I got a Wii U in April of this year, when we were all still reeling at Microsoft's DRM reveal and convinced that Sony was in line with them. I bought the basic, mainly because I didn't really need Nintendoland (or the extra storage, as I don't really partake in digital console content), along with New Super Mario Bros.

I've since built up a decent library, certainly more than I had for the Wii in the same number of months since purchase. However, with Sony crushing any ideas that they were following Microsoft's path, and Microsoft in turn backpedaling so hard they might just slip and fall on their asses, the Wii U has lost its one potential advantage. And now, with both the Xbone and PS4 out, it's time to assess the Wii U.

Despite the click-bait headline, Danny O'Dwyer made several strong points in the most recent edition of The Point.

Put short, the lack of system-selling games on the Wii U, combined with Nintendo's failure to create a second fad, have put the system in a bad position now that the eighth generation is in full swing. PS4 and Xbone will almost certainly outsell Wii U globally by some time in 2014, and third party support will continue to dry up. Sure, Ubisoft will drop the occasional dance and party game on the system, but it's becoming clear that 3rd parties aren't bothering this time. EA has burned bridges with Nintendo, and the near-crippling silence from everyone else with regards to the Wii U speaks volumes. I imagine that, were it not for the 3DS' continued domination, we'd see a lot more companies going the EA route with Nintendo. Thus, Nintendo's going it alone on Wii U.

So, how did we get here? Well, the beginnings of Nintendo's downfall can be traced back to the height of their success. In the years following the video game crash of 1983, Nintendo rebuilt the industry in their image, using their NES monopoly to strongarm 3rd parties for all the money they could get. Carts could only be manufactured by Nintendo themselves, so the price per cart was artificially inflated, and companies were only allowed a limited number of releases per year. Despite unlicensed outliers like the Sega/Atari/Namco front Tengen, Nintendo ruled the industry with an iron fist, abusing their position to tie 3rd parties into loyalty pacts that served to kill the Master System and Turbografx-16. Even the Sega Genesis and a lawsuit ending some of the more blatantly abusive aspects of their business, Nintendo never treated 3rd parties like partners, instead running their games business like a dictatorship, angering many 3rd parties.

Third parties like Sony.

After Sega released the Sega CD, Nintendo looked into making a CD add-on for the Super Nintendo, but backed out well into development with two different partners. Their partnership with Philips resulted in the long-forgotten CD-i and a quartet of the worst games ever to bear Nintendo mascots. Their partnership with Sony, themselves a 3rd party previously, resulted in a cultural phenomenon.

Sony took the technology from their SNES CD project, enhanced the hardware for revolutionary (at the time) 3D graphics, and proceeded to steal the entire games industry from Nintendo, whose hubris led to the N64 being a huge commercial flop. Nintendo was clearly caught flat-footed by the sudden change in the pecking order. Suddenly, they were no longer the top dog, and were really only the second place console by default, owing to Sega's prolonged implosion. With the PlayStation, and then the PlayStation 2, absolutely decimating all competition in the console hardware space, Nintendo systems became known for droughts of quality software between their tent-pole franchise titles. The 3rd parties they treated like servants were gone, and even with the domination of the Game Boy line, Nintendo was unable to secure meaningful support for their home systems.

The only bump in the road downhill was the Wii. With the novelty of motion controls and Sony's own moment of hubris, Nintendo was able to sweep in and relive the amazing successes of the past... Sort of.

The problem with the Wii, other than Nintendo's ego once more inflating, was that it sold to people who didn't really care for gaming. It sold because people were curious about motion controls, and drawn in by Wii Sports. The people who bought the Wii for Wii Sports never bought anything else, and Nintendo failed to see that gamers were going to the 360 (and later the PS3 as Sony turned the ship around) in droves, while Nintendo was stuck with a fickle group of users who quickly forgot about the Wii as the next mainstream fad came. Thus, while the Wii itself was practically everywhere, 3rd parties had treated it like the last-place console anyway. Save for a few fantastic games that failed in retail, the system became a dumping ground for all the worst software in existence. Shit like Ninjabread Man became the norm, and the pitiful signal-to-noise ratio became the stuff of legends.

All the while, Nintendo ignored gamers, to the point where a massive campaign that basically amounted to begging was needed to release arguably 2012's best Wii games. Put short, Nintendo repeated the mistakes of the SNES era. They were riding high, and they didn't care one iota if people were dissatisfied.

So that leads us to the Wii U. After an initial, promising holiday 2012, things quickly went downhill. In the year that they've been the sole eighth generation console, the Wii has sold just over four million, and those people have been treated to a lackadaisical release schedule, mainly populated with hand-me-down ports from 360 and PS3, while Nintendo's post-launch offerings were delayed repeatedly. Worse yet, the people who'd been captivated by the Wii either got over it, or believed the Wii U to be simply an updated controller for the Wii. Either way, the non-gaming market did not want, and the gamers stuck to the 360 and PS3, waiting for something to capture their imaginations. Nintendo squandered their year in the spotlight, and when the Xbone and PS4 hit the scene, the Wii U's fate was sealed.

