The Gaming Thread

[jamil]

As a GenXer, I see the switch as another Nintendo gimmick.

The laws of nature deign that real gaming is stationary.

It is done in front of a PC on a qwerty keyboard, with a thick reference manual and a worn out left mouse button.

A viable substitute is a console. Again, stationary, with empty bags of Doritos and half-filled bottles of Mountain Dew, realizing its 3:00 in the morning all of a sudden, and your wrists are cramped into roughly the form of a pugilistic attitude associated with thermal contraction.

Games on phones are for when bored on buses, trains, meetings, and children's recitals. It isn't real gaming.

And get off my lawn.

Ageist.

Boomers game too. I may not be able to parkour as well as y'all youngsters, but I minecraft the hell out of redstone rail stations.

 

[jamil]

There seems to be an interesting divide with regards to console and PC gaming.

PC gamers tend to respect, and own, Nintendo consoles. Perhaps due to the first-party titles on it never reaching PC.

Console (Playstation and XBox) gamers tend to stick to those consoles. PC gamers already have the superior versions of any cross-platform title... and the first-party console titles on these systems don't tend to make-or-break them. PS and XB live on third-party.

Regarding the Switch - It's definitely a gimmick. I don't expect to see groups of hipsters gathered on top of buildings in Manhattan playing Mario Party. But, the relatively low price combined with the potential for good first-party games is what keeps me interested in Nintendo consoles. Not sure how I feel about the new Mario... but Breath of the Wild definitely looks interesting (Zelda cross w/ Skyrim). I have high hopes for a couple of my favorite Nintendo franchises to see sequels on the Switch.

That... and I'll likely use it as my media center in the living room at home. The Wii U is essentially exclusively used for Crunchyroll and Netflix.

A couple PS games have tempted me recently... Bloodborne and Neir: Automata... but Dark Souls 3 sated my BB fix, and Neir is supposed to get a PC release eventually. It all works out.



Nintendo does turn me off with a lot of their anti-consumer moves. As I mentioned before... the artificial shortages really **** me off. But... they know how to make money on that craving for nostalgia. The virtual console (reselling old games) helps re-introduce new players to old stuff... but they can't live on that forever. They make 3-4 great games for a console... then move onto the next one. The rest of the library ends up being low-effort crap.

When will Nintendo get serious about gaming? It's all gimmicks. Or teasing, like the NES Classic. And, while I'm at complaining, **** Amazon too for scalping the NES Classic for twice the original price.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

When will Nintendo get serious about gaming? It's all gimmicks. Or teasing, like the NES Classic. And, while I'm at complaining, **** Amazon too for scalping the NES Classic for twice the original price.

Any moral objection to hacking the systems and pirating the games? Not hard to do in most cases. Even the 3DS and Wii U have been exploited. Nintendo definitely tries to stay on top of it... but early versions of their systems always get hacked.

My old 3DS has turned into quite the emulator.

Edit: Another reason to do it is because Nintendo's localization team blows. The censorship is baffling. Modding a system will allow you to obtain and play versions of the games that haven't been unnecessarily censored.

 

[T.Lex]

There seems to be an interesting divide with regards to console and PC gaming.

PC gamers tend to respect, and own, Nintendo consoles. Perhaps due to the first-party titles on it never reaching PC.

Console (Playstation and XBox) gamers tend to stick to those consoles. PC gamers already have the superior versions of any cross-platform title... and the first-party console titles on these systems don't tend to make-or-break them. PS and XB live on third-party.

So, I was totally a PC gaming snob until GTA IV and Halo... 3 I think it was. Well, and Morrowind to a lesser extent. All on Xbox. The button combos that can be used to emulate almost every keypress was eye-opening to me.

We got on the Nintendo bandwagon with the Wii (friends had NES back in the day, and it was ok, but didn't blow me away) for the kids. Have the Wii U, but it isn't played as much as the Xbone.

Plus, in my old ageism, I've had less time for PC gaming overall. And if you don't put the time in on it, it isn't as enjoyable. I still have friends in the dev community, though, and envy a little bit their mix of job and gaming.

My son is almost old enough to get back into the PC side of things, probably with ArmA. I figure that'll be the best competition for Battlefront and Battlefield.

 

[smidrow]

whos ready for red dead 2? I am also looking forward to friday the 13th...cant wait both are going to be great

 

[sharkey]

As a GenXer, I see the switch as another Nintendo gimmick.

