Oh look, yet another "PC Master Race" article, that got some traction with ReviewTechUSA.
Hey there everyone, Happy Gamer here, and I make it no secret that I'm not a fan of PC gaming. I don't care about all the "benefits," and I'd rather just play my PS4, XBOX ONE, and everything before it. When ReviewTechUSA did a video on this article talking about the benefits, I decided to counter them.
1. "You can play games with better graphics than console - if you have a powerful gaming PC." I don't have a powerful PC, and my PC that costs more than my consoles doesn't provide better graphics than my console. I have to turn down the graphics to below 720 to get a smooth frame rate.
2. "The Steam Game Platform." Steam sucks. It never wants to load on my PC. I also avoid digital as much as I can (even on consoles), because I like physical. I'm a collector, and a digital library will never be a "collection." You say sales "steam sales," I have "store clearance" and "used games." And as a physical gamer, I never have to worry about "this game is off the marketplace, you can never play it now."
3. "You don't have to pay to play multiplayer games on PC, and you save money in the long run." I don't play online games. I play games to avoid people, not interact with the lowest of the low. I actually quite dislike how EVERYTHING has online components now adays.
4. "There are more games for PC than there are for game consoles." Quantity does not equal quality. How many 3rd party exclusive games were there for the Wii? Hundreds probably. How many of them were good? Maybe 10. Most of the good games get console releases, and many exclusives like MMOs and RTSs just aren't my thing. If there's an exclusive like trade winds, I'll get it, but that's not enough to convince me to drop a grand on a PC.
5. "You can download 'mods' for games, which can add fun new content or better graphics." Mods don't interest me. I get the appeal, but I don't care. Next.
6. "You have the freedom to choose how you play on PC." I prefer gamepads, that's all. I don't care if it's a NES, SNES, PlayStation, XBOX ONE, Gamecube, or even the OG XBOX Duke controller. I like gamepads, and I've been using different ones for so many years they all feel natural to me. There are some games that are better with mouse and keyboard, such as roller coaster tycoon or sim city, but otherwise, I'll use my XBOX ONE controller; just like on my console.
7. "You have the choice to play games on feature-packed monitors or your TV." Good for you, but I'm good with my 4:3 CRT or 16:9 LCD. Most games I play have the action that's right in front of you. I don't need this ultra wide field of view.
8. "You're not hogging the TV if you live with someone else." I'm the only one that uses this TV, my parents have their own TVs. This doesn't matter to me. Next.
9. "Building your own PC is fun and satisfying." I don't care how many times you tell me "it's fun," I HAVE ABSOLETELY NO DESIRE TO BUILD A PC! I REALLY hate this argument. You may think it's fun, but I don't. If anything, this is an argument against PC gaming. I hate troubleshooting simple problems that result from expertly built electronics. I REALLY don't want to troubleshoot problems a novice like me created.
10. "And you can decorate it to make it truly yours." Again, not my thing. However, if it is your thing, you can also do that with consoles. I've seen equally cool custom console skins and lights.
11. "And you can go all-out with custom water cooling, too." Even you admit water cooling is tedious. I admit it's a cool novelty, but I prefer to keep my electronic components far away from liquids.
12. "You can upgrade your PC parts to keep up with new games, while console parts become "obsolete" very quickly." And the double edge sword that stings harder than "console obsoleteness" is that you have to worry about your cutting edge capabilities. If I buy a game for my PS4, I know it's going to work on my PS4, plain and simple. I don't have to worry about compatibility and specifications. If the game disk say "xbox one," it's going to work on my xbox one.
At least you didn't bring up the tired "well I can use my PC for all sorts of other things" argument, one I hate just about as much as the "building a PC is fun" argument, but just because it's a straw man in most cases. Yes, your $1500 gaming PC is very capable, and can do lots of things a console can't. But here's the real question, what are you using your PC for? Unless you're doing some serious media rendering or simulation programs, you have ABSOLUTELY NO need for a $1500 PC outside of cutting edge gaming. My dad recently started using a $200 chrome book for all his web browsing and light word processing through google docs. He says "I have no need for a windows based PC, all I need is internet." The only reason I bought a PC instead of a chrome book is because I wanted to do video editing and light gaming. "My PC can stream video," so can my consoles. "My PC can play music, DVDs, and Blu-Rays," so can my console. "My PC can do video chat," so can my console. "My PC can computer can program mods." Are you programing mods? "No, but it can simulate a complex manufacturing environment in 1 hour." Are you doing those simulations? "No, but it can surf the web." So can my console. "Well, my PC can do my taxes." You got me there, but my $300 tower from 8 years ago can do that too.
