ShaggE

I'm too deep in the Sony ecosystem (still wish that wasn't a thing, but hey) to comfortably switch back to Xbox, but the Series does make a compelling case for owning it.

That all said, this gen makes an even more compelling case for waiting until a hardware revision drops anyway. Do I want a PS5? Definitely. But unlike the end of the PS3/360 era, the gen switch doesn't feel like a desperately needed upgrade in the same way. So, I guess I'd just hold on and wait. Now, if I saw a PS5 on the shelf and I magically had the money for it in my pocket... yeah, I'd probably give in.

Two that always stick out for me for whatever weird brain reason are the cocktail cabinet of Pac Man at an early 90s Pizza Hut, and a regular standup cabinet of Centipede at... some place? All I remember was that the place was dingy and there was one of those magnetic puck bowling tables next to the cabinet. It's funny, the memory is so strong that I can still smell the friction powder stuff that I'm blanking on the name of from the bowling game, but other than that *shrug*. Restaurant, maybe?

I don't recall what the local skating rink carried, just that it wasn't much. Probably a Terminator 2 and a beat-up pinball table, knowing the era.

Oh! And typing this just dredged up a very early memory of being at a flea market (my grandmother would sell her homemade crafts there a lot, and I often tagged along). This was around 1990/1991, so I was about 4 or 5, and I remember they had one lone arcade cabinet in a room with a cigarette machine and whatever else. Problem is, I was the height of a 4 or 5 year old, so I couldn't see (or read) the marquee or the screen, only the speakers and coin slot. I remember thinking it was some kind of sound based game since I couldn't see the screen (lol)... unfortunately, I'll never know what it was, but I do like that one of my earliest memories involves a grungy arcade cabinet at a flea market, seems painfully on brand for me.

Outside of those memorable examples... I also remember a Chinese food place having a Mortal Kombat 1 cabinet, which was a pretty baller move at the time.

This has me feeling nostalgic (and I just mentioned MK1 anyway), so here's a funny early anecdote from an actual arcade: Street Fighter 2 and MK1 were the new hotness, and I had never played fighting games before, nor was I old enough to know genre conventions. So I played both cabinets by chance, and I still recall thinking that one was a total ripoff of the other, and I said as much to anyone who'd listen for months afterwards. Then both franchises blew the fuck up at my school, and I jumped on that bandwagon HARD, haha.

While I'm not sure the game is grabbing me (it's cool, and the writing is great, it's just not my kind of game), I absolutely love the snax VA.

Honestly, they're still so far from realistic that I can enjoy them just fine (doesn't hurt that I've loved gory horror films and such all my life), but I absolutely think it's a valid concern given that they've set the precedent that each sequel has to go a step further. And yeah, the development process of recent MKs need a seriously critical rethinking... instead of using real world source material, use a slasher movie or something. Ed keeps saying that he draws the line at gore that can be realistically recreated, so why put your artists through that?

Personally, I think a good middle ground would be for MK12 to fashion its fatalities after the X/11 Brutalities: Still plenty gory, but much faster and more in the style of classic MK fatalities.

@sarcasticmudcrab: That's fair! There are certainly widely enjoyed mechanics in games that do nothing for me as well (crafting, for example).

The way I view Batman combat is basically a combat puzzle that's more about knowing when to prioritize which enemies to maximize your XP reward. Basically, you get out of it what you put into it. The challenge isn't in surviving (for the most part), it's in balancing creativity and efficiency. Now, I'm not saying it's perfect, things get pretty silly when you're a Batpinball bouncing from enemy to enemy, taking out 70 guys without a scratch, but I do think there's much more depth to it than a casual playthrough may suggest. I've watched a number of people do blind playthroughs (I *really* love these games, haha), and I don't think I've seen any of them take advantage of the full suite of mechanics, or even the rhythm aspect.

Personally, I think the games really shine on Hard NG+ where it holds your feet to the fire a little more and you can't get away with mashing as easily. None of the games are especially difficult even then, but it does make you work for your reward at least.

Edit: Totally agreed on MP games giving out participation awards, though. Takes away any incentive to get better, which is a detriment in teamwork-heavy games like OW.

On the bright side, we're at the very tail end of the "Are video games literally sneaking into your child's bedroom and holding them at gunpoint!?" fear cycle, it seems. Not nearly as many pearls have been clutched over the medium these past few years. Personally, I just want to see what the next big scary medium will be. Maybe we'll circle back around and panic about "the rock and/or rolls" again.

Okay, I've gotta know. What makes it so horrifyingly bad? I mean, it's beat-em-up gameplay with a bit of a rhythm component.

What really butters my ass about this is that the pandemic proved how useless caps are. The internet can handle the increase just fine.

@danielkempster: No worries at all! I was just in one of those "no filter thought drop" moods, haha. And yeah, I have Extraction sitting around, never played it though. I actually am curious how the UI works in that too, now that you mention it. (which, jokes aside, is one of my favorite diagetic UIs)

In ten years when I can afford a 3080ti, I'll be glad for it, but for now... yeah, that's wild.