DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ
@dragonrift.bsky.social
530 followers 560 following 1.8K posts
He/him | Married | Artist | gamer | movie dork | food lover | nostalgia addict | avid ranter/reviewer of such subjects. I bitch a lot on here. ๐Ÿ˜œ
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 2h
Honestly, the series lost its vibe when Itagaki departed. Yeah, the dude was a bit on the creeper side of things at the workplace, but 1 and 2 really, truly made Ryu's return shine.

4 just feels like a straight up Platinum game. Like if Ninja Gaiden and Metal Gear Rising had a baby.
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 2h
Mattik's live snafu at E3 was hilariously cringey as fuck. "Just buy a 360!" ๐Ÿ˜‚
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 2h
The model of a living room Steam Box would make sense, as it would just be a remote extension from your PC to giant TV.

MS could have come up with something as simple as that, and just let it grow on its own.

But then they had to go and buy everything else, and .... yeah....
dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 17h
Now onto 4... ๐Ÿฅท
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 17h
Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is definitely a slick remaster. I really hope Team Ninja can eventually do the same treatment to the first one.

They took all the good elements of Sigma 2, junked the fluff, and exaggerated the 360 version's gore without sacrificing any visuals or framerate.

This was a blast!
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 22h
Microsoft, on the other hand, only TEMPORARILY understood the assignment.

With the original XBOX and 360, they competed with solid games and a robust online service that was easy to enjoy.

Then they went back to being Microsoft... Unlike Sega and Atari, their demise is entirely their own fault.
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 22h
See, at least Atari and Sega bowed out respectfully. They both tried to keep up with the hardware, but kept getting beaten.

I believe if the Dreamcast had been released in 97 or 98, Sega could have lasted another generation or two.

They knew their IPs were far more important, so hardware was out.
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 22h
They have their flagship IPs. They have the ability to compete effectively with Sony and Nintendo. They've just refused to do it for the past decade for the sake of the "WE GOTTA BE AN ALL-IN-ONE ENTERTAINMENT CENTER!!" play.
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 23h
It breaks me, because I ABSOLUTELY LOVED my XBOX 360. I loved the competition.

This is just them desperately throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks after blowing $68.7 billion on Activision, and realizing they aren't the juggernaut they once were two decades ago.
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 1d
To be fair, my opinion of XBOX took a complete 180ยฐ in 2013 with their disastrous reveal of the ONE (well, it started to fade after the Kinect).

I did cave and buy the Elite in 2016 for some hopeful exclusives, but after they either got canceled (Scalebound) or went to PC, it's now a paperweight.
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 1d
After 24 years, the XBOX brand is officially dead.

Jesus fucking Christ, dude, way to completely miss the whole entire point of the competitive gaming industry.

People don't buy video game consoles just for multimedia fluff. They want GAMES. Everything else is supplemental.

Such a garbage take.
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 1d
Game design has always had its silly moments, and some have crossed the line of blatant absurdity.

"Sorry, player, but Ryu is too polite and courteous of building protocol to cross over this to get to the merchant. You gotta go find another path."

It was goofy in 2008, and it's even worse now. ๐Ÿ˜‚
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 1d
Oh, I still like the later machines just fine! The PS3 had a rough first couple years, but it really soared with all the exclusive IPs down the road.

But online connectivity has degraded what we once had with unfinished/buggy releases that have giant patches often during the first month.
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 1d
But MS definitely stirred the pot with GamePass.

At the beginning, GamePass was an excellent value. It was essentially a digital rental service for folks who didn't want to spend oodles of cash on games.

Now? They expect folks to shell out over $300/year on top of a console without exclusives.
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 1d
I can understand the paid online to a degree, being that keeping servers up and running for millions of consecutive players isn't easy.

But back then, it was only $10/month for everything... AND it was optional. You could still download games and patches without a subscription.
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 1d
My brother and I used to play the hell out of that at the pizza parlor when we were kids. That, and the vectrex Star Wars game next to it. ๐Ÿ˜…
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 1d
I don't hate modern gaming, but it definitely lacks the soul of what made it so special back then.

The lack of forced online connectivity is a big part of that, and I miss it.
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 1d
Speaking as someone who used to be a godawful sack of shit, I can attest to this claim. I can blame my Catholic upbringing, as well as being raised in a strict conservative household, but I cannot use that as an excuse.

I chose to learn and change for the better, but I couldn't have done it alone.
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 1d
Dude, is that Galaga?! ๐Ÿ’™
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 1d
25 years. Holy fucking shit.

Still, this is one of the last GREAT consoles ever released, let alone the last generation where everything was offline, games were released in completely finished states.

This is an era I would return to without hesitation.
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 1d
I kept buying games, because I do want to play them, but by 2014, my backlog exploded past 100.

I abandoned MMOs completely in 2018, and now im closing in on 250 untouched games across nine platforms, including PC.

So now anything massively multiplayer for me is a deal breaker.
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 1d
WoW is the main reason why I never played Half Life 2, Oblivion, etc. I own the games, but too much time passed to the point where I completely lost interest in any game that was out longer than six months.

And MW2 '09 was the final straw for me with online competitive shooters.
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 1d
I don't hate on the game itself, nor its fans. I know that I'd have fun with it if I got sucked in.

But it's the business model they use and the fact that I would fall into the same trench I did with WoW for nearly a decade that caused my backlog to quintuple.

Same reason why I ditched Pokรฉmon.
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 2d
We're still playing Borderlands 4.

She was watching my sister-in-law play Fortnite and was like, "Ooh, that looks goofy fun!"

The heavy judgmental looks I gave them were monumental. I think they misunderstood my passionately aggressive hatred for nickel-n-diming live service games.
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dragonrift.bsky.social
DragonRift ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ @dragonrift.bsky.social ยท 2d
My sister-in-law introduced my wife to Fortnite last night...

I feel utterly betrayed right now. ๐Ÿ˜
a man in a suit and tie is sitting in the back seat of a plane .
ALT: a man in a suit and tie is sitting in the back seat of a plane .
media.tenor.com
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