I have a 3DS but it’s broken in various ways. Besides I always found the 3DS too top heavy. On the other hand my trusty 2DS is still fine. Nevertheless I’m getting old and my eyes aren’t what they used to be. These screens are so tiny… What are these, TVs for ants?!
Bahamut Lagoon is a cool JRPG for the SNES that sadly never was released for the west. You can get your hands on the ROM and some fan translation though. I’ve played it many years ago, so my memory’s a bit iffy, but I do remember having a good time.
Front Mission is another good JRPG entry from the 90’s. I loved the SNES version, but apparently the DS version boasts extra features and content, making it the superior choice.
I commend you for your thorough and informative response! Just a nitpick: imho it’s not really correct to present Mindustry as a Factorio clone. Mindustry is its own thing, with a smaller scale approach, an heavier emphasis on tower defence and a cool campaign feature. Factorio-like would be more fair.
Middle Earth: Shadow of War: Good old open world action fun. Kill countless mobs, gather countless collectables. A bit annoyed that subtitles are only implemented on some voice acting. Slightly indisposed that the protagonist (Talion) looks too much like an unkempt Ron Desantis.
Currently into Triangle Strategy’s New Game+. I’m enjoying that game way more than I thought I would. It’s a fun, charming successor to the strategy JRPG. It has few tropes and the mechanics have been streamlined while maintaining challenge. Surprisingly low magic as well. I mean there are plenty of magic users, but no monster, no supernatural armageddon and the end game is not “kill god”. It does have that peculiar JPRG theatricality, so you need to be fine with that.
I’ve gotten a few emulated titles on Wii and WiiU in the past. I preferred the Virtual Console collection from those consoles. You’d pay a few dollars for the title you wanted and you had it forever. I’m not a fan of the strange bundling of online services + retro gaming with Nintendo Switch Online… not to mention the expansion pack. I just don’t do enough retro gaming to justify it.
As much as I prefer going legit for gaming, if I get a retro craving I’ll probably just set sail on a trusty PC.
I’m with you. It’s hip to hate on Ubisoft, but I’m of the impression that subscription based gaming has already gained traction with Game Pass. The article is spot on though when the author remarks that Ubisoft offering their library at 18$ a month is a hard bargain. Especially considering Game Pass is currently at 10$ a month… and includes Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Origins & Odyssey.
I played both Octopath Travellers games. The second is definitely a step in the right direction in terms of cohesion. There’s also now a piss easy final boss, as well as an impossible-if-you don’t-follow-a-cheese-strategy-online secret final final boss. Merely being level 99 doesn’t cut it. Ugh. Octopath Travellers games are so charming but the devs still haven’t figured out how to end them in my humble opinion.
Instead of chiptune inspired music, how about music that inspired chiptune ? Yellow Magic Orchestra had an important impact (namely) on '80s/'90s era video game music. Here’s Rydeen (1979).
Generates e-waste as controllers are bricked for no reason.
Kills costly custom built accessibility controllers. No consideration for marginalized users whatsoever.
Retroactively screws all customers over.
Goes as far as breaking peripheral compatibility with a discontinued console.
Is it to kill cheating devices used on competitive titles? Is it a money grab? It probably won’t achieve either. From a customer protection standpoint I’m wondering if this position can be attacked legally.
Nevertheless it reminds me that other time when Spencer was daydreaming about buying Nintendo and it feels like Microsoft is being a little unhinged as of late.
When my kid was younger he had a “garbage games on tablet” phase as well. As others have said, paid games are the way to go (Play Pass sounds cool). Looking for indie games for Android, or PC games ported to Android gives some good results. Stardew Valley’s an obvious one. I haven’t played Ordia, but it looks gorgeous.
What worked really well for us was to teach him about some dark patterns in simple terms and spot them with him in the freemiums he was playing. “Fear of Missing Out” events/notifications and “Progression Paywalls” are typical ones. It made him realize the game wasn’t built to give him a good time as much as to frustrate him into endlessly spending real money in exchange for some phony currency. In the end he was happy to switch to saner games. It’s a good opportunity to work on their critical judgment basically.
Wrong question, in my humble opinion. A bubble is speculative at its core. It’s about traders, the stock market, investors, speculators and shit placing much more value on a thing than what it’s worth. The distance with reality grows massive, until everybody wakes up and “pop!” all that sweet sweet wealth (or savings, for the peasants) vanished into thin air. Think housing market or beanie babies.
The question here is if indie game dev can remain sustainable. It’s like restaurants: the more there are, the harder it gets. The risk is not nearly as sudden and explosive as a bubble though. If there are too many, some shops close, others shrink.
Furthermore, the tools and knowledge required for gamedev keep getting more readily available. It’s an art too, so there will always be someone somewhere with the overwhelming drive to do it, profitability be damned.