I don’t think I would have gotten into RPG’s when I did if it wasn’t for my friend Eric introducing me to Final Fantasy VII back in the day. Up until I played it I’d say probably 80% or maybe even more of my gaming time was spent playing sports games, mainly Madden ’93 and NHL ’94 which still to this day are two of my favorite games, but I digress. After playing Final Fantasy VII my mind was opened to a whole genre of games I don’t know if I ever would have really gotten into, it was my gateway drug, from more Final Fantasy games to Pokemon, the Diablo franchise, MMO’s, and most recently Skyrim. I am definitely a fan of RPG’s but it all started with my friend telling me to play Final Fantasy VII.
I’ve also used critical game reviews/previews to guide my decisions on purchases as well; it was those things that led me to buy the first Resistance and Uncharted games on PS3, 2 franchises which I think have been very solid. Sometimes a little of both helps make a decision easier. For me, Portal is a good example of something where both friends and reviews just made it something I couldn’t ignore forever. However, sometimes these things can steer you wrong. I went with the reviews and what some of my co-workers were saying and decided to pick up Battlefield 3, and just didn’t get into it as much as it seemed my co-workers did.
Sometimes just a commercial or trailer can be enough to sell you on something. I remember the trailer for I Am Legend being so vague and nondescript that I pretty much felt like I had to go see it just to find out what the hell it was about. And now there are even more ways to find reviews for anything that’s coming out. There are blogs dedicated to everything under the sun, websites that aggregate reviews to make it easy to see what the general consensus on a product is, and commercials are eating up more of our TV shows time (although the invention of DVR cuts down on the amount of commercials some of us have to actually watch). So to answer the question at the top I’d say the way I mainly like to find out about new things is from my friends, we have pretty similar likes and dislikes so I feel their word on a topic carries a lot of weight with me. And so now I ask you our readers, “What’s your favorite way to find out about new things?” Leave your answers in the comments!