[What is your computer?]

I have the Microsoft Studio Laptop. It's like a tranformer, lol. It's a desktop when connected to a dock. A laptop when it isn't. And a tablet when you collapse the screen over top of the keyboard. I actually love this thing quite a bit 🙂

[Web Development]

I'm a web hobbyist and a forum-junkie, lol. I have 2 forums of my own, one is religious and the other is for keto-carnivore diet lifestyles. I'm also an admin on a dog training community and a staff member on a webmaster community. I have a VPS where I host sites for myself and my friends.

I learned HTML back in the 90's, then some CSS, Perl, and PHP, usually through hacking freeware scripts to get them to do want I needed them to do, which was more than the authors had programmed them to do. These days I don't have much use for programming anymore. 

[All time favorite Playstation game?]

On 10/4/2023 at 7:58 PM, kensonplays said:

Horizon Zero Dawn & Forbidden West. Great story games, can't wait for the third!

I agree with you. I am in love with the Horizon series. 

I'm gonna get a PSVR2 just for the VR spinoff, lol.

[PlayStation removing movie titles in your library, could they do this with games too?]

9 hours ago, Kane99 said:

But my worries now go to video games... Is there any bit of worry about the digital future? 

I doubt it. This kind of thing is extremely rare as even the article mentioned.

I can't see why any video game publisher would pull their titles from Sony or Microsoft. And if either Sony or Microsoft did remove downloaded copies from your library, then I would indeed expect an uproar, and a mass exodus from one system to the other.

Games are a bit different than music and movies. Movie and music licensing is some weird, overprotective crap. They want royalties on a pay per play basis or large bulk licensing agreements. Game developers just want a % cut for every purchase/download. They actually make more on digital downloads than they do on physical media. They aren't looking for residual income. If a game stops selling, they make a sequel, lol.

[SSDs going to be required for gaming going forward?]

SSD is the way of the future.

Regarding if an external SSD will be fast enough, that probably depends on whether it plugs in or draws it's power from the port it's plugged into, and the quality of the cable being used for the connection, and whether that speed is sufficient for the game. An internal SSD is going to outshine an external one for sure.

[Do you find graphics on games important?]

On 12/2/2023 at 5:50 PM, Bizdustry said:

there’s nothing stopping me going back to play retro games which I do regularly. There’s something about the simplicity in graphics in that era that sparks my enjoyment on games

Everything was pixels and sprites back then. I would program my own games on my c64.

Then the technology outpaced me. Today you need a massive team that takes 10 minutes of scrolling credits to make a good game.

[How do you know you are addicted?]

On 12/1/2023 at 10:21 AM, The Blackangel said:

For example take someone in my situation. I'm on disability because I can't work. Thus, I have nothing but empty time.... gaming addiction can often be a gray area.

This is fair.

Saturday or Sunday can be a big gaming day for me because I have those days off. I remember when Horizon Forbidden West came out and I was sick on a Sunday and couldn't go anywhere I played it from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed, lol. 

In this case, it wasn't much different form binge watching a TV series.

[Have you started listening to Christmas music?]

I was in a physical store yesterday, and it has already began, lol.....

[Do you still play Pokémon Go?]

I mentioned before that I sunk a lot of time into it. This mobile game even managed to get me to open my wallet a few times too, lol.

The game just never ends, lol. How long has it been out now? 5, 6 years?

[Last Game Played]

On 11/29/2023 at 5:53 AM, The Blackangel said:

it would be RDR2

Would you believe for the last month every time I saw that my mind read it as "R2-D2", lol 😂

I was looking at a list of games/game series that were great and Red Dead Redemption, 1 and 2, were on the list, and then it hit me and I thought of you and how often you refer to it, lol.

[Sony announces "The Last of Us, Part 2 Remastered" for PS5]

On 11/30/2023 at 7:30 PM, Ravenfreak said:

I feel like The Last Of Us is becoming more like Resident Evil 4 at this point lol.

Would you believe I have never played the Resident Evil games. I bought 7 or 8 from the PlayStation store at the request of my son, and tried it for only a few minutes.

I'm not fond of 1st person POV where you are looking out of the eyes of your character. I like to see my character on screen.

[Square Enix have lost $6 Billion after Final Fantasy 16 release!]

On 11/29/2023 at 5:57 AM, The Blackangel said:

As long as it has a story mode and isn't an entirely online game the way FFXIV is.

Yes, FF16 is a standalone game, not multiplayer at all like FF14 is. 

[Name a game that deserves a sequel but never got one]

On 11/28/2023 at 7:17 AM, NightmareFarm said:

You can also get it on PC or 360 if you have that. 

I have a fairly powerful laptop (Microsoft Surface Studio Laptop) that runs games very well. I'll admit I prefer my consoles and my recliner though, lol. 

[How do you feel about video games restrictions for minors?]

16 hours ago, Shortie said:

Some parents do allow their kids to play these games,  I have done with my kids when they were quite a bit older 

Same.

When my daughter was young, like elementary school age, I forbid anything occult, witchcraft, etc, because she was drawn to that. My son on the other hand, was attracted to violence, so we restricted things like Call of Duty, etc. Then when they got into their teens, I was able to loosen up because they were either able to make better decisions now OR they could handle it and separate fantasy from reality. Now one is an adult and the next one will be next year so i don't "police" much of anything anymore.

