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US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

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Re: US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

#91
post #72
post #3

I'd argue it's not just lockdown. This has been an epic release year: Animal Crossing, Half Life Alyx, Doom Eternal, Gears Tactics, Valorent, Sea of Thieves. And on and on. Paper Mario: Origami King trailer looks like so much fun there is no reason to leave the house this summer ;)

Additionally pretty much all of my friends have been super hyped for a few other recent releases: Streets of Rage 4 and FFVII Remake. One friend even mentioned he hasn't been nearly this excited about video games since childhood. There's a few new releases I'd like to get, but I'm too busy with the games I already have, so I'm holding off. Lockdown has increased video game consumption beyond newer releases, the price…

Streets of Rage 4 got me back into gaming after a couple years away from it.

It's still not SOR2, but one of the best sequels ever.

Re: US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

#92
post #55

Half-OT: Currently I'm playing Stardew Valley on my FireHD10, I never played a mobile port that had THAT good controls. I also got Terraria and Minecraft and they are pretty bad to play with awkward on-screen controls. Does anyone here know of games that have good mobile ports? Or even good mobile games to start with? Most "native" mobile games just were really basic, full of in-app purchases etc. so I was looking mo…

There's a bunch of cheap bluetooth mini game controllers you can pickup online that will make a lot of ports (and emulators) quite a bit more enjoyable. RPGs from the playstation days are my go to.

I had one and it didn't work, but this was 5-6 years ago.

Did the controller story for mobile get better?

The XBox controllers on desktop work like a charm, even with browser games.

Re: US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

#93
post #87
post #55

Half-OT: Currently I'm playing Stardew Valley on my FireHD10, I never played a mobile port that had THAT good controls. I also got Terraria and Minecraft and they are pretty bad to play with awkward on-screen controls. Does anyone here know of games that have good mobile ports? Or even good mobile games to start with? Most "native" mobile games just were really basic, full of in-app purchases etc. so I was looking mo…

You can also look at mobile games that got a desktop port, as that should hint at good quality games. On the top of my head, I recall the Anomaly (Warzone: Earth) series, and Kingdom Rush.

Good idea, thanks!

Re: US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

#94

I think I must be a simpleton compared to many people. I am able to play the same video game for years and years before getting bored with it. Currently that game is Rocket League. Before that, it was Skate, Skate 2 and Skate 3 and before that...World of Warcraft.

As someone on the other end of the spectrum, I wish I could do this. While MMO addiction is a real problem (or at least it was... I don't seem to hear about it much anymore), being able to stay interested in a game for years at a time is something I've never experienced and I do feel like I'm missing out on some things because of it. I've never done any kind of "end game" content (e.g. WoW raids) in any MMO because I rarely stay interested long enough to even level a character, and that disappoints me a little bit.

Re: US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

#95

I think I must be a simpleton compared to many people. I am able to play the same video game for years and years before getting bored with it. Currently that game is Rocket League. Before that, it was Skate, Skate 2 and Skate 3 and before that...World of Warcraft.

On the other end I sometimes just enjoy the shopping, buying, collecting games. Even just collecting digital games on sale can be entertaining in its own way. As I age and my family grows it's becoming obvious I'll never complete many of them. But that's OK too.

I agree with the collecting aspect. I have some 292 games in my steam collection. I no longer consider the unplayed ones as being on my "pile of shame". I like having them at my disposal. And I like collecting them.

Spending 3 or 4 hours on a game that cost a dollar or two feels fairly economical. I got Alien Isolation for $2 recently. That probably would have just gone into my collection unplayed. But I did give it a shot. And would say it's probably worth full price.

Re: US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

#96
post #55

Half-OT: Currently I'm playing Stardew Valley on my FireHD10, I never played a mobile port that had THAT good controls. I also got Terraria and Minecraft and they are pretty bad to play with awkward on-screen controls. Does anyone here know of games that have good mobile ports? Or even good mobile games to start with? Most "native" mobile games just were really basic, full of in-app purchases etc. so I was looking mo…

Mindustry[1] is an open source game that works perfect on mobile, especially if you have a big screen. You can find it on app stores or download it manually. It's like factorio but more tower-defense and round-based. Much more approachable while still being really fun. [1] https://github.com/Anuken/Mindustry

Factorio was a bit too much for me, but I'll look into Mindustry, thanks!

Re: US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

#97
post #86
post #3

I'd argue it's not just lockdown. This has been an epic release year: Animal Crossing, Half Life Alyx, Doom Eternal, Gears Tactics, Valorent, Sea of Thieves. And on and on. Paper Mario: Origami King trailer looks like so much fun there is no reason to leave the house this summer ;)

And the second half of the year is stacked too with CP2077, Valhalla, Godfall, and a Hollow Knight sequel at least. And there’s going to be more big titles announced at the E3 substitute events in the next month or so. And the next gen consoles will launch in the fall.

Dying Light 2, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2, quite possibly Baldur's Gate 3 (Larian also said announcements concerning their Divinity series are coming), Crusader Kings 3, this year is looking to rob my wallet and my time.

Re: US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

#99
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a bunch of cheap bluetooth mini game controllers you can pickup online that will make a lot of ports (and emulators) quite a bit more enjoyable. RPGs from the playstation days are my go to.

I had one and it didn't work, but this was 5-6 years ago. Did the controller story for mobile get better? The XBox controllers on desktop work like a charm, even with browser games.

On Android, if you are playing a game that supports a controller, you can just pair a ps4 controller via bluetooth with no fuss.

Re: US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

#100
post #3

I'd argue it's not just lockdown. This has been an epic release year: Animal Crossing, Half Life Alyx, Doom Eternal, Gears Tactics, Valorent, Sea of Thieves. And on and on. Paper Mario: Origami King trailer looks like so much fun there is no reason to leave the house this summer ;)

I'd argue it's not just lockdown

I saw a news article a couple of weeks ago that in my city, Xboxes, Switches and PlayStations are very hard to come by. I don't think people are dropping hundreds of dollars mid-cycle to buy new machines for the games.

To a much lesser extent, I have done this, too. My local used video game store started doing free home delivery, and I picked up a half-dozen Atari 2600 carts that were missing from my collection. But for me, in addition to needing the distraction a game provides, I need the comfort and familiarity of the big wood-grain beast and simple joysticks.

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