So where does that leave Nintendo? Before we go on, let's stop talking about Nintendo going third party. They've got massive amounts of income coming in from the 3DS, and the Wii has built them an impressive war chest. Nintendo would have to have multiple decades of straight losses for them to be in any position to question their solvency, and with 7.2 billion yen worth of profits for fiscal year 2013, that's not going to happen. That said, the Wii U itself sells at a loss, while the competitors sell for a profit, and software isn't moving on the Wii U, so things need to change. If Nintendo wants to be a player in the home market and not just handhelds, there are going to have to be some major changes. First off, third party relations are going to have to become a long-term project. Between the oppression of the NES and Super NES eras and the gamers' rejection of the N64, Cube and Wii, Nintendo needs to slowly rebuild their relationships. For the eighth generation, however, they are mostly going it alone, with whatever exclusives they can develop or buy. Given how much money they have, they need to massively build up their first party development. Most important, however, is that they need to diversify their lineup.

See, after the release of Pikmin on the GameCube, Nintendo stopped trying to make new IPs, content instead to feed its young base and most rabid fans a steady diet of established mascots. This is just fine for those who have already bought in, but it's not going to win over detractors. While it would be suicidal to abandon their bread-and-butter franchises, Nintendo needs to do some serious outreach. That means making more titles out of their wheelhouse; shooters, RPGs, strategy... Nintendo themselves need to make games for people who aren't fans of the core five mascots or party games. A company as stupidly rich as Nintendo shouldn't have any problem financing the needed first party expansion to do this.

Lastly, online. It's been said that Nintendo has no idea how the internet works. Nintendo have also shown a willingness to gimp their online services in order to protect its position as the electronic babysitter. In response, those looking to play online games have moved on. If Nintendo wants to move in on the lucrative core gamer demographic, they're going to have to loosen up the restrictions on their online network, and make it easier for people to meet, and play against, each other on their services. As it stands now, Nintendo's arm's-length attitude to online interaction is failing them, and will continue to do so until they change.

Hopefully Nintendo will make the needed changes to become a relevant player in the eighth generation. However, I don't see it happening. How about you guys? Any hope for Nintendo in the future?

Well, here we are. The eighth generation of consoles is officially upon us. I've just played the ever-loving fuck out of Killzone: Shadow Fall and Knack, and already have plans to pick up Injustice's ultimate edition next week along with the sweet accidental damage insurance Sony's selling. We see a generation in front of us, full of opportunities for great games, amazing moments and overall excitement. We're also going to see lots of disappointment, rage and the standard idiocy from all sides: publishers, media and fans.

Put short, it's another generation of games.

We're already seeing the beginning, really: people selling up the coming of cloud computing, the end of physical media, artistic gaming, garage developers actually meaning something in the broader marketplace, and this potentially being the last console generation. Talking heads from all over are talking, and the likelihood of any of this being anything more than marketing bullshit is hilariously low. Especially that last one. Let's be honest, we're all going to be here again, talking about the PS5, Xbox Two and Nintendo's next attempt to catch lightning in a bottle, come 2019-2020, and the cycle will begin again. This will almost certainly be preceded by another failed Sony attempt to bite into Nintendo's handheld dominance around 2016-2017. We'll also be enduring another few years of fanboys trying to convince us that tablet and mobile gaming really is more than failed ports and pay-to-win drivel or how PC isn't a totally different market and are totally going to destroy the console model.

We've yet to see the first true stinker of the eighth generation, but we already have a divisive title. We already have people grumbling about features and games that didn't make launch. In a week, we'll be seeing the alpha nerds of the fanboy tribes scanning every pixel of every multi-platform title for any "evidence" of one system's inferiority to the other, and we're seeing Nintendo fanboys try to talk down the next generation, as though only their chosen faceless corporation is capable of compelling gameplay experiences. As the current generation reaches more and more people, we'll get called all sorts of horrible names and be thankful that both PS4 and Xbone share party chat capability so we don't have to sit there muting everyone individually. There will be people saying the most vile, disgusting shit toward each-other, with gamers often being as racist, misogynistic and homophobic as possible, and the media will try to paint these fuckwads as the whole of the fandom. A few gaming-related laws will be passed by state governors, a few studies will be issued by the federal government, and we'll probably see an amulance chaser or two launch a crusade against the sick filth that is GTAVI.

Lather.

Rinse.

Repeat.

