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[Badlucktroll]

i had to turn the ps1 upside down sometimes to get discs to load lol

 

[SmokedMeat]

- Remember when PC games used to have mods?

Used to have?

 

[64bitmodels]

Most of these problems are due to the Internet giving control to developers/publishers that allows them to access our local files. That's the "digital future" for you. They have more control over our stuff than ever before. And you haven't seen the worst of it yet. Wait until streaming replaces local files and they have 100% of control. They will stop giving you any files/assets and you will have to access them online, through their servers, as long as they let you or they are available (which is completely out of your control). And people will accept this because "convenience".

Then you will add more things in your list like:


- Remember when we could also own our games instead of just renting them?

- Remember when we could play a game we bought, many years after it's release, without worrying if a third party will still give us access to it?

- Remember when PC games used to have mods?


So enjoy whatever you have left now because it's going to be very bad and it's going to be sooner than you think.

do you genuinely think anyone will just sit down and take being forced into a streaming future like that?

 

[nkarafo]

I remember installing computer games from 10+ floppy disks and searching for patches or hacks on obscure websites because sometimes games didn't work at all in shipped state, so digital isn't so painful.

Again, online is a better delivery system. But it doesn't have anything to do with online DRM not letting you play games offline. That's a bullshit addition. You can still download games and update games online but play them offline. There's no need to also be online to play them other than the publisher having control.

There is no need but also who doesn't have internet? Get over it.

Bullshit argument. Are you also going to use that when games become streaming only? I assume you also don't give a shit about preservation, am i right?

I have a ton of games and i like the freedom of being able to play them anywhere, regardless connectivity. When i go to vacation i can play them on my laptop with the only dependency being the power/battery. That's the only dependency i should need to play games. I'm not even going to argue about connectivity issues outside your control or other situations where you might not be able to have a reliable connection. Not everyone is as lucky as you, sometimes it depends on the county/town/village/provider, etc.

Used to have?

PC games have mods now but when you won't have access to the game's local files or you have to play them through a walled streaming service, how will you be able to mod them?

do you genuinely think anyone will just sit down and take being forced into a streaming future like that?

Yes. And they will like it because it will be more convenient. And because "who doesn't have internet now, get over it".

 

[64bitmodels]

\Yes. And they will like it because it will be more convenient. And because "who doesn't have internet now, get over it".

the roaring success of stadia, Xcloud and Amazon Luna disagrees with you.

 

[Wildebeest]

Again, online is a better delivery system. But it doesn't have anything to do with online DRM not letting you play games offline. That's a bullshit addition. You can still download games and update games online but play them offline. There's no need to also be online to play them other than the publisher having control.

Yes, issues like this are why gog exists, but most don't care enough to use it, both publishers and users.

 

[Guilty_AI]

- Remember when PC games used to have mods?

I do. I remember like it was yesterday.

Wait. It was yesterday.

 

[nkarafo]

the roaring success of stadia, Xcloud and Amazon Luna disagrees with you.

They were early to the party. It's not ready yet. Give it time, it will happen.

I do. I remember like it was yesterday.

Wait. It was yesterday.

Not sure what you mean.

 

[SmokedMeat]

PC games have mods now but when you won't have access to the game's local files or you have to play them through a walled streaming service, how will you be able to mod them?

I won’t mind because my neuro AI implant will create whatever modification I tell it.

 

[NiiloPielinen]

When I could put my game in and play it right away (no need for long day 1 patches and downloads)

When a simple cheat code got me extras instead of nickle and Dime dlc.

When a game release finished and not broken waiting months for patches to fix them

When games felt unique and not formulated like most big name publishers push the safe route

When I dd not worry about my game being connected to the internet to work

When I didn't have to worry about a game developer shutting down servers making the game useless

And if the game had a bug you were fucked unless you had it on a computer. Then you had a chance by being able to hex edit a save file, using cheat code to bypass buggy section or you had to have modem and be able to dial BBS to download a patch, if the devs bothered to make one.

 

[Guilty_AI]

On the thread, i have many fond memories of the good ol' days. Games that stopped working due to changing the OS with no fix in sight, game breaking bugs that never got patched, tons of low effort games being sold as if they were proper titles, not being able to get the game i wanted because it wasn't available anymore and didn't sell anywhere... yes, there were no problems or inconveniences whatsoever.

 

[Deerock71]

That All in the Family was the FIRST thing I thought of when reading the thread title.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

What does any of that have to do with being able to play a single player game?

Download the game? Sure. Update the game? Sure. But after that i should be able to stop paying for internet and i should be able to play my single player game i bought, offline.