Look, if you like PC gaming, good for you. It's your opinion. I'm not going to try to convince you to give up your preferred platform. But it's just that, an opinion. It's not "fact" like many try to claim. This has been Happy Gamer, signing off, and console peasant for life. Bye.
Friday, August 4, 2017
Nintendo may be growing up, but there are some SERIOUS growing pains.
I'm not against Nintendo doing DLC, I'm just against how they do it.
Hey there everyone, Happy Gamer here, and ReviewTechUSA recently made a video about Nintendo locking content in the upcoming Metroid game behind Amiibos. As is to be expected, people are kind of upset about it, and Rich says "this is just the gaming industry today, companies lock content behind DLC and Nintendo is just joining the party."
Yeah...about that. See, I'm a bit of an Amiibo collector. I try to get all the smash amiibo I can, and some of the others I'm interested in. I'm also pretty sure you said at one point "I don't like Amiibo." So allow me to enlighten you on one complain every Amiibo collector has, NINTENDO DOESN'T KEEP AMIIBO STOCKED!
See, I quite like the idea of Amiibo. They are one time purchases, are compatible with multiple games, and give you something physical. One thing I don't like about DLC is that it's digital (hence the "D" in DLC). I buy my games physical whenever I can so I have something to display. Conventional DLC can't be displayed though, because it's digital. Amiibo on the other hand, can be displayed, and I quite like how my Amiibo look around my TV and on my store display rack. They're also single purchases compatible across multiple games. I can buy 1 figure, and it can work on multiple games. If I guy a call of duty 4 map pack, it only works on call of duty 4. If I buy a Super Mario Amiibo, it works on over 30 games. Even if Nintendo charged $0.50 for each piece of unlockable content on each of those games, it still would be cheaper to just buy a $13 figure, that's going to continue unlocking content in the future. It's actually a really great way to distribute DLC, in concept.
See, here's the Achilles Heel of Amiibo. While conventional DLC doesn't have the benefits of Amiibo, it does have 1 benefit that Nintendo just can't seem to remedy, it's UNLIMITED. If I want to buy that call of duty map pack, I go to the xbox/playstation/steam store, add the DLC to my digital cart, download it, and that's it. I don't have to call 20 gamestops, best buys, toys r us, targets, meijers, and walmarts to see if they have that map pack in stock ultimately to find out they're out of stock. If I want the character skin in street fighter, I just get it from the digital marketplace without any problem. I don't have to buy the DLC months before it's even announced speculating that I'll want the game, just because I know if I don't buy it within the first couple days of release it'll be gone forever. If I want to get the season pass for a game, I just buy the season pass from the unlimited digital reserve. I don't have to pre-order the day pre-orders are announced because the pre-orders are going to sell out the next day. How is that even a thing? Pre-orders are supposed to gauge how much demand there's going to be, and you ship some multiple of the pre-orders to the stores. You don't say "we're only allowing this much demand for this product, consumers be damned." There is an entire sub-reddit dedicated to "how to find amiibo." You don't see that with any other DLC.
Look, I like Amiibo. They are a great concept, as I mentioned above. But if you go to the Amiibo section of the store and it isn't completely empty (as I've seen multiple times), you'll find 1 or 2 common smash series, a booster pack of cards, animal crossing (except villager), and maybe a splatoon. You won't find Kirby series, Zelda series, Mario series, 8-bit series, yarn series, or 80% of the smash series. The Metroid game in the video that uses smash series Samaus and Zero Suit? Good luck finding both full suit and zero suit in stores. Just bought Splatoon 2 and want the unlockable content with the Splatoon 3-pack amiibo? Unless you bought them over 2 years ago, the best you'll be able to do is the Splatoon 2 3-pack, if you're lucky. Little Timmy asks Santa for a Turbo Charged Donkey Kong Amiibo because it can be used in Skylanders, well sorry Timmy, Santa couldn't get you that Amiibo because Santa didn't go to Meijer at midnight because the following morning was the morning of the big presentation. I understand the store's perspective of "I don't want these to sit here for months" (like the Animal Crossing series), but I don't understand why Nintendo won't do more print runs of the really popular ones, especially when new games come out that use them.
