I’m moving country, and all I can think about is games.

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Broddity

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I’m moving country, and all I can think about is games.

I am relocating to halfway around the world, and amidst all of the things I need to do in the next six days to make that happen, I have spent a disproportionate amount of time thinking about what effect it’s going to have on my gaming.

Perhaps it isn’t disproportionate at all. The fact I keep finding myself returning to the topic - in the face of some pretty stressful “real life” considerations – probably tells me more about my attitude to gaming than I had anticipated. Have I not assigned an appropriate degree of importance to my hobby? Perhaps, at a time I’m abandoning just about everything else to start afresh, gaming is suddenly more important to me than ever?

The background: within the next week or so, I will shortly be leaving my life in London behind to pursue a job in the Middle East. I love my home city and I always will, but I have been looking for ways to make myself an International Man of Mystery for a few years now, and this opportunity presented itself as one not to be missed. Truthfully, getting a year or two under my belt will make it much easier for me to move to other parts of the world in the future, and at root that’s my real goal.

Back to the games. I’m what I suppose the hardcore gamers would consider an casual, and the casuals would consider a hardcore gamer. I’ve had a pretty typical path, I think: starting my gaming journey on now-decrepit, then state-of-the-art Pentiums, and watching my friends fight the Sega / Nintendo console war out on the playground. From there it was time for me to start buying systems of my own, and these days I split my gaming between the usual array of devices - Android phone, iPad, Wii U, laptop and – mostly – Xbox One.

“These days” being the ones that are about to change. And whilst I have no doubts they may well alter my gaming in unpredictable ways, I can already see some immediate upheavals.

Weighing up the platforms.

I’m going to have to sell the Xbox One.

I can’t take it with me. It’s huge. I have suitcases it literally wouldn’t fit in; and even if it did, the sheer mass alone would make me fear for the cargo bay doors.

This leads naturally to a further thought. Do I switch platform? I don’t think relocating will increase the reasons to own both consoles, so I’ll probably end up having to choose one or the other again. I honestly didn't think I would have cause to re-think my platform this soon.

Do I seize the opportunity to get my hands on those lovely PlayStation exclusives I’ve been missing? I fear the 1.5TB of accumulated 360 and Xbox One games, currently sat on an external hard drive, might make my mind up for me – but part of me is keen to throw caution to the wind.

On the other hand, I might well be that most fabled of gamers – an Xbox owner who upgrades to the forthcoming S model.

Expecting the unexpected.

The imminent and sudden change headed my way does raise some other interesting possibilities.

For instance, a Steam box suddenly looks unexpectedly compelling. I have been considering getting back into proper PC gaming for a while, and by the time of the Scorpio and Neo announcements, had pretty much decided I was going to build a monster rig instead of upgrading console every few years.

Now it looks like I’ll be doing some world-hopping, however, I might need to abandon plans involving anything too bulky. A halfway house like the Steam machines – which seemed like a quirky choice at first – might suddenly fit my unique situation rather nicely.

It’s also possible an increase in travel will get me back into handheld gaming. A totally unused Nintendo DS, sat dustily in a cupboard, will attest to the fact I became a dedicated couch potato some time ago, and even the iPad doesn’t get many ten minute break outs these days. My phone has all of six games installed, and I haven’t opened half of them.

I’m already feeling a faint tug to explore some systems which haven’t been of interest to me in a long time, and that’s got a nice tingle of rebellion about it.

Revisiting the old favourites.

Regardless of what I decide to do, there’s going to be at least a few weeks – maybe even a month or two, if I decide to wait for something like the Xbox One S to arrive – where I may have little choice but to resort to some neglected options.

For me, this means rediscovering my Wii U, and seeing just how far I can push my MacBook Air these days.

Whilst the thought of going without AAA for a while has me concerned, ultimately I hope to be forced into revisiting (or discovering anew) some forgotten gems. I know for a fact Wind Waker is sitting there waiting for me, and I never did finish Super Mario 3D World. I also have a Steam back catalogue that has been largely untouched for many months, with a bunch of titles – some old favourites, many more yet to be discovered - awaiting their turn to sap away my spare time.

Opinions, advice and thoughts, please!

Will this be enough to see me through? Will I find myself instantly regretting the loss of major console gaming, at a time I might need some familiar escape the most?

I honestly don’t know yet, but I’m excited to find out.

