"What's Tetris?"

[Goth Skunk]

My first realization that I was getting old was when I read a little snippit in the city newspaper last year...

"On this day in history: 1999. The Matrix was released in theaters. Ten years ago. Feel old yet?"

Sadly, I did. To me, the Matrix still feels like a recent release.

 

[diablo523]

I agree with a lot of the people who have responded. How often do you see Tetris advertised today? I have not once in about 5 or so years seen an ad for a version of Tetris. Sure there are endless allusions and pop culture references in stuff we watch/read (like College Humor and xkcd) but imagine if you had just started gaming a couple years ago. How would you have found Tetris? You would either have to stumble across it or somebody(like your uncle) would have to sit you down and edumacate you. Anyway, that's my opinion.

 

[Meggiepants]

I think you would know what Tetris is just from pop culture references. I mean, I can see not playing it, as puzzle games have gotten a little more complex and interesting since the days of Tetris, hell, even Tetris 2 is better than Tetris from a game mechanic standpoint. But I would at least think you'd have heard the term Tetris.

Plus, if you have never heard of Tetris you wouldn't get such delight from this:
Which would truly be a shame.

 

[Mesca]

I swear if he goes and asks "What is Metroid" there's going to be a huge problem.

That's that bus riding game right?

...Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't heard of metroid, but if he didn't know about Mario? That.. that's.. I mean good lord. That'd just be wrong.

 

[Aura Guardian]

I prefer Puzzle League over Tetris.

It's rare to see a young gamer like the retro stuff

 

[Yureina]

I'd flip out if it werent for the fact that i've not seen a vast amount of so-called "must see" films that people tell me about. Same goes with listening to music or knowing the names of certain major band members or whatever. Some things just are either before my time or not in my interests.

 

[TheGreenManalishi]

I never got into tetris until last year. Love it.

 

[Druyn]

Shit, I would hav just ***** slapped the kid. True, Tetris is old, puzzle games have advanced, but its tsill amazing. Its still in the top 50 for App Store purchases on the iPhone, its still the default game on most cell phones, its still considered to be an incredible game. Maybe its just the fact that your nephew doesnt have a phone yet and doesnt game enough yet that he just hasnt encountered it before. If he is a gamer, then shame on him.

 

[Liberaliter]

He's just a kid

 

[ntw3001]

Sounds ok to me. Can't really hold it against a fella that he doesn't know things he's never been told. If he weren't young (not sure how young 'young' means, but I figure eight or less), maybe it would be a thing.

I have a friend who didn't know how to play football until he was seventeen or so; that was an odd one. I mean, okay, his family didn't care about football. Neither do mine. But it was expected that one would know, after seventeen years living in the UK, that the trick is to try and transport the ball into the area between the posts on the opposite side of the pitch. I guess you don't have to know things like the duration of the match or the purpose of all the pitch markings or such, but it was as though he'd never heard of the game at all, or indeed any other pitch-based sport. It would have been less baffling if he hadn't known what a sandwich was.

 

[Weaver]

The thing is it's not like Tetris just released in the 80s and then that was the end of it. It's been re-released and remade no short of a billion gillion zillion times that it's nearly IMPOSSIBLE to be a gamer and not have heard of it.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I asked a few friends who only play COD and class themselves as hardcore gamers and they didn't have a clue who Mario and lugi were. so i guess its almost as bad as not knowin tetris.

Actually that's worse.

 

[SniperMacFox]

I could say FPS has ruined the genre

But I won't I guess it shows how little knowledge a load of people have of the gaming outside of CoD.

I asked a few friends who only play CoD and class themselves as hardcore gamers and they didn't have a clue who Mario and Luigi are. so I guess it's almost as bad as not knowing Tetris.

I don't think that knowing two Italian plumbers qualifies you as a "hardcore" gamer, but then I've never really liked the term "hardcore" anyway. Also FPS has ruined the genre? Shame on you! Do you consider Half Life 2 to be a terrible disaster? Or do you believe that the Call of Duty and Halo franchise have contributed nothing to the online gaming scene?

But these points are irelevant. The important thing is that if the cousin in question has been playing video games for around, let's say 3 years, then that is a terrible outlook of the future. How will we have builders and architects in the future if they don't know how to create solid towers?

 

[Legend of J]

I could say FPS has ruined the genre

But I won't I guess it shows how little knowledge a load of people have of the gaming outside of CoD.

I asked a few friends who only play CoD and class themselves as hardcore gamers and they didn't have a clue who Mario and Luigi are. so I guess it's almost as bad as not knowing Tetris.

I don't think that knowing two Italian plumbers qualifies you as a "hardcore" gamer, but then I've never really liked the term "hardcore" anyway. Also FPS has ruined the genre? Shame on you! Do you consider Half Life 2 to be a terrible disaster? Or do you believe that the Call of Duty and Halo franchise have contributed nothing to the online gaming scene?

But these points are irelevant. The important thing is that if the cousin in question has been playing video games for around, let's say 3 years, then that is a terrible outlook of the future. How will we have builders and architects in the future if they don't know how to create solid towers?

I was considering it more as sarcasum lol cause yes i agree half life 2 is pretty epic. I also feel slappin the valve logo on things does help alot.

 

[Eleima]

Oh goodness... The poor thing doesn't know what Tetris is, you simply *must* put a good old GameBoy in his hands, and before too long, he'll be humming the theme songs.

Spoiler: You know which one I'm talking about...

Gosh, now I feels **old**.

Also, if he starts asking what PacMan is... That's the end of all things.

 

[UberNoodle]

Well, to be honest, Tetris isn't all that great. Puzzle games have come a long way.

But, smack him for me, will you?

Tetris is perfect. Those other puzzle games are too complex for their own good. There is a reason that they not copied endlessly. That, or Tetris' laywers aren't very vigilant.

 

[SniperMacFox]

I was considering it more as sarcasm lol cause yes I agree half life 2 is pretty epic. I also feel slappin the valve logo on things does help alot.

It is rather cathartic, but be careful as for some reason people got upset when I started spraying it on their cars.
It looked better then the whole "Police" paint job they'd done anyway.

 

[Leviathan_]

Yes. Gaming like everything else progesses, does it really suprise you? Be happy about it.

Agreed.

 

[Klarinette]

There's no way Tetris is becoming a thing of the past that people are forgetting about. It's too great. Slap him for me, and sit him down in front of a NES. "Play. Play until you know."