ShaggE

@justin258: Thanks, you elucidated what I was trying to get at much better than I did, haha.

Yeah, some of that magic absolutely still exists, mainly in (as always) the indie scene and the old guard developers. I think, more than anything, what I miss are the experiments. The out-of-the-box thinking that came from gaming not yet having established its "rules". When one weirdo in Bumblebutt, Montana could have their drunken coding party results sitting on a shelf beside the new LucasArts adventure and maybe even outselling it. And sadly, even if there's a silver age of that sort of thing, the internet has irrevocably ruined the feeling of inaccessible mystery to strange media.

That all said, I thoroughly acknowledge that the DIY days of gaming were a double edged sword, and for everything I miss about the 90s, there are just as many things that make me glad to live with today's tech, as bland and corporate as it all may be. (I could easily write five more paragraphs about how goddamn BORING packaging, naming and design of mainstream tech has gotten... remember when minimalist black or white packaging stood out? Why do I have a sudden urge to yell at a cloud?)

Gaming (and general tech stuff) was more exciting in the 90s, and I don't just mean from a nostalgia point of view. What we've gained in usability and general quality, we've lost in each game feeling unique. Take the recent Spidermanseses for example: Excellent games with truly incredible visuals that play amazingly. But they don't feel *unique*. It's Batman combat and storytelling in a GTA city with [insert critically acclaimed Naughty Dog game] production and a Marvel skin. And I feel like most modern games are like that: A bit of this game, some of that game, all mixed in different ratios to make a new game.

I don't know, it's an intangible feel that I'm trying to describe, and I'm putting it here because it might very well just be nostalgia talking.

Very frustrating. Saw the demo up last night, downloaded it, and noooope, can't play it until Capcom says so. I mean, I'm going to get the game, but still, I'm not downloading tickets to an event or trying to get into a beta server test, I'm downloading a small slice of single player game that'll be out next month.

Modern gaming is fucking weird, man.

I feel like it's traditional for Doom expansions to be a huge difficulty spike. I haven't played much Ancient Gods yet, but what I have definitely has that same feel to it. I agree that it feels "off" right away, though. The enemies aren't what's hard (mostly), it's the arenas, and that's... annoying. They also seem to be utterly smitten by the Cyber Mancubus, maybe my least favorite enemy to fight in Eternal. I hope that they lay off on those as the levels go along. There's a big bestiary in Eternal, get creative.

I still don't know if I'll even try to finish Soulstorm (Like Oddworld, hate puzzle platformers), but I can already tell that this is a good one. Smart of them to make it a PS+ title, too, because this is a tough sell for the price.

Oddworld might be the only franchise I like where I don't actually like playing any of them, lol

Yeah, I had to bend the rule a bit to make that joke, but when I remembered there was a PS1 game by that title, I had no choice. :P

I mean, obviously it has to be Ray Tracers, yeah?

@bigsocrates: Totally agreed. I get the urge for hyperbole that a lot of the VR community indulges in, it's hard to explain what's so amazing about it to people who've never tried it (and god knows video footage makes it look horrible), but it really doesn't do any good for VR as a whole. Add onto it the increasingly absurd and expensive immersion peripherals, and I can totally see why so many are put off by the whole thing.

(side thought: Can we as a people agree that all VR headsets should offer halo straps similar to PSVR's? I can play PSVR all day long without issue, but I have to have very short sessions on Quest 2 due to the strap. If the weight of the set is at all resting on my face, the discomfort becomes immense very quickly)

I'm a huge VR nerd, and I agree: It's NOT the future of gaming and I wish articles and ads would stop touting it as such because it turns people off from trying it. It's a *branch* of gaming, not any sort of replacement. I own a PSVR, a Quest 2, and fully intend to get a PSVR 2 depending on how its reveal goes, but the majority of my gaming is still "flat".

VR is evolving like graphics did in the 90s, with seemingly constant big improvements and upgrades, but like you said: People usually want to come home and chill, not run around working up a sweat. Even low-impact sit-down VR games require some level of physicality.

Again, I love VR, it's endlessly cool, but it's a niche product being sold as The Next Big Thing, and at least as it exists now, it's never going to overtake traditional gaming (nor should it).

One thousand and eighty peas, both PC and TV. I just don't need the upgrade yet, even with the PS5.

My PC isn't PC enough for more than two Ks at most anyway. I appreciate a good resolution, but it's not a make-or-break for me outside of maybe VR. I'm certainly not against 4K, if I had the money I'd spring for the craziest TV on the market (is it still that 16K Sony one? I don't follow TV tech very closely), it's just going to be a while yet for me.