You can still re-download your purchases from 3DS / DSi Ware / Wii (unless it changed since the last time I checked). Same goes for Steam even for unlisted games. It’s a problem that I am still waiting to see. And even then, just copy the data in advance on extra memory (which is inexpensive when the time to make backups comes).

If your console breaks, you can buy another one, link your account, and re-download your games. You can apply the same logic on games which won’t last forever (there are notorious issues with 3DS games that are dying, and CD-based games are doomed to rot like many PS1 games at the moment). The problems you raise will potentially happen at some point, but physical games (especially those sold nowadays) have also their own problems. You can also get robbed or have a fire at your house (in which cases going full digital is an advantage).

For preservation itself, legal solutions are doing little to nothing. Even if you count physical as a way to do it (which I disagree since the games are just incomplete and in their worst state), the prices going up because of speculation makes many of them unreachable to most people at some point. Piracy / emulation remains the only way to preserve video games efficiently (but it should not be praised for consoles still in production of course, we should let them die first).

I am 100% with you on this one.

I was against DLCs and digital games when they first came up with the PS360 generation. But physical games are generally incomplete, the boxes and support aren’t appealing to me anymore (removing the booklet was exactly when I gave up). You are not even playing from the discs anymore, all disc games are « game key cards » once your game is installed.

I went 100% digital since the Switch, much easier to handle and preserve, much more compact than stacking DVD boxes.

It was already an issue on Switch for some games. They just clarified when games are not complete, provided cheap carts for such games to reduce the cost. It’s not Nintendo’s fault if most editors are doing this. Nintendo is not doing it (at least for now). But as soon as you need a patch or a DLC, your physical games will be incomplete anyway.

Exactly. I think there are legitimate usages for this technology (eg voices for dynamic content, or when the original voice actor is dead or not available to voice again his/her characters). But everything should be done with the consent of the voice actors, and not in an attempt to replace the work that could be done by a voice actor in the first place.

It probably won’t happen, since money leads the way :/.

No subscription is required. It was only necessary for a limited time to order it, not to use it.

I just hope it will be possible to connect it to a PC (wired or wireless), and that we won’t have SteamOS-exclusive titles. I don’t know if I will upgrade directly, but I won’t be against upgrading from my Valve Index (especially if I can only change the headset first, and then the controllers at a later, just as I did from my HTC Vive).

The difference is that developers in the past were much more involved in the games. Nowadays, they are just following instructions of a few people and their scope is extremely limited.

At the same time, if a game does not sell well, they are the first to be punished, not the ones who designed the game.

Moreover, the games are not designed only by passionate people. They have to think about DLCs at the beginning, deciding which part of the whole game must be cut and how to frustrate gamers just enough to buy them. It’s no more an add-on for a game that sold very well, or adding things that could not fit into the game at the time.

Ubisoft has also a structural issue because it optimized everything too much. All their games are similar, because it’s easier to use again and again the same game structure than trying new things. Their teams are built for developing such games. Sadly, when they try they generally fail (like the last Prince of Persia or Mario & Rabbids).

But as I said, it’s not the fault of the developers themselves, but the people managing them. And those have too many constraints from people who want to make as much money as possible. Bugs are acceptable, games should be filled a with DLCs from the start, and repeat the same formula for every game so that production cost can be as low as possible. And if it fails, it’s the developers’ fault who just followed orders, even he can’t have a say about the game.

Same for me. I wanted to upgrade from 3070 to 5080, but missed it. I was too afraid to wait for the 5070 TI release, so I instead bought one of the last 4070 Ti Super at MSRP.

I will stop trying to upgrade on day one. Just buy the previous gen a few months before the new one, and it will be perfectly fine.

I do not understand how such practice is still legal. No one care, and it is a plague in more and more fields (I really hope Nintendo will produce enough machines to avoid the PS5 launch fiasco which lasted 2 years).

I think it’s famous because it was first released on Dreamcast, and than released once again on GameCube, where there is not many JRPGs. Besides, the game is expensive nowadays.

If you see no problem when TOTK is playable on an emulator a few weeks before its official release, thanks to specific patches provided by some emulator developers behind a paywall, I cannot say anything else. For me it’s unethical to promote such thing when the console is still in activity.

I say « unethical » because even if it’s legal, it has the same negative impact as piracy, and that’s why I think it’s a problem. I have no problem with emulation when the console is « dead » (and I think it’s even necessary for preservation).

Nintendo would not be as aggressive if Switch emulation waited 10 years. Developing an emulator for a machine that they are still selling, running commercial games even better then their own system, and allowing to play new games that are not even released officially yet, I do not expect another outcome.

