We need both; even if passionate developers are put in charge of projects — they are still likely to be stymied by an overly conservative C-suite.

Successful ‘weird games’ in conjunction with indies would lead to a positive feedback loop in the industry and allow for more creativity across the board.

In a world where games are scored across a full spectrum 0-or-1 to 10, then yes - anything 4-6 would be considered middle of the road.

However, due to a number of factors - that’s unfortunately not the reality we find ourselves in.

Firstly, “mid” is hard to define as it can mean anything from ‘mediocre’ to ‘fine, but forgettable’.

Secondly, ratings/scores tend to skew upward as people tend to reserve 1s for outright scams, broken games and review bombs. With 2 & 3 often used for ‘asset flips’ and similar non-games - so we end up grading on a curve from 4-10.

This also works well for mainstream outlets as it keeps advertisers happy, due to arbitrarily inflated scores.

Lastly, in a world of cumulative media (new releases don’t cause older ones to stop existing) - even ostensibly good games will fall by the wayside as players have access to 10/10 titles from previous years.

So all things considered, a 7/10 is well and truly “mid” in this topsy-turvey IGN-eque world

Conspiracy Theory: All that hubbub about an $80 base price was just to deflect from the fact that most sales are likely going to be funneled to the $100/130 editions…

Honest question; was it not possible to mod the original JoyCons to add hall-effect joysticks?

Yes, end users should not be responsible for having to do this - but if a cottage industry exists to repair/upgrade drifting joycons that would be awesome to see.

Yes, it was developed by Curt Shilling’s 38 Studios - but it was actually largely financed by the state of Rhode Island, and the studio ended up defaulting on payments!

Honestly, the story of the game’s development was more interesting than the story within the game itself!

Oh no doubt, my (vague) memories of it are definitely in vivid bright colours.

I originally got it as I was looking for a single player World of Warcraft-like experience, and I did play through a significant portion of the main story - but eventually went back to WoW as it didn’t quite scratch that itch enough.

I probably should revisit it sometime in the near future - hopefully on the Steam Deck (haven’t checked compatibility).

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Had all the individual makings of an exceptional game (with input from Todd Macfarlane, R A Salvatore and Grant Kirkhope), and while it was definitely enjoyable enough - it lacked any wow-factor whatsoever, winding up an otherwise forgettable 7/10.

1. Largely yes, though there are a number of titles which are currently experiencing issues: Official Compatibility Guide

2. Yes: Official Guide to Transferring Data from a Switch to a Switch 2

Being the usual suspects:

Front Mission, if you like tactical RPGs (ie. where you move characters on a grid game map during battles).

There’s a lot of noise and disinformation floating out there, here’s the simplest explanation:

The Switch 2 will launch with three different types of physical cartridges denoted by serial numbers to describe their purpose:

LB - The cartridge will work on Nintendo Switch 2 consoles only.
LP - Game Key cartridges in which a digital download is required.
LN - The cartridge will work on both Nintendo Switch 1 and 2.

Please, please, please don’t be a micro-transaction laden download only title! 🤞🏻

I loved the PSP versions growing up, and this series holds a special place in my heart. I really hope they do it justice…

Consider this an opportunity to take the money you could have put towards buying this game, and instead use it to purchase stock in Konami.

Not only as an investor will you have the ability to voice your concerns during meetings, if enough gamers were to do this - they could eventually wrestle controls of the company away from those that seek to monetise every single goddamn thing, while shitting on the creatives that created the work they are now trying to leech off of.

I don’t want the current iteration of EA to succeed; but I do want them to return to form and help* nurture quality releases of Command and Conquer, Mass Effect, Dead Space, Burn Out, Need for Speed, Road Rash, Theme X, Sim City and about a dozen other dormant (or mismanaged) franchises.

Could I get similar experiences from other publishers and developers? Absolutely — but I’d much rather we as gamers have a broader choice in the future of our hobby, rather than continually whittling down our options as quality developers get swallowed up and spat out by the current industrial machine.

Realistically yes, you are correct.