I'd like to hear from any duder out there with some advice. Am I worrying about the right or the wrong things? To what degree should I take the opportunity to change things up; or should I stick with what I know, given all the other changes going on?

Perhaps most importantly - what's the thing I should be thinking about, which I'm not yet?

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Sinusoidal

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#2  Edited By Sinusoidal

I moved from Canada to Korea about twelve years ago, and one of the first things I did was make a trip to Japan and get a PSP which was only available in Japan at the time. Then, I hardly played it at all because I was living in a new country and there was way too much to see and do that wasn't video games. If I were you, I'd wait until I was there to decide what games you want to play. Moving to a new country can change a whole lot of things.

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liquiddragon

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#3  Edited By liquiddragon

I'm planning to work abroad and have been thinking about this as well. London to Middle East is tough cause digital content is region locked for sure between those two places. I would say handhelds are the way to go and tough it out if you're only staying there for 2 years. I wouldn't invest in ton of stuff when you get there cause it'll probably not work back in England.

I'm thinking about taking my handhelds and my backlog of PS3 discs in a small binder and buying a used PS3 overseas.

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audioBusting

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I just moved country about a month ago and all I've really played is Tap Tycoon haha. Honestly, in my experience (having moved countries about 4 times now), it's only something you'll care and know what you want about until you've settled in. That said, having a sturdy laptop that can play games has been pretty convenient.

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Broddity

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Thanks to all duders for your replies.

I'm planning to work abroad and have been thinking about this as well. London to Middle East is tough cause digital content is region locked for sure between those two places. I would say handhelds are the way to go and tough it out if you're only staying there for 2 years. I wouldn't invest in ton of stuff when you get there cause it'll probably not work back in England.

So honestly, my understanding was that this generation (both PS4 and Xbox One) are both pretty region-free. Is this not the case?

If not, I have mixed feelings.

On the one hand, having invested 1.5TB to Our Digital Future, this makes me think the move away from physical media might be less progressive that I had hoped.

On the other, it will increase the likelihood I completely pull a system switch. With little downside, I'd be happy to wipe the slate clean, and go for all those exclusives I have been missing out on.

More broadly, this would make me think the leading players have completely misunderstood the thing which made cloud purchases attractive in the first place.

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Broddity

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Honestly, in my experience (having moved countries about 4 times now), it's only something you'll care and know what you want about until you've settled in. That said, having a sturdy laptop that can play games has been pretty convenient.

Thanks duder.

Can I ask, in your experience, what makes a "study laptop"?

I have been relying on a MacBook Air for a long time - without doubt more of a squib than a juggernaut, but it has served me okay for the brief periods (day or two) I've been holed up in a hotel room. I have been using it in the understanding that it can cope with some Civ V or Invisible: Inc., but I'm not sure how long this will sustain me if I'm looking at months rather than days.

To simplify the dilemma: how far should I be relaxed that an 'underpowered' system can see me through what I would consider an extended break from triple-A?

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Broddity

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I moved from Canada to Korea about twelve years ago.... If I were you, I'd wait until I was there to decide what games you want to play. Moving to a new country can change a whole lot of things.

Thanks duder.

Can I ask for some more specifics please on how it changed your own decisions? Anything you wish you'd done or not done; and are there any clear links to how it affected your enjoyment of games today (or have things progressed to 'normal')?

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liquiddragon

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@broddity: I was curious about Steam region-lock cause I'm going to Japan but I think it does differ for PS4/XBO. For Steam, your US contents will, in most cases, work in developed nations e.i. Japan/Europe but places with large currency disparities like Russia/Middle East you'll probably run into issues. PS4/XBO are region-free except DLC. The DLC needs to match the region of the full game. Some people have also reported issues with online play when you're game and region doesn't match. Lastly, Wii U is region locked.

It's not surprising with so many different markets that these things don't all play nice with each other.

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Broddity

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@broddity: I was curious about Steam region-lock cause I'm going to Japan but I think it does differ for PS4/XBO. For Steam, your US contents will, in most cases, work in developed nations e.i. Japan/Europe but places with large currency disparities like Russia/Middle East you'll probably run into issues. PS4/XBO are region-free except DLC. The DLC needs to match the region of the full game. Some people have also reported issues with online play when you're game and region doesn't match. Lastly, Wii U is region locked.

