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game musings
Oct. 16th, 2024 05:00 pmemerging from my Vintage Games Hole by playing around on the steam deck + itch.io + playing more games released in the past 5 years versus er, past twenty years (lol) really is making me ponder on how the console wars have shifted.
back in the day when i was more serious about games (say, gamecube era when watching E3 was legitimately worth looking forward to all year) - it was pretty evenly split into nintendo vs playstation vs xbox in terms of console factions. ps2 reigned for a bit, halo was popular for a bit, the wii was real hot for a bit, etc.
nowadays, though... i'd tentatively say the heavy hitters are essentially:
nintendo (the apple of games, focusing both on locked down high quality hardware and IP) vs valve/steam (a cross between microsoft/linux's approach of being able to buy/play anything but not having as high quality control). the playstation and xbox are almost irrelevant in the sense that i genuinely can't think of any exclusives that matter that don't (eventually, a few years later) end up on the PC. it's also notable that both of the heavy hitters have aligned on the smash hit of portable handheld consoles that can mimic the old days of still playing on a flatscreen tv (eg, the switch vs steam deck) - game consoles have gotten so similar to actual laptops that the distinction isn't even worth talking about. shit's weird.
last night this led me down a few more thoughts ...
a) gabe newell (valve founder) is one crafty SOB to have worked his way up from owning a niche indie games store to being able to compete with the juggernaut of nintendo of all companies. i need to see if he has a book. want to find out more about him, like how does his brain tick.
b) it's mostly based off of ~vibes~ but i have a sinking sensation that a lot of steam's funding and runway comes from defense companies, much like microsoft/big tech. (i'm pretty sure i've seen videos of wartime FPV drone pilots use steam decks, and it does make sense with the internals being linux and most young boys being videogame nerds.) but even still. strangely melancholic about this. i know it happens but i don't have to be happy with it.
c) there's so much more of an interactive spectrum between itch.io indie games <-> steam games <-> games listed on nintendo's store than anyone ever would have guessed 20 years ago. 20 years ago there really was no such thing as indie games. there were romhacks and rpg makers and..... that's about it? undertale was probably the first massive 'indie game turned acclaimed classic' i remember... it's gotten to the point where games i thought were itch.io games (like mouthwash) were actually steam games and vice versa.
d) i miss E3. :(
back in the day when i was more serious about games (say, gamecube era when watching E3 was legitimately worth looking forward to all year) - it was pretty evenly split into nintendo vs playstation vs xbox in terms of console factions. ps2 reigned for a bit, halo was popular for a bit, the wii was real hot for a bit, etc.
nowadays, though... i'd tentatively say the heavy hitters are essentially:
nintendo (the apple of games, focusing both on locked down high quality hardware and IP) vs valve/steam (a cross between microsoft/linux's approach of being able to buy/play anything but not having as high quality control). the playstation and xbox are almost irrelevant in the sense that i genuinely can't think of any exclusives that matter that don't (eventually, a few years later) end up on the PC. it's also notable that both of the heavy hitters have aligned on the smash hit of portable handheld consoles that can mimic the old days of still playing on a flatscreen tv (eg, the switch vs steam deck) - game consoles have gotten so similar to actual laptops that the distinction isn't even worth talking about. shit's weird.
last night this led me down a few more thoughts ...
a) gabe newell (valve founder) is one crafty SOB to have worked his way up from owning a niche indie games store to being able to compete with the juggernaut of nintendo of all companies. i need to see if he has a book. want to find out more about him, like how does his brain tick.
b) it's mostly based off of ~vibes~ but i have a sinking sensation that a lot of steam's funding and runway comes from defense companies, much like microsoft/big tech. (i'm pretty sure i've seen videos of wartime FPV drone pilots use steam decks, and it does make sense with the internals being linux and most young boys being videogame nerds.) but even still. strangely melancholic about this. i know it happens but i don't have to be happy with it.
c) there's so much more of an interactive spectrum between itch.io indie games <-> steam games <-> games listed on nintendo's store than anyone ever would have guessed 20 years ago. 20 years ago there really was no such thing as indie games. there were romhacks and rpg makers and..... that's about it? undertale was probably the first massive 'indie game turned acclaimed classic' i remember... it's gotten to the point where games i thought were itch.io games (like mouthwash) were actually steam games and vice versa.
d) i miss E3. :(
