Modern Consoles.. Rambling I guess

[Rocketman]

Xbox Series X. Switch 2. PS5 Pro.

I have all three of these and they mostly gather dust. I regret purchasing them. I don't know what it is, but I just don't find them fun. My wife loves the PS5 Pro so that will be sticking around, but I'm preparing to get rid of the Series X and my Switch 2. PS4 Slim and Xbox One S also gathering dust.

I can't put my finger on it. Graphics are amazing, and arguably the games on them are pretty great too. I honestly wish I could explain it or even understand what it is so I could convey something meaningful here, but I'm struggling.

They just somehow suck. That's all.

I'll try to explain because I know the above is a bit too vague.. Uhh, how to put it. The menus? I don't like the console menus or interfaces. I spend a lot of time looking at them, and scrolling through them which is paradoxical to what I'm saying here, but I detest their stupid shiny menus with their beautiful game libraries. It makes no sense I know. I guess they tire me out? Sort of like not knowing what to select on Netflix? But it's also not just that, because if I had the same menu on a Gamecube, PS2, or Xbox I don't think it would be as horrible an experience somehow.

Hmmm, what else... Haven't given much to go on there. I guess some obvious stuff would be like all the annoying shit. Advertisements and stuff. Updates, updates, updates... Subscriptions. Game Pass. Playstation Plus. EA Whatever. Ubisoft Whatever2. Online. Registration for <random service> for <some game(s)>... It sucks. When did this become the norm? Some of the games by the time I finish signing up or signing in I start the game and don't even want to play.

And I guess the games themselves? Like, I can see that they are amazing. Probably amazing. Some of the games I've purchased have AAA ratings and people froth over them.. I don't know, maybe I'm old or something is wrong with me but I struggle to get into them. Maybe I guess now I think about it they feel like a chore or something I have to dedicate and commit to, maybe. I almost find it stressful. Daunting maybe is more apt a word? What am I saying here... Commit(ment), Stressful, Daunting... None of those things are fun. Whereas 6th generation consoles the games became pretty epic, but still like mostly, I dunno, pick up and play? But also they were fun? The games were just more fun I guess. Is that a dumb thing to think / say? 7th generation games also were basically like 6th gen with some polish for the most part. They got a bit "downloady" with DLC and updates and stuff, but was still pretty contained. Put a disc in, play.

Anyway, just thought I'd ramble.

I'm hoping going back to OG Xbox and packing away everything else to gather dust in the garage will somehow bring back a joy to gaming that I've been missing for a long time now.

[o.pwuaioc]

I think we all eventually hit this point, just at different times. For me, the PS4/Xbox 1 was a completely non-starter. Eventually I realized that that applied to PS3 and Xbox 360. And then eventually everything post-PS2. Even back in the day, though, a lot of "triple A games" were just mediocre experiences to me. My 360/PS3/Wii collection was always quirky or unusual: 3D Dot Game Heroes and DKC Returnswere my must have games until they suddenly weren't.

Now though, as I get older, I find that even quick pick up and play games aren't really catching my interest anymore. I played maybe 3 console games in the past year, and even PC standards of Civ and Cities Skylines has been dusty lately.

It's just getting older and moving on. I think a lot of us do it eventually.

[MidnightRider]

That, or you "regress" because the stuff with a basis in arcade gaming always remains fun .

[pierrot]

I haven't bought a new home console since the PS3 (although I did pick up a second-hand 360 in Japan in 2012) and even then, I don't like a whole lot of what I've played out of that generation. One of my favorite things on the PS3 was the remasters of ICO and SotC, so--. I picked up a WiiU off of Stark on here I think not long after the Switch was released, but really haven't played it at all. Since then I've really had very little to no interest in consoles that have been released, particularly when I have a good gaming PC (6+ years old and still kickin' ass), and a Steamdeck.

I remember making this thread thinking I would eventually be getting a PS4 at some point because I had a PS4 copy of Shenmue III from the kickstarter. I ended up just never bothering, and now it seems like most of the games on that list are on PC anyway.

