What I don’t understand about video games – Reader’s Feature

A reader who has only recently got into video games wrestles with a number of gaming’s stranger traditions, from console wars to exclusivity.

I’ve only begun to get into gaming seriously this previous couple of years. Before that my Xbox 360 was a glorified Call Of Duty and FIFA machine until a bout of pneumonia forced me to broaden my horizons. before that my I used to be mainly curious about films and music. Therefore, some things with gaming still baffle me. I assumed I’d take a rather tongue in cheek check out them.

Console wars Nintendo vs. Sega, Xbox vs. PlayStation, PC vs. console. It’s all a touch weird and pointless. the maximum amount as people say otherwise, no matter specs, third party games look near identical on Xbox or PlayStation. And who really cares which machine looks better? It’s literally a plastic box that sits under your T and at the top of the day, all that matters is that the games. nobody gets during a tizzy over which brand of TV is best or which DVD player is best. Or if Android or iPhone is best. Oh no, wait for scrap that last one, people do actually argue that and it’s also equally stupid. Trailers As I say I want to be more into films. Now with films, you recognize what you were getting. a brief trailer but six months before release, then an extended one a month or two before. Occasionally you would possibly get a brief teaser trailer which may be a year before release if it had been a very big release like Star Wars or Marvel. With games, however, who knows? All bets are off. Some games have trailers years before release. The Last folks Part 2 is one of my favorite games of the year but it seems to possess been around forever. the primary reveal seems to possess been goodbye ago now. And sometimes the trailer is simply a voiceover and a logo. Yet we lap it up. nobody goes, ‘Hang on a moment, when’s this actually coming out? Not for an additional 10 years for the PlayStation 6 and therefore the Xbox Series Y. I’ll attempt to calm myself then.’ Nintendo Nintendo is on A level of crazy all by themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I really like my Switch but seriously it's no reason to achieve success. When the Wii U was a failure it seemed gamers didn’t need a console/portable hybrid with less power than the present generation of PlayStation and Xbox consoles at the time. So Nintendo thought the answer was the Switch, a console/portable hybrid with less power than the present PlayStation and Xbox consoles. I mean what were they thinking, yet somehow it works. And honestly who designs Nintendo’s controllers? It’s probably easier to predict the weather than what their next controller will appear as if. Also, I’m all for a touch of secrecy but it sometimes feels Nintendo might be a touch more forthcoming with information. At now Zelda: Breath Of The Wild 2 might be years away or due for release during a few weeks. Microtransactions I think the thing I find mind-boggling in terms of microtransactions is what people are prepared to pay. I personally bought the first soundtrack and skins for Resident Evil 2 but don’t think I paid quite a couple of quid. I don’t even have anything against microtransactions intrinsically but as long as they're a few quid or an inexpensive price and you'll unlock all for say £10 or £15. The priciest microtransaction in GTA Online, for instance, costs 10 million in-game currency. This equates to over £50 in the real world. Who is buying this nonsense?! If people are buying microtransactions to the purpose they need to be spent more in-game than the worth of the particular game then they need to either have some quite a significant addiction or extra money than sense. It’s not just GTA 5. Apparently, EA earns more from microtransactions in FIFA than the sales from the particular game. What. The. Bleep? I buy FIFA a minimum of every other year (I know, I’m sorry) but haven’t spent a penny on microtransactions. It just stinks of pay to win and takes advantage of impressionable teenagers. DLC I’ve been guilty of shopping for DLC and even paying for deluxe editions of games within the past, and honestly, I hope I’ve learned my lesson. I even have bought DLC for the last two Forza Horizon games and truly, to be fair, they were quite good, especially the recent Wheels DLC for Forza Horizon 3. those I bought for Spider-Man and Batman: Arkham Knight, on the opposite hand, weren’t great. the simplest way I could describe it's once you get excited to observe deleted scenes from your favorite film. All you would like is longer with a favorite character but usually find yourself disappointed because you realize why the scene was overlooked in the first place. DLC often seems like a deleted scene. Something that was left on the room floor because it wasn’t ok for the most game. Also, it’s kinda weird anyway. Paying extra for a special edition of a game for DLC that won’t be released for possibly months to return, with no idea of the standard of the DLC or what it entails. And by the time all the DLC has been released you’ve either played the sport to the purpose of boredom or there’s a Game Of The Year edition which incorporates all the DLC for free of charge, for half the worth you spent for the sport within the first place. and that I speak from personal experience. Digital Now my issue here isn't games bought from a digital store when on sale, it’s games bought at full price. Are people buying fresh games masochists? ‘I can’t trade this game in if I don’t love it or get a refund and, technically, I don’t own the sport. reciprocally you won’t incur manufacturing, distribution, or retail costs. Oh, what’s that? As a way of thank you’re charging me an additional tenner by me paying 60 quid online rather than 50 future. many thanks, master Sony and you too Sir Microsoft.’ Yet most games are bought digitally. Who are these people paying an additional £10 for the pleasure of not actually owning the sport and with no ability to sell/trade it in if you would like? People have heard of outlets and online stores, right? Exclusivity I’m all for exclusive games. I’m choosing PlayStation 5 over an Xbox One Series X for precisely the rationale that Sony is miles ahead of this generation in terms of exclusive games. However, once you check out it from a particular view it doesn’t add up. I mean, you'd never, back within the days of CDs, not are ready to hear a particular album because it had been exclusive to, say, Panasonic and you simply owned a JVC CD player. Likewise, you don’t buy a particular brand of DVD/Blu-ray player because it plays exclusive films. No TV that I feel of only has Netflix, not Amazon Prime or Sky not Virgin. you'll watch Netflix on an Amazon Fire, it’s almost the equivalent of having the ability to play God Of War on an Xbox. A console is just a bit of technology that permits the user to play video games, yet no other technology that I can consider is so restrictive within the content it allows the user to interact with. Yet somehow it's always been this way and nobody bats an eyelid. But imagine getting home and finding your new Samsung TV doesn’t have BBC channels because the BBC is exclusive to LG.

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