The Game-shunary

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GR's guide to gaming terminology, insider lingo, and technobabble

Table of Contents
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C
casual game – Colorful shapes, pets, and cooking.
ch-ch-ch-ch-changes – A tiresome David Bowie line which is ridiculously overused by games journalists, especially when referring to personnel changes at major publishers or updates to console software. Also,a generic term used to describe any cliché.
cinematic – The part of the game they put on the back of the box. What developers think it means, we have no idea, but they seem to use it in reference to scripted, on-rails gameplay, tiresome cutscenes, a mediocre story and subpar voice acting.
cineractive – A playable cutscene that developers use when abiding by the “show don’t play” rule. As seen in God of War 2 and Spiderman 3.
console war – The struggle for market dominance by each of the three major console manufacturers as well as an ongoing argument regarding the merits of each console. The argument is largely fueled by meaningless analyst predictions, industry rumors, a lack of social skills, and Red Bull. Whoever wins, we all lose.
control group – When you’re too lazy to select RTS units with your mouse.
craplet (seeshovelware)

ESA – The Entertainment Software Association,the association which runs E3.
ESRB – the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, also known as Mortal Kombat’s bastard child.