Microsoft Xbox 360
How hard is it really to make a game system that works? Judging from previous experience with Sony's PS2 & PSP and Microsoft's original Xbox and the recently released Xbox 360 we'd say the answer is "Pretty hard". Tales of new Xbox 360 owners receiving the "3 blinking red lights of doom" hours, days and weeks after buying their new system is absolutely ridiculous. I don't know a person alive who wouldn't be devastated when faced with having to send away their brand new $$$ system for repairs.

A Big BOO HISS! goes to Microsoft's R&D team who designed this latest piece of malfunctioning game machinery. For shame. Your customers deserve better and I guess that's why some of them will be buying PS3's. Not that Sony is any better when it comes to shipping crappy systems (see below)...

Electronics Boutique
EB wins a great big Boo Hiss! Award for having subpar customer service, hiring employees who know nothing of the game industry, the history of gaming nor gaming in general, for ripping off customers with low trade in values only to sell used games $5 below new price, smart ass pseudo know-it-all employees who regurgitate old news from Gamepro magazine and the list of grievances goes on and on. Thanks to the mountains of mis-information bubbling forth from these dens of incompetence and their downright lackluster and arrogant customer service, waiting for the aged zombie to bring the key to the gaming sarcophagus at Wal-Mart is a much more enjoyable shopping experience.

Boo HISS EB! For shame. Your customers deserve better and that's why they should shop elsewhere.

1 - 800 - 4MY - XBOX Tech Support
English is a pretty popular language here in North America, so we're told. In fact, we're actually very fond of it ourselves here at CCC. That's why we find it particularly perplexing not to mention infuriating when we call tech support for a North American product made by a North American company and we can't speak to someone who is familiar with the language. This isn't a matter of "racism" either so clam up. This is a matter of needing to speak with someone who speaks the same language so we can get some service for a game system that dies within 30 days of purchase. All we ask is that if we're calling North American tech support, please have someone on the other end of the phone who can speak "North American". It's a simple concept.

Boo Hiss Xbox support! Your English speaking customers deserve English. Your French speaking customers deserve French. Your Spanish speaking customers deserve Spanish. Your Japanese speaking customers deserve....oh wait. You don't have any. Sorry.

Sony PSP
Ahh....you thought you were going to get away without getting yelled at, didn't you? No chance of that you dead pixel, finicky square button, game ejecting, dumbed down PS2! Here's a joke - Q. How many PSP's does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A. I have no time for jokes...my brand new $300 PSP has too many dead pixels on it and I have to return it in hopes of getting one that actually works!

It's nice to see that Sony hasn't learned anything in the years since they released the PS2 with its shoddy electronics and rampant DREing. Will the PS3 be any better? We sincerely doubt it, but boy oh boy, do we hope Sony proves us wrong.

Boo Hiss Sony! Your customers deserve better and that better might just be a Nintendo DS...that works right out of the box and costs a lot less!

Cheat Code Central Contests
Okay, even we aren't immune from blowing it from time to time. We had contests (open to anyone who joins our forums and takes the time to write quality posts), gave away cool stuff and it took us a few months to send out the prizes. Which we did finally, but it wasn't cool of us to wait so long to do so. We know what it's like to win something and then want it - and it really sucks having to wait. We're sorry and we'll try harder in the new year.

Boo Hiss CCC! Your loyal forum members deserve better!

Narc (PS2 / X)
This is a game that is supposed to be about fighting the war on drugs but the message is a little messed up. Why is it that as a cop fighting the war on drugs you can smoke pot, drop acid, take crack, sell drugs....all of which have POSITIVE effects on your gameplay abilities? What kind of %$#@ed message is that sending to the impressionable youth of today Midway? Is it responsible to allow gamers to feed their character crack which then allows him to move faster while time slows down around him, therefore giving him the upperhand? What the %$#@ were you thinking? It's games like these that make me really wonder about this business sometimes. I can't believe people are freaking out about the Hot Coffee mod in GTA: San Andreas which 99% of gamers can't even access and this game is still allowed on the shelves. Unbelievable.

Boo Hiss! Just because something CAN be done in a videogame doesn't mean it SHOULD be done.

That Extra $10
Paying an extra ten dollars for a next gen game that features absolutely no gameplay enhancements over it's counterparts on the current gen consoles is a scam worthy of investigating. The jewel cases don't cost more, the manuals don't cost more, the discs might cost a little more...but the game will set you back a ten spot "just because" you went and spent a few hundred dollars for the priviledge of doing so. That's mental and someone needs to be yelled at for this or at the very least "Boo Hissed!" while walking to their BMW in the parking lot.

Boo Hiss Activision, Ubi Soft, Namco, EA, 2K Games...Bad sportsmanship. Just because you CAN charge an extra $10 doesn't mean that you SHOULD.

Spike TV Video Game Awards 2005
I saw this really terrible car accident in December....Charlize Theron was there and Samuel L. Jackson was there. Tony Hawk was there. Jack Black was there...it was horrible! Oh wait, that wasn't a car accident; it was the Spike TV Video Game Awards! My apologies, I often get those two mixed up. Giving awards to games that weren't released at the time voting polls were open is a little suspect, don't you think? In what is little more than a gigantic popularity contest with ads, Spike TV's Video Game Awards show actually makes the video game industry seem that much more dirty and seamy... and it's already hanging maybe a notch above the porn industry, at least for this year. I'm not saying video games don't deserve their own awards show, they just don't deserve whatever Spike TV is doing.

Boo Hiss Spike TV! Make it stop and you there, stop tuning in to watch it... Even if you're watching it to laugh, that still counts as watching it!

Jack Thompson
The phrase "Get a life" was invented just for this Miami lawyer who can't stop looking for that golden lawsuit against the gaming industry due to his litigious nature. Video games aren't the enemy...stupid parents are, and I ripped a strip off of them below. If Mr. Thompson was attacking the video game industry on moral grounds and for non-profit reasons, people may be more apt to agree with some of his finer points - he actually does have some! But he's going about it the wrong way, looking for a payday akin to what Joe Blow Vs. Big Tobacco walked away with a few years ago. It's not going to happen. I don't think.....

A Boo Hiss to Mr. Thompson who we believe is just looking for a quick buck on the back of victims (or their families) whom were harmed by people with serious mental problems.

Stupid Parents
Within the context of my own life, I run into countless young kids who are allowed to play Teen and Mature rated games simply because their parents seemingly don't know any better. There are ratings on games for a reason, just like movies, and yet time after time I discover that parents have NO CLUE as to what little Johnny is being exposed to when he's down the basement playing his PS2 or Xbox on his own. Parents can't possibly still be this ignorant in 2005, can they? Violence, sexual themes, nudity and adult language is the norm in M rated games, with interesting new twists appearing in each new release in attempt to "one up" the competition. Yet many parents remain utterly clueless as to the nature of the content in games like "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" or "Condemned: Criminal Origins". No wonder your kids can't sleep at night.

Boo Hiss stupid uninformed negligent parents! Your kids are counting on you to raise them! Get your face out of your laptop for two minutes and see what they're playing. Chances are, you won't like it.