It's not surprising with so many different markets that these things don't all play nice with each other.

Sorry, yes, I was totally thinking of the Xbox One predominantly - I hadn't really considered both Steam and the Wii U.

If both of the latter are region locked, then I'm in real trouble. These were my back-ups!

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liquiddragon

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@broddity: there are mixed reports about Xbox one region lock. Physical is region free but some people are saying digital is region locked across the board, full games and dlc. Ps4 - full games physical or digital region free, dlc region locked.

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@broddity: I don't play AAA games often so I've been OK playing them at 30 FPS at low settings. As long as they run, really. I mean, I guess it kinda depends on your habits. I've always played PC games on low-end PC's so it's not a problem for me. It's been nice that most modern games don't increase the minimum requirements as much as they used to, and that there's a lot more smaller good games with low requirements.

What I meant by sturdy is physically reliable. My current laptop (and main PC) is a 15.6" workstation laptop that hasn't needed any service or peripherals to keep it going consistently for years. It's just nice to have a constant that I know won't break, even if I drop it once or twice or something.

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audioBusting

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By the way, regarding region locking, it mostly means that you can't play discs from the other region, but digital purchases still work. I'm still using my old 3DS to buy and play games, just because it's more of a hassle to get a new one. The PS4 and Vita is region free but you will have to switch to a new account to use the local PSN store (which is a problem on the Vita since it only allows one account), and it's not entirely clear what sort of international transactions don't get blocked by the Sony network when you use your old account (in my experience ones made with saved purchasing information on the console stores work, but not on the website). Steam region changing is seamless. As long as you haven't made a transaction in 2 weeks and your IP matches the region, you can change it in your accounts settings.

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This is none of my business, but if I were to relocate, middle east is the last place I would pick.

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@broddity said:
@sinusoidal said:

I moved from Canada to Korea about twelve years ago.... If I were you, I'd wait until I was there to decide what games you want to play. Moving to a new country can change a whole lot of things.

Thanks duder.

Can I ask for some more specifics please on how it changed your own decisions? Anything you wish you'd done or not done; and are there any clear links to how it affected your enjoyment of games today (or have things progressed to 'normal')?

It's hard to say if moving halfway across the world changed my attitude towards games or not because there isn't a version of me that didn't make the move to compare myself to. I didn't play a lot the first couple years because I was getting to know people and the country, but when I had left Canada, I wasn't playing much there either partly because I was into other, time-consuming things and partly because I couldn't really afford them. One thing that certainly changed my attitude a bit was when I found out how ridiculously easy it was to pirate PS2 games in Korea. I played Final Fantasy XII a month before release... I made up for a couple years of piracy by spending exorbitant amounts of money on games for a few more years. I've really only stabilized the past few years and only buy games I'm going to actually play. I still have a stack of 40-50 PS3 games I haven't even started playing and I pretty much only play on PC these days.

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#15  Edited By jppt1974

Hope the move will be smooth. Good luck to you!

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When I moved to Canada from Sweden in 2005 I sold all my XBOX, PS2 and Gamecube consoles and games and bought DS games with the money thinking I could more easily bring that, especially since PAL consoles don't work well in NTSC regions. Then my expected 4 year education was cut short to 1 year because I wanted to go home again so I sold my DS games in 2006 and bought XBOX 360 games. Since you get so little for trading in games, doing those two trade ins I went from a fairly big collection of games to 2-3 XBOX 360 games. I have regretted it ever since. So my only advice is to keep your stuff because you never know how soon you'll want to go back home.

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@broddity:You could probably just box up the Xbox One and send it to your new home via mail for around 20-40 pounds I reckon. Should be cheaper than selling it and buying a new one or a PS4 or Wii U when you arrive there.

And I've bought a lot of games from the USA, Ireland and UK Xbox One digital marketplaces in the past. All the games work just fine. I don't know if Microsoft have clamped down on this recently, but it all worked fine around February when I bought Quantum Break from the USA store.

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I used to play games non stop before moving to a new country. Once I did, playing games was the last thing on my mind. Hell, I barely even went here anymore for a couple of years. Don't overthink it too much, you'll be dealing with a huge culture shock and you'll be much busier than at home before you truly settle in. Just bring a decent laptop so you could play something from time to time, you really won't have that much time for it either way.

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ADIDAG

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Broddity

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@jppt1974 said:

Hope the move will be smooth. Good luck to you!

