Agree and I've been almost exclusively a console gamer my whole life.

I'm sure I will end up getting one for a few exclusives like I did with PS4. Though more and more they end up on PC eventually. There are definitely a few PS4 games I loved that still are not on PC yet.

I won't buy it at launch or buy new though. I'll wait until I can snag one at 200 USD or less used.

as a long-time veteran gamer since about eight years of age, right around the earliest days of the SEGA GENESIS, in 1989/1990,
i am NOT looking forward to the increasingly Alien climate that the VG industry is clearly taking on, coming into this next generation...

I have the PS4 Pro and a Switch for a good while now. I remember when the XBox One launched and the backlash on the digital and online requirements. How times change!

Most of my games are digital only now and if I get a PS5 it'll likely be the PS5 Digital Edition. If I want to play video discs I have a Panasonic UB820 for that. I just hope that the consoles of tomorrow allow for the ability to lend out your library to others, or perhaps sell on your games for a pre-defined resale price.

it all just feels SO damned disposable anymore...

I've got a nice little library of games I absolutely love on PS4. That said, I sure am interested in a lot less with modern games. Not too interested in open world* or cinematic press x a few times games.

Uncharted is probably the closest thing I enjoyed, but that's fun enough on harder difficulty where you can actually die.

*I'm not the biggest Metal Gear fan, but wow was 5 depressing...I couldn't even finish it...

I can’t imagine getting excited for PS5. Another expensive machine that will stop working one game at a time and leave you with nothing. We’re supposed to get excited for a game years in advance but not be mad when the servers shut down 9 months after it comes out. I’m totally done with that crap.

I’m in the process of going though all my video games stuff and verifying what still works. The PlayStation systems get the least time, 16 bit gets the most.

If I had to sell everything and just maintain one “system” it would be JAMMA arcade boards. All you have to do is plug the thing in and it’s instant fun. No loading, no updating, no logging in, and the tutorials go by faster than you can read them. Pro video game equipment, straight down to business. And reliable, my Mexican Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha board’s hour timer reads over 84,000 hours (over 9.5 years of 24/7 use...in a Mexican arcade even).

hardcore, man

recall those bygone days? the days when electronics were BUILT TO LAST!?!

I'd probably go with, if it were possible to keep in full working order, a fully backwards compatible model PS3 if limited to one console. I'm glad I don't have to decide though. This year I have many PS4 and PS1 clears, last year I did a lot of Famicom and Dreamcast.

Arcade stuff is cool though, for sure.



It's a mixed bag. Some arcade boards had "suicide caps" designed to fail after a certain period. No one would accuse Sega CD, Turbo/PCE Duo, Gamegear, Turbo/PCE Express, PC-FX, PS1 etc of being built to last. VCRs break easily through regular use. I don't have enough experience with LD players to speak on them. Cart stuff w/o a screen is usually pretty tank like. I have a famicom that looks like it was picked out of a dump that fires up games every time. I think there is quality and s**t stuff from any era. I've not had a single DVD player die on me, but I also went with a quality brand (Oppo).

Thats a very good point. Digital copies will stay at full retail price on the digital store a lot longer than it will take for a physical copy to be reduced in price from its rrp. Its funny, it kind of reminds me of how I got out of moden gaming.

All the games I played on PS1 and PS2 I rented first, and you would pay like £3 for 2 nights or something. If I liked it I'd buy it. I rememember when blockbuster shut. It was around the time I got my PS3. If I wanted to play a game for 2 nights I had to pay the full price and buy the game. There was nowhere else you could rent it from. I stopped playing my PS3 after that and didnt even bother to get a PS4.

When the physical media stopped being rented out, I lost interest. I dont remember Sony offering digital rentals.



Stuff like old games consoles last because they dont have any moving parts. I remember when I was a kid I dropped my N64 down the stairs, by accident of course, and I was sure I broke it. I was amazed that it kept working. Now, if that was a PS1 with a moving laser, it wouldve been toast.

At one point I had literally everything out there, bar a few obscurities or crazy-priced stuff (e.g. X68000, FM Towns/Marty/Car Marty, Playdia, Casio Loopy etc). I even had a Sega candy cab imported and went to Japan and bought PCB's in MAK, GFront, Friends and so on. I miss the good PCB's. Batrider B Version, Hyper Duel and so on. It all just got too much though and I ended up moving it all on just before prices for anything retro went bezerk.

