Man I friggin loved Descent II. Game was so fun and immersive. I watched that opening cinematic over and over. The soundtrack was fantastic as well.
I later went and played Descent 1 as well but 2 was the one I played the most.
2 also has the thief bot which while infuriating also lead to some of the most memorable gameplay for me. Just chasing that little piece of shit to the ends of the earth and then feeling so triumphant when I finally nabbed it and got my stuff back.
I was in a computer club in High School. So we were able to play a few games in the computer lab after school. The teacher that headed it absolutely loved playing Descent, but she was also so bad at it that it was pure blind luck if she ever actually hit anyone.
It really was incredible. Especially back then when I hadn’t had much exposure yet to that style of music. The fact that it was CD quality instead of midi really helped.
I vividly remember discovering how you could just put the game disk in a regular CD player and it’d work. Kinda blew my mind lol.
Google’s move to block sideloading of unverified Android apps marks a major shift toward tighter security. While it aims to curb malware and fraud, it also raises concerns about user freedom and indie developer access—Android’s openness is slowly fading. mcdvoice
As the article states, I think the biggest factor is just the slowing of Moore's Law. Not only is new tech improving at a slower pace, old tech just isn't getting cheaper to manufacture.
Though I think one more factor the article fails to account for is that console generations themselves are lasting much longer, and even bleeding into each other as last-gen games continue to get released well into the new generation. The steepest price cuts on the graph came at the end of a system's lifespan, those are just fire sale prices to clear out old stock. Comparing those numbers feels a bit misleading, because five years into an old console meant it was ready to be phased out, while five years now means we're only halfway through the generation.
I know there's a lot wrong with the industry, a lot that's worth circlejerking about, but the fact that we're seeing price increases isn't just some greedy CEO trying to pocket a few bucks, it's a sign of some serious extenuating circumstances. Whole damn economy's fucked, it's a problem bigger than gaming.
They could just not have new consoles. We’re 5 years into this console generation and still don’t have a compelling reason to bother. They could admit that Moore’s Law is dead, and stop worrying about games being giant photorealistic open worlds full of fetch quests.
There’s a very good couple of paragraphs in this article showing where the likely culprits are in the pricing of these consoles. There’s about as much competition now as there has been for the past four decades, but Moore’s Law has broken down.
Can’t speak for competition in consoles, but parts costs have radically increased, particularly GPUs (and it’s getting much more difficult to have generational leaps in graphics quality).
The implication for that is new console generations are unnecessary. At most, they only need to refresh aspects of the design to control costs.
And this is a direct result of Moore’s Law breaking down. As originally formulated, it isn’t just about density of integrated components, but the cost of integrated components. That factor is gone by at least an order of magnitude. Nodes are still shrinking the size (roughly in line with a 24 month doubling rate), but they’re not making it cheaper.
Some enthusiasts would have you believe that with prices adjusted for inflation the switch 2 is actually a deal at $450 and get mad when you say other wise
But then they won’t tell you that switch 2 uses the same type of capacitive analog sticks cursed with stick drift instead up updating to Hall effect sticks. Or that you really really don’t own the games because the games are actually just download keys.
Edit to add: Pro controllers also cost more than last gen and they’re lower craftsmanship and aren’t repair friendly because they weld plastic instead of using screws
I’m not implying there aren’t any improvements this time around I just feel like the improvements and corner cutting cancel each other out but that’s just my opinion
Existing switch owners can use any wireless controllers they already have with the switch 2. The pro controller 2 does have much nicer joysticks IMO, but you don't need one unless you really want the dedicated button for GameChat or the grip buttons
That’s not what this article is talking about though. It’s talking about how single generation consoles don’t get any price drops anymore. The comparison isn’t Switch 1 vs Switch 2 prices, it’s launch Switch 1 vs current Switch 1 prices.
Like let’s vent about Nintendo all we want, but at least let’s read the article first.
You misunderstood: current gen isn’t getting price drops while previous gen usually did. Current gen PS5/Pro and Xbox Series S/X are all actually more expensive now factoring in inflation (excluding the impact of the tariffs) than at launch. Since the Switch 2 literally launched two months ago, we can’t really talk about price drops for it, so we compare the Switch 1. The article headline is correct, and all of this is in the body of the article.
fair enough. I didn't scroll past the first graph in the article, which was comparing switch 1 prices. That plus this part of your previous comment had me thinking current-gen consoles weren't the topic.
The comparison isn't Switch 1 vs Switch 2 prices, it's launch Switch 1 vs current Switch 1 prices.
arstechnica.com
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