Thanks duder!

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@dagas said:

Since you get so little for trading in games, doing those two trade ins I went from a fairly big collection of games to 2-3 XBOX 360 games. I have regretted it ever since. So my only advice is to keep your stuff because you never know how soon you'll want to go back home.

So I found a box marked 'Games etc' at the bottom of a cupboard, which had clearly been following me around for the past 10 years or so.

Inside was my old N64 and an absurd collection of games, as well as an original Xbox and associated stuff. Add an OG NIntendo DS and my Xbox 360 to that, and it all stacks up to a lot of games history.

And whilst I plan to do some globetrotting for the next 5 - 10 years, and am therefore fully bought into ruthlessly pursuing digital over physical, I am so loathe to let that stuff go.

At present, the plan is to give it all to my brother. I have limited confidence in his ability to resist the temptation to sell (I noticed some of the N64 games are going for £50 plus, having apparently hit 'collectible' status). Sadly, no sign of my old Dreamcast.

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Broddity

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If you're going to KSA or Qatar or whatever, I'd have thought your gaming life would improve considerably. They break street dates like no one's business. Also, a ton of people play Rocket League in the Greater Middle East.

Both unexpected bonuses - thanks!

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Broddity

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By the way, regarding region locking, it mostly means that you can't play discs from the other region, but digital purchases still work ... Steam region changing is seamless. As long as you haven't made a transaction in 2 weeks and your IP matches the region, you can change it in your accounts settings.

Due to certain censorship restrictions I've been advised by multiple people to obtain a VPN before flying out, so I can continue to access online content (Amazon, Netflix, etc) without any issues.

The thought of censorship hitting games had occurred to me already, but your point regards IP matches is a good one.

Does anyone have any insight into whether I need to worry about this in general?

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audioBusting

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@broddity: having experience with countries with Internet censorship, you will probably want a VPN, but it doesn't usually affect games much. Only few games like Rocket League and Asian MMORPG's I've seen with region restrictions. With Steam, you can just leave the region to your old one if censorship concerns you, though it's usually not much of a concern either with how gifting works. I can talk to you further about VPN's and stuff on general on DM if you want, it can be a little confusing sometimes!

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Greetings, Duders

After a long absence, I find myself returning to this post.

Truthfully I’d meant to do so more frequently - but as various among you warned, I underestimated how many best laid plans would be scuppered, including the intent to keep a record of how moving country affects my gaming.

Taking stock

However, things are gradually settling to a ‘normal’ rhythm, and I’ve now been able to find some breathing room.

Like the previous post, I’m writing this partially for future curiosity, and partially to try and help work out some decisions; but I was humbled at the number of folks who took time out to read some guy’s privileged whining last time around. In advance, thank you to those who suffer their way through more of my First World problems.

To make at least some attempt at keeping things brief (in advance - I know I’ve failed), I’m actually going to try to get to the ‘decisions’ part next week. For the time being, it’s worth recounting what made the trip with me; what didn’t; and how these have changed my gaming habits so far.

Those we left behind

As predicted, the Xbox One was not granted a visa of its own.

That, and my old 360, were donated to my brother. Actually he received an awful lot - not just those two consoles, but also a whole catalogue of 360 titles, some forgotten relics like my old 3DS, a bunch of GameBoy Advance games, and some truly ancient PC discs. Collectively, all of these items filled several large boxes.

What I hadn’t anticipated, was that at the bottom of some wardrobe I found the dusty remnants of a previous move. At some past date, I had boxed up the original Xbox and N64 my brother and I shared as kids, and all of the games which went with both. Suddenly I didn't just have my current and previous gen games to worry about - I had at least one or two gens before that to add to the pile.

I will admit to some “just out-of-curiosity” eBaying, and it seems some of these are starting to reach collector value. Astonishingly, the cost of an O.G. Conker's BFD cart in particular appears to have breached three figures (which something my impoverished teenage self would have refused to believe possible, given how long he had to save for the £55 release version).

It was a wrench, actually, to let it all go, which I hadn’t expected at all. The N64 in particular was my formative console, and although it had sat untouched for half a decade at least, I hated the thought of not being able to caretake it any more. I was was therefore both pleased and relieved to receive a message from home, telling me that my brother - who had otherwise given up on gaming long ago - has rediscovered a love for some of these old titles, and is currently engaged in some nostalgic cart-blowing.

