Behold, a replacement for light guns made for modern displays. Instead of line scanning (super accurate, only works with older TVs that instantly display every pixel the moment they get it, meaning most CRTs except that last run that had post processing effects), or IR bars (sluggish, not at all accurate if you move around, or across different screen sizes, meaning the cursor on the screen is a must), it simply uses a high speed camera and modern processing to recognize a border around the image, and calculate where you are aiming based on that. It works incredibly accurately, even with modern display latency. I would love for this to be adopted as the new standard. In fact, there's good reason for console makers to go that way, as it minimizes the need for additional hardware to the light gun itself, and economies of scale make those digital cameras far cheaper than they used to be.
This is long, and not exactly exciting, but it is important if you care at all about where the game industry is going right now. And for those trying to defend what giant companies are doing at the expense of the public, why? Why are you on their side? You're never going to be them, ever. You aren't. Look at me, look at me. You aren't. You're going to die poor like the rest of us. Now, knowing that, who's side are you on?
So this was a fun little scam. Some extremely asian man named John Peterson (Sweet Christmas that's generic) calls to tell me I won. I have to admit unlike most of these scam calls, this one was persistent. Normally, all I get is an instant hangup at the slightest hint of my suspicions, but this guy, no this guy was more than willing to answer my questions. Sure it was all lies, but it was almost charming in comparison. I told him I don't gamble and never entered that contest, nor was I even aware it was still around. He tells me that I was "entered automatically for my prompt bill payment". I suppose this is meant to appeal to some sense that "good behavior is rewarded", which I guess is meant to make it seem like I'm getting my "just reward" for being a good little consumer, rather than raising my suspicions even more than they already were.
I was told to write down all this stuff on a piece of paper:
John Peterson
00mj56
$2.5m
689121001501uspch
black Mercedes Benz with a hard top
Let me break that down. He gave me his obviously fake name, followed by his "badge number", then the amount I "won", then a "ticket number", and then finally had me pick out from a few colors from a list he had for a car, exterior color, interior color (leather only, what a gip, I prefer some sort of fabric upholstry, literally anything BUT leather really) and whether or not it was a convertible. I honestly had trouble not laughing here. What a cute and meaningless touch.
What was this scrap of paper with all these things for? This is the best part. This is what I will give the guy with the novelty check apparently, to prove it's me and so they get me the right car. That's right, apparently they'll have every single one of those cars parked outside my home and I have to give over this piece of paper to get one. And apparently I get to decide how much money I won! Wonderful!
So, then came what I knew was coming, the questions. At that very first one, I told him it's been fun, but I'm done with this scam and I'll be going. I hung up, and he called back again. Seriously, that's dedication! Of course, I hung up right away. As of now, the only information he's got is my gender, revealed by my voice. I never even confirmed my name, in fact he never even asked. I mean, of course he didn't. My phone number was randomly generated and he doesn't care who he gets, but it is pretty telling that he'll just accept literally anyone that answered my phone before spouting off all those "confirmation numbers".
And of course my caller ID showed nothing, nor would there be anything the phone company could track if I reported it. Phone spoofing is pretty much bulletproof, and the FBI has no way to track these calls to their source at all. I just thought it was entertaining.
One is basically a smaller form factor more affordable option, which essentially clinches it as a solid 3DS replacement system. Literally the only complaint left is "it has one screen", which barely qualifies. Two screens has always just been a gimic anyway, easily replaced by the power of "just make a bigger screen". (Case in point: the popularity of ultrawide monitors has kind of defeated the point of getting multi monitor setups for a lot of people.)
Anyway, point is having a cheaper smaller option truly makes it portable.
Next up is the more expensive option, a "Pro" switch. This is rumored to be much like the New 3DS, or the DSi, or the Gameboy Color (or to a lesser extent the GBA SP, which internally is the same hardware, but the internal light and rechargable battery function as such a radical upgrade most of us snatched them up immediately). It straddles that middle ground, not quite being a new console, but not quite NOT being that. Nintendo in the past has stuck to it's usual plan of releasing updated portable remodels, and downgraded console remodels. Since the Switch is both portable and console, it's going to get both.
