austin_walker

@plasticpals: Hey! I grew up pretty broke, which means that I grew up buying and trading in games non-stop. I wound up playing a lot more games than I ever would've otherwise (and I also don't really have a game collection because of it). I also understand the business model that GameStop uses, and I'm critical of it. So, I get both the benefits and the downsides of both physical copies and of trade-in systems.

Which is why I don't think I took an "anti-consumer" slant here. This isn't a piece that advocates for an "all digital" future, but it is one that says "Hey, if we're heading that way--and I think we are--then GameStop is going to need to address that in a more dramatic and innovative way than this." And it's worth noting that GameStop hasn't clothed this decision in "pro-consumer" advocacy either. No one is saying "we provide a value for the consumer, so we're refusing to sell digital pack-ins." They're saying "Our business model needs physical games and last year was filled with digital bundles." If their messaging was more like yours, I would've represented that, but it wasn't.

@lawgamer: Thanks for the additional details!

@icantbestopped:Fixed! Thanks!

@magicwalnuts: Not in this case. This is all matter of public record.

@nmarebfly: The floor demo was available but the floor was a terrible place to try that game. Looking forward to it, but it just wasn't the space to play a game like that for 20 minutes and try to render any sort of opinion.

@jayc4life: You're not wrong.

@dawnclover: Thanks!

Fine, fine. Since you asked nicely.

@bacongames: Yeah! This is a great point, and like I say in the review, part of what makes Galak-Z work is that it successfully recreates those feelings in a new medium instead of just symbolically pointing back towards the sources of its inspiration. Thanks for the post!

@arbitrarywater: Like I said, I've played a LOT of Gundam games, and many of them do a poorer job than Galak-Z of evoking the feeling I get watching their source material. (Some of them are fantastic, tho)

@milkman: @party:

Definitely not making a "good" vs "bad" claim, but I am making a subjective, evaluative claim about what I like.

What I'm calling "empty" nostalgia is the sort of media that seems to work on the belief that repetition of and references to previous media are valuable pursuits in and of themselves (See: Pixels). Contrast this with works that successfully interrogate, question, enhance, or (as Galak-Z does) translate some quality of that old, revered work.

Think of "empty nostalgia" as "empty calories." Not judging anyone who wants to eat their favorite junk food, but what I really love is a meal that tries something different. And this review was me answering the question as to the question of which category (and the categories are blurry, for sure) Galak-Z falls in.