Substance TV

Video games are a lot like a never ending war. As a soldier, you go through all sorts of emotions and experiences everyday, and anyone who is in this “war” alongside you is a comrade. Instead of bullet wounds, you’ve got blistered thumbs. Instead of army rations, you have ramen noodles. You share stories and your glorious accomplishments. Part of gaming, in my opinion, is this integral community of gaming war stories. As many of you know, Erik (co-creator of Substance TV) has been a long time friend of mine. Since the dawn of time, a.k.a. 8 years ago, we’ve played all sorts of great games from A-Z. And as any wartime gaming soldiers do, we enjoy shooting the breeze about the games we play, bosses we beat, levels we conquered, and so on. That all changed one fateful day.

One of our favorite game series of all time is Metal Gear Solid. Since the first one, we’ve been hooked. As such, we would talk about the game with great adoration and detail. This continued with Metal Gear Solid 2, and then Metal Gear Solid 3. These were day of games we gladly put money down for and played to our wee little hearts content. Each of these games were amazing, and being able to talk about the same experiences with a bud made it all the more enjoyable.

Then the fateful day came when Metal Gear Solid 4 was released. The only difference being, both Erik and I were on two sides of the wartime fence. He owned PS3 and I owned a 360, but neither of us owned the other. Actually, he owned a 360 at one time, but once he got the RROD, he rightly said screw it and bought a PS3. My excuse, well, money isn’t easy to come by, and the $500 price tag for another next gen console just wasn’t in the cards for me.

Instead of us both plowing through the game and sharing our war stories, he went to war, and I stayed home. Everyday he played the game, he would call me up and and it took all the will power within him to hold his tongue. He could tell me all the amazing things that happened in the game, but since I had not touched the game, he respectfully didn’t spoil things. I tried many avenues to try and play the game, but to no avail. Months went by without so much a peep about the game and it was killin’ me. One of the biggest video games of all time and I can’t talk to my friend about it.

I know, you’re saying just get it all out, but MGS is one of those few games I have to experience for myself with no forewarning or spoilage. It’s just how is has to work.

Here it is, over 3 months later, and still nothing. So here I sit, alone in my own self afflicting box without my Gear. Maybe once day I’ll play the game. Then life will have meaning, and my war buddy and I can meet in battle again to talk about our war stories.