There's no real info on it, but if I were to guess, I'd say that it'll probably get a 1080 screen to replace the current 720 (economies of scale have made LCD screens so cheap to mass produce now that I bet it won't even cost Nintendo anything to make that change. I would also guess they're shrinking the die on that processor and might be upping it's close speed slightly, and as a result we could get a system that runs in "docked mode" at all times, with enough overhead to keep that docked mode running at a solid 60 FPS, at least more often than not anyway. Since Switch games are already designed around running on flexible hardware speeds, this seems doable without much pain.
These are just guesses on the most likely stuff. Oh yes, I have a huge list of things I'd fix with the Swith's hardware design, but that's for another time.
Google announced a new streaming games platform, Google Stadia, Tuesday.
I watched it, and have seen mixed reactions. I am concerned about this as well. On the positive side, there is an appeal to it -- you can play games at very high graphical detail, without spending anything on hardware. A lot of tech companies think streaming is the future of games, and it's easy to see why, if they can solve the biggest immediate problem streaming has, input lag -- it takes time for that data to get from your device to the data center where the processors are, and any game where quick reaction times are important will be very hard to get running as well streaming as they do on a local box, if it is indeed possible. A lot of people may not care about that and streaming may well take off in a big way eventually, but you do need good internet in a way a lot of places still don't have, no data caps (unlike a lot of ISPs today), but those are big issues Google will be dealing with for at least the near future that probably will limit Stadia adaptation. Maybe in ten years internet speeds, routers, and such will have made major strides forward, to the point where more kinds of games will run great remotely... though again there are limitations they will probably have a problem with -- games which require frame-perfect timing, are they ever popular remotely given the limits of the speed of light? A lot of kinds of games should work and zero hardware costs is a nice thing for Google to mention because it does save people money and increase access... if people don't mind a probably laggier experience that will make some kinds of games worse. Oh, and Youtube integration, since Google owns Youtube, is also something which should make it easy for them to push Stadia pretty hard.
Of course, there are other reasons to be worried about Stadia that aren't about the technology and hardware itself. First, it's that this is being made by Google, one of the largest tech companies and one definitely not exactly known for caring about people or rights or anything of the sort. For example, as I've seen mentioned repeatedly, Google's controller for the Stadia connects to your wi-fi itself, and then from there directly to Google's servers. This controller has a microphone in it, which Google is sure to be listening to in order to sell you advertising and such at minimum. The presentation claims that Stadia will also be usable with other controllers, but will voice be required or something? We'll have to see. Regardless, Google is definitely not a trustworthy company with private or personal data, and 100% of your data in Stadia is stored in Google servers. I don't know that I'd want that...
And beyond that, as someone who loves classic gaming as well as modern, there are very obvious major issues with an all-streaming future -- in this future, there are no used games. There is no classic game market beyond what companies allow you to play. Once a game is removed from sale, it vanishes, permanently, unless someone on the developer side saved a copy themselves and leaks it... which would probably be unlikely for legal reasons. So you want to play a great sports game from five years ago? Sorry, the licensed expired, it's gone forever now. Company went bankrupt? All their games no one else wants to pick up go away forever! This is the corporate-first, people-last future we are heading towards, and it is a very bad thing.
So yeah, I guess I think that this might be cool for some kinds of games, but I do not trust Google and am sad for a future of games where companies can choose what games remain in existence, and not game players. A whole lot of the older games I like would not be able to be played, at all, ever, in the streaming future and that is horrible.
We'll see, though. Fortunately for now physical media and local copies of games on a box you have yourself still exist. I'm not opposed to streaming at all, but the rights and future-playablility issues are huge for me, and companies most definitely do NOT want them to be solved -- they don't make much money from people playing their old games, after all, only their newer ones!