It's a better delivery system for a product, yes. But it doesn't need to also be a dependency for that product to work at all. It's more convenient to buy a fridge online but imagine having that thing to be online in order it to work. There's no need for this.

That's like saying, you think you shouldn't need electricity to play games. Let me just buy batteries.

Of course, you need the internet to authenticate a digital library otherwise piracy would be rampant.

I could sign in on another PlayStation and just keep downloading games nonstop.

Everyone has internet these days, just as everyone has electricity and running water. At least if they're in a place where they expect to play video games. The complaining about needing internet is just disingenuous.

I pay way less a month on entertainment now than I did 10 years ago since cutting the cord. Everything is a trade-off, but you can't ignore the benefits and only look at the drawbacks.

 

[JohnnyPhats]

Easy way to trigger a NeoGAF user: Say new games are better than old ones!

EG: Mario Wonder is better than Mario World

I’m 47 years old. Had a SNES on launch day bundled with two controllers and SMW. Wonder is better. Absolutely

 

[Arcadialane]

Pressing pause in an old school game:

Pressing pause in a modern game:

 

[nkarafo]

Of course, you need the internet to authenticate a digital library otherwise piracy would be rampant.

I thought Cyberpunk and The Witcher 3 sold pretty great, despite having non-DRM versions.

Not all pirated copies downloaded are lost sales, that's a myth publishers use to make us feel bad about them. Pirates download whatever they can get regardless caring about the games they download or not. They won't just buy a game because they suddenly can't pirate it, only a very small minority does so.

Either way, DRM only benefits the publisher, not you and me. For us it's just an inconvenience. Even pirates don't have to deal with it after the DRM is broken, it's only the paying customers who do.

I could sign in on another PlayStation and just keep downloading games nonstop.

Again, this has nothing to do with also needing it to PLAY the games. It's a delivery system.

After the delivery man brings me my pizza, i pay him and he leaves. It isn't mandatory for him to stay and feed it to me.

That's like saying, you think you shouldn't need electricity to play games. Let me just buy batteries.

Everyone has internet these days, just as everyone has electricity and running water. At least if they're in a place where they expect to play video games. The complaining about needing internet is just disingenuous.

Batteries is electricity too.

If i could get rid of any dependency, including electricity, i would. But it's impossible. Electricity is ESSENTIAL for things to function. It would be unreasonable to complain about connecting to the grid for an electronic device to work.

The internet is not ESSENTIAL to play a single player game. They just try to make it so, for control. So, if i there's a way to get rid of it i surely will, as i always do.

but you can't ignore the benefits and only look at the drawbacks.

There are a lot of benefits. Nothing beats the internet as a delivery system. Get your games, your support, your updates when you want them from your couch. Convenience.

But it doesn't have to be more than that. DRM is a completely artificial dependency we can do without.

 

[Krathoon]

Watch Angry Video Game Nerd and it will remind you of all the shitty old games.

 

[Krappadizzle]

'Member Gameshark? Completely elevated my buddies and I Perfect Dark/Goldeneye/WcW vs. NWO:Revenge games so much...

 

[nkarafo]

'Member Gameshark? Completely elevated my buddies and I Perfect Dark/Goldeneye/WcW vs. NWO:Revenge games so much...

Still can on PCs

Cheat Engine

 

[Krathoon]

I miss Nintendo Power.

PC Gamer is a more mature version. I am glad it is still around.

 

[Chuck Berry]

 

[64bitmodels]

Pressing pause in an old school game:

Pressing pause in a modern game:

FIFY.

 

[Valonquar]

I remember when very few games took more than a few hours to beat start to finish.
I remember when you didn't need to buy a game because you could RENT it, complete it and return it in the same day/weekend.
I remember when controllers had one button, and the AV connection to the TV required a butter knife.

 

[Hudo]

 

[Krathoon]

Yeah. I forget how expensive old cartridges used to be.

 

[64bitmodels]

I remember when you didn't need to buy a game because you could RENT it, complete it and return it in the same day/weekend.

 

[Krathoon]

Yeah. I miss video game rentals. Why in the hell did that die out?

 

[ByWatterson]

Can we just make an official Gaming Necrophilia thread and be done with it?

 

[Krathoon]

Well, I guess gamepass finally killed rentals.

 

[T4keD0wN]

Its not like all those games are gone, you can play them today.

Yes, you read that right, you can play old games.

 

[Krathoon]

Its not like all those games are gone, you can play them today.

Yes, you read that right, you can play old games.

