Let’s put an end to the suspense immediately and show the colors: this article will be written designating Nintendo’s portable console for women. THE Game Boy. This choice does not emanate from an absolute truth that descends from the Good Lord, it is simply a question of use and a certain consistency. However, it absolutely does not invalidate the use of the masculine and we will see why.
Nintendo officially imposes the masculine
September 28, 1990, the Game Boy arrives in France, less than a year and a half after Japan and ten months after the United States. As for the official documents from the manufacturer, they are formal, we say “the” Game Boy.
Florent Gorges, author of The Story of Nintendo Vol. 4 – 1989-1999: The Incredible Story of the Game Boy explains in a video specifically aimed at answering the question that interests us that the choice of masculine is the result of a specific marketing strategy. The goal: to pass the NES and the Game Boy for “entertainment systems” and not just “consoles”. After all, in the case of the Nintendo Entertainment System, it’s written directly in its name.
As for the video game press of the time, Oscar Lemaire, journalist specializing in Nintendo, he recalls that at the beginning, she did not consider the Game Boy as a portable console, but as a game. Thus, it looks like a Game Boy as it looks like a Monopoly, a Settlers of Catania, going to the bookstore, a Amelia Nothomb, or, while strolling through a retro arcade, a Pac-Man or one Space Invaders.
In its summer 1989 issue, Tilt, the leading video game magazine at the time, explained that the Game Boy was not a real console but rather “a game”. So logically uses the masculine. pic.twitter.com/Bsk1gxfn2q
– Oscar Lemaire (@oscarlemaire) April 26, 2021
The European Francophonie adopts the word console
The trend is reversed when the specialized press and the general public begin to use the term console in a common way to designate these boxes which accommodate cartridges and now sit next to television sets in many homes. By ellipse, we will say “I play the Game Boy”, implied “I play the Game Boy console”. This is the case of the famous magazine Tilt which changed its nomenclature at the turn of the 90s, closely followed by specialized stores such as Micromania who do the same in stride.
It will take a little while before Tilt adopts the feminine, as in this example from a December 1991 issue. pic.twitter.com/PjC1WtAoV2
– Oscar Lemaire (@oscarlemaire) April 26, 2021
Today, in the European Francophonie, almost everyone talks about “the” Game Boy or almost, as Florent Gorges reminds us in his video. He quotes in particular a survey which dates from 2013 published on the site Gameblog, where 82% of the 2,131 respondents say they say “a” Game Boy, against 11% for its male counterpart. In Quebec, the adoption of the word console will not happen until much later, in the 2000s to believe This article of World. This is why across the Atlantic, the masculine is still in use.
Nintendo against use
As for Nintendo, it still resists use today. In 2016, a fan eager to put an end to the debate sends a letter to the manufacturer who will answer him clearly, but also a little harshly: “You have to say: A GAMEBOY. It’s masculine. Despite everything, Nintendo indicates that it is not wrong to use the feminine.
LE or LA #Gameboy ? I wrote to Nintendo France. Here is their official response. Deal with it. pic.twitter.com/BAUb0RfnK0
– get 27 (@ggete) March 18, 2016
Institutional sites are similarly stubborn and follow the masculine articles for “the” Game Boy, but also “the” NES and “the” Game Cube. The Super Nintendo, the Nintendo 64, the Nintendo DS, the Wii and the Switch have the right to be feminine.
At the end of the day, such as the questions “should we put milk before or after cereal?” “Or” in which direction should we hang the toilet paper? », There has never really been a serious debate about the genre of the Game Boy. On the one hand because everyone does as they see fit and no grammatical rule will punish whoever uses the masculine or the feminine. On the other hand, it should be noted that in France, the use is predominantly female and only the stubbornness of Nintendo seems to stand in what is a broad consensus.
The term Game Boy is still relatively young despite the machine’s 32 years, and the coexistence of several variations is normal for recent words. But as always when it comes to language, the injunction works little and usage will rule. But as it started, the feminine is likely to prevail over the masculine.
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