[Do you own a smart watch?]

So here's a related question. There is a lot to choose from in the world of smart watches, especially if you are on Android (if you are an Apple user you're probably already married to Apple, lol). So which smart watch is worth the money for the features today?

[How do you feel about video games restrictions for minors?]

30 minutes ago, Reality vs Adventure said:

Then people want government to start forcing things on others... Parental rights means that parents have the freedom to decide what is good or bad for their own kids, not someone else's.

I get what you are saying. And I agree. There are areas where I am more permissive than most parents, and then there are other areas where I am more restrictive than most parents. My kids, my job. Not yours, nor the governments, lol. Your kids, your problem 😛

[Name a game that deserves a sequel but never got one]

35 minutes ago, NightmareFarm said:

 

This absolute BEAST of a game. 

I'll have to check that out. A quick search reveals it was a PS3 game. I only entered the world of PlayStation starting with PS4 in 2013 and I have a PS5 currently.

 

35 minutes ago, NightmareFarm said:

Apparantly a Control 2 is in the works IIRC

Awesome! This will make my day 😄

 

[Do you have a favourite soundtrack from a game?]

I don't listen to game soundtracks outside of the game. But I will say that all the Final Fantasy scores are absolutely great orchestrations, so much so that there are occasionally Final Fantasy orchestras that tour and come to my area that you can go watch and appreciate.

The music towards the end stages of Control was pretty rockin' lol.

[What song is currently your favourite to listen to at the moment?]

Currently I am addicted to this independent artist who puts her stuff on YouTube...

Alexa Melo - Hollow....

 

[When did you first start playing PC games?]

I was a kid in the 80's and early 90's. I played games on an Atari 800, a Commodore 64 (which I still have) and a Commodore 128.

I still have my c64 and hundreds of games. My favorites were Jumpman Junior and Wizard. Lemmings was super popular back then as well.

[How do you feel about video games restrictions for minors?]

Any responsible parent is going to moderate, limit, restrict, or supervise what games their minor children are playing. A good tool to help parents is the Common Sense Media website. It's a great resource for parents to get an idea about what is in movies, music, and video games, so they can make decisions that will benefit their children.

I prefer to use Common Sense Media over the MPAA ratings for movies. There are some rated PG-13 movies that are worse for children than certain select rated R movies. It's the same for video games. Don't just rely on the rating on the box. Dig deeper.

[Name a game that deserves a sequel but never got one]

I'll start this off with 2 games that I would love to see get a sequel. One retro game and one fairly modern game.

One of my favorite RPG's as a child was Chrono Trigger - a role-playing game with time travel weaved into it's theme. I'm quite fascinated with time travel stories, and the possiblities of what can be told is pretty endless. The gang in Chrono Trigger should have had more time travel adventures.

Regarding more modern games, I would say Control. I played this on PS4 and even upgraded to PS5 and this game was absolutely amazing. I would love to see this expanded on in some manner.

[How do you know you are addicted?]

On 11/25/2023 at 1:12 PM, Kennysplash said:

We all know or have heard of people that are addicted to video games. Or perhaps you might have been at one point before. There are signs gamers exhibit that shows they are addicted. 
The most common sign is when gaming starts to interfere with other aspects of your life, such as school, work, or relationships. You cannot think of any other thing apart from the game waiting for you to be played.
Other signs include spending excessive amounts of time playing games, feeling restless or irritable when you can't play, and neglecting basic needs like sleep and hygiene in order to continue playing. 
 

What else would you add?
 

Your list is off to a great start. Gaming addiction can be real. One has to take a frank look at himself and whether or not he responsibly fulfils his actual obligations, or does he waste too much time on entertainment and put off his responsibilities. Ask oneself "Am I in control of my time and my gaming, or are my gaming habits controlling me?"

In kids it's easy to spot, especially if they spaz out and lash out when threatened to have some of their game time restricted or limited. In adults, the outward signs could be being a deadbeat spouse with no job and a messy home yet spending inordinate amounts of time playing games.

[Turn ON "Follow" Notifications here at VGR Forums]

I have been here a while and one thing I noticed is that if someone replies to me or replies to the same topic, I never know about it. I've been surprised to see that conversations have continued, and I never received an email, and worse yet, when I return to the site, there is no little red notification indicator up there by the bell in the top right corner of the user pane. Most communities have this on by default.

So go to your Notification Options and under Followed Content make sure you are automatically following content you start and also that you reply to and make sure at least the Notification List is on if you come here often, or that the email is on if you dont.

If you are into forums as much as I am, this will make for a richer experience here.

[Sony announces "The Last of Us, Part 2 Remastered" for PS5]

2 hours ago, Shagger said:

have Naughty Dog and Sony not milked this enough?

Apparently not, lol.

But the timing is suprising. They release the PS5 remaster of Part 1 in conjunction with the first season of the HBO show. I expected a PS5 remake of Part 2 to come out around the time the second season of the HBO show was ready. But alas, it's coming in January instead.