Grocery Gamers

So I've been traveling back to college over the last few days, and yesterday I went to ShopRite to get food for the semester. I was paying for everything up front when I overheard a conversation about video games from the line next to me. I looked over to see the employee discussing his views on the new systems, but I couldn't figure out who he was talking to.

Then the women he is helping, who looked to be in her late 50's, starts bragging about how high her scores are in Wii Bowling. I was surprised at first to see who was discussing gaming, but I have been hearing more and more that the Wii is reaching new demographics.

The cashier went on to talk about his XBox 360, saying that it was mostly a system for FPS's. Perhaps he was just trying to validate the woman's choice in a system by saying she wouldn't have liked the 360. Maybe she wouldn't.

But I wouldn't say its just a system of shooters, it has a lot of other great offerings. But anyway, she went on to talk about different games on the Wii for a few minutes, swapping stories of tennis matches and other games with the cashier. She also asked the cashier about the PS3, and why she hadn't heard much about it since the launch. He told her that it was over-priced and a bad system, and that he was vehemently boycotting it.

This was a pretty interesting experience for me, especially after my conversation with my dentist. Gamers are everywhere and they are everyone. Even the guy cleaning your teeth or the old lady getting canned soup. Wii and other games are helping to break down barriers to make gaming really take over our country, even our world, as the dominant form of entertainment.

And I have to agree with the cashier: the PS3 isn't helping.

- Scott