If there’s already a thread dedicated to cool (but not exactly academic or critical) games writing, point me to it. In the meantime:
https://cdrom.ca/games/2023/01/02/photocd.html
An article about a format I had no idea existed being forced into the shape of video games. Really interesting, fascinating even.
Comparison of arcade Mario Bros. with the various NES versions:
A really cool and well researched article about The Warden Game, which was made by a leftist prisoner in the 70’s named Ed Mead.
very odd. i would have thought the xbox series x/s would have outsold the wii u by this point.
Those and the PS5 are still limited by worldwide chip shortages, aren’t they?
i mean, yeah, but that just makes the 3:1 sales ratio between the PS5 and XBox Series feel even odder
i think we’re just at a point where people consider The Playstation as Video Games. like you buy a switch for your kids, you buy an xbox if you want to be racist in call of duty voice comms, and you buy The Playstation if you are a respectable member of society. microsoft wants to buy their way out of the problem, as usual. also people really fucking lose their minds over god of war and horizon lady for some reason
From my perspective Sony won the hype war in this round talking up the speed of the PS5 SSD or wait was it the RAM? Well something. I’m biased against MS though because Win95 was real buggy so I dunno how objective my view is.
I suppose the chip shortage could tip the balance toward whoever is better at ruthlessly hunting down whatever supplies are available.
Apparently they’re actually pretty close in the States - https://www.dualshockers.com/playstation-5-outpacing-xbox-series-xs-in-us-sales-by-1-million-units-new-report-states/ - so I guess the difference is really happening Europe, Asia, and wherever else buys loads of consoles.
I really don’t think The Normies give two shits about this. It’s extra weird because the 360 was definitely the normie console over the PS3, I dunno what shifted in the PS4 era but these days whenever I hear normies talking about The Vidya they are talking about the PS5, period.
When I was googling this there was one forum page where people seemed to feel even more burned by stuff MS did with the Xbone than by the RRoD of the 360. It wasn’t stuff I’m overly familiar with but it sounded important to these folks. These are more hardcore people though.
So yeah I don’t know about non-hardcores. How do they even get PS5s? Sheesh. In that quora thread (from 1yr ago) people were also saying PS5 had the better game selection and exclusives, I dunno how accurate that is.
But still the numbers seem to say (I mean who knows) the big difference is happening outside the US.
I thought the normies were on Switch, though? Or are those Nintendo-heads? Whoever they are, there’s lots more of them. Or is it also people waiting to get a PS5 or Xbox? Or oh, for kids, like @geist said.
I’ve never heard an adult human being in real life talking about playing a Switch except at sb meetups. They buy them for their kids (I bought one for mine!). All the weekend warrior salaryman types who go home and blow off steam with a Ubisoftivison allgame talk exclusively about PS5. I mean this is purely anecdotal from my life, but I dunno, seems significant.
i’ve always been a bit surprised by how few adults i’ve ever seen using a switch in public. i take quite a lot of long train journeys/flights and at most i see a kid with a switch lite.
As a mobile device, the Switch is competing against and will never, ever put a dent in phones.
i also don’t take mine out very often, but that’s because i use vita or 3ds at those times. it just surprises me for a console that has sold so well, people don’t really seem to consider it for these 3hr+ journeys.
all the people i work with play games on the switch!!! the animal crossing slack channel was overflowing with screenshots!!!
it’s so big, it doesn’t even have the battery life to warrant it, and most of the games on it are ports of games not designed to be played on the go. it’s only really usable as a “when your TV is being used by someone else” handheld and embarrassing as something to use during a commute or whatever
bring back the era of DS lite/PSP-3000 sized handhelds
My only perspective on what other people are playing aside from here is that the hosts of the many retro game podcasts I listen to can’t seem to stop gushing about their Switches and the not-actually-retro Nintendo games they’re playing on them.