Tat

I bought NOM last week. It had a picture of Mario on the front cover zooming through a starry galaxy with “World Exclusive Review” in red and white lettering stamped in the left hand corner. I wanted to soak up as much Mario Galaxy goodness as I could so the lure of the magazine was at least as tempting as a worm would be to a rainbow trout. The addition of a free set of Nintendo stickers and a Legend of Zelda Phantom Hour Glass Hylian shield and sword pin badge meant the worm could attract a killer whale.

Normally I’d scoff at NOM and their freebies. If it’s not crappy stickers that you’re supposed to slap onto your Wii remote or DS it’s a crappy toy or a crappy plastic case for your beloved DS.

Many game developers including Nintendo, Capcom and Square Enix authorise use of their IP’s for use as toys, models, key rings etc and more often than not fans of the games absolutely lap these items up. More than that, Japanese gamers can go absolutely bananas to get hold of the latest Final Fantasy figure and even western game fans pour a healthy amount of cash into collecting videogame merchandise. There is tat galore! You can have key rings, sweatbands, CD cases, pens, y-fronts with your favourite game characters on.

While I’m talking about tat, why do gamers want a figure of Street Fighter 2’s Ryu, a plastic Pac-Man, or one of the buxom DOA girls on our PC monitor? Ok, I can understand the DOA girl but it doesn’t explain the rest! And why do they want to stick free stickers from NOM on their Wii Remotes anyway?

Magazines clearly think they can persuade us to buy the latest edition by including any old tat on the front cover. More often than not the free gift does nothing for me and I buy only if there are articles, previews or reviews I want to read. This time however they got the freebie right.

Does it put you off when magazines include freebies or does it sway you to buy? It's never put Gameov3r off. He has a prized collection of video game tat under his stairs. His favourite item is his Samus Aran figure. He often sneaks under the stairs, when he thinks we’re not looking, to polish her helmet. Come on over and give him a hand on his FORUM.