He had his first child just over a year ago, and my new hope is that these all stay in the family long enough for me to introduce my nephew to the simple pleasures of making Mario move around with an analogue stick.

The survivors

What did come with me?

Well, most of the Xbox One games, all but one of which had been downloaded to an external hard drive when I decided I would go ‘full digital’ this generation.

Aside from leaving my brother with only the boxed-in copy of Arkham Knight, this 2TB or so of digital content is also making my current ‘what next’ decision trickier to make, which we’ll delve into another time.

The Elite controller was granted some baggage space, as was a 360 gamepad and adaptor, which have been a staple of my travelling kit for quite a while now. These are occasionally plugged into my MacBook Air, also still with me; and my iPad mini too is always stuffed into a satchel. And that would be it for gaming, if it weren’t for the Wii U, whose inoffensive weight and diminutive size saved it from foster care.

No triple-A, then, for the first month. So what have I been doing?

Making new friends, and rediscovering some old ones

The first two weeks were spent in a hotel (which, trust me, is more than enough for anyone). For the first week this meant I delved into my Steam account, looking for something which could run on the Air. I settled on Stardew Valley.

What a charming game. Perfectly playable with the gamepad, and a real treat to do so. On the face of it, Stardew Valley is winningly approachable. Underneath the folksy veneer, however, lurks a time monster, where you always want ‘one more day’ to finish off whatever task you didn’t manage. I know I’m late to this game, but the Mac version actually arrived just in time for my departure, and I’m glad it did.

By week two, I remembered that plugging something into the TV really isn't that perilous, and so I revived the Wii U.

I don’t think the Wii U is a failure at all, if you approach it from the right perspective. If you go into a Nintendo machine expecting to play Nintendo games, and little else - something my childhood with the N64 set up perfectly - then I don’t see how anyone can be disappointed by this console. Granted, Microsoft has definitely taken more of my time and my money, but as an accompanying machine to your triple-A box of choice, the Wii U is a wonderful palate cleanser.

  • I have spent my time trying to finish Wind Waker, but am losing the willpower against Splatoon time and again.
  • Mario Maker is a wonderfully relaxing piece of software for some wind-down creative sessions, and Mario Kart is a stalwart which looks gorgeous.
  • Super Mario 3D World is nothing but inventive fun (though unfortunate to have been preceded by the unparalleled Mario 64 and Mario Galaxy), and I simply must get to Pikmin soon.
  • The Wii U gamepad, in my humble opinion, is the perfect all-in-one Minecraft device.

I’m so glad circumstances have forced me into spending more time with the Wii U. Looking back, I see a lot in it to remind me of what I loved about that N64; and if I were an impressionable young newbie gamer again, I really think no amount of playground envy would stop the Wii U single-handedly forging a lifelong love of games.

Which is just as well, because I think I might - just might - be relying on this little black box for a while yet.

More on that next time.

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Broddity

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#27  Edited By Broddity

The weird state of affairs with hardware this generation is making a return to triple-A games unexpectedly difficult for me.

To recap - my Xbox One was left behind when I moved, although all of the games for it came with me on an external hard drive. At present my Wii U is getting some (thoroughly earned, and overdue) love, but there’s no doubt I would like to get back to big budget titles in the not-too-distant future.

The initial choices were, simply re-buy an Xbox One on arrival, and plug that external back in. Or alternatively, throw caution to the wind, and buy a PlayStation 4 instead - what better excuse to get access to some of those exclusives I’ve been missing out on?

But what to do, now that Sony and Microsoft have decided to kick off the first inter-generational round of consoles? PlayStation Pro and Scorpio on the horizon; PlayStation VR around the corner; and by the end of the year, both slim versions of the current models are bound to have arrived in my new territory. Suddenly, I’m not so sure which of these looks like a good option.

Let's run through them.

The devil you know

My first thought remains the easiest - bang that USB into the nearest Xbox, and gain immediate access back to my entire catalogue. This includes, by the way, a whole host of backwards-compatible 360 titles, and totals around 2TB worth of games.

Picking up loose ends has a lot of appeal. When I left London, I was halfway through Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate (and the thought of exploring my old home town is very appealing, now I’m no longer there). Geralt was somewhere between 20 and 30 hours into his adventures; and both Elite: Dangerous and Rocket League were staples, each of which took tens of hours from me every week.

