The gaming industry is a fun place to work in, what with all the games and all, but sadly it's becoming way too corporate for its own good in recent times. From being an enjoyable hobby to a serious multi-billion dollar industry, gaming has come a long way. Just like any other rapidly expanding business it’s filled with certain annoyances that I would like to address today.

In this day and age, making a solid game just doesn’t seem to cut it anymore. You have to spend millions of dollars on ad campaigns promoting it vigorously before launch date, throw lavish parties to ensure everyone and their grandmum know about the game, and hire top-notch Hollywood talent to enhance the "hip" factor.

I don’t get it; why are companies wasting tons of money on promotion instead of using that time, money and energy to improve the quality of the game? After all, I’ve come across barely a handful of games in recent times that were near perfect and didn’t require any sort of polishing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not judging companies that promote their games in a lavish manner – all I’m saying is that it would be better if we had a relatively low-key sound product rather than a high-profile unfinished product.

Nothing pisses gamers off more than a loudmouthed developer dressed up like some sort of a "frat bro" who thinks no end of himself. It makes matters even worse if the game he’s promoting turns out to be total ass, ruining any sort of street credential he had left. Also, as one of my good friends pointed out at the GCA in Singapore (who by the way read this PSM3 – a PlayStation 3 magazine), certain developers today have this misguided notion that they’re more movie star/rock star than game developer.

Case in point a certain well-known developer present at the GCA promoting a high-key game. Not only did the dude act like he was doing the world a favor just by being there but he constantly had this unnecessary attitude. Now we don’t know if he was born like that or if he had a bad flight, but the bottomline is that when you’re speaking to journalists and fans who’ve also come from far-off places to hear you talk about your game, the least you can do is put on a friendly face and try not to act like you’ve got a gun pointed to your head.

A fanboy is someone who is blindly influenced by a product, be it a game or a console. He cannot take any form of criticism against that product, and will defend it proudly till his dying day. These days we primarily have two camps – Sony fanboys and Microsoft fanboys (we don’t see too much fanboy-ism from the Nintendo camp since Nintendo largely caters to the casual gamer). Not only will these fanboys sit and troll whenever possible, ruining a perfectly good discussion (either on a public forum or inside a comments section) in the bargain; they’ll also wash their dirty laundry in public – which basically is a metaphor for the way they’re constantly at each other throats.

I don’t get it guys; isn’t it all about the game at the end of the day? Sure, the PS3 had its shortcomings during launch, but a lot of those problems have been ironed out now and Sony actually has strong range of games at their disposal. And yes, I know the Xbox360 is plagued by the annoying RROD (red ring of death) issue but then again it’s got so much going for it – such as a robust online component and an awesome library of games. The bottomline is that both consoles have their strengths and weaknesses, so take your pick, play your games, and live happily ever after... instead of slinging mud at each other whenever possible.