We're also going to see games that leave our mouths open, make us jump and cry out to the heavens in joy and reignite our oft-battered faith in this wonderful pastime of ours. We're going to fall in love with new characters, worlds and music. We're going to save the world a few times, maybe have a laugh or two at some caricatured larger than life figure, or skip a heartbeat or two, maybe even shed a tear as a character we'd grown fond of bites the dust in a horrible way. We'll watch walkthroughs and commentaries, both serious and funny, that bring a smile to our faces. We'll find the one or two machinema darlings, bang our heads and laugh at some hilarious meme that a game starts up, and talk about awesome moments with our friends, be it around the water cooler or over our headset. Some crazy e-sports showing will rock our worlds and leave us hype as all fuck. We'll be pleasantly surprised by a sleeper hit every once in a while, a game or two will spark some interesting debate, and @zombiepie is going to have a shit-ton of awesome blogs to look through for the Community Spotlight.

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, bears crap in the woods, the Pope wears a stupid hat, and the eighth generation will largely come and go like all the others. Some of it is bad, some of it is good, but so long as console gaming is a competitive market, it's going to be one hell of a fucking ride.

Maybe the seventh generation lasted too long. Maybe it ended too soon. It really depends on who you ask. But no matter what you feel about that, we can all agree that it was one crazy ass ride. I expect no less from the eighth, and I'm glad to have got on right at the start.

Blockbuster recently announced the closure of all its remaining US retail outlets, as well as their by-mail rental service, by the end of the year. It's a bittersweet end to what was once one of the most important names in the home entertainment video. Unsurprisingly, many media talking heads have laid the credit exclusively at the feet of digital distribution, failing to see the full range of issues that doomed Blockbuster to the position they ended up in.

Now, I want to be clear, I'm not discounting the rise of digital services, especially the all-you-can-eat juggernaut Netflix. However, this was only one of many issues that Blockbuster failed to address.

Now, first and foremost, Blockbuster was shit to go and rent at. Particularly in the late nineties and into the 2000s, Blockbuster had become more and more dirty and unattractive, with movies getting harder and harder to find on store shelves, usually due to not being placed properly. This was mostly because the concept of customer service had been forgotten by Blockbuster seemingly immediately after they pushed all the smaller rental stores out of business. Hell, Netflix was founded by a guy who'd gotten fed up with Blockbuster's legendarily stupid late fees. Not only that, but true to their name, it was not that easy to find anything that wasn't a blockbuster, which we'll talk about later. Put simply, they beat the competition and then proceeded to get all kinds of lazy. Sounds familiar....

Second, the movies got cheaper. I mentioned the lack of variety in the last paragraph, but this is where it really started hurting them. When DVD hit mainstream at around 2000, it was a format designed with user purchase in mind. Even back around the PS2 launch, it wasn't unusual to see new releases at $25-$30, and that price got cheaper and cheaper to the point where new releases on DVD are $15-$20 nowadays. When Blockbuster came up, it wasn't unusual for a new release movie to be around $50-$100, due to the cost of producing VHS tapes. Now, what does this have to do with the variety at Blockbuster being an issue? See, back in those days, people would go from store to store looking for the movie they wanted. It wasn't unusual for people to have BB accounts at more than one location (as the stores weren't networked, another service fail). Fun story; as a young gal, I actually walked half a day to a Blockbuster several neighborhoods away, looking to rent The Professional: Golgo 13, back when I was really into anime. With the advent of DVD, it became easier to just go to Best Buy or Wal-Mart or what have you and just buy a fucking copy of that less-than-blockbuster movie you wanted to see with the crew over the weekend. The cheapening of movies would not only make purchase of movies a viable idea for the first time since CED, but would also give rise to new competition...

This was the next pillar in the fall of Blockbuster. Even before streaming, Netflix began eating Blockbuster's lunch with their fantastic rent-by-mail service. Instead of having to deal with getting reamed by Blockbuster late fees and not being able to find the movie you wanted half the damned time, you just ordered a movie from their catalog, got it in the mail moderately quickly, and sent it back when you were done with it to get the next film in your queue. In their hubris, Blockbuster dismissed Netflix as a passing fad. It wasn't, and the money made by Netflix's mail-order business funded the streaming service we know and love today. Then there was the automated kiosk, which was pioneered by Redbox. I'm sure you've seen these little bastards everywhere at this point: a red box (thus the name) with a bunch of movies/games in it that can be rented for a buck a day, and even if they don't have the movie you're looking for in one kiosk, it's entirely possible they can have it in another one just a stone's throw away. Seriously, I don't know about you, but 'round here they're all over the place. I have one in my grocery store, my drugstore, the local Wal-Mart, and a few places I'm sure I've forgotten. Because DVDs are cheap and compact, the cost of having a Redbox in your establishment are minimal. As with online streaming, Blockbuster ignored the threat posed by mail-order renting and automated kiosks until Netflix and Redbox had snatched up huge swaths of their market share.

In reality, the writing on the wall was written for Blockbuster before online streaming even became as large as it is now. Between lack of variety, poor service, and cheap ass DVDs, the chain had no way of surviving into the 21st century. Indeed, that it lasted into the 2010s is little short of a miracle, despite the fact that there's still a thriving disc rental market. Had Blockbuster simply been more agile, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Now, what does this have to do with gaming?