Yeah. They don't want you to play them, but you totally can.

Quite easily too.

 

[Davevil]

yes that time was better

 

[Sushi_Combo]

Yeah. I miss video game rentals. Why in the hell did that die out?

Streaming services and subscription game services made these businesses non-viable for the regular consumer.

 

[Humdinger]

I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, I've grown tired of modern gaming for many reasons:

• increased homogenization, lack of creativity, reduced risk-taking
• the rise of the movie game; inclusion of 6-8 hours of cinematics, de-emphasis of gameplay
• corporate greed (microtransactions, loot boxes, pay to win, emphasis on live service games, etc.)
• intrusion of identity politics
• much slower release, given the massive budgets and expectations
• more "serious," less fun
• increased presence of "suits" and design-by-committee, as the budgets have grown

(I'm aware that these complaints mostly pertain to AAA gaming, and that the indie scene may be different.)

On the other hand, I have been retro gaming lately, and it has been a mixed bag. Although I have re-discovered games that are a lot of fun, I am also reminded of things I did not like then, and still don't like now:

• lack of proper checkpointing, meaning I have to repeat long segments of the game if I die at any point; this has caused me to stop playing some games entirely
• long loading times
• lack of guidance -- I don't mean hand-holding, I just mean proper guidance, without which you're prone to wander around for hours wasting time
• some of the games are not quite as fun as they were in my imagination
• playing old games, I feel more alone with my experience; if you're playing modern games, you have a group of people to talk with about it, share experiences/opinions; if you're playing a game from 15 years ago, you're on your own

So, I can see both perspectives. Modern gaming has problems, and so does retro gaming. Different problems.

 

[nkarafo]

Another thing i miss is the motion clarity of the old CRT TVs. I'm tired of the modern panel/LCD blurriness.

 

[Krathoon]

I miss video games being more of a novelty. It was more of an underground thing.

 

[The Cockatrice]

30 years from now gamers will be like: "dam bro I miss those battlepass days!"

 

[calistan]

I’m 47 years old. Had a SNES on launch day bundled with two controllers and SMW. Wonder is better. Absolutely

You only say that because they made Wonder so piss-easy it's the only game you can handle these days, with your foggy eyes, arthritic hands, and old man reaction speed.


(Confession in a font you won't be able to read: I find SMW pretty difficult now too, but it's a far better game than Wonder).

 

[64bitmodels]

Confession in a font you won't be able to read

 

[StereoVsn]

do you genuinely think anyone will just sit down and take being forced into a streaming future like that?

If Phil has his way…

 

[calistan]

Booo, I'm even older, so I wouldn't know about techincal stuff like that. I only know that Super Mario World shits on Wonder from a great height.

 

[64bitmodels]

If Phil has his way…

phil ain't doing shit

 

[Fbh]

People: "Everything was so much better before, modern games suck"

Same people if you were to sell them 10 hours long, 15fps OG Shadow of the Colossus for $94 in 2023:

 

[Krathoon]

Oh please. Mario Wonder blows Super Mario World out of the water. It is like a night and day difference.

 

[StereoVsn]

phil ain't doing shit

Wait till Microsoft buys Nintendo and Ubisoft! That will be career defining moment. Sacrebleu!

 

[StereoVsn]

Oh please. Mario Wonder blows Super Mario World out of the water. It is like a night and day difference.

You have to look at it from historical perspective. IMO, impact of Super Mario World was much larger and overall vs Wonder.

 

[64bitmodels]

Oh please. Mario Wonder blows Super Mario World out of the water. It is like a night and day difference.

It is more like day on one side of the earth vs day on the other. Both have their strengths and weaknesses and i love both for what they are. And i'm probably in the best position to compare since I jumped into Wonder right after having beat Mario World.
What I said was just bait to prove my point that many GAF users get irrationally triggered when you prefer new games over old. And it clearly worked.

Spoiler: not gonna make any friends with this one

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury is better than both, though.

 

[SHA]

I remember the gameplay was hard and can overshadows all other nice things back then, so there is a positive thing in present time.

 

[Krathoon]

It is more like day on one side of the earth vs day on the other. Both have their strengths and weaknesses and i love both for what they are. And i'm probably in the best position to compare since I jumped into Wonder right after having beat Mario World.
What I said was just bait to prove my point that GAF users get irrationally triggered when you prefer new games over old. And it clearly worked.

Spoiler: not gonna make any friends with this one

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury is better than both, though.

I agree. 3D World is also better than Super Mario World.

 

[Krathoon]

Mario Wonder is better than Super Mario 3.