Well, I’m about to start Alan Wake 2, then I’ll start Death Stranding, and then Baldur’s Gate. Plus I could probably go through Spider-Man and Cyberpunk again. So personally I should be eating well for a while.
On a personal level, I’m actually kind of fine with this.
So far this year we have already had some very long games launched that I’m interested in, and I feel like they could keep me busy for basically most of the year. I’m also finally playing Cyberpunk (and it’s now fun and only mildly buggy!).
But Persona 3, Like a Dragon, and soon FF7 are big, fat games that could take months to finish. And I haven’t even had a chance to play Baldur’s Gate yet.
So, for me, I’m not hurting for content at all. But I know that’s just me.
Are they going to make more Crisis Core games? The PSP game got remade, right? I’ve been playing the pixel remasters of FF1-6 and was thinking about getting CC.
The first one gave me the impression of a sort of sequel that requires alternate timeline and some characters seemed to be at least somewhat aware of it, but I could also just be overanalyzing incorrectly. Second part soon ish on PS so I expect part 3 on PC by the time I’m 90 if I’m still alive then.
Rumors are it will have a LCD screen. That way Nintendo will be able to make a version with an OLED screen a few years later and sell it to you again. They’re so “innovative”.
Don’t think of it as a Switch 2, any more than the Wii was a GameCube 2, or the NDS was a GBA 2.
That said, I personally think the Switch was a realization of what the WiiU tried to be: blending handheld and console, exploring motion controls, and solidifying online play with titles like Splatoon and Super Mario Maker.
The Switch itself experimented with VR with the Nintendo Labo headset, bringing VR modes to Super Mario Odyssey and Mario Kart, Smash Bros and Breath of the Wild.
They really could have pivoted strongly into VR, since the biggest barrier – the hardware buy-in – was already out of the way.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the next console picked up where the Switch left off there.
I don’t see how they can be releasing a Nintendo Switch 2 when they just released the Nintendo Switch like…a year or two ago. Wait…when did the Switch come out? March of 2017?! Holy shit it’s been 7 years.
You act like 2017 is old, like we’re not all still playing FF Tactics Advance, and Pokemon Fire Red, and Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones and having a blast like it’s 2004.
That’s a whole separate can of worms. I don’t have any respect for studios, that actually force people to work hours like this, just to hit some arbitrary deadline, that they imposed on themselves
Larian really knocked it out of the park having 3 studios around the globe so they can still have a 24hr workflow without pushing everyone to do overtime. I really want to know what their handover procedures are.
Honestly, at this point, they should really just save whatever for a sequel. It’s been two years. As a reminder (though there are extenuating circumstances here), Dark Souls 2 was 2014, and Dark Souls 3 was 2016.
I guess the new reality is that it takes six years to make a game and three years between expansions. I think I’d just prefer smaller games and smaller dev cycles.
Armored Core is one of their oldest running IPs and a series I have been playing since 2nd installment. AC6 was without a doubt the best one. Highly recommend.
Why? With a DLC they can expand on weaker areas and introduce interesting advanced mechanics, whereas a sequel needs a lot more groundwork and can’t expand on existing story threads as easily without some repetition.
It’s such a good game that I’d prefer more of it to a sequel, at least right now. Make the sequel it’s own thing that’s not burdened by having to finish all the unfinished stories.
The writing is on the wall here, and it’s plain to see. Also, you really can’t trust anything that comes out of Phil Spencer’s mouth.
If the goal is indeed for Xbox games to be on all platforms, then the Xbox platform is the only place they don’t make money. Super low third-party sales, zero first-party sales. Only gamepass subscription money, which can’t pay for all of their company buyouts, never mind paying off the 65 billion actiblizz purchase.
If gamepass is everywhere, then Xbox has no value to Microsoft, it only harms them.
It also exists to weaken any argument they might have to get governments to forcibly allow Microsoft stores on other platforms like the eu apple ruling.
Windows is everywhere but the Microsoft Surface products still have value to Microsoft. Or for that matter, Steam is everywhere but Valve still made the steam deck. There seems to be some value to software companies making hardware if only to help set the tone and introduce features or ideas they hope other companies who use their software will follow.
