What are you Playing?

[usamimi]

I'm trying to actually finish some of the games I'd slacked off on before starting new ones...so I'm working on Pokemon X again (only 2 more gyms to go!). I did pick up a copy of Tomodachi Life used from a local game store with some trade in credit I had--it's a fun thing to play for a few minutes here and there, like Animal Crossing. (I have a Lum and Ataru in my game, and--shock--they ended up getting married. XD) Other than that, I'm waiting for the new installment of Telltale's The Walking Dead Game. (The story is SO GOOD.)

[llj]

I've been exploring some old Famicom-only games through emulation. There was actually a lot of good stuff out there that never got ported to the US. I'm currently playing Esper Dream 2.

[greg]

This weekend I bought Futari Wa Precure: Max Heart for the GBA. My daughter's been watching this anime on TV. It's the sequel to the first Precure show, Futari Wa Precure. Whether or not you know the anime, this GBA game is actually a pretty fun action platformer. It's not at all deep in the gameplay like the Astroboy game for the GBA, but it is pretty fun if you like cute, 2D action platformer games like The Legendary Starfy and such. I'd spent a long time late Saturday night at the Otakara used merchandise nerd megastore and almost didn't buy anything until I found this game. It's cute!

I recently started Ys Book 1 for the DS. I've actually never really played any Ys games before. The closest I've gotten was The Legend of Xanadu for the PC Engine, also by Falcom. However in this DS version, you actually swing your sword by pressing the attack button. I was not expecting that. Before I could afford to buy a sword, I bumped into enemies from an angle as you're supposed to, and it worked. But once you get a sword, you have to swing the sword to attack. Hmm... I will go ahead and play through these two games, but I am considering getting the PSP port of Ys Books 1 and 2, since I believe I have heard that these are superior to the DS ports.

[llj]

I happened to have finished Ys 1 and 2 for the PC Engine last week. They are short games, and pretty lightweight, but the great music carries them through. I'd categorize them more as overhead dungeon crawlers, really. Falcom games if nothing else usually have catchy soundtracks.

[_D_]

Still playing Borderlands 2. Destiny comes out next week but will wait on it. Used my gift card to buy an Intuos drawing tablet instead. Something I've wanted to do for awhile now. Got so many Steam games I'll never play. Turned on the 360 once in the past month and the PS4 once to make sure it works (it doesn't like my HDMI switch and refuses to show a pic if its connected to that....Grrr!). New season of shows starts in 2 weeks and I haven't finished stuff from the past 2 seasons. Getting too far behind...

[llj]

Now that the PS3 is "officially" last gen (though not quite passe yet), prices are falling fast on consoles. I picked up one at a pawn shop for very cheap this week.

I have to say, modern gaming has become such a pain in the ass. I really don't like the over dependence on the internet, and being yelled at every time I put a game in that I'm not connected to the internet so I don't get so and so bonus feature is very annoying. I have some wifi, but I try to keep most of my wifi capable devices turned off most of the time, and my wifi plan limits me from downloading over a certain amount anyway. I can't possibly make any serious use of wifi on the PS3, nor do I even want to. Online connectivity should be an option, not a necessity, but everything is increasingly trending in that direction. In my opinion, it puts less control in the consumer's hands and more control in the game companies', which of course is the entire point. We have less and less ownership over what we buy. It seems like you have to jump through multiple hoops these days just to get something, and signing our names up on all these online accounts just to buy something seems to be more trouble than it's worth. The Playstation Store, for instance, is completely useless to me. Since downloading anything substantial at home is out of the question for me (one 500 mb game would already be too much for my plan), I can't even go to a public wifi and download a PS1 game from the PSN or something onto my laptop, and transfer it to the PS3 through USB. Again, more headaches for a hobby that's supposed to be about fun.

There's something almost symbolic about the way the PS3 receives disc. A tray doesn't even open up for you to lay the disc in, you just jam the disc into the hole and the machine sucks it in, in a way very much like feeding a hungry animal. All it does is take and take from you. And the way it ejects discs looks very much like a machine barfing something out. There's something vaguely disrespectful about the PS3. That's basically what it's like to be a modern gamer, you can't expect much respect from the people you're paying money to.

