Flees.net

A Post Console World

First, time for a little bit of history. I've been an avid gamer for many years and I was about to retell the first few decades of this story until I realized I had already wrote a blog around 12 years ago telling my video game story up until that point. Much has changed since then. I got a Wii and a PS3. Both got hit by a lightning storm and I got them replaced, though I was able to repair the PS3, so I had two of them. I went to Korea and bought a PS4 when I got there, then one of my PS3s died out there, leaving me with a PS3 and PS4. I played console games a lot less than I expected I would while in Korea. And now I've played the game (Grand Kingdom for PS4) that I am currently playing twice in about the last 7 to 8 months. How did I get here?

Well, it was only around 5 years ago that I finally realized I wasn't going to be able to play all the games I wanted to anymore. Before that, I had these big wish lists on Amazon, PSN, and Steam, and I fully intended to eventually play all those games. It took quite some time for reality to set in and for me to realize that my time spent playing console games was continually shrinking (of my own volition), and was unlikely to rebound. The massive decline really started when Diablo 3 was released on May 15th, 2012. Once that came out, I basically played that and nothing else for over a year. Once I finally quit that game I've only played three console games since. It is not that I haven't been playing games, though. My game quota has been satisfied mainly by tablet and browser games.

These types of game just work better for my current lifestyle - they do not require large chunks of time to play and make meaningful progress. They are generally free to play but offer paid ways to get a boost which I occasionally take advantage of. Overall, though, I likely spend less money on games now than I ever have.

Besides this time spent on these types of games, I really want to start developing my own game again. The Awesome Theory was a cool experiment and I learned a lot from it. I would love to get it another try and turn it into a game I would like to play for a long time and even if it does not become commercially successful, it would become a nice part of my resume for when I do leave the military.

I think I have probably bought my last console. Whenever the PS5 comes out, I am likely to pass unless it has other reasons to buy it (like how PS3/4 are good Blu-Ray players). I would like to get a NES and SNES Classic if I can ever find one for a reasonable price, but I doubt I will play those a ton. Once I retire, I am going to buy myself a pinball machine, and perhaps an arcade cabinet that has a bunch of games. Now that I could play forever.

Tags | Awesome Theory | Korea | video games |