[JoeTheSnifit]

Originally posted by Deaf, Dumb, and Blind:
You know, i'm sick of overhearing all the muscle-head jocks say, "Dude, come over and play Madden/NBA Street/Tony Hawk!" I was beaten up by guys like them for playing video games when I was younger, so i'd like it if video games became more underground. If gamers - hardcore gamers - were more of a rare breed, that would be great. Unfortunately, video games are the "cool thing" now. Businesses who, five years ago, had no interest in video games, are buying up companies for sale. Ahem, video game historians: Does this sound familiar? Think...early 80's, maybe? Let's review: The Great Depression of video games that was caused, in part, by people seeing money in video games and messing it all up. Many, many bad games were created, flooded the market, and video games were viewed as a fad for a few years.

So, if all that's true about history repeating itself, let me ask a question: Video games now make as much or almost as much as the Hollywood Box office, and mainstream franchises pull more and more people in all the time: Madden, ESPN NFL, GTA, etc. Do you think that history will repeat itself, and all the mainstream exposure will kill the gaming industry again? Or will all turn for the better, and the line between mainstream and hardcore be blurred?

Thank you for saving me the trouble of typing that.