I’m sure we all (at least those old enough) to remember that Boycott Modern Warfare II Steam group screenshot.

Idealistically, imagine that for every release - instead of giving EA that $80 dollars, 10% of gamers put that money towards a share instead.

So that would work out to be ~$200m in lost upfront sales, and up to $540m in lost recurring spend (microtransactions, battle passes etc.).

That would only be enough for gamers to own 0.5% of the company after the first year, but keeping this up for multiple years could have a downward pressure on EA’s stock price long-term as they miss their financial forecasts - increasing gamer’s buying power on shares.

Within a few years, these “Gamers United” would begin to have sufficient stake to influence board decisions (for the better).

The best part being that, the entire time, EA would continue to pay dividends to them (currently at a rate of ~$3.10 per share, per year), while they still technically own that money - almost like a corporate savings account.

*Edit: out of the three companies I randomly picked, Ubisoft would actually be the softest target - as their market cap is only $1.38b, so gamers would only need to acquire ~$700m of shares to wrestle control of the company!

I really wish gamers could unite in a way that they buy out sufficient ownership stakes in these terrible publishers that they force them to treat development studios better, and not push out half-finished slop filled to the brim with predatory monetisation.

EA, Konami, Ubisoft would all be ripe for a renaissance if that were to pass.

I’m going to hold out for Cyberpunk 2222, personally.

So is the main benefit to this that you could host your totally legitimate back-ups on a NAS, and access them from any on-network device?

If so, can you share save states this way?

I’d take SMW over SMB3, but I can’t really fault anything else in this list! 😅

I know the whole “Year of Linux” is a worn-out meme by now; but things are a joke, until their not - best case in point would be AMD CPUs pre-Ryzen compared to now.

Steam Deck sales may not compare favourably to Switch / Console sales - it’s hard to say as Valve are privately owned and under no obligation to publish numbers. But all of a sudden, we can add a not insignificant portion of Windows handheld users to the mix (not 100%, but not 0% either).

Microsoft clearly sees this as an emerging risk, which is why they’re partnering to create an Xbox-branded handheld.

In terms of online representation - it’s also a case of chicken and egg. Online games don’t support Linux due to anti-cheat implementations, so online gamers don’t use Linux. Plenty of single-player offline experiences exist for us!

I know, right?!

I just hope that there’s enough movement in the market to not just push more developers to support Linux as a platform, but to disincentivise them from punishing players through lack of anti-cheat / incompatible DRM.

Also, low-key hyped for the (hopefully) eventual Steam Deck 2 once the market has re-aligned to a ‘new normal’ and Valve can once again push the envelope further!

If you really want to feel old, consider that GTA: Vice City was released in 2002, and set in 1986 - a 16 year gap.

Grand Theft Auto 4, set in a contemporary timeframe was released 17 years ago…

They are still hiring, according to their website - so unlikely they’ve been shut down.

Just keep Grove Street Games as far away from this as possible.

No one wants to see them butcher another entry in this series with their lazy, AI-upscale slop.

The moment you named the subtitle (Allied Assault), you hit the nail on the head!

WOW, I never realised that the series began on the PS1 - or that Allied Assault was the THIRD entry in the series! I guess I’ll have to add both PS1 entries to my hunt list.

Not sure if this had the same campaign as the PC release (ah, the good ol’ days where games on different platforms could be completely different); but both Medal of Honor and the very first Call of Duty were formative FPS experiences for me.

That is very true, but the Venn Diagram overlap between Gamers^TM and ‘Nintendo gamers’ is a rapidly shrinking area.

I know, which is why I specifically called out from GTA3 onwards. 😜

They’ve been console first for a lot longer than not; pretty much ever since they changed their name from DMA Design to Rockstar North.

GTA V was originally planned to have a number of single-player DLC campaigns akin to the ‘Lost and the Damned’ and ‘Ballad of Gay Tony’ for GTA IV.

This is what people - including me - are bitter about; the immense financial success of GTA:O (namely Shark cards) diverted all resources away from additional single-player content.