There's this narrative, spun by corporate types with a vested interest in taking away ownership rights (along with their fanboys), that digital will completely replace physical distribution in gaming, rather than co-existing the way it does with both movies and music. This ignores the one fundamental truth of the consumer market: different people want different things. Just as not every gamer plays the same games, not every gamer plays - or buys - them the same way. Broadband penetration is still a joke in parts of the US, to say nothing of the world at large, and ideological disputes over DRM will persist for the foreseeable future, and the attitudes consumers will have will by and large vary from person to person. The console market clearly didn't approve of the all-or-nothing mandate Microsoft had initially proposed for the Xbone, but going digital will appeal to probably as many people as it revolts. Options are everything, and those who provide the most options will be king, simply by virtue of being able to appeal to the broadest amount of people for a sustained period of time.

Make no mistake; the time of monolithic, dictatorial retail is over. However, it's not being replaced by monolithic, dictatorial digital distribution. It's being replaced by a cornucopia of choices, both online and off, catering to a consumer base that is becoming more diverse rather than less. The company that makes the most consumers the most comfortable will be the winner. That company was not Blockbuster, and it won't be any company that believes they can make one size fit all.

Giant Bomb, GameSpot and many other press outlets cover Steam almost exclusively when it comes to the PC, to the point where one would be forgiven for thinking that Valve's DRM service was the only place to get games. I got to thinking about this after seeing GB's quick look for The Chaos Engine. I'm not sure if there's some sort of agenda driving the "Steam is PC gaming, submit to DRM" mantra, and I hesitate to call it a fanboy agenda (though, let's be honest, Valve and Blizzard the Nintendo of PC gaming), but I thought I'd take a moment to highlight a few great PC gaming services that offer a wide variety of DRM-free gaming.

GOG.com - This is perhaps the most famous DRM-free service out there. Starting out mainly as a means of reviving classics for modern PCs, they've grown into more and more current game experiences, including the reboots for Rise of the Triad and Shadow Warrior. Of course, since the service is run by CD Projekt, they really got on the map with the first new AAA game release on the serive, The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings. They have an enormous library of games, and it's constantly growing. The sales are pretty cool too. This was also the first place to get the re-release of System Shock 2.

DotEmu.com - While not quite as vast as GOG, DotEmu makes itself known with a variety of arcade collections, as well as a ton of Sega Genesis titles for those who'd like legal, DRM-free alternatives to running them on emulators. there isn't QUITE as much overlap between GOG and DotEmu as one would think, making it worthwhile to look at both stores from time to time. The only thing is that bringing up their genre catalogs can be a bit slow at times - the site needs some serious streamlining. However, DRM-free means client-free, so once you buy, it's all good. They also have android and iOS stores, but I mainly look at their glorious DRM-free PC selection.

The Humble Bundle (mostly). While not always DRM-free, the Indie bundles are almost always DRM-free in addition to Steam Keys. They even have an Android Widget to offer DRM-free android games, which is well beyond the call of duty.

Bundle In A Box - Another "pay what you want" service, this one is far more committed to DRM-free gaming, which makes it a fair alternative even to Humble Bundle.

These are the ones I know off-hand, but if you know some more, let me (and other readers) know! And please, don't take this as some Steam hate post. While I've fallen out of love with DRM, if you can deal with it, that's cool. However, I hope that by posting this, people become more aware that there are options for DRM-free gaming on PC... LOTS of DRM-free gaming. Hopefully, by making people more aware of the many viable alternatives, we can get the gaming media, and even some of the Steam fanboys, to acknowledge that there's a world beyond their walls.

As I'm sure you all know by now, Kinect 2.0 will no longer need to be plugged in for the Xbone to function or play non-Kinect games. While this is a good thing, this is not going to turn Microsoft's fortunes this holiday.

Now, before I get into the meat of this post, let me make something abundantly clear; in the long run, the myriad reversals Microsoft have made with regards to the Xbone are good for their standing in the gaming industry for the next eight to ten years. With the coming generation likely to outlast the current one, Microsoft doesn't want to be hobbled by unpopular decisions and restrictive design. As indecisive as they look about the system's direction right now, these changes were mandatory if they wanted to stay relevant in the home console space.

That said, now Microsoft has some issues that need to be addressed in the short-to-medium term.

Right up until their humiliation at E3, Microsoft were quite loud and confident in their belief that theirs was the only future, and that we would be thanking them for their bold vision and initiative when the dust settled. The DRM restrictions would lead to better games through the magic of the cloud, and constant Kinect connection would mean that developers would really make the peripheral soar.

Then Sony came by and offered an alternative, one that gamers eagerly ate up.

