In an era where consumers actually own the media they purchase less and less, spending loads of money on products one can only enjoy for a limited time just doesn’t make sense.
Shortly after my wife returned home to Northern California around the new year after visiting with her family, she talked about her enjoyment of the Fallout show currently streaming on Prime Video, fittingly reigniting her interest in the video game series.
While we’ve played some of Fallout 3 on the Xbox 360 together, my wife wanted to get started on Fallout 4, the critically acclaimed eighth generation title originally released in 2015.
Before putting the disc into our Xbox One, we were aware that we’d probably have to wait a bit to actually get started on the game itself, owing to the lengthy download times gamers have come to expect.
Now I totally understand that this was all happening while I was using the internet to stream college football bowl games – but neither of us were anticipating an eight-hour download, with the overwhelming majority of the content being downloaded from the network, as opposed to the game disc we purchased and own.
While both of us have been fierce proponents of physical media, seeing a download take that long when we already owned the physical game itself left us both asking ourselves what the point of it all really is.
I’d be lying if I said that I keep up with everything that the gaming industry has to offer, and I honestly haven’t for the better part of the past two decades. Gaming has always been a nostalgic pastime for me, and outside of a few isolated exceptions, I haven’t been chomping at the bit to get the latest AAA game upon its release.
In an industry where it now seems like the next major consoles may not offer physical media at all, it’s starting to appear as if the alignment between our collection and where gaming is headed will no longer match up.
That’s not to say that I’ll avoid new video games entirely – we’ll surely look to get a Nintendo Switch 2 whenever the latest 3D Super Mario title is released, and we both hold the same amount of tremendous intrigue the general public has for Grand Theft Auto VI, The Elder Scrolls VI and Light No Fire, it almost feels like we may see the Sacramento Kings win the NBA Finals before we get our hands on any of those games.
With a library already spanning over 450 titles and seven video game generations, we already have a lifetime of games to play through and enjoy – games we won’t have to worry about lengthy downloads or suddenly obsolete software with. For the vast majority of the games we own, it’s as simple as placing a disc or cartridge into the console and pressing start.
The increased reliance on the internet for video games and all facets of our life has made essentially every aspect of day-to-day life reliant on a Wi-Fi connection – a world generations of people are growing accustomed to even though most of my life hasn’t operated in that world, even as a 29-year-old.
I don’t think we’ll ever approach a day where either of us want to part with our physical media collection just for the sake of being bored of it, but imagining spending hundreds of dollars in the future on games that are wholly dependent on current software and web services being available seems foolish.
While it’s foolish to my wife and I as gamers and collectors, it feels even more foolish for the developers and other staff members who create the games themselves. While I could turn on the same copy of Super Mario All-Stars that I played as a two-year-old while writing this post, the hard work and creativity of many developers has been rendered meaningless due to digital games disappearing without a physical footprint.
Although video games are simply just meant to be a distraction from mundane reality or another way to have fun, they mean much more to some people – myself included. While I can only imagine this has grown more prevalent in the decades since, video games were an integral part of my family spending time together as a young child.
We were all familiar with the in-level secrets of Super Mario Bros. 3, all had a preferred character and track on Crash Team Racing and all took plenty of turns attempting to complete songs on Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar Hero.
Though some may see this as innocuous or even stupid, they were memory-building communal gaming experiences, the kind of thing that was initially envisioned when consoles first entered the living rooms of Americans in the mid-1980’s.
Now, it anecdotally seems like the family and group ties to gaming have lessened over the years, with perhaps Wii Sports and New Super Mario Bros. Wii standing out as the last blockbuster titles to make their name off of the experience players get when gaming with others.
The instant laughter and joy games gave for many years and still give today for those who have older systems seems to have all but dissipated today, with an experience that feels all too like the real world. Games take forever to download and install, with new updates requiring installment seemingly every time you pick up a game to play.
While these “problems” may feel insignificant or just part of what playing modern video games is like in exchange for hyper-realistic graphics and other features, it feels like it deprives a player of my age and experience with the escape and joy I’m used to getting out of video games.
With seven generations worth of consoles already, there are literally thousands of games for the systems we already own that we are still looking to add to our collection. While keeping up with everything the gaming industry has to offer is certainly exciting, it honestly feels more exciting to always have hundreds of new journeys awaiting my wife and I anytime we want to experience a game we haven’t played before.
Though it may not be the same as experiencing a work of art for the first time while everyone else is also getting their first look, having seemingly endless opportunities to take a trip back in time and connect to a different world and era honestly feels more alluring.
The best part about it all? All you need is a couple of power outlets.
Leave a Reply