Post by Max on Sept 25, 2007 22:45:36 GMT -3
Posted 12 hours ago Sudbury Star
Re: Sudburians forced to wait for Halo 3 - Sept. 22.
Once again, a national advertising campaign highlights that Sudbury is trapped in the past.
I read with dismay last week the Future Shop flyer. The worldwide release of Halo 3 has every gamer on the planet stoked and their respective thumbs primed. What's this? On sale across the planet including every town, city and village across Ontario except Sud-Hicksville-Bury? Sad. There are small villages in India that can get this product when it's released, but not Sudbury. No sir! Nobody here wants it at midnight! No retailer wants to be open late.
Sure we wanted biodiesel, neutrino observatories (which I'm sure are shut down at night), four-lane highways, big boxes and a vibrant economy, but not at the cost of convenience. You can get a hamburger, gas, movie, beer, coffee and a speeding ticket after 9 p.m., but video games? What next? Are our collective leaders prepared to stop e-mail after dark? Set your phasers to stunned.
We all know the issue has been debated by people older than most and these elders have decided that we should roll up our sidewalks and lock our doors by 9 p.m. The sad reality is we should be trying harder to be a hip, happening place where people see progress, not puritanism and an inflexible desire to hold on to the past at all costs.
The naysayers spoke grimly of the end of the family as we knew it when Sunday shopping came along. Strangely enough, we still live in the same homes and have dinner and vacation with the same people. Sunday shopping came with far less ominous consequences than predicted from those who deny us shopping geared to the consumer, not the overseers. Then came beer and liquor on Sundays: They cried, "Say it isn't so." And life moved on smoothly.
While I'm sure nobody is losing sleep over this, I have friends who are driving to North Bay (the hip and cool North Bay, that is) to get their games at midnight to get back to Sudbury to play. Don't tell me the North Bay folks aren't laughing all the way to the bank. I think they're just plain laughing.
This isn't about a video game, it's about an old school running what wants to be a new town. If every other town in Ontario is open for business, that has to be a message to somebody. Hello? Somebody?
I'm not advocating nude beaches (common around the world), 24-hour grocery stores (wouldn't that be nice when I'm done work at 2 a.m.), or the forcing of retailers to be open late. As always, let the market decide.
Isn't it time to get out of this business of regulating retail that only Sudbury pursues?
This issue will continue to grow and persist in a 500 channels, 24-hour, seven-day-a-week world. Is it not just a matter of time before younger, hipper, worldly people take over the guidance of this wannabe backwater town and bring us up to speed? Anybody who thinks they stop progress better think long and hard. Unless you build a dome around this place and start issuing travel permits, we will move forward, eventually.
Why not just let us catch up to the rest of the entire world now and stop the embarrassment? At the very least, retailers should be able to apply for exemptions when these once-or-twice-a-year events take place.
I look forward to seeing the Halo 3 game at 12:01 a.m. on its release date, I just won't be able to play the game. Oh my, it's 9 p.m., I better get to bed.
Dann Kingsley
Sudbury
Re: Sudburians forced to wait for Halo 3 - Sept. 22.
Once again, a national advertising campaign highlights that Sudbury is trapped in the past.
I read with dismay last week the Future Shop flyer. The worldwide release of Halo 3 has every gamer on the planet stoked and their respective thumbs primed. What's this? On sale across the planet including every town, city and village across Ontario except Sud-Hicksville-Bury? Sad. There are small villages in India that can get this product when it's released, but not Sudbury. No sir! Nobody here wants it at midnight! No retailer wants to be open late.
Sure we wanted biodiesel, neutrino observatories (which I'm sure are shut down at night), four-lane highways, big boxes and a vibrant economy, but not at the cost of convenience. You can get a hamburger, gas, movie, beer, coffee and a speeding ticket after 9 p.m., but video games? What next? Are our collective leaders prepared to stop e-mail after dark? Set your phasers to stunned.
We all know the issue has been debated by people older than most and these elders have decided that we should roll up our sidewalks and lock our doors by 9 p.m. The sad reality is we should be trying harder to be a hip, happening place where people see progress, not puritanism and an inflexible desire to hold on to the past at all costs.
The naysayers spoke grimly of the end of the family as we knew it when Sunday shopping came along. Strangely enough, we still live in the same homes and have dinner and vacation with the same people. Sunday shopping came with far less ominous consequences than predicted from those who deny us shopping geared to the consumer, not the overseers. Then came beer and liquor on Sundays: They cried, "Say it isn't so." And life moved on smoothly.
While I'm sure nobody is losing sleep over this, I have friends who are driving to North Bay (the hip and cool North Bay, that is) to get their games at midnight to get back to Sudbury to play. Don't tell me the North Bay folks aren't laughing all the way to the bank. I think they're just plain laughing.
This isn't about a video game, it's about an old school running what wants to be a new town. If every other town in Ontario is open for business, that has to be a message to somebody. Hello? Somebody?
I'm not advocating nude beaches (common around the world), 24-hour grocery stores (wouldn't that be nice when I'm done work at 2 a.m.), or the forcing of retailers to be open late. As always, let the market decide.
Isn't it time to get out of this business of regulating retail that only Sudbury pursues?
This issue will continue to grow and persist in a 500 channels, 24-hour, seven-day-a-week world. Is it not just a matter of time before younger, hipper, worldly people take over the guidance of this wannabe backwater town and bring us up to speed? Anybody who thinks they stop progress better think long and hard. Unless you build a dome around this place and start issuing travel permits, we will move forward, eventually.
Why not just let us catch up to the rest of the entire world now and stop the embarrassment? At the very least, retailers should be able to apply for exemptions when these once-or-twice-a-year events take place.
I look forward to seeing the Halo 3 game at 12:01 a.m. on its release date, I just won't be able to play the game. Oh my, it's 9 p.m., I better get to bed.
Dann Kingsley
Sudbury