In the two months since E3 (and in the face of presumably lopsided pre-orders) Microsoft has backed off on nearly all of its controversial policies, leaving only the forced bundling and $100 premium remaining. However, in doing this, they're going to have a shit ton of work ahead of them, and a very short time frame to get it done. We all know that new Xbones will need to undergo a "one-time setup," online, and anyone with a brain can infer that this is a day-one patch to replace the pre-E3 firmware with the current, less controversial firmware. This likely entails re-writing reams of code that took a hell of a lot more than four months to write in the first place, and with this latest reversal, making a version of the front-end that is more intuitive for people who've thrown their Kinect in the closet. Delaying the console is almost certainly out of the question, as they don't want to miss Black Friday.

You know what that means? Microsoft is, once again, rushing a product to market. We all know how wonderful that turned out last time, but unlike the RROD, firmware isn't quite as simple to fix as wrapping a towel around the system. There's almost certain to be busted code somewhere that's going to make the system unstable in those first three or so months. Unlike with this generation, there's no year-long head start for Microsoft. PS4's going to be here this holiday as well, and will likely not have as many issues. Consumer distrust over just how crappy the launch 360s were will lead to every single hardware/software/firmware issue being magnified in the press. MS might want to consider shipping with a 3-year warranty in the box in lieu of the camera.

However, these are going to be mainly issues for the first two quarters or so of the system's life. Fires that burn brightly and run out of oxygen rapidly in the constant winds of the blog-driven news cycle, much like the Wii U's initial update woes (that took two-plus hours, if you all remember).

No, now they have to deal with the tent-poles of their next-gen strategy simply not being there, or not being reliable. The cloud, already hampered by the fact that 3rd parties won't use it for their multiplat titles for anything but token stat-collecting, can't even be relied upon for first-party since systems can now be used without an online connection. The tinfoil hatters worried about encroaching DRM can stop worrying - we're not going to see online-only become a thing this generation, at least not for single player titles. Seriously, I can't even imagine the scale of the controversy if Halo 5 ran like shit unless you were online 24/7. Thus, no matter how much Microsoft PR wants you to believe otherwise, games aren't going to look better on Xbone than on PS4. In fact, the opposite may end up being true more often than not, with the two systems using x86 architecture.

This is easy enough to survive, however. Less powerful systems can have amazing gameplay experiences too, as the Xbox 360 itself has proven time and again. No, it's our next issue - the Kinect - that will almost certainly be the biggest bugbear for Microsoft over the next year.

Firstly, whether it's true or not (and how can it not be true?), most see the Kinect as the reason the Xbone costs $100 more than the PS4. While MS is at least relenting on its demand that we move our coffee tables out of the way to play regular Xbone games, the fact that it's not even needed to run the system only intensifies the question of value. Activision's Eric Hirshberg is already on record stating what we already know - MS has to make the value proposition more apparent than it's doing right now. While removing the requirement to have it plugged in is sure to please privacy activists and people who are already good to go with Xbone, Microsoft continues to do nothing to explain why they're asking for $100 premium versus technologically superior competition.

Not only that, but with all the reversals happening left and right, people have more hope than ever for a version to come out that doesn't have the Kinect at all. While it most likely won't happen this holiday, or even for the first two quarters, Microsoft has proven they're not so pigheaded as to ignore a chorus of people spending their console money elsewhere (unlike another console maker, but that's another post for another day). Thus, "I'll wait for a Kinectless release" is no longer an unrealistic troll post, but a legitimate response. I'd honestly be surprised if we didn't see a Kinectless version of the system by holiday 2014. Why? Because, with a viable alternative from Sony, holding out has never seemed so easy.

I need to state this again - the changes Microsoft are making to the console are good in the long term. Come 2015, only fanboys and trolls are going to be flooding forums with posts about the DRM and Kinect scandals of 2013 (especially if MS relents on packing the Kinect in with every Xbone), whereas their policies would have kneecapped their Xbox business for the whole generation had they stuck to their guns. However, Microsoft will have to prove agile and attentive if they want to minimize the short-term damage, especially since Sony isn't giving them even a moment's rest this time.

Oh Capcom, only you can take a game released in February of 2009 and stretch it out in such a blatant and cynical manner.

Seriously, this is the fourth release of Street Fighter IV.

The fourth!

Now I'm not against special editions that pack everything together in a single version. Hell, I prefer to get expanded versions of games that way (as opposed to DLC that likely won't be there when XBL and PSN leave this generation behind). I have GOTY/Complete editions of Mortal Kombat, Oblivion, Skyrim, Saints Row the Third, and several other games that I can't remember at the moment, and I'll likely get the complete edition of Injustice when it comes out.

Hell, it also serves as a great reason to be against the stupid DRM MS wanted to have on the Xbone. Who needs multiple versions of any one game instead of easily being able to pawn off obsolete editions, right?