The laws of nature deign that real gaming is stationary.

It is done in front of a PC on a qwerty keyboard, with a thick reference manual and a worn out left mouse button.

A viable substitute is a console. Again, stationary, with empty bags of Doritos and half-filled bottles of Mountain Dew, realizing its 3:00 in the morning all of a sudden, and your wrists are cramped into roughly the form of a pugilistic attitude associated with thermal contraction.

Games on phones are for when bored on buses, trains, meetings, and children's recitals. It isn't real gaming.

And get off my lawn.

Depends on your definition of "real gaming" and what you find fun, I suppose.

 

[OakRiver]

For anyone interested the Ghost Recon Wildlands open beta starts tomorrow
https://ghost-recon.ubisoft.com/wil...-16/ghost-recon-wildlands-open-beta-announced

 

[chipbennett]

Nintendo Switch?

Heck, we finally just got our NES Classic Edition about a month ago, after refusing to pay scalper prices, or stand in Black Friday-esque lines to try to get one.

The girls are quite happy with the Wii U, and they're actually enjoying the old-school NES Classic games. We're set for quite a while.

 

[thej27]

Minecraft has 55 Million Monthly Players, 122 Million Sales - IGN

 

[chipbennett]

Minecraft has 55 Million Monthly Players, 122 Million Sales - IGN

Quick, back-of-napkin math:

106MM sales as of 6/2016
122MM sales as of 2/2017
====
2MM sales per month
====
$26.95 per sale
====
$650MM revenue per year

That'll lead to an ROI of 4-5 years for Microsoft, for the 2.5B paid for Minecraft. Not bad.

 

[T.Lex]

That doesn't even count ads/product placement and licensing.

INGO should invent a game.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Wired gives the Switch a 5/10 review: https://www.wired.com/2017/03/review-nintendo-switch/
Verge isn't much better: http://www.theverge.com/2017/3/1/14772530/nintendo-switch-review-zelda-breath-of-the-wild
Engadget, "Needs work": https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/01/nintendo-switch-review/

Yet, the new Zelda game is getting consistently high 9s and 10s.

 

[T.Lex]

Nintendo Switch cartridges 'taste so bad' - BBC News

I never ever ever thought to try to taste Atari 2600 cartridges.

Or any console cartridge for that matter.

Now, VBS2 was like melted butter on bacon with a side of bacon.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

I'd like to say I'm surprised that a Polygon person put a Switch game in their mouth.

But after remembering the sort of trash they've written... I'm not. I'm not surprised at all that a Polygon writer put a game in their mouth.

Does make sense though, keep dogs from eating them.

 

[jfed85]

I have zero interest in the Nintendo switch, but I will be picking up Breath of the wild for the Wii U

 

[thej27]

[video=youtube;Exc2b_AZJ7U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exc2b_AZJ7U[/video]

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Linus Tech review pretty much nails the criticisms of the Switch.

Awful controller (joycon) ergonomics, crappy 720p output, low battery life, odd design decisions...

I'm expecting a "New Switch" release in a year or so that comes with the Pro Controller and fixes some of the other issues. I hope.

[video=youtube;8GsXbuR23WU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GsXbuR23WU[/video]

 

[Tanfodude]

Glad someone appreciated my post in the funny pic thread.

Depends on your definition of "real gaming" and what you find fun, I suppose.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

PlayStation Now to Stream PlayStation 4 Games Soon

Interesting step in the right/wrong direction, depending where you stand on the issue. PlayStation Now is a service that, for a fee, will allow people to play Playstation "exclusive" games on their PC.

Unfortunately, and oddly, it's a streaming service... so no local installs. Which sort of defeats the purpose for many people.

However, if this is the future of console gaming... I'm all for it. Get rid of the streaming, allow local installs, add more exclusives... and you've got a service I wouldn't mind paying for.

I don't think it would outright make consoles obsolete... but it would allow PC gamers to partake in console games without paying the $300-500 premium.

In other news, if you're still on the hunt for a Nintendo Switch, best of luck. About 700 sellers on Amazon are just ****ing around with pennies... marked up the consoles by $100-300... and just adjusting by a cent here and there to be the "lowest" of each.

Dicks.

 

[T.Lex]

Yeah, long-term I'd probably be interested in something that plays console games on PCs. The line is distinctly blurred between the advantages of a PC nowadays, with console keyboarders and such.