I was out at dinner tonight with my housemates tonight. Over the salad course, I turn to them and asked “Is anyone interested in playing Metal Gear Solid 4?

The other diners shook their heads and grumbled a little.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to be That Guy. You know the guy I mean, the guy who has to scourge himself if he finds out he accidentally liked something that’s popular. But heck, this is practically unprecedented.

We’re a house of the nerdiest of nerds. Between the four of us, we’ve got every imaginable genre of game represented in the communal collection. If something comes out, chances are at least one of us wants it. Heck, Dom even likes games that are more like spreadsheets than entertainment.

For a triple-A zomg gotta have it game to come out that nobody even has a flicker of interest in? Inconceivable!

For me it’s partly due to a game backlog. Even if MGS4 were totally desirable, I’m still not halfway done with Grand Theft Auto 4, a game which, like Shakespeare, proves it’s possible to be the absolute best and still be overhyped. I’ll probably finish Ninja Gaiden II. I want to try all 100 of these games, starting with Freespace 2, a grievous gap in my gaming portfolio.

But more than that, I think we’re all just turned off by the nagging feeling that things like this description of Crying Wolf, one of the bosses…

As evidenced by her name, she is manically depressed, killing others while sobbing loudly, making her the most emotionally despondent out of the unit.

…and this description of Vamp, a returning character…

Besides the vampiric abilities, he is also an expert with both combat knives and throwing knives. His codename refers not to his vampire-like abilities, but to his bisexuality. He was very close to Fortune and her father Scott Dolph who were lovers.

…aren’t meant to be taken as high camp, but as serious business.

Popularity: 3% [?]