However, what Capcom is doing isn't releasing a special edition after a game is successful. This is Capcom doing what they did with Street Fighter II: making minor tweaks and adding a couple characters in an attempt to milk a single game for all it's worth in a desperate attempt to milk a dedicated fanbase.

This is, need I remind you all, a huge part of what killed the 90s fighting game craze. Mind you, the game first came out in 2009, and has since had two special editions, in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Now I'll give them credit for offering this at a reduced price like they did with Arcade Edition and for offering a DLC pack for those so inclined. However, seeing how little effort is apparently going into this (The four announced characters are copy-pasted from Street Fighter x Tekken), this is less a special edition and more an excuse not to get working on a true successor.

Now the question that I'm sure is on everyone's mind is "why does Capcom get away with this nonsense?" The answer, in reality, is quite simple: the FGC worships Capcom.

Pretty much anything that wasn't Street Fighter was abandoned the instant Street Fighter IV came out, and now it's the primary game in most fighting game tournaments. The only game that comes close to the tournament popularity is Marvel VS Capcom 3, a noisy button masher with an equally noisy, obnoxious fanbase. This while other fighting games are doing interesting things with the genre. There's pretty much a block of fighting game fans who look down on any game that doesn't have Ryu and Ken in it. Hell, if it wasn't for Capcom not granting MLG rights, Namco and Netherrealm would have been forgotten.

With this in mind, why wouldn't Capcom exploit this blindly loyal fanbase? They've successfully cultivated a large group of people willing to buy the same game on a near-yearly basis with nothing but roster updates. Street Fighter IV is now confirmed to be a game that can be released on an almost-yearly basis. It's Madden. No, it's better than Madden. EA has to pay the NFL hundreds of millions of dollars for NFL exclusivity, something Capcom doesn't have to worry about when it rubber-stamps Street Fighter rehashes. So they don't have to pay in licensing fees, and they don't have to put nearly the amount of effort and money in that Ubisoft or Activision have to for their annualized franchises.

It's a formula for making wads of cash with very little investment that any company with a brain would die for. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the only work going on at Capcom right now is porting the game over to next-gen for yet another re-release with a couple more characters and balance tweaks. This while games that are really pushing the boundaries of what can be done in the genre are left to a fraction of the fanbase.

This isn't just a re-release. Capcom's gone past that. This is, once and for all, a confirmation that the fighting game genre, like any sports game, only has room for one mainstream game.

So, how about you guys? You gonna pick this up? I'm not sure I am, but what I am sure is that I won't be buying the first release of Street Fighter V... Assuming there is a first release of Street Fighter V, as opposed to endless yearly Street Fighter IV editions. There's just no reason to be first in the door with Street Fighter anymore.

Well, I'd been meaning on getting an OUYA for a while, and with my PS4 paid for, I pulled the trigger. I figure it'd be nice to have a multimedia box so I don't have to have my PC on at all hours, and having the occasional emulator and the Twitch app would be a nice compliment to my Blu-Ray player.

Looking back, I kind of wish I hadn't bought the stupid thing.

Setting up the console is pretty easy, actually. Well, other than trying to figure out where to put the AA batteries in the controller because the stupid thing has no real instruction manual. Seriously, all that you get is four steps to setting the stupid thing up that don't mention how you put the batteries in, and disclaimers. That's all, in a bunch of languages. Would a real user guide have been too much to ask.

That is, unfortunately, the best part of the system.

Upon setup, you're required - required! - to enter credit card data or a prepaid card's number. I didn't expect that, and I wasn't happy to be basically forced to put in my debit card (which I've since canceled because no they can't have access to my account).

Once you enter, the main menu is simple enough, though many of the system's options are buried a few menus in. Speaking of, the "advanced" menu is basically just the Android 4.1 settings screen, with no real consideration for controller use. It works mostly, but it's inelegant compared to the main menu.

Then there's the store, which is really where things fall apart. Giant lettering, lots of scrolling necessary. It's like the very VERY first Zune player, only somehow even more annoying, if that was even possible. At least once you get to genres there's SOME organization, but overall, the thing is an oversized mess that ignores anyone using a TV larger than a fishbowl.

Oh, and apparently XBMC isn't on the store, at least as of this writing. What? XBMC was part of the friggin' store display! No Youtube either.

The next issue with this silly system is the controller. Now, the controller itself feels good enough. Doesn't feel as sturdy as a first-party controller for a major console, but doesn't exactly feel like some Nyko piece of crap either. It's fine for what it does, and pretty smartly designed. The problem is the input lag. Oh Lord almighty, the input lag! It's noticeable in the menus, but you most noticeably have to fight it during gameplay. Very, VERY annoying.

Lastly, there's the issue of ports. Now the system has ONE USB port, which wouldn't be so bad but for the fact that all my wired controllers are USB, as is the external hard drive I have plugged in. As such, only one device can be used at any one time on the port (I don't have any USB hubs - any other OUYA users want to tell me if they work?), and since the OUYA itself doesn't read the external hard drive (That has to be supported in app, apparently), I can't just load a few choice roms for use with a wired 360 controller. Oh, and since the system can't read external drives at OS level, you have to download any .apk files from the OUYA browser.

