Japan Really Respects Their Gaming Traditions
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 07/24/21 at 04:04 PM CT
In spite of the word-of-mouth speculation that anyone over age 20 who still plays videogames is a NEET or Otaku, the statistical evidence that shows only 40% of the nation plays them at all, and the government’s attempts to crack-down on ‘gaming addiction’ among the youth with overbearing laws, the Japanese still put the time when Nippon was at the top of the videogame world – that time between 1983 and 2006 typically referred to as “The Golden Age” – at the center of their modern cultural identity. I mean, how else would you explain the immediately-recognizable tones of the ‘Dragon Quest’ introductory theme and the ‘Final Fantasy’ victory theme finding their way into the DAMNED OPENING CEREMONY of the 20201 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo?
Yes, even while Western media publishes story after story about Japan’s vanishing relevance in videogame markets ranging from the “AAA” space to Single-A to Indies, and yet other word-of-mouth conversations try to …
Steam Deck: What GabeN Was Rambling About
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 07/18/21 at 03:32 PM CT
All of the console gaming communities have been lighting up over the past few days with news of the upcoming (and up for pre-order) Steam Deck hybrid game console. While the disclosure of this new piece of hardware does make us say, “Aha!” as Lord GabeN predicted it would, it also makes me say, “Why?”
For those who haven’t heard, the Steam Deck is another take on the Steam Machines hardware paradigm from a few years back (so let’s count that as a Win for my first prediction), only this time instead of partnering with third-parties to make a range of console-like PCs, Valve is doing all the heavy lifting itself, and modeling the device after the Nintendo Switch – a handheld PC with built-in controller-style inputs that can be docked to a larger screen at the user’s whim. Valve is also selling three slightly different models of Steam Deck at $400, $530, and $650, with more money netting buyers more and faster internal storage.
The Steam Deck will come with the …
The PlayStation State of Play 2021: Good/Bad/Ugly
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 07/08/21 at 10:55 PM CT
After, once again, not participating in the smorgasbord of gaming news and hype-generation that was E3 for the third year in a row – only vomiting a disorganized mess of video content on their corporate Youtube account - Sony has decided to maintain its new tradition of releasing a Nintendo-style ‘Direct’ video at its leisure… which in 2021 happened to fall on July 8th. This “State of Play” video could have easily been a part of the official week-long E3 happenings, since E3 was still an entirely digital show in 2021, after being canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Sony’s got a lock on nothing if not hubris.
Since the State of Play 2021 isn’t officially part of E3, I’ll re-use my alternative format of “Good,” “Bad,” and “Ugly,” as I did for the individual digital pressers that replaced E3 last year. And I’m REALLY anticipating a whole lot of “Ugly,” considering how far-gone down the rabbit hole Sony and the PlayStation brand have …
Backlog: The Embiggening – July, 2021
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 07/04/21 at 02:36 PM CT
Welcome back to another look into the near future! As America celebrates its independence from hereditary monarchy and The Church exerting undue influence on its political affairs *ahem*… It’s time to blow stuff up! And by “stuff” I mean gunpowder invented by, packaged by, and sold by China, America’s biggest, most dangerous rival on the world stage…
Ehh… let’s forget the patriotism and talk about some upcoming game releases! There are a whopping 30 titles on the docket, showing that 2021 is indeed the year when the Summer Game Drought didn’t manifest… instead we got a regular-old-drought that is threatening to turn the Western half of the country into a desert… except it already is a desert… Man, you can’t grab a Negro by the toe these days without running into political bullshit.
Onward to the games!
We’re really light on the shovelware for July, with only two titles. We can’t even populate the three major shovelware categories like that! …
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