Then the S was announced. Cool. A nice looking, smaller version of the box I already decided I wanted. Except for two things:

  1. It isn’t out here yet (with no current sign of a release date); and
  2. It was announced at the same time as its replacement, the Scorpio.

The devil you don't

Let’s go rebellious, then, and consider the PlayStation instead.

There’s a lot of backfilling for this ex-360 owner to do. I’ve missed out on the entire Uncharted series, and I desperately want to play The Last of Us. Unlike many, I think I might be the perfect target audience for No Man’s Sky, and Horizon: Zero Dawn looks stunning. I’m also very keen to get into VR, and of course, Sony has that scheduled to arrive before the year is done.

Except, Sony too has now gone and given me the exact same issue as Microsoft. The Pro has been announced, and just to muddy the waters, Sony followed Microsoft’s lead and unveiled their own slim model at the same time. The whole “Well, what do I have to lose?” argument has taken a dive out of the nearest release window.

The Third Revelation?

In previous posts, I did touch on whether I might finally move out of the console space entirely.

I’ve now accepted, however, that I’m going to have to postpone that new PC rig for a while. Whilst getting out of console hardware doesn't seem so radical at present, given the conundrums I'm discussing here - and an investment I would be willing to make, to avoid unanticipated obsolescence - more travels over the next few years remain a core part of my bigger plans, which makes a PC impractical.

I’ve done some looking into Alienware and the like, but they too have an uncertain future, and none are simultaneously affordable and VR-ready.

(But please, dear Lord, let the NX turn out to match the rumours).

Flaming hell

Even the truly left-field option, which came to me only on touchdown, is now on hold.

As I exited the Arrivals terminal, a giant poster advertising the Samsung Galaxy 7 was proudly telling me to ‘Rethink what a phone can do’. I’ve known this phone can run decent VR for a while, and with a wait-and-see approach seeming sensible for the mainstream consoles, I started doing my research.

And my research told me they are very good phones indeed, with impressive VR in spite of some limitations. Would a brief spell of Gear VR experiences, intercut with dives back into the Wii U lineup, keep me sated until the dust had settled on console generation 8.5?

Unfortunately, in recent weeks, ‘What a phone can do’ includes bursting unexpectedly into flames. At time of writing, the Galaxy 7 has been taken off the market, and Samsung is even recalling all purchased units. Having walked a rash purchase all the way to the edge, I now find myself backing away slowly and shaking slightly, grateful to have had second thoughts.

Purgatory

I’m honestly a little lost, Duders.

Waiting is definitely the sensible thing to do, but how long will I have to, especially given I no longer have the advantage of Europe release dates? With VR and some of the exclusives gnawing away at me, the Pro and a PlayStation VR seem credible.

But will I be able to hang on, knowing I can plug that hard drive into any Xbox One, and instantly regain access to all my old favourites? Even then, I still need to wait for the S to arrive (or arrange an import from somewhere); and I can’t help but feel it might be a bit of a rash decision, especially if I end up getting a Scorpio next year anyway.

It’s all rather vexing.

Could I ask you to put yourselves in my shoes, and report the outcomes of your thought experiments, please? I need all the advice I can get.

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bigsocrates

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#28  Edited By bigsocrates

I don't quite understand why you left your Xbox if you still want to play it. Can you have that shipped to you? If not, is there a Craigslist equivalent where you are where you can get a used Xbox cheap? With the S released (though not in your region?) it's not that hard to get a used Xbox One regular on the cheap. I would do that for now, and then figure out whether you want a PS4 Slim or Pro once the Pro releases and we have a good idea of what it's really like. You might also be able to get a cheap used PS4 from someone upgrading to a Pro at that point, if you decide you don't need the extra power. I definitely wouldn't worry about PS4 VR yet, since there aren't any 'killer aps' coming at launch and it's the price of a whole new console. Hopefully the NX reveal will also come before PS4 Pro launch so you'll be able to figure that in.

So my general advice is find a cheap Xbox (they are pretty cheap even new) and use that for now until the rest of the market shakes out a little bit. Heck if you decide to go PS4 or another direction you'll be able to sell the Xbox you acquire for SOMETHING so you can think of it is a several month rental that lets you play a bunch of games you already have while you wait for the market to clarify.