Let’s talk more about games I don’t/can’t play. Games I don’t play is easy* enough. I don’t play turn-based. Except. Ah, I just did. Kind of. And not just dipped into, but platted it. The Spirit Lift (prettysmart games), a roguelike deck-builder that was turn-based. The few times I have played turn-based games, I was used to each member of your party taking their turn. In this game, you had an aggregate amount of turns. Each member contributed cards, but you could use any of them you wanted in each turn as long as they were in play (meaning that you had drawn them).
In general, I don’t like to think too hard while playing a game. I mean, I don’t mind puzzling when I’m playing a puzzle game, but I don’t want t o exert myself too much in other games. I mean, I’ll look something when need be, but I don’t want to be constantly chewing over what to do in a non-puzzle game.
I also have given up on point-and-clicks. I ave tried so hard to like them. I have played several games, old and new, in this genre. Each time, I think, maybe this will be the time I actually like the game. And each time, I do not. The only game I liked was Kathy Rain, and even that was marred with so much frustration. By the way, after years of me wanting a sequel and resigning myself to not getting one (because the first one did not do well at all), I was astonished to find out there was a sequel.
I haven’t bought it yet because I’m scared. Of what? That it’ll just be more deep frustration and/or won’t live up to my expectations. I will try it one day, I’m sure, but–oh dear. It’s 15% off. No, wait. That’s the bundle for both the games. And it makes it cheaper than the second game itself. I don’t know why this is so, but Steam does this a lot. Seventeen dollars for the bundle. I am between games at the moment, so I’m seriously tempted.
I don’t play FPS, multiplayers, or shooters in general. None of that interests me. I also don’t care for most Triple A games. I know how it sounds, and I swear I’m not a hipster. I just am not made that way. It’s the same with any pop media for me. I am just left cold by most popular media. Now that I’ve realized I’m probably neuroatypical, I am saying that is probably part of the reason I have no interest in mainstream pop culture.
Back to accessibility issues in games I don’t play. Here is my post from yesterday. In it, I was talking about how I would rather indie games fly towards the sun and fail than stay safe and make a bland and boring game. I mean, I would like Triple A games to do the same, but they have way more to lose. It’s the same with Hollywood movies vs. indie ones. When you spend millions on a piece of pop culture, you expect to get that money back.
Today, in the video game world, Phil Spencer of Xbox ‘retired’ and Sarah Bond, the second in charge ‘resigned’. I put those in quotes because no one believes that’s what actually happened. It’s the 25th anniversary of Xbox this year, and there’s no way Phil would have chosen to go out this way. Chances are, the powers that be told Phil that he had to changed what he was doing, and he decided to go. Or they simply told him it was time for him to go, but allowed him to say he resigned.
As for Sarah Bond, the consensus is that she was pushed out. Or that she saw the way the winds were blowing and left before she was pushed out. People pointed out that she posted something related to Xbox on LinkedIn three hours before this news came down, so it was pretty clear that this was not something that was planned.
Yesterday, PlayStation shut down one of their most popular studios, Bluepoint, and they must be relieved that Xbox shit the bed double hard today to divert people’s attention from their (PlayStation’s) faux pas.
It’s been a wild two days in the gaming world. as I’ve said a time or ten, I mostly play indie games, but that doesn’t mean I don’t follow what the big boys are doing. I mean, if they go, then it’ll trickle down. There have been so many layoffs in the industry, and this is not going to help.
There is already a boyycott of Xbox for political reasons (related to Palestine). This is certainly not going to help. Not that I’m sure anything will help. They’ve been wandering all over the place and shooting themselves in the foot. They’ve been moving away from being makers of console, and have been trying to say that anything can be an Xbox.
The powers-that-be did not like this. Oh, I should say that Xbox was already in trouble from Microsoft for ‘only’ making a 9% increase last year. Reportedly, Microsoft wanted them to make 30% more this year–which is ridiculous.
In other words, Xbox was set up to fail. They had no shot at making a 30% increase this year. No one is surprised that Phil left, but it’s the matter in which he happened. He’s been the face of Xbox for such a long time and viewed favorably by most Xbox players (at least before the last year). It’s really doing him a disservice just to kick him out on a Friday night with no notice and no fanfare.
That’s the business now, though. Not that it’s ever really been anything than a cash cow. However, there used to be some grace in allowing devs to take their time and not immediately getting closed if one game failed. Or maybe I’m looking at things through rose-colored glasses. I never really started playing hardcore games until about ten years ago, so I don’t really know what it was like twenty years ago.
I know we’re in the darkest timeline right now, though. I mean, in the real world, too, but also in the gaming world. I play games to forget the real world, but that’s not really possible now. I mean, the gaming world was always fucked. The whole world is fucked. That’s another post for another day, though. I have much to say on that post, but just…not right now.
It’s all fucked. Will it get unfucked at some point? Who knows? I certainly don’t.
*Ha!