Partly, it probably is age, but I think it kind of dovetails into a topic I was recently considering making a thread for on how games actually aren't art. I remember a number of discussions back in the day, on these forums in particular, about whether games are art or not. I think there were plenty of worthy arguments at the time, but today I think it's pretty clear that games are just products at this point. In the last ten years, I feel they've been productized to the point that any artistry is lost, and I think it's at a greater scale than something like movies or music. You do still have indie games, but even there I feel like most indie games now are carbon copies of a handful of templates (ie. soulslike, roguelite, metroidvania, rhythm-tengoku-like, etc). For me the period of about '94 to '08 was such an inspirational time in games because of all the wild and expressive ideas developers were just trying to get out into the world through video games. I recently replayed Katamari Damashi, and that's such a wildly innovative game, but I also recently found out that the original creator had no intentions of, and actually was actively opposed to the idea of creating a sequel. Obviously Namco eventually convinced him to make We <3 Katamari, but that kind of ethos feels like its lacking in game development today.

[marurun]

Mass-produced art is still art. We don't have to like it or how it's made.

[pierrot]

You mean like the difference between prints and individual works of art? I'm not sure that's entirely relevant in this case. The vast majority of games, movies, and music are mass produced to begin with. The philosophical question for me with art is what inspires its creation: Money or message.

Like, I don't think anyone's really confusing the latest Marvel collectible statue or Magic Eye posters for art, even though they satisfy the broadest definition of art: Anything created by human beings.

[marurun]

You mean like the difference between prints and individual works of art? I'm not sure that's entirely relevant in this case. The vast majority of games, movies, and music are mass produced to begin with. The philosophical question for me with art is what inspires its creation: Money or message.

Like, I don't think anyone's really confusing the latest Marvel collectible statue or Magic Eye posters for art, even though they satisfy the broadest definition of art: Anything created by human beings.

The thing is, even if money is the prime motivator for the companies, the individuals working on the projects are the ones performing the artistic expression. Even when VERY constrained, there is human expressive vision, and for each individual artist or programmer or musician, message and artistic integrity are tangled up in that work. So sure, the latest Call of Duty isn't "high art", but saying it's not art because it's a commercial work intended primarily to make money is dismissing the creative and expressive work of hundreds of individuals who contributed. And in this sense it IS the same as movies and music and TV/streaming media. Every pitch for new features or story or character comes from a person trying to be expressive, and yes, there are commercial and corporate constraints, and video games do tend to lack the Single Creative Entity factor that movies and plays and musicals often have, but I think it still disrespects a whole industry full of passionate, creative, and burned out professionals to say that what they are making is clearly not art.

[Michi]

And honestly, not to burst anyone's bubble, because I know it's a very honorable and even romantic notion that "true" artists create art for the sake of creating a 'vision', or what have you. But for the vast majority or artists the primary objective to making art is, and historically has always been, so that they can make money. You know, so they can afford to eat and survive and shit. The only people not really focusing on that are those whose families were in some way already independently wealthy.

Yes, most artists start making things so that they can tell a story and express that story in whatever medium they choose. But the end goal is usually the same. To make $$$ while praying something they make becomes commercially successful so they don't have to worry about those pesky things called "necessities" and they can finally start making art just because they want to. But for most people that doesn't happen, so mass-produced anime/movie/gaming sculptures and pictures it is.

[marurun]

Even the "classical" composers of old had to ensure their works appealed to their patrons.

[Syndicate]

...I get being bored or over the modern gaming scene. Between games being incomplete on disc/cart, DLC stuff, and a push towards digital everything...yeah, it's really easy to recall how nice things were during the previous gens. However, well imo there's still a lot of really great games that released over the current and previous gen consoles. It's different strokes for different folks; I spend about the same amount of time playing classic games (I especially enjoy 4th/5th gen games) as I do on modern games (usually w/physical media). Lately I've been bouncing between Golden Axe and Clair Obscur, these games couldn't be more different, but I'm having a blast w/both games.