In the early days one of the arguments I got frequently from Nintendo apologists was "they're just collectables, like other limited print action figures, it's not like you're missing out on anything if you don't get them." Well, now they're legit DLC, and Nintendo isn't allowing customers to buy it. This has been Happy Gamer, signing off, and instead of Milking us dry, Nintendo is just teasing us. Bye.
Hey there everyone, Happy Gamer here, and ReviewTechUSA recently made a video about Nintendo locking content in the upcoming Metroid game behind Amiibos. As is to be expected, people are kind of upset about it, and Rich says "this is just the gaming industry today, companies lock content behind DLC and Nintendo is just joining the party."
Yeah...about that. See, I'm a bit of an Amiibo collector. I try to get all the smash amiibo I can, and some of the others I'm interested in. I'm also pretty sure you said at one point "I don't like Amiibo." So allow me to enlighten you on one complain every Amiibo collector has, NINTENDO DOESN'T KEEP AMIIBO STOCKED!
See, I quite like the idea of Amiibo. They are one time purchases, are compatible with multiple games, and give you something physical. One thing I don't like about DLC is that it's digital (hence the "D" in DLC). I buy my games physical whenever I can so I have something to display. Conventional DLC can't be displayed though, because it's digital. Amiibo on the other hand, can be displayed, and I quite like how my Amiibo look around my TV and on my store display rack. They're also single purchases compatible across multiple games. I can buy 1 figure, and it can work on multiple games. If I guy a call of duty 4 map pack, it only works on call of duty 4. If I buy a Super Mario Amiibo, it works on over 30 games. Even if Nintendo charged $0.50 for each piece of unlockable content on each of those games, it still would be cheaper to just buy a $13 figure, that's going to continue unlocking content in the future. It's actually a really great way to distribute DLC, in concept.
See, here's the Achilles Heel of Amiibo. While conventional DLC doesn't have the benefits of Amiibo, it does have 1 benefit that Nintendo just can't seem to remedy, it's UNLIMITED. If I want to buy that call of duty map pack, I go to the xbox/playstation/steam store, add the DLC to my digital cart, download it, and that's it. I don't have to call 20 gamestops, best buys, toys r us, targets, meijers, and walmarts to see if they have that map pack in stock ultimately to find out they're out of stock. If I want the character skin in street fighter, I just get it from the digital marketplace without any problem. I don't have to buy the DLC months before it's even announced speculating that I'll want the game, just because I know if I don't buy it within the first couple days of release it'll be gone forever. If I want to get the season pass for a game, I just buy the season pass from the unlimited digital reserve. I don't have to pre-order the day pre-orders are announced because the pre-orders are going to sell out the next day. How is that even a thing? Pre-orders are supposed to gauge how much demand there's going to be, and you ship some multiple of the pre-orders to the stores. You don't say "we're only allowing this much demand for this product, consumers be damned." There is an entire sub-reddit dedicated to "how to find amiibo." You don't see that with any other DLC.
Look, I like Amiibo. They are a great concept, as I mentioned above. But if you go to the Amiibo section of the store and it isn't completely empty (as I've seen multiple times), you'll find 1 or 2 common smash series, a booster pack of cards, animal crossing (except villager), and maybe a splatoon. You won't find Kirby series, Zelda series, Mario series, 8-bit series, yarn series, or 80% of the smash series. The Metroid game in the video that uses smash series Samaus and Zero Suit? Good luck finding both full suit and zero suit in stores. Just bought Splatoon 2 and want the unlockable content with the Splatoon 3-pack amiibo? Unless you bought them over 2 years ago, the best you'll be able to do is the Splatoon 2 3-pack, if you're lucky. Little Timmy asks Santa for a Turbo Charged Donkey Kong Amiibo because it can be used in Skylanders, well sorry Timmy, Santa couldn't get you that Amiibo because Santa didn't go to Meijer at midnight because the following morning was the morning of the big presentation. I understand the store's perspective of "I don't want these to sit here for months" (like the Animal Crossing series), but I don't understand why Nintendo won't do more print runs of the really popular ones, especially when new games come out that use them.
In the early days one of the arguments I got frequently from Nintendo apologists was "they're just collectables, like other limited print action figures, it's not like you're missing out on anything if you don't get them." Well, now they're legit DLC, and Nintendo isn't allowing customers to buy it. This has been Happy Gamer, signing off, and instead of Milking us dry, Nintendo is just teasing us. Bye.
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