Overall, the OUYA is poor. Not a disappointment. Not missed potential. Just plain, old, objectively poor. I'm going to try the Nova launcher, see if that improves things, and if it does improve, I'll let everyone know, but for now, I have to say that this is the worst $106.99 (after taxes) I've ever spent.

Everyone already knows what happened to Ryan Davis. Age 34, on his God damned honeymoon. It just seems so unfair. I'm not going to go on about his legacy or what he meant, because that's been said a thousand times. Everyone knows who Ryan Davis was, what he meant to this site, to gaming journalism, and to gaming as a whole.

However, I've seen a few threads on the Giant Bomb forum wondering whether people can still game this week, whether the podcast should go on, if maybe we should back off a bit. My answer to this is simple.

Look around you.

Look at your game systems, and think back on the amazing times you've had. That's Ryan Davis.

Look at some quick looks, or read a deep, insightful and thought-provoking review. That's Ryan Davis.

Laugh at a stupidly made video game adaptation. That's Ryan Davis.

Hell, look at that stupid ass Giant Bomb logo with the smiling bomb O. That's Ryan Davis.

We're here, mourning the loss of a great man, and we should be. But let's not forget that this man, this unassuming-looking, rolly-polly bearded dude's legacy, was gaming and his wide-eyed love and wonder toward it. Video games and game journalism are what gave us Ryan to begin with. For many of us, our first time with Ryan was on The Hotspot in the late 90s or early oughts. It was a review he'd written that swayed our decision whether or not to get a game, or seeing him acting a damned fool on On The Spot, or him and @jeff talking about post-Gamespot life in an Arrow Pointing Down episode. He had a passion for gaming that so blessedly few people have ever had, even after seeing how seedy it can be, even when it seems the rest of gaming journalism had grown jaded or even hateful of it.

There are those who ask whether now is a good time to talk about and play video games. I say it's the best time. Go back and re-learn what you love about video games. Forget about all the nonsense about DRM and legislation and console wars and all the other nonsense for just a while and just play some damned games. Enjoy yourself, and let that feeling of child-like glee fill you for a while, because that, more than anything, was Ryan's gift to the world. Cherish it, and hold it closer than you have before, and Ryan will live on in all of us.

I was going to let this slide.

In the wake of Microsoft's reversal of policy regarding anti-consumer DRM, I was feeling pretty cool, and many great bloggers have put up the victory flag better than I could have. While I've still very little intention to get an Xbone in the near future (Last I checked, my username was YukoAsho and not Rhianna), it was good to see MS was finally starting to cave under the enormous pressure gamers had exerted on them. It shows that we have great power when enough of us are angry, and I hope this inspires the gaming community to take to arms when future injustices occur. However, I was glad to bask in the moment of victory in private.

Then Cliff Blezinski graced us with his foul, rancid gurgling on Twitter.

Apparently Mr. Blezinski doesn't like the fact that the consumer won this battle and, much like an old racist decrying all the problms brought about by the civil rights movements, is whining in typical, graceless Cliffy B fashion.

Now I don't follow Mr. Blezinski's twitter, mostly because I like my sanity, so I won't go into every bit of his idiocy on this post, or ever in this blog. However, PlayStation Lifestyle has given us a choice cut of madness that would make Sheogorath proud, and it's topical, so let's look into the gaping maw of insanity by breaking down each of the wonderful tweets PlayStation Lifesyle collated for us.

More studios WILL close and you’ll see more PC and mobile games.

Good. The industry has way, way too much fat, and it desperately needs trimming. However, you know the companies that won't close because of this? Deep Silver, Atlus, Take-Two, Nintendo... Publishers and/or developers, big and small, that are smart and tactical in their spending. I'm almost hoping Ubisoft and EA collapse under their own crushing weight.

I have seen the number of unique gamer tags vs actual sales numbers and it ain’t pretty.

Nintendo has some very helpful advice in that case. Publishers should take it to heart.

At the end of the day many hardcore dislike what was attempted. You can’t do well in that space with many of your core unhappy… Especially when users have a choice. The nature of capitalism encourages competition and Sony played into that.

And good for Sony.

Brace yourselves. More tacked on multiplayer and DLC are coming.

Tacked on is pretty easy to ignore. I've made a point of saying that I've never bought DLC for games previously on this blog, and never felt unsatisfied. Actually, the one time I broke this rule, Halo 4's map packs, I regretted it on a count of losing interest in Halo 4 multiplayer soon after. So yeah, tack on what you want, it won't effect people who are responsible with their money.

You’re also about to see available microtransactions skyrocket. HATS FOR EVERYONE.

