4 ms·

I'm currently going through a phase of setting up a games room, and acquiring a bunch of slightly older video game consoles and games to populate it. I've settl

I'm currently going through a phase of setting up a games room, and acquiring a bunch of slightly older video game consoles and games to populate it. I've settled on PS2 and PS3, and Xbox/360 as the sweet spot for this. Partly due to price (they're not old enough to be worth much, but not new enough to be hawked at retail prices). But a factor just as big as price is how, from about mid-360 and PS3 onwards, gaming stopped being a case of 'buy a disc and play the game' and became 'register online, tie to a service which will be withdrawn at some point, and pay extra for bits of the game that would previously have been free'. All of that stuff transformed gaming media from about 2007 onwards from something that you could put on a shelf and return to at your leisure, into this ephemeral thing that you must buy into at the peak of the hype cycle, or it won't exist in proper form (if at all) when you do get around to it. That said, this phenomenon is mostly limited to commercial games. There's an incredible grassroots movement of indie, modding, and retro gaming that everyone is free to immerse and engage in, where this issue just doesn't exist. My reaction to cutting-edge gaming for the past decade or so has been largely to turn away from commercial games and find entertainment via other gaming channels.

ryan-allen 8y ago
For those interested in some cool indie games (on Steam), check out these for a start: Not A Hero, Mother Russia Bleeds, Death Road to Canada, Streets of Rogue, SPACEPLAN, Cluster Truck, Stick Fight by Landfall. There are so many!
andrepd 8y ago
It's indeed sad. My only consolations are (i) like you said, indie games are still an oasis of bubbling creativity in a desert of insipid money-makers, and (ii) there are more brilliant old games I'm still yet to play than I could complete in many many years.
malloryerik 8y ago
What do you think are the best games for modding? Of course Minecraft. What else? I'm thinking especially in terms of modding as a way to get into programming.
- FooHentai 8y ago
  I'm not super up to date but if you're willing to look at older games with active modding communities, the Elder scrolls, Fallout, and Stalker series' stand out as having very active modding communities. ModDB is also a great resource (was, not sure if still the best), you can figure out where the crowds are at based on levels of submission and discussion activity there. PS Minecraft modding is an interesting example of where those commercial revenue-focused practices have bled into the modding scene. Never have I seen so much adfly, patreon, and general money-making motivation within a modding community. I doubt it's the only one that suffers from the issue, but it's notable.
- RidingPegasus 8y ago
  The entire Arma series has a huge modding community, along with good documentation on the internals, it's one of the main selling points of the game. Their last competition spawned hundreds of entries and awarded €500,000 in prizes to content creators. https://arma3.com/features/content-creation https://arma3.com/features/content-creation
- zaarn 8y ago
  Factorio has to my knowledge a pretty neat modding API internally.
  - graphitezepp 8y ago
    It does, Factorio is an impressive software project anyway you look at it.
- davidjnelson 8y ago
  Skyrim VR on PC is absurdly beautiful fully modded. The vortex mod manager along with the nexus mods community are great. Edit: In terms of getting into programming, you can create mods with custom scripts you write to change the behavior of the game.
onion2k 8y ago
Current Xbox One mainstream games are pretty much all available on plastic discs, and all work without an internet connection (obviously without patches or online multiplayer). You don't need to sign up for any services. There's a trend for multiplayer-only FPS games but that's a relatively small part of gaming as a whole.
sbr464 8y ago
I’m also put off by the fact you can’t just turn on and play a game, you need to download a 5gb game update, platform updates and are spammed with notifications, especially if you don’t play for a few weeks.
- imustbeevil 8y ago
  People bring this up a lot, but forget that the alternative was the game gets released with bugs that never get fixed.
  - wu-ikkyu 8y ago
    Maybe another alternative could be a game in which developers are given more time and resources to develop and test instead of shortstaffing, overworking, and rushing to market? More of a waterfall than an agile approach perhaps
  - sbr464 8y ago
    I agree, and it’s nice to have new content/fixes, it just creates anxiety/frustration and leads to not turning it on, which defeats the purpose of having it. Circular rant, first world problem I know
  - dTal 8y ago
    The alternative is the user is given the choice to update, not forced to. This was normal for PC games a decade ago, you'd go online and download a patch. At least with the games I played, bugfix and even small feature updates were usually free.

ryan-allen 8y ago

For those interested in some cool indie games (on Steam), check out these for a start: Not A Hero, Mother Russia Bleeds, Death Road to Canada, Streets of Rogue, SPACEPLAN, Cluster Truck, Stick Fight by Landfall. There are so many!

andrepd 8y ago

It's indeed sad. My only consolations are (i) like you said, indie games are still an oasis of bubbling creativity in a desert of insipid money-makers, and (ii) there are more brilliant old games I'm still yet to play than I could complete in many many years.

malloryerik 8y ago

What do you think are the best games for modding? Of course Minecraft. What else? I'm thinking especially in terms of modding as a way to get into programming.

FooHentai 8y ago
I'm not super up to date but if you're willing to look at older games with active modding communities, the Elder scrolls, Fallout, and Stalker series' stand out as having very active modding communities. ModDB is also a great resource (was, not sure if still the best), you can figure out where the crowds are at based on levels of submission and discussion activity there. PS Minecraft modding is an interesting example of where those commercial revenue-focused practices have bled into the modding scene. Never have I seen so much adfly, patreon, and general money-making motivation within a modding community. I doubt it's the only one that suffers from the issue, but it's notable.
RidingPegasus 8y ago
The entire Arma series has a huge modding community, along with good documentation on the internals, it's one of the main selling points of the game. Their last competition spawned hundreds of entries and awarded €500,000 in prizes to content creators. https://arma3.com/features/content-creation https://arma3.com/features/content-creation
zaarn 8y ago
Factorio has to my knowledge a pretty neat modding API internally.
- graphitezepp 8y ago
  It does, Factorio is an impressive software project anyway you look at it.
davidjnelson 8y ago
Skyrim VR on PC is absurdly beautiful fully modded. The vortex mod manager along with the nexus mods community are great. Edit: In terms of getting into programming, you can create mods with custom scripts you write to change the behavior of the game.

onion2k 8y ago

Current Xbox One mainstream games are pretty much all available on plastic discs, and all work without an internet connection (obviously without patches or online multiplayer). You don't need to sign up for any services. There's a trend for multiplayer-only FPS games but that's a relatively small part of gaming as a whole.

sbr464 8y ago

I’m also put off by the fact you can’t just turn on and play a game, you need to download a 5gb game update, platform updates and are spammed with notifications, especially if you don’t play for a few weeks.

imustbeevil 8y ago
People bring this up a lot, but forget that the alternative was the game gets released with bugs that never get fixed.
- wu-ikkyu 8y ago
  Maybe another alternative could be a game in which developers are given more time and resources to develop and test instead of shortstaffing, overworking, and rushing to market? More of a waterfall than an agile approach perhaps
- sbr464 8y ago
  I agree, and it’s nice to have new content/fixes, it just creates anxiety/frustration and leads to not turning it on, which defeats the purpose of having it. Circular rant, first world problem I know
- dTal 8y ago
  The alternative is the user is given the choice to update, not forced to. This was normal for PC games a decade ago, you'd go online and download a patch. At least with the games I played, bugfix and even small feature updates were usually free.