@naltmank Just to add to what others have said, in the unlikely event that the PS5 can't play PS4 discs, you can still buy a PS4 console in the future and play all its games to your heart's content. There's no "I missed a generation of gaming", that's what retro gaming is all about!
Here's my puzzlement with this having anything to do with a Playstation 5 announcement:
To me, there seems to be a recently established pattern of how new console announcements/launches are planned out across the year:
Step 1: Do a dedicated, special purpose conference/event/showcase in the first few months of the year. This is the big "unveiling" where the public first sees the console, the publisher talks about specs and new capabilities, and possibly reveals the price.
Step 2. Mention the console again at E3. If there were any details that weren't ready/finalized in the first event (price, date, etc), you announce them now. And whereas the first reveal event was the big chance to boast about specs/technology, the E3 presentation is the big chance to hammer home what games you will be playing during the launch window.
Step 3. Release the new console in the fall/holiday season.
Assuming this is the most likely pattern, then I'm confused:
This makes me think this news is not really related to future PS5 announcements. Possible alternative explanations are that Sony doesn't have enough new PS4 things ready to show or they want to show those new PS4 things at separate events. While this does seems kind of strange to me (what event gets more attention than E3?!), it's plausible Sony thinks it's more cost effective next year to do it that way.
However if, arguendo, this news really is all about an upcoming PS5 then I can only conclude that either:
Now, I'm not sure if it's wise to move a console launch outside of the big holiday window, but it would make their E3 2020 presentation that much more attention gathering because Sony would be marketing a console that is perhaps just 2-4 months old.
I'm already super sold on these six games. Brief explanations in parentheses:
Theoretically, Brave Earth: Prologue is releasing this year but a lack of announcements and the game's slow development history suggests it's delayed to 2019.
@e_zed_eh_intern said in Thoughts on Emulation:
I'm good with any type of explanation but I really am just curious what Allies' opinions on emulation are and how those opinions have been formed.
Emulation is legal, but I think everyone understands the question to have used the term "emulation" as a shorthand for piracy / illegal downloads, which is a civil crime (copyright infringement). Emulation is the enticing factor that induces to the underlying issue, because if you download a rom you usually want to play it, right?
Anyway, I think I have a few main views on this subject.
Always feel some amount of guilt for piracy. I'm not going to tell people how less guilty they should feel if the game is really old or even if it is impossible to purchase second hand. But it is still a crime, so people should feel guilty even if that amount of guilt is the lowest possible value on their internal scale that they can possibly imagine. The duration of copyright, especially as it applies to software, are not the laws that I would have written, but that's what we have right now until they are changed. Feeling zero guilt about breaking them is unhealthy. The country was established upon the belief that we are "a government of laws, not of men" and "no man is above the law".
The more limits you can place on yourself, e.g. like never allowing yourself to pirate a game if it is less than X years/generations old, the better. I can't comprehensively say for every person in every situation what different limits they ought to place on themselves. You have to negotiate this with yourself and take responsibility.
Everyone knows emulation is a widely done, especially when talking about old games. But if gaming is your main hobby and you hang out in general gaming forums or sites dedicated to specific franchises, it's a really crappy thing to proudly advertise your own emulation/piracy. And more generally if you can avoid indirectly admitting to it, you should.
This has always been the tradition, but perhaps people don't think about why that has been so. I'd argue it is because the biggest fans of a thing feel a moral compulsion to not unnecessarily corrupt newcomers to that thing. Every year, millions of young new kids play their first game, become fans of their first companies & IPs, enter their first online gaming communities, etc. The default environment they walk into should be one where there isn't open encouragement of piracy, and where admitting to piracy (much less boasting about it) is at least somewhat shameful.
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Did you discover some small game that not everyone knows about?
Share that and let us know what it is about!
Already know a thing or two that interests you?
Make a list (or a swanky desire index) of your interests and/or possibles!
Don't know what's so great about an upcoming game you keep hearing about?
Ask here!
Don't follow gaming news that closely and just want to passively see what BigGames™ people care about?
This is the place!
~
The basic idea is to list new games that you are interested in, as well as games you are potentially curious about or want to give wider attention to. You can briefly describe them or ask other people to help fill you in. The hope is that regular threads like these can act as a collective filter/discovery mechanism to help people decide what is worth checking out.
"New games" means any new title that is being released or ported this month in any capacity (not "backlogs/what you are playing this month"). The angle here is sharing your anticipation and promoting game discovery (as opposed to sharing comments about a first playthrough in progress - that belongs elsewhere).
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Return of the Obra Dinn came out yesterday. It is a new detective-style adventure game by Lucas Pope, the creator of "Papers, Please". I've been hotly anticipating this one ever since the first screenshot some 4 years ago! It is a fully 3D point and click adventure game, yet uses a monochrome, pixely art style inspired by classic Macintonsh/Apple computers.