That said, I wonder if we won’t see the Xbox brand transition to software only with a line of gamer targeted Microsoft surfaces advertised as Xbox ready.
Those are the standards and those products have value. Buying an Xbox when Playstation has all games for both consoles makes no sense unless you just have to have Gamepass, specifically.
It doesn’t even matter if Gamepass or Xbox is currently profitable or not. It’s about whether it can be more profitable. They originally thought the path to that was through exclusivity - now they don’t (just as Sony changed course in regards to putting stuff on PC). Anyone who thinks that corporate decision-making is ever based on anything else is being naive.
The practical concern here for me is at what point does MS find it most profitable to stop supporting my ability to use my accumulated physical and digital xbox software. Another reason walled gardens suck.
Microsoft with gamepass (and other large game companies) are trying to do the gaming industry what Spotify did to the music industry. Blow the bottom out of it, get consumers used to subscriptions where money goes to massive companies not the artists actually doing the work, and let it all collapse into a heap so execs can do whatever they want because workers in the game industry have zero leverage left to dictate a higher quality of life since the path to profit has been carpet bombed by the finance industry (you don’t want to work for Microsoft or Sony? Oh sorry yeah nobody else can make money in video games so tough luck finding a job somewhere else).
Why now? Well unlike the movie industry, video game nerds have a stunted awareness of the value of unions and worker organization so in plain daylight the rich can drive the entire industry off a cliff, fire a huge percentage of the workers and try to replace them with AI… and worst comes to worst those companies will be in a great position to demand whatever they want from the remaining human labor after the dust settles even if the AI crap doesn’t work.
When a nintendo executive I generally trust that theirs truth somewhere past the branding. With Phil Spencer talks I’m just assuming the opposite of everything he says. It’s a different thing, he really goes for the lies, to you, to the ftc, everyone
Satoru Iwata said they don’t do layoffs, he even took pay cuts to attempt to balance their budgets and keep people on…then he died in 2015. Now Nintendo’s credibility is in the toilet with the rest. The mistake you’re making is trusting a company with shareholders, you really need to learn how this works…executives of publicly traded companies=fucking liars.
I hope they truly stick with the Xbox brand, it will be bad for all of us to only have Sony with the cake… (I mean we have Nintendo, but they have always been on their own).
Having been predominantly a PC gamer for 30 years… PCs more hassle to update and maintain. When I finish work I want to sit on my sofa and play with as little inconvenience as possible.
Consoles fit nicely in a living room and are better for local multiplayer. This generation they were also cheaper than buying the equivalent PC hardware at launch.
And I meant that the majority of “PC maintenance” originates from Windows. Tasks like dust removal from cooling vents isn’t a daily thing (and applies to consoles just the same).
True, but if I’m spending thousands on a machine, I tend to want to be able to do other things on it so unfortunately Windows usually enters the equation.
Will consider a dedicated SteamOS box when I next refresh.
True, but if I’m spending thousands on a machine, I tend to want to be able to do other things on it so unfortunately Windows usually enters the equation.
Then it’s still Windows maintenance, not PC maintenance. For Intel and AMD GPUs, any regular convenience Linux distribution (like Fedora) works with negligible maintenance. It’s only those NVidia users or people who feel the urge to tweak everything steer themselves into maintenance hell.
The Steam Deck IS a PC though. You can install SteamOS on your computer if you wanted to.
For the purpose of the argument the other user was making, it is functionally similar enough to consoles that it doesn’t feel like a PC, unless you want it to. So really, it suits everyone.
You are correct by the technical definition, I apologise for suggesting the Steam Deck is not a PC lol.
What sort of things do you run on yours? I’d have thought it being a handheld it wouldn’t be that useful for anything I’d want to run on it as it wouldn’t be always on or connected.
My preference is a dedicated desktop box I can upgrade and potentially run some services like DNS, PiHole and some automated scripts on. I’d rather spend the money on that and keep using the Switch or cloud gaming when I’m on the go.