In addition to that, some people got paid for that. It’s a very different situation than any other emulator in my opinion.

Again, I am not against emulation, but the timing for Switch emulation is very bad and unethical. It’s not only about Nintendo, but also third party developers. A situation where Switch emulation is very easy (especially with all those handheld PCs) would greatly impact game sales. It won’t kill Nintendo of course, but third party on the system will just leave because they will not sell anymore (see what happened to the Nintendo DS because it was easy to pirate any game).

Exactly. I do not understand people defending this. An emulator playing games that are not even released, it’s a step too far. What’s the difference with piracy?

And I say this as someone using emulators on a regular basis for 15 years. Emulation is good (and necessary) for preserving video games, but the timing is important not to cross the (thin) line between « preservation » and « piracy ».

I got rid of most of my physical games, and built a lovely GameBoy & N64 collection. I consider those as goodies, expose them on shelves. Of course, I also use them and would be sad if they do not work anymore, but their value is not only linked to that. I don’t consider the monetary value the games have. I will never buy a game because it’s rare and expensive. I only collect games I love, and sometimes yes, I have to pay a high price, but it’s just because I have to deal with the system.

If your main goal is to play games on PC, you should not buy a Meta Headset because you will have lags and artifacts by doing so (even with a cable). It’s more suitable for playing games from the Meta ecosystem.

I am not much aware of all PCVR options, I bought a Valve Index a few years ago and I do not feel the need to change it (though I admit I will likely buy the future Valve headset if they release one, but it’s not like I would buy it day one, just to get an upgrade).

Not really. I always play to old and new games in parallel. But I have to admit that I tend to play old games more often now then in the past (50/50 now vs 20/80 in the past 15 years ago).

At some point, I realized I will never have enough time to play all the games I want. I would not even be able to play once again through all the games I played in the past even if I gave up new releases until my death.

I do not focus on a specific generation nor machine, I jump between them back and forth depending on my mood. Sometimes I play a few games from the same machine in a row, but it’s not a rule.

I think we have to accept this « frustration ». It’s not even limited to video games. You can’t experience everything, learn everything, go everywhere, in a single lifetime. Life is not a todo list after all.

In a sense, you can even see it as a « bless »: you will never run out of games to play in your life, even if you only enjoy a few types of games.

My only « rule » is to complete every game I start. I think it’s a waste of my time / money otherwise. As a consequence, it forces me to select my games wisely. I won’t start a game before I am sure I will find it interesting enough.

I love Dark Souls, but Sekiro was very frustrating.

The main issues I have with it is that (I) you have one playstyle (vs. the dozens weapons in Dark Souls), meaning that if you don’t like it, you are stuck, and (II) after a while, you only fight bosses (finding your way to reach a boss was part of the fun in Dark Souls, and this has been dropped after the first half of the game I would say).

The game is also much more difficult, because the parrying system allows your enemies to heal after a while. You have to be very aggressive and master all the patterns, otherwise they heal.

It took me around 50 hours to complete, among which I was stuck 15-20 hours on the final boss. It’s not a bad game, but if the gameplay does not match with your playstyle, it can almost be impossible to complete.

What’s a bit disturbing, is that I loved Sekiro at first. It was very fun for the first 10 hours I would say. I could totally imagine people love Sekiro for those first hours, and gave up before it becomes « annoying » (since we know most people do not complete their games).

Exactly. As long as the games can bought (preferably physically, but at least digitally), I see no issue for this.

People should stop to keep their subscriptions when they do not use it. I subscribe to gamepass for 1 or 2 months, play all the games I am interested in, then stop it. If more people do that, the only way for Microsoft to keep subscribers is by improving its service to stay relevant.

Me and my family are all on Apple products since ~2014 (or even before). We never paid for iCloud. I opt in this year because (I) the 1st tier costs me 1€/month for 50Go and (II) it’s very convenient to get auto backup for the whole phone (except photos / videos, we are using a family plan with Google Drive for that).

But I admit that enabling iCloud by default and frequently showing a pop up because you are beyond the 5Go plan is pretty bad. But you can disable it at anytime, and there is no more pop up when you have done it.

It’s more complicated. Apple allows it, but apply a lot of fees so that it is really expensive (and probably not viable). If I remember correctly, you can propose your own store but you have to pay a fee for every download on the store (even for free apps).

I could be interested in Overcooked :).

For me it’s Taiko no Tatsujin 😅. I will never stop the subscription 🤣.