To describe the game in short, a 19th century merchant ship has drifted into port with its 60 passengers and crew all long dead. The player plays the role of the investigator, and the object of the game is to determine a) the identities of each dead person, and b) the circumstances of how each person died. Most were murdered. The player must use logic, deduction, and even guesswork to determine -- in each case -- who killed who, who else was present, and what was the cause of death/murder weapon. (Sort of like a 60-fold, interconnected version of "Clue", I take it.)
Here's a video of the first 15 minutes:
Youtube Video
Obra Dinn's unique game mechanic is a magical pocket watch which lets you view a "3D freeze frame scene" from the past, and it is from these scenes you can piece together not just how each person died but also the actual sequence of events that went down and motives at play (it will make more sense in the video). Presumably, the grander mystery of "what happened?" unfolds as you play and is fully revealed by the completion of the game.
Description from the Steam Store:
In 1802, the merchant ship Obra Dinn set out from London for the Orient with over 200 tons of trade goods. Six months later it hadn't met its rendezvous point at the Cape of Good Hope and was declared lost at sea.
Early this morning of October 14th, 1807, the Obra Dinn drifted into port at Falmouth with damaged sails and no visible crew. As insurance investigator for the East India Company's London Office, dispatch immediately to Falmouth, find means to board the ship, and prepare an assessment of damages.
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Did you discover some small game that not everyone knows about?
Share that and let us know what it is about!
Already know a thing or two that interests you?
Make a list (or a swanky desire index) of your interests and/or possibles!
Don't know what's so great about an upcoming game you keep hearing about?
Ask here!
Don't follow gaming news that closely and just want to passively see what BigGames™ people care about?
This is the place!
~
The basic idea is to list new games that you are interested in, as well as games you are potentially curious about or want to give wider attention to. You can briefly describe them or ask other people to help fill you in. The hope is that regular threads like these can act as a collective filter/discovery mechanism to help people decide what is worth checking out.
"New games" means any new title that is being released or ported this month in any capacity (not "backlogs/what you are playing this month"). The angle here is sharing your anticipation and promoting game discovery (as opposed to sharing comments about a first playthrough in progress - that belongs elsewhere).
.
Perfect Dark cracking the top 10 makes me happy. That's my single biggest overall take. More than one person forgot about PD or didn't vote in time, so Perfect Dark might have even been higher!
I'm on team Majora's Mask over FF9, but these games are equally solid representatives to put in our top two slots. (Perfect Dark would have been a better number 1, but I digress :P )
I don't have any regrets over games I voted for that I didn't make it, but I am saddened that Mega Man Legends 2 not only didn't make it, it only got 1 measly point! I'm 98% certain I would have voted for MML2 if I had played it. (I'm not sure how many people self-restricted their votes to this type of personal criteria. I can say though I believe I felt more satisfaction submitting my final votes by limiting myself to games that I can personally judge, rather than judge indirectly from others.)
@axel As the sole person to put Perfect Dark as their number 1, I feel the need to extol its virtues. Or maybe instead of proselytizing the game, I feel I should at least take the biggest initiative with regards to providing warmth and comfort for everyone who has posted comments of appreciation for Perfect Dark. For those who don't understand the situation, it is like this: Goldeneye has so overwhelmingly overshadowed Perfect Dark in both popularity and remembrance that fans of PD are somewhat of a minority subgroup who often feel a kinship and a need to band together. (Calling out @E_Zed_Eh_Intern @Oscillator @NeoCweeny @Hidz @Inustar @Bigdude1 @Ringedwithtile @DIPSET and anyone else!) Luckily, someone else on the internet has already created a 44 minute loving thesis for Perfect Dark, which I will present below and hope other fans find to be suiting tribute:
Giving Perfect Dark the Recognition it Deserves
Youtube Video
I've watched this video 3 or so times now, so... consider checking it out even if it is just the first 16 minutes!
Finally, I don't know if @Brandon Jones checks in on the forums that often, but I can at least tag him now and hope one day it might rise to his attention.
If Team Fortress Classic was eligible, I would have voted for it. Alas, I could never get into Counterstrike during the period of my life where I had time to play such time commitments. Compared to TFC, the quick time to death of CS turned me off and I missed my beloved classes and emphasis on team roles and ongoing social contact with your online stranger friends (you respawn during TFC matches, but not CS matches). Later I learned to respect Counterstrike vicariously from those who were able to get into it and relayed to me what they enjoyed.
So even though to this day I see Counterstrike as the more popular "rival team" to the other multiplayer Half-Life 1 mod/mode that I personally preferred, I am glad it made it on the list.