The Hot Topic Returns

[Jimboxy]

The console I got closest to launch was PS1 which I got in the November after launch (I think it came out in the Oct maybe?)

 

I'm not sure what the first console I bought with my own money was, maybe a second hand N64 towards the end of its life span, or a second hand Dreamcast at a similar point in its life span. Since the x360 all my consoles have been second hand up until getting the Xbox Series S last year, so I've been fairly frugle with my consoles purchases.

[Nag]

I can't remember if I managed to get a PS2 in launch week now... if it wasn't that the first console I got at launch would be the Xbox One.

[OCH]

Which reminds me of the second console I ever bought with my own money - the PS2 Slim. In contrast to the OG PS2, the size difference still amuses me to this day.

 

[one-armed dwarf]

However, if buying one today the fat is the one you want. That hard drive bay can have an old IDE hard drive installed and you can just dump a shit ton of ISOs on it. Which is great for playing (undub) isos or fan translations of games which never released here, but without emulation woes

 

Also very easy to hack, free mcboot with an old plastic card (like a credit card I mean)

[DisturbedSwan]

First console for me was the Mega Drive. I used to go to a Childminder after school who had two kids, one of which was about a year older than me and had a Mega Drive with numerous games we'd used to play on for hours until my Parents eventually picked me up in the evening. 

 

Once I'd seen him playing this Mega Drive and he'd let me have a go myself on some games or against him on stuff like FIFA I was hooked and had to have one. Luckily Xmas that same year I got one from 'Father Christmas' and the rest was history really. 

 

I think every console aside from some of the handhelds and the Wii U I've got at launch since the Dreamcast, the GCN I got a JP one from a local Indie story the November before it came out in the UK. The OG Xbox I got a US one from another Indie in Glasgow via Mail Order the November before it came out here.

[shinymcshine]

I've never bought a console on launch day .....

 

probably not that surprising as over all the years I've bought less than a dozen games on day one release too.

 

[HandsomeDead]

The DS I think was my first console bought on launch (a few of the iterations I also got on launch.  I was pretty on that thing).  The 360, Wii and Switch are the only others.  I usually give it a year or two.  I got the series S only a month or so after launch I suppose.

[Nag]

Just a heads up that I'll probably do the hot topic question on Saturday this week as I'm sure Sunday will be a busy day for most here...

 

As I said, feel free to pm me questions as it would be nice to have a few to pull from when we have a lack of new "official" ones... else you'll end up with one of my totally uninspired ones.😂

[Sly Reflex]

C64 was the one I got. I think it was in 88 or 89 I got it as my main Christmas present.

PS1 was the first thing I bought with my own money. If I remember rightly I got it on an Easter Friday. It was £150,  they dropped the price of the PS1 to £130 with 2 controllers and a memory card. I also got a copy of Destruction Derby 2 with it. This bloody thing is responsible to some degree of me fucking up a lot of my schooling.  

[regemond]

First computer I ever played was either C64 or NES. I vaguely remember owning a C64 (and playing a Yogi Bear game on it via cassette), but after that we had an Amiga 600. If I'm not mixing things up I moved on to a SNES after that. Those two could be the other way round, though.

 

First console I bought was a GBA SP. Which was also on launch day and came with Zelda: ALTTP. Great console.

[Nag]

 

Quote

Nag says... "how do people feel about performance modes in console gaming, are they a good or a bad thing?"

 

For the longest of times part of the beauty of console gaming was its simplicity, you bought your console, your game, you plugged it in and that was that... everyone had the same version and the same experience (barring updates... that's another story though) Now it seems the majority of the time as a gamer you have to make a decision to sacrifice something (either frame rate or resolution usually) before even starting... I do sometimes wonder if a return to a simpler time would be a nice thing.

 

[one-armed dwarf]

It makes sense for cross gen games, as well as Pro systems, as they should have different scaling possibilities on new systems.

 

I don't expect it to still be a thing with next gen titles that really push the hardware, on the level of the Matrix Unreal 5 demo. They will probably lock you to 30 I'd expect

[HandsomeDead]

It's only a decision between two options so it's hardly a paralysing decision, and I'd go for performance every time because I'd always take the game feeling good over some extra fidelity.  And it's not like on PC where there are a dozen sliders to tweak.

 

But I agree it's something that will go away later in the generation as there has always been a priority on fidelity so it's a case of enjoying the option while we have it.

[Sly Reflex]

Having options is a bad thing?

[DANGERMAN]

I think they're a good thing. There was a point in the PS3/360 generation where I wasn't buying anything on console that wasn't exclusive simply because it'd run better on my pc. It'd be one thing if it was just a choice between a locked 30fps and a locked 60, but an awful lot of games weren't hitting 30.

 

Fwiw I suspect we will keep the 2 modes more often than not, but it'll be RT that gets removed for performance and possibly it will be 40fps for a false 120fps, at least for Sony stuff

[Nag]

 

Quote

Nag says... "Easy question this week, who are your winners and losers of 2022 in regards gaming. It can be a game itself, company, person or console... as long as it's related to gaming it's fair game.

 

[OCH]

Sonic creator Yuji Naka arrested (again) for insider trading

 

That's the main loser I can think of?

[DANGERMAN]

yeah, Naka's has a bit of a mare

 

While I've any number of problems with the Series S (chiefly I don't think being digital only, and especially if you're tied to Game Pass, which I think we'll see a negative impact from before the end of the generation), it's hard to argue it didn't do really well for Microsoft towards the end of the year. I know they're still behind PS5, but it would be a much bigger gap without the S I think

[one-armed dwarf]

Winner for me is steam deck, to give greater appeal to getting into back catalogues. Even if I haven't really been using it that much the past couple months it was a great way to go from big TV mode to small device mode for Mass Effect and keep progress. It's what I wanted the switch to be, without the visual compromises that has on TV.

 

Biggest L.. Microsoft? The FTC antitrust lawsuit. Even if it goes in their favour I'd wonder if at this point they would have rather spent that eleventy billion dollars on acquiring other smaller studios and build a more diverse portfolio of gamepass exclusives than to try and buy the closest equivalent to gaming MCU in terms of the piece of pie it has in this entertainment industry (Call of Duty)

[HandsomeDead]

Those are shouts I agree with.  It's been a rough one for MS which will mean a fruitful 2023 but with the way things are paced it could mean MS has a generation of peaks and valleys.

 

Was all the stuff around Activision/Blizzard this year where lots of people left?  I think the consequences of it are felt.  I guess Diablo IV could get some goodwill back but the Diablo II remaster and Overwatch 2 don't look to have caught on as much as expected.

 

 

As for winners; FromSoft just going strength to strength with material success and while mostly localised to Japan the Splatoon numbers are wild.