As for the PS3 library, I'll probably end up building a library of less than 20 games when all is said and done. Most of the stuff from this generation doesn't appeal to me--I don't think I'm into Assassin's Creed or the social life destroying WRPG games like Skyrim--but there's a few intriguing otaku-type games here and there I wouldn't mind owning. I'll probably get some opinions on what's the best PS3 Atelier game and pick up one of them. There's the Tales stuff, and a handful of survival horror and action games I'd want to own. It's probably best to seek out the niche games now before they skyrocket in price later on.

[greg]

Oh, you said it! I completely agree. Stupid online connections should be optional. I don't care to have it tell my friends when I am playing video games. I don't play games to be social. I play games to be antisocial. People tell me that I ought to get a PS3 because they make excellent BR players, but I am not so sure about that. The only PS3 game I saw that looked worthwhile (to me, anyway) was Valkyra Chronicles. The 360 has far more games I am interested in, yet it lacks the BR playing capability. DVD playability boosted sales of the PS2, and BR playability boosted sales of the PS3. I am curious is this new PS4 will be able to stand on its own legs without using such a crutch, since there won't be some new media coming out for it to play. I think I will just buy a regular BR player.

[llj]

The 360 is a great machine in Japan because it houses a lot of niche games, but in the U.S. we don't get a lot of those niche games. There are probably less than 5 good JRPGs on the 360 by my count, and we've only gotten a handful of those Japanese scrolling shooters. In fact, Microsoft in the U.S. doesn't seem to have very much confidence in Japanese games in general. I liked the Xbox Live Arcade when it was first introduced, but when I look over the catalogue I realize I already have most of the games on there already on the PS2 or Dreamcast, plus, you know, the downloading thing that's out of the question for me.

The ironic thing about how much of a pain it is to download older games for the 360 and PS3 is that they make it difficult for the gamer to get them supposedly in order to prevent piracy, but after signing all these online forms and opening a PS or Xbox account and trying to transfer funds into the account (another headache altogether) and then being ONLY able to download games directly through the console, it's actually easier and quicker to just download an emulator and a rom of the same game. People who pirate are going to pirate regardless, but the people who are willing to actually pay for games (like me) shouldn't be punished for wanting to pay, but it feels like we are.

[usamimi]

I TOTALLY agree about always connecting to the internet--it's such a pain! Whenever our internet is down, it constantly gives you updates on how it can't connect to the internet and how you can't sign on...YEAH, thanks, like I didn't know that the first 5 times you told me.

I hate that the PS3 is already a "last gen" system now, too. Seriously, I don't think we really NEEDED a PS4 yet. Nitro and I still use our PS3 very often, since you can stream Netflix, Crunchyroll, Hulu, and Crackle with it. And the games for it we have look great. It seems totally unnecessary to buy a new PS console right now. :/

[llj]

The loss of consumer ownership over their product is nowhere more evident than in the recently released game, Destiny. It's apparently selling like gangbusters, but after the whole outcry over the Xbone being "online only" about 2 years ago, I'm surprised there isn't more of an outcry over the fact that THIS game must be played ALWAYS ONLINE. Which is fine if it's an MMO or multiplayer-only game, but there is actually a single player mode that MUST be played online as well. So basically, no internet - no game. You look at the package and you have to read all the fine print to see this.

Furthermore, who's to say the Destiny servers will be up and running 10, 15 years from now? Sure, the game will PROBABLY be re-released someday with a single player offline mode, but for people who bought the game now with the idea you'll own it forever, you basically own it as long as the Destiny servers are up. If they ever go down, it basically becomes useless. Yet people are enabling these companies by basically selling away their freedom (not to mention about $60 along with it) to do what they want with the game.

This trend with being dependent on the internet also cleaves the audience right down the middle between the ones with LOTS of disposable money and those that don't.

Usamimi, I'm not sure we ever really need a new console! It's possible we could have extended the 16 bit generation for an extra 10 years, actually, but these companies obviously need to pump out a new console every 7 years or so to keep the profits going. What befuddles me is that the PS4 is still going for about $300-400 in most stores. Yet it's still moving a ton of units. Where the hell are so many people getting this kind of money? I just find it hard to believe people can really afford to keep doing this every 6-7 years and new consoles keep getting more expensive. This is why we're called the debt-ridden generation! Absolutely no way so many people can afford all these new iphones and PS4s and tablets and laptops on top of all the fees and other living expenses with what the average person is making now.