I wouldn’t have minded paying for an additional perspective campaign (like GTA IV) or an additional post-campaign chapter heist. GTA V was a complete experience at launch, so additional DLC content would have been welcomed by the community - DLC only becomes problematic when it is clearly part of the core experience, but arbitrarily removed in order to charge more.

Unfortunately, due to having to prioritise shareholder returns - investing resources into anything beyond the most immediately profitable route (ie. online) leaves the board and C-suite open to litigation, because as we should have all learned by now from this series, Capitalism will ultimately ruin everything in search for more and more profits.

Feel free to complain, no one is trying to stop you. Just understand though that you are screaming into the void, and nothing will come of it bar heightened cortisol.

Grand Theft Auto is the arguably the most profitable gaming franchise ever, and it got there doing this exact release cadence. Rockstar Games & Take-Two Interactive will continue to do so for as long as it continues to maximise profits.

Does it stuck for us gamers? Absolutely, but that’s just Capitalism. Given how quickly this hobby has been enshittified over the post decade, we should probably be counting our lucky stars that it looks like Rockstar is still investing heavily into the next entry, and not just pumping out shallow annual releases like Call of Duty!

Maybe I’m just old, but I feel like all the people complaining about no PC port at launch, or how this trailer doesn’t show gameplay must be ‘new’ to the series (which to be fair, could mean as much as a decade).

This is how Rockstar have pretty much always done it, going all the way back to GTA3 on the PlayStation 2; PC ports have always been 6+ months after.

Trailer 1 tends to be about the setting, Trailer 2 about the primary characters, then Trailer 3/4 about the supporting characters. ‘Gameplay Trailers’ usually don’t come out around/after launch as that’s usually what’s being still being worked on by the devs.

Vampire Survivors

It might just be because I was actually early aboard the hype train for this one; but this one just scratched that “one more go” itch until 2am like nothing else.

Enter the Gungeon

Randomly came across this via a YouTube short, and the art-style just meshed with me. Absolutely love the messy bullet-hell quick-play genre in general… Hades being another great example of this.

Millennials are no longer the media scapegoat; we’ve aged out. Gen Z are copping all the blame now!

It’s basically FOMO, people just want to be a part of living culture.

…or to really mess with people, Half Life: e

Since Euler’s number is a smidge under 3 (~2.72).

I imagine that FC6 should play at least as well as FC5; and I’m glad that you enjoyed it!

I was primarily referring to the fact that it has the lowest review % on Steam of the modern Far Cry games (FC6 at 70%, 3-5 all at 80%+).

I’m sure I’ll give it a try once the kid’s a little older, I have more time on my hands, and it goes on sale to the point that I can pick it up without second-guessing the decision (probably sub-$20USD?)

Far Cry 5 did a lot right, and significantly improved on the formula that was in place from Far Cry 3 (which was also an incredible game, at the time).

I tried Far Cry 4, but found myself not liking the map design (not sure if it was the verticality, or the colour palette); but I might revisit it again one day. Have never tried 6, but the general consensus seems pretty ‚meh’.

It feels like the odd-numbered Far Cry games tend to be better received, so hopefully Ubisoft can continue that tradition with the inevitable Far Cry 7!

Still going through Prince of Persia: Sands of Time from last week - the combat is quite repetitive, though the platforming is as good as I remember so that more than makes up for it!

I can definitely see how Assassins Creed was eventually born from this series.

Kid’s just fallen sick, so I’ll likely STILL be playing this in next week’s thread too - so don’t judge me too harshly - I promise I still have that gamer cred! 😅

Leaning more into the management style of games, might be worth checking out Two Points Hospital (spiritual sequel to Theme Hospital), and the more recently released Rwo Points Museum?

For the price they were asking, I honestly would’ve expected physical (e.g. floppy disk shaped flash drives) copies of Doom 1&2, equipped with controls onboard to play the games directly off of them.

Makes me all the more glad I wasn’t tempted by the $666 USD Doom 1&2 CE they were spruiking over Easter.