Bigger, Better, Stronger, Faster
by ted2112, HSM team writer
Years ago the concept of grand was a big deal. You had the Grand Canyon, even the “Grand Ole Opry”. To call something grand was to mean it was quite a big deal. But after a while, grand slowly lost its meaning and the word “super” became a replacement to the well-worn “grand”. Today we have the Super Bowl, superstars and even the Supermoon a few weeks ago. We love the word “super” and slap in on just about anything. It’s super-duper. But, even today with so much that is super, it’s fair to say that the concept will loose it’s power and we will start to use something else.
We as a society need things to keep moving forward. We had Route 66, but it wasn’t fast enough, so we made Interstate 40. We had the Model T, but it wasn’t cool enough, so we made the Dodge Charger. We had the Atari 2600, and even though it was super-duper and captured our imagination, we still needed more.
This year will see the debut of several new gaming platforms. The Play Station 4, Xbox One and the Ouya. This on top of the newly released Nintendo Wii U. As much as we loved the Atari 2600 and what came after — the NES and the Super NES (there’s that word again), the Sega Saturn and the Nintendo GameCube, the Xbox and the Xbox 360, and the Sony PlayStation 1, 2 and 3 — we need it to be bigger, better, stronger and faster. What blew us away once upon a time seems primitive today.
I once heard that the first people to ever see Niagara Falls were at a loss of words to describe it. This was pre-“grand”, I think. When they finally put it into words, they called it “astonishing, insomuch as the universe does not afford its parallel.” People came from every corner to see this natural wonder, and it was an incredibly popular experience for its day. But, even this mighty waterfall simply can’t measure up with the complexities of our modern life. Yesterday’s astonishing is today’s “meh”. As mind-blowing as the PlayStation 3 is to me now, I am sure the PS4 will take us from grand to super to assblizzard, or whatever the next term might be.
Why do we keep pushing the boundaries? What is it about ourselves that we need to keep moving faster and higher? I don’t think it’s a matter of being unsatisfied. I think we have always loved what we have had. We never saw the PS2 when we had what would become the PS1, so we didn’t know what we were missing.
I think it is simply we are dreamers. There is a little bit of Willy Wonka in all of us. We dream big, and always seem to ask, “What if?”
I think it’s a safe bet there will be a PlayStation 5, even though the PS4 isn’t even for sale yet. It’s just the way we work. Who knows, maybe it will have more in common with the Holodeck in Star Trek than with its predecessor. But I do know it will be grand or super or whatever the writers of the day want to call it.
Look at Home. It has evolved to the point where the original Home of the closed Beta seems quaint. Together we have made Home bigger, better, stronger, faster. In fact Home has made such an impact that the new Xbox One will have what they are referring to as a “Home Space” — a place for Xbox users to socialize, like their own private Facebook. Now we know what Phil Harrison might have been up to over there at Microsoft Interactive Entertainment division.
I say, Welcome Xboxers! I’m sure you will love this new service as much as we have over here on the PSN for years. Welcome to the dream, and I’m sure that sound I hear is the boundary getting pushed even further. This is just one of many examples of how we roll. The virtual reality of today is the reality of tomorrow.
It’s quite a nice ride to be on, don’t you think? The thought of our technology of tomorrow being better than today is great, but being a part of the evolution — now that’s something special. In fact, I’d call it grand!
July 28th, 2013 by ted2112 | 5 comments
ted2112 is a writer and a Bass player that has been both inspired and takes to heart Kurt Vonnegut words...."we are here on planet Earth to fart around, and don't let anyone tell you different."
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Were I to describe this reply is super or grand would be the result of my grandiose mind or superficial thinking. Words are interesting.
Super Bowl sounds better than Grand Bowl or Great Bowl or Astonishing Bowl. It’s often a sound that makes a phrase or sentence or poetry popular.
There’s something about this article that captures my attention, the thought of going from grand to super and I don’t know why. It probably doesn’t go that way anyway. Remember Superman? Was there Grandman? We do have Grandfather which is cool, eh?
I think there’s a question or two in the article and the answer to one is to improve, that’s what humans try to do (when they’re not destroying which often entails improving weapons). It’s in out nature depending on our goal.
Route 66 was a cool television series and also good songs. There were two songs with that title. How grand, err, super cus grand highway doesn’t sound as good as superhighway. Nostalgic thinking is cool. Look at some video games that use songs from yesteryear. Blue Moon in Fallout (thanks Ranko). Mix and match.
I don’t know what the next big thing is but I am wondering if there will be a new word to describe it. I’m sure it’ll be based on something old, an improvement.
The first two NFL football games weren’t played. Well… they were were but they were called the NFL-AFL Championship Game. They were retroactively renamed Super Bowl I and Super Bowl Bowl II when Super Bowl III was played. I, II, and III is all the Latin I know.
Bye.
I had a friend years ago who was always making jokes about the fact that everything was always getting “new and improved”. It seemed to us that no one was ever satisfied with anything and had to constantly change it. Sometimes it was actually a good thing, sometimes not, like when Coca Cola changed their formula and people went nuts and they put it back.
It is human nature to want something better than what we already have. If it wasn’t, nothing would have ever been discovered or invented. We strive and struggle to improve and look forward to something better. We want this for our ourselves and our children too.
Gaming is no different. The way we want to be entertained has evolved from going out to a park for a picnic to going to the latest CGI enhanced movies. From staring at a black and white television to being in Home where you can live a millionaires virtual life and meet people from all over the world, or play video games on a console that take you away from Earth altogether.
Everything in the modern world is always being made “new and improved.” We would stagnate as a species if it wasn’t and our imaginations would die off.
Great read as always Ted.
This was a super article! I agree about the ps5 thing and I don’t think it will ever stop. If the hardware people can improve things they can sell more consoles and it makes the customer happy in the process! Simply grand!
The GREAT thing about watching language evolve is how it’s bent and shaped by the masses to fit into our now SUPER-fast lives; as technologies become more RADICAL we adapt our written language to fit its AMAZING speeds. As computers become more AWESOME to us and less like WICKED devilry, our spellinz n d way we tlk chng 2 fit our COOL new wayz ov comunicatin’
it mite be seen az goin’ bkwrdz 2 sum ov us tho, coz reedin’ it can make u SICK sum timz ROFLMAO!
; )
Nice little thought provoker there Ted.
Great article. I feel like as soon as something “super” comes out and you buy it, it is then out of date fast. For instance, I buy an iPad and then a month later a new and improved iPad comes out. It almost makes me afraid to buy any electronics! I feel as soon as you get something, something bigger and better is out. When new iPhones come out, people camp out and wait on line, when what is really different with the iPhone they have? I am sure when the PS4 and Xbox One comes out people are gonna rush to buy them and they will be impossible to get. I am sure there are tons of pre-orders for them too. Sometimes I wish they would slow down, but I guess it’s the way of the world.