HowHammerYou

Console gaming used to have far more advantages. However, with the increasing complexity of newer consoles and the looming demise of physical media, the only remaining advantage consoles will have is a more streamlined UI. That's why I'll be switching from consoles to hybrid gaming PCs.

Things are getting so bad for them that they're shifting their business model to retro gaming. They know that soon there won't be any new physical copies being made.

I'd love to see Camelot take a break from Fire Emblem to revive their Golden Sun series. I'd like to see Sony bring back Resistance and SOCOM. Team Ninja needs to bring back Ninja Gaiden. I'd also love to see Tenchu and Dragon Quest Builders brought back.

I've noticed this becoming a trend recently. Right after Gundam Breaker 4 released, Amazon delisted PS4 copies of Gundam Breaker 3: Break Edition. And After Capcom Fighting Collection 2 was announced, the first Capcom Fighting Collection went out-of-print (though thankfully it's getting a second print run). Seems like developers are so desperate for sales that they're trying to strongarm people into buying the latest versions of their games.

Without a doubt, the Persona series. You can't discuss anything about a Persona game aside from basic gameplay without it being a massive story spoiler. Heck, even telling someone how to save the game or get to a new area involves spoiling part of the story.

All of the big 3 have been going downhill for about the past 8 years, not just Sony. All of them are bad at this point. It's been one of the biggest factors influencing my decision to move from consoles to hybrid gaming PCs. If I have to go digital, I'll do it in a way where I don't have to put up with Sony/MS/Nintendo's crap anymore.

What I'm talking about is features that never materialized. Now that physical media is dying, I regret we never got a console with a 5-disc drive. High-end CD players had those back in the 1990s and 2000s. Basically a big tray slid out and you could put up to 5 CDs in it at once. It would have been cool to see a console with a disc drive like that. Would've worked great for a lot of PS1 RPGs, come to think of it. Another thing I regret is that the technology behind the SatellaView never became mainstream. SatellaView was a Japan-only service for Super Famicom games. You would buy a blank Super Famicom cartridge, take it to a special kiosk with a satellite receiver, plug it into the kiosk, and download whatever game you wanted to the cartridge itself. Then once you were done with the game, you could take the cartridge back to the kiosk, delete the game, and download something else. Imagine that sort of system with modern technology. You could buy a blank disc or cartridge in advance, then on the day a game was released, you'd just put the blank in your console and burn a digital copy to physical media. I love this idea because it has all the benefits of both forms of distribution with almost none of the drawbacks.

As far as hardware goes, I think traditional tv-box consoles are dying and will be replaced with hybrids like the Switch/Steam Deck/ROG Ally/Legion Go within the next 20 years. The biggest catalyst for this will come when such devices become capable of running modern games at 4K/60fps, which honestly isn't far off. Regarding display technology, I think in the future most people will still prefer screens of some type as very few people seem to want VR (I sure don't). I think Augmented Reality will be a game-changer. I envision a console where instead of the video output connecting to a TV, it connects to a lightweight headset that uses AR technology to turn any flat surface in your house into a screen, complete with the ability to 'hide' objects on the wall. Thus you could have a giant screen anywhere without disturbing others, and while maintaining complete awareness of your surroundings.

Yeah, eventually, when I can find one for around $350. Likely not until 2 or so years into the PS6's life cycle. I wouldn't bother with it except I want to run Dragon's Dogma 2 at 60fps and have a physical copy, and the base PS5 can't really handle the game. My original plan was to wait for the PS6, but with the PS5 Pro not having a SKU with the optional disc drive, I'm absolutely certain now that the PS6 will be digital-only. And unless things change radically in the industry (such as SNK or SEGA getting back into console manufacturing), the PS5 Pro will be my last game console.

For me it's 7th gen (PS3/X360). The 3d graphics were great without being excessively detailed (I don't need to see pores and tiny facial hairs), developers still knew how to illuminate environments (instead of slapping on realistic lighting, depth of field, and motion blur which actually make games look worse), complete editions had everything on disc, development cycles were reasonable, and patch sizes were much smaller. I'm seriously starting to prefer 7th gen graphics over today's ultra-realistic look.

On the contrary, I have a harder time feeling immersed in first-person games. It always feels like I'm walking around with a box on my head, which is incredibly distracting.

PS5 Pro seems to be getting a lot of hate on youtube. I'm not sure what people were expecting. Yeah, $700 is expensive. So is everything else these days. Inflation has skyrocketed since the PS5's launch, to the point where -almost 4 years later- it costs more than it did on launch day. And barely-noticeable visual improvements? Those have been a staple of gen 9 since the launch, where games on PS5 barely looked any better than they did on PS4 Pro. And PS5 was a much more powerful console than PS4 Pro, so I'm not sure why people thought a moderate upgrade to the PS5's GPU was going to suddenly blow their minds. Bottom line: It's exactly what I thought it was going to be, at exactly the price I thought it was going to be. Will I buy it? Yes, eventually, when the PS6 has come out and nobody cares about the PS5 Pro anymore, and I can find one for $350 or less. That's going to be how I play the few 9th-gen exclusives I care about, since now that the Pro is shipping without the optional disc drive included, I'm absolutely certain the PS6 will be digital-only. As for how it will sell, I think it will sell just fine. Cell phone culture proved that people will spend insane amounts of money on electronics every year to have the hottest new thing. In 2016 and 2017, Sony and MS successfully transplanted that model into the game industry. And let's not forget that from 2020-2022, people were eagerly shelling out $1,000 to scalpers for the base PS5 and XSX. I have a friend who paid $750 for a USED XSX in 2021 and still swears it was worth every penny. For now, though I'll stick with my gen 8 consoles. Gen 8 continues to be a black hole, sucking in most games made before and after its time. 😆

Going 3D in gen 5 was a mistake, and resulted in a generation of the most hideous-looking games ever made. Developers should've stuck with high quality 2D sprites for Gen 5 and saved the 3D games for gen 6, when the technology had finally matured enough to realize their visions. I can just imagine Ocarina of Time as a native Gamecube game, or Final Fantasy VII as a native PS2 game.

I'd develop a 32-bit 2D RPG for the NeoGeo AES, then port it to the Sega Saturn later. 32-bit was the pinnacle of 2D graphics, and the RPGs made for those consoles have a special beauty that earlier and later consoles just can't replicate.

Definitely the "Tiger Escort" missions in Saints' Row 3. You are driving a car. In the passenger's seat next to you is a full-grown tiger. Drive too slow? The tiger gets bored and mauls you. Drive too fast and hit something? The tiger gets angry and mauls you. Only by keeping the tiger happy while dodging news vans and animal activist vans can you win.