This was going to happen anyway. The success of Mass Effect 3's multiplayer microtransactions assured that. Not only that, but cosmetic microtransactions would be great. As Team Fortress 2 and Soul Calibur V show, cosmetic DLC has no effect on gameplay, so it can make money off whales with more money than sense without hurting the rest of us. I would not oppose this at all.

I want *developers* who worked their asses off to see money on every copy of their game that is sold instead of Gamestop. Fuck me, right?

Yes, Mr. Blezinski. Fuck you, you go to hell and you die.

*Sony* forced Microsoft’s hand, not the internet whining.

Let's talk about the inconsistency here. You'll notice in one of the earlier rants, Cliffy said "You can’t do well in that space with many of your core unhappy… Especially when users have a choice." Therefore, the "whining," as Mr Blezinski puts it, established that Sony would basically have a huge legion of new fans after this. More importantly, it spread the news to people who might not have known about it, such as the Army Times and Rachel Maddow. Therefore, the "whining" had a huge effect. Or do you truly believe Sony hadn't considered it?

You’re going to see digital versions of your favorite games with added “features” and content to lure you to digital over disc based.

That's an effective way to get fewer, if any copies, sold in specialty retailers, who tend not to like it when you try to fuck them.

I find it funny how people are saying that I “lost” when I don’t have a job or an allegiance now.

Your allegiance has been clear throughout this whole debacle. You're a naked corporate shill, desperately looking for a new job by throwing your lot against the consumer. The irony? By refusing to stop crying like the babies you accuse us of being, by making Adam Orth look empathetic and respectful in comparison, you've very likely damaged your future prospects.

What I do have is 20 years of experience making games and seeing how the sausage is made.

The consumer cares not one whit how the "sausage" is being made. We give you money, you give us a game. That is the end of the transaction. Consumers tend to refuse when companies try to add our souls to the price of their products and services, as attested by EA's repeated failures to meet sales expectations. If the full-priced market is too competitive for you, if you just can't live with the idea of consumers buying their games instead of renting them, then here's an idea. Go join Crytek. Those graphics engine pushing tools are running away from retail about as fast as their legs can carry them in favor of free-to-play projects like the upcoming Warface. Why not just make free-to-plays?

Oh, that's right. Because even the creatively bankrupt Crytek is better capable of making distinct games than anyone at Epic ever were. All-gray doesn't seem to work as well in free-to-play.

In closing, Mr. Blezinski needs to go away. Come back when you get a new job, sir, so I know what games to immediately dismiss in protest.

Comment sections on articles, much like message forums, are supposed to provide an environment where people can talk about the topics presented, and how they relate to the broader issues of the day.

However, as we have once again been proven in the wake of Sony's impressive E3 showing, such is not the case. Rather than reasoned dialogue, we have ranting and raving by a variety of fools and illiterate, knuckle-dragging rejects that have effectively clogged the pipes and made reasoned dialogue impossible.

The problem, is, as it always seems to be, a set of three core groups.

Fanboys: These are people who seem completely blind to anything beneficial that the "other" side is offering. From Xbox fanboys defending the Xbone's Draconian DRM to Sony fans relentlessly mocking Nintendo's impressive lineup, these guys have been annoying beyond measure. They just can't leave the people who are excited about something the hell alone.

Distortionists: This seems to be especially intense now with Sony putting out a product with no online checks of any sort. In the wake of Sony's clarification that third parties can still do online passes like they've been doing for the past five or so years, the Xbox Defense Force in particular has decided to try to muddy the issue, flooding the internet with baseless claims that Sony is lying, or that the PS4 is the same as the Xbox 1, or some other such nonsense. Were this just fanboys, that'd be one thing, but there are two other sub-groups in the distortionist faction: Shills paid by Microsoft to try and generate a false impression that people are receiving their initiatives positively, and illiterate morons who won't/can't read a full article or watch a full video without jumping to conclusions at any moment. The former can be seen right through pretty easily, but the latter is infuriating: nothing makes me want to facepalm like having to clarify to someone who didn't read a damned article what the reality of the situation is, all the while praying they read my reply fully.

Trolls: In the wake of Sony's complete and utter domination yesterday, Sony fans have become somewhat... Boastful. The cute GIFs and the like are amusing, I'll admit, but it's hard to discuss anything when the entirety of derogatory statements directed at MS fans, with no substance or thought beyond "suck it, Xbots!" Honestly, I'm sad that MS is shooting themselves in the foot like this. The more viable competition in the market, the better, and having MS basically bow out of the mainstream gaming console market does no one good. We should be relieved, we should be happy that Sony didn't follow them off the cliff, but we shouldn't come off as arrogant tools either.

Unfortunately, this is how it's always been, especially when forums are mostly unmoderated. Are we really so set in our ways that it's impossible to have a decent, open discussion as a community? Are we really no different than the Fox News/MSNBC crowd? It seems so, and it fills me with so much sadness.