Ramblings.

So, the 3DS... I'll admit to ridiculing it in its infancy. I still feel bad about what happened to Iwata (I really do). I chose to buy the VIta over it last year. That said, I feel like there's a lesson in there that I am always forgetting. That lesson is this: Don't buy any sort of gaming-purposed device in its first or even second year. It just doesn't go as well as it used to.

Video games' Big 3 seems to have a rather short-sighted habit of putting carts before horses with console launches. We get video after video of graphical and hardware capabilities, tech demos and the like. What we don't really get however, is games. We get just enough of an enticement to settle for the promise of something coming out within a year or two's time. Now, if I may enjoy my tapioca for a moment, it wasn't always this way.

I fondly remember, just in the recent years, consoles like the Xbox, Dreamcast and N64 ensuring there was something of a killer-app at launch ready to be played by anyone dedicated enough to make their game machine a day 1 purchase. Fond memories there, but I digress.

So here we are again, another year, another tax refund. I usually try to avoid getting too many singular items, but I try to afford myself one "toy". I think this year it's going to be the 3DS. I have a few reasons, chief among them being Fire Emblem: Awakening.

I am pleased to say that it seems to excel at one of the things I initially derided the 3DS for: Its 3D aspects. It's the first 3DS game I've tried that doesn't give me that weird, woozy, cross-eyed feeling. In terms of gameplay and faithfulness to the source? It's Fire Emblem. Even all dressed up, it's still got the same heart. I'm sold.

Which takes my mind over to my Vita. Recently, I've been able to keep it free from dust by making a japanese account. I wish the process were less frustrating and destructive. I formatted my card, I backed everything up, but ended up losing my PSP game saves. I'm still sad about that. I overlooked one tiny detail and lost hours of game progress. Ugh. Another topic- if I buy your product, why do you have to grip to the reins so tightly, still? Vut the umbilical cord. Let me cross over into your japanese product line. Let me find more ways to keep my Vita out of its case.

Anyway, I think after this round of consoles, I'm gonna go PC it up. I like mods and freedom. I can't stand this pay to play, exclusionary bullshit that I go through with a console. Remember the days when you'd get to pop in a game and play it without a fucking incomprehensible EULA? Or Preorder DLC? Ugh, I'm bitter now.

Yay! FIre Emblem is back!

Fin.

So, the 3DS... I'll admit to ridiculing it in its infancy. I still feel bad about what happened to Iwata (I really do). I chose to buy the VIta over it last year. That said, I feel like there's a lesson in there that I am always forgetting. That lesson is this: Don't buy any sort of gaming-purposed device in its first or even second year. It just doesn't go as well as it used to.

Video games' Big 3 seems to have a rather short-sighted habit of putting carts before horses with console launches. We get video after video of graphical and hardware capabilities, tech demos and the like. What we don't really get however, is games. We get just enough of an enticement to settle for the promise of something coming out within a year or two's time. Now, if I may enjoy my tapioca for a moment, it wasn't always this way.

I fondly remember, just in the recent years, consoles like the Xbox, Dreamcast and N64 ensuring there was something of a killer-app at launch ready to be played by anyone dedicated enough to make their game machine a day 1 purchase. Fond memories there, but I digress.

So here we are again, another year, another tax refund. I usually try to avoid getting too many singular items, but I try to afford myself one "toy". I think this year it's going to be the 3DS. I have a few reasons, chief among them being Fire Emblem: Awakening.

I am pleased to say that it seems to excel at one of the things I initially derided the 3DS for: Its 3D aspects. It's the first 3DS game I've tried that doesn't give me that weird, woozy, cross-eyed feeling. In terms of gameplay and faithfulness to the source? It's Fire Emblem. Even all dressed up, it's still got the same heart. I'm sold.

Which takes my mind over to my Vita. Recently, I've been able to keep it free from dust by making a japanese account. I wish the process were less frustrating and destructive. I formatted my card, I backed everything up, but ended up losing my PSP game saves. I'm still sad about that. I overlooked one tiny detail and lost hours of game progress. Ugh. Another topic- if I buy your product, why do you have to grip to the reins so tightly, still? Vut the umbilical cord. Let me cross over into your japanese product line. Let me find more ways to keep my Vita out of its case.

Anyway, I think after this round of consoles, I'm gonna go PC it up. I like mods and freedom. I can't stand this pay to play, exclusionary bullshit that I go through with a console. Remember the days when you'd get to pop in a game and play it without a fucking incomprehensible EULA? Or Preorder DLC? Ugh, I'm bitter now.

Yay! FIre Emblem is back!

Fin.