I don't care a jot though. If you are in it because you think it's your way to a healthy 401K then forget it. I'd annoy no end of people by buying stuff sealed like Border Down for example, and opening it up and actually playing it. Games and assorted consoles and merch seem to be trophies for willy-waving contests these days, rather than what they are actually about. Enjoying the creativity and expression and fun of video games. In contrast today's gamers would appear to rather spend thousands on hoovering up every game on deep discount and amassing an incomprehensibly large backlog of games they will never play all the while moaning about said pile of games waiting to be played while simultaneously hunting down bargains wherever they may roam.

It does my head in, but I wouldn't buy it all back. Too many systems, too much clutter, zero time to play them all. A Switch does me fine for the (old normal) commute and Ring Fit Adventure. The PS4 Pro has a rare look-in now and again. I couldn't care less about the rest. Consumers lost control of what they own years ago, sacrificing it all in the name of convenience. No amount of nostalgic pining will bring those days back, it's a digital future and that really is the end of it imho.

Steam I think kinda does now, but you still have to pay the full price up front. If you don't like it and didn't play it too much (not sure on the threshold, I don't use steam) you can get a refund.

I never really rented but it was a nice option. I did get a lot of use out of demos though (which are similar), and that's a dead thing now as well. I discovered some of my favorite games through demos, as well as games to avoid.



I would say game collecting and game playing are two very different things. I can understand the unease of having to much tied up in a hobby. I all but sold out of paper Magic the Gathering for this reason. I still have some cards, but just some random jank to p**s around with every now and then. I had individual decks that I sold piecemeal for thousands. Selling is honestly a fair bit of work, I mostly hate it. Then you always have to wait a bit after the person receives to make sure they aren't trying to play a scam on you claiming the item is fake and possibly return scamming you with a fake. This is especially prevalent in Magic which is why I took the small hit 20-30%-ish to sell to the big online card shops after awhile when I just wanted to be done with it. I've got anime DVDs and BDs I don't care too much about, but I can't be bothered to eBay them. Going back to playing and collecting, 99% my playing on Sega CD and Saturn is done with fat stacks of burned CDs. Dreamcast I could easily do this, but I naturally accumulated so many games, it's easier to just use the retail discs. PS2 and XBOX I simply rip my games to HDD and play that way, the reduced loading times are nice. Yes I could emulate PS2 but I'd rather play it on a CRT and I find emulation to be an experience I don't enjoy.

I agree the whole backlog thing is silly, it's pretty much a sad meme at this point. Just play games instead of bemoaning the "backlog" is something I have long subscribed to and an opinion I've been called bad names for having. I guess pretending is fun for some people.

As for the clutter, I only keep a handful of systems out at a time to avoid this otherwise it was definitely a problem. This is probably why I tend to have stretches where I beat a lot on 1-2 consoles. I don't want to have to put them away and get out something else. Right now I've been playing FF IX which I am enjoying a surprising amount tbh.

Well that doesnt really sound like you're renting it. They make you pay full price and depending on your internet speed potentially wait days for the full game to download. Only to then have to go through the hassle of getting a refund? I miss the old days when I could just pop down the road and rent the latest game.

I used to buy a lot of gaming mags back in the day and sometimes they'd come with a demo disc bundled in. Which I'm sure will soon be, or probably is already a thing of the past. Both print media and physical media are declining in this digital age.



Great game but FFVIII was always my fav.

Yeah it's not the same but it's a small improvement. Even that had to be fought for in court. I know they lost a high profile court case in Australia. As mentioned I don't use steam for a lot of reasons, so I'm right there with you on not liking it.

I like that IX went back to 4 characters but VIII is a fine game too. Earlier this year I went through Xenogears which ended up being a new favorite of mine, I still think about it sometimes.

XENOGEARS has been a personal favorite since i got my copy when it first came out in the U.S. in the late-90's.

a hardcore Mechahead at the time, i was positively tickled pink that there was suddenly an RPG with Mecha in it,
readily available in the U.S. market at the time, no less. Mind-Equaled-Blown...

You might already know this but it started in early development as a Final Fantasy game, but was deemed "too dark".

Wasn't sure where to post this, so instead of creating a thread I'll just leave info here.
It appears a scene group has released BD rips of True Lies, but I can't see any info about actual physical releases anywhere atm.
Best quality seems to be:

HMMMM. I know they were working on it previously but it never released. How legit is this?

No idea, as I said I can't find any info about retail releases.

The only things I know are:

There is a 1080p streamed version but it only has DD5.1 audio afaik.
I've seen mention of a Spanish bootleg BD, so idk if that means someone made a copy of a pre-retail disc and is selling it, or if someone used the 1080p streamed version to make a fake BD version (making DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio from DD5.1 source). Also, idk if that bootleg is just a rumour.



Edit:
I'd also like to mention that both S1&2 of Starhunter Redux are both available in 1080p DD5.1 now I've only seen streamed versions though idk about BD releases.