No need to apologize friend. I just always want to inform everyone that the Steam Deck is capable of being used as a PC on the go if you have some peripherals. I have some third party launchers, and emulation stuff on my desktop side. I also have KeePass and a Google Drive for my passwords. I personally don’t use it for any other desktop activities because I have my laptop and my desktop for that, but it could handle those tasks (word processing and office tasks, general web browsing, etc) just like my other computers do. I even bought a nice little keyboard and have a wireless mouse for my Steam Deck, as well as a portable screen.
As far as homelab and server applications like Pihole, yeah I would probably not run those on the Steam Deck either, but I also wouldn’t put them on a laptop or my desktop. I put those on my homelab server running Proxmox because I turn my desktop off when it’s not in use.
Yes hence why I corrected to desktop. Sorry, just always used to using PC and desktop as interchangeable terms but see why you’d want to differentiate these days.
My point is I don’t want a handheld that I have to plug in. If I’m going the PC route I’d prefer a desktop box I can upgrade so although the Deck is great, it doesn’t suit literally all use cases.
Ok but most of my games use Quick Resume so I am playing in under 15 seconds. To be honest the Switch has taken the crown for picking up where you left off since 2017.
I’ve used Moonlight but prefer not to stream really. Would be interested in how the latency is these days.
In the past I’d have said PC all the way but these days I’m glad both options exist. Biggest draw to the PC for me is mods. Would be tempted to make a dedicated SteamOS box next gen.
I would be a thousand times happier in a world without consoles. Games are published everywhere, and “consoles” are just prepackaged PCs from Microsoft or Sony for people who do not want to build a PC themselves
What do you think current PS and Xbox consoles are? They are all just PC hardware with each a custom OS as differentiating feature. A world in which everything has to run Windows is definitively much worse than the current state.
That’s a odd stance to take. How would you be a thousand times happier if consoles didn’t exist?
Consoles still have their place in gaming and to think otherwise is somewhere ignorant. Just live the best of both worlds like the rest of us and don’t get so wound up!
I mean duh, I can make up any strawman I want and say “there’s a difference”.
No one said that you wanted to commit console genocide, just that your neighbors Xbox is none of your business and you really ought to take a chill pill and game how you please.
You decide where to (or not to) buy and play the games you want. Like I said there is no requirement to stick to 1 platform and you honestly sound so wound up by this opinion I’m astounded.
That is the most ridiculous straw man argument I’ve never heard
You live in a country you are invested in a country which is why leaving it is so difficult. You’re talking about just not buying a console, it’s the difference between altering a way of life that is being fine up until now versus not getting engaged in one in the first place.
I’d say that’s because PCs have become more console-like. I’m personally gaming a lot on a deck now, although I still have zero desire to hunker down behind a desk and fiddle around with a mouse and keyboard, tinkering with settings and whatnot. Deck is a nice middle ground, and having access to a lot of older PC classics is fantastic.
I’d rather see consoles open up to being general purpose PCs, than not see consoles at all.
Valve got it right with the Steam Deck. I enjoy accessing my game library from SteamOS and using the Desktop Mode when I need to be productive.
If the Xbox had an option to boot into Windows, they’d be selling the Xbox like hot cakes. It would keep users invested in Windows as a platform rather than them moving to Linux or macOS. It’s such a waste of potential.
As always, it’s a trade-off between convenience and ability to tweak.
When it comes to gaming, the convenience slightly edges it for me at the mo. Enjoying Game Pass, play anywhere, Quick Resume and have made all the money back I spent on the Series X through Microsoft Rewards twice over.
Yeah, and it went something like “Hay, I am TEH KING” Ghost dudes be like “lolwut? Fuq, die bitch” Aragorn blocks attack with Anduril “Oh shit, lmao, sorry, we gotchu bruh”
Something makes me think this is not going to be your typical DLC. I wish they would have given the entire industry the middle finger and said something like, “This will be an expansion pack, in contrast to all the half-hour extras that piss producers push as DLC.”
Because honestly, this long of a development time for anything less than an expansion, like the old days where you get 50-100% more game, seems crazy.
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