, lamenting the fact that our best days were now behind us.
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As that last guy points out, calling them “historic artifacts” feels just a bit unnecessary.
You already stabbed us in the back, GameStop. There is absolutely no need to twist that knife anymore than you have.
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Do me a favor, guys. Tonight, after the wife and kids have gone to sleep, fire up your 360 or PS3, and give your favorite game a spin.
Maybe pour yourself a glass of Mountain Dew: Code Red and blast the Linkin Park/Jay-Z collab album, just to get the mood right.
And, most importantly, remember what life was like when you were on top of the world.
GameStop may have designated these consoles as “retro” or “historic artifacts,” but they’ll never take away the memories we forged in those Xbox Live or PlayStation Network lobbies all those years ago.
Long live the Golden Era of Gaming.
