Shooters – love them or hate them every gamer worth their salt will dabble in them sporadically just to see what is now considered to be the bee’s knees. But recently whilst explaining what sort of games I play to someone I found myself labouring the reasons why I definitely prefer third person shooters to first person shooters, so I did what any self-respecting games journalist would do and asked a variety of people I know their opinions on the matter. The interesting thing is that everyone does have an opinion – I am yet to find one person who gives me a reply that favours neither view.

Sure with first person it’s more immersive and makes you feel like you are the character but with third I find you get an easier view and more room to see how you can manoeuvre. Third person shooters to me just feel more natural and I find the gameplay easier yet some people claim the more immersive a game is the easier it becomes to control the character.

It’s a question that will never find a definitive answer but which view is truly better? And how can something so simple make such a difference? Surely the level design, storyline and variety of weapons are all things that a gamer should place high above whether it is an FPS or a TPS yet somehow this issue seems to cause conflict or at least lengthy conversation whenever it is brought up. I know where I stand – Third person shooter for life! OK, not for life, I do still dabble in FPS but you get my point.

Tonight, I’m doing something I haven’t done since the seventh Harry Potter book… I’m off to get Wii Fit at midnight. Ordinarily, I’d pre-order my games online, and usually get them the day before release (as many of us do) but due to poor organisation on my part everywhere I went to pre-order Wii Fit had run out. Through my (allegedly) non-gaming girlfriend’s hard work and dedication, and because she was bored at work, we’ve managed to bag a copy if we go and collect it late tonight.

I’ve seen enough of Wii Fit to know that it’s going to be a good laugh – and I know that there will be rivalry between my and my girlfriend for setting the best times and all that malarky – but I’m still not sure if I’m ready to see my weight and body mass index in shiny nintendo colours. I am, it has to be said, not the slimmest of people. I haven’t eaten all the pies, but I have certainly had more than my fair share over the years. I know that my initial trepidation will vanish once I start playing, just like it did when I used to dance mat myself silly to shed some pounds (before a friend “borrowed” my psOne and dancemat and then ran away!) but the initial weighing will not be a happy experience. And if it says “Get Off Me!” then I won’t be happy!

To be honest, though, I’m really looking forward to the whole package. Exercise is something that both my girlfriend and myself try to do, but then can’t be bothered to move all the clothes off the exercise bike so combining it into a game where we can try and out-do each other is fantastic. We used to do the same with Brain Training – trying to topple each other from the top of the leaderboards, preferably in secret, was brilliant.

Competitive partners rock!

“We play games. And you’re damn well going to know about it” were the first words written on this site. Yet, as much as I think that is a good philosophy, I can’t say it’s one I’ve lived by in real life. Sure, I’ll happily wander into my local Game and pick up the latest copy of “FPS with generic space marines jacked up on steroids” or something. I might even give advice to a parent looking for a game for their kid, or at least try to… “Championship Manager or Football Manager? They’re not the same?”

But the moment I step foot outside the premises, it’s back to not being sure whether I should admit to being a gamer. As if it’s a sordid thing. And an adult gamer? Surely that’s an oxymoron? This is how I’m aware non-gamers view this hobby of ours so this, to my shame, I neglect to correct. I once asked some fellow gamers “Should I put it on my CV?”. The answer I got was no, as it’s perceived as a childish pursuit or one for unsociable, geeky people who possibly sleep in front of their PCs or consoles … you all know the stereotype.

Now I don’t know about anyone else but I can honestly say I’ve never done that. I’ve never, to my knowledge, met anyone else who does that. Granted, gamers can be geeky – I admit I am – but we’re not all loners with a bad case of panda eyes and mad hair from days spent trying to defeat Sinister Cloaked Dude with nothing but an Enchanted Spoon of Uber-Badassery or something. Far from it. Games, in all the time I’ve played them, have given me such skills as resource management, teamwork and communication! And not just me, as a rather hefty study conducted last year by a group called Seriosity, in collaboration with IBM, shows.

Despite all that, I recall once being asked by a work colleague (someone I’d first met years before) if I still played games and answering “Not as much as I used to” – a true statement but one said with hesitation as I wasn’t sure of his view on games… It’s only the advent of the Wii and the massive growth in casual gamers that make me think it’s OK to say “My name is Michael and I play games”. Why, just the other day I was in Eason’s (to our non-Irish readers, it’s a newsagent/bookshop chain) buying GamesTM when I had the cashier enquire “Still gaming away?”. Of course the answer was yes, though I told a little white lie about having a DS… well, she did ask if it was on the computer or the Nintendo! I might now become a bonafide member of the Church of Nintendo and have Shigsy as my patron saint!