Skip to main content

Gaming and Streaming Services

 Going to take a little break from reviews to talk a little bit about something I've been thinking about a lot.

It seems like streaming services are taking over the gaming industry and it kind of feels like it happened over night. I don't like it, but I always kind of knew that digital games would overtake physical media sooner rather than later. But I'm not sure I ever saw XBox GamePass or PlayStation Plus Premium coming. Hell, I remember seeing Gamefly for the first time and being blown away, but also unsure it would ever work. I was also unsure I would ever get into any of these services, largely because I prefer retro games and physical media, but now that I've experienced them firsthand, I wanted to give some thoughts as to the positives, negatives and whether these things are worth it at the end of the day.  

To me, one of the biggest positives here are the sheer selection of games. There are hundreds and hundreds of games on these from newer AAA releases to old school titles. XBox Live has a lot of Rare games (like, games by the developer Rare, not ones that are difficult to find) and this might be the easiest way to play a lot of them. More and more PS1 classics are starting to find their way on to the highest tiers of PlayStation Plus. Many of these games are the other kind of rare, the kind that makes them hundreds of dollars on the secondary market. But there are a lot of the latest and greatest releases games out there as well. Some of them are even available at launch on these services which is cool. I also think it's nice how many full series there are, especially on XBox Live. It was really cool to see the entire mainline Doom series, from the original all the way up to Doom Eternal. If only they had that Doom mobile RPG on there too.

The problem is that this is all very expensive. PlayStation Plus is $120 a year and XBox GamePass is $15 per month, even more expensive. Yeah, it's a lot of content, but it's also a lot of money. If you are using these services to play the latest and greatest games, and you can complete at least two of them each year, then it's definitely worth it. But nowadays, games are so long that may not necessarily be possible for more casual gamers, or even serious gamers that focus on one or two titles. While the lineup of games on each of these services will appeal to a variety of gamers, the value may not be there for everyone, especially those that are using them to play games that might not necessarily be full price. If you only play a few hours a week, or if you are a hardcore grinder in Fortnite or Call of Duty or whatever, streaming services may not be for you.

Think about it like this. If you are playing on XBox, you have all of the Elder Scrolls games available to you, which is awesome (well, at least the ones that were released on console, sorry, no Daggerfall or Arena). Those games are great. They are also incredibly long, especially if you are going to complete them. Most gamers know that Oblivion and Skyrim are long, according to Howlongtobeat.com the former is going to run 169 hours for a completionist run while the latter will take upwards of 212. Morrowind is less well known among console gamers and it's even longer than its successors, clocking in at up to (gasp) 331 hours for a completionist run. Even if you cut those hour counts in half, you are still looking at close to 350 hours of gameplay. If you wanted to complete these games, you are going to have to play two hours a night for an entire year...and that's without touching any other games in your collection. These are just three games out of hundreds, but they can absolutely consume your life and I'm not sure it would cost you even $50 to purchase them all. So, why pay $150? Of course, not everyone is a completionist, those are extreme scenarios, but in an era where every game feels like it takes a million hours, it almost doesn't seem worth it to pay extra to have access to hundreds of them.

At the end of the day though, more content options are always good. You may not have time to play every game on XBox Live or PS Plus Premium to completion, but they provide you with a range of options that wouldn't have been possible just a few years ago. It's also a great way to introduce older games to newer gamers. It's kind of cool to see how many people are playing Goldeneye for the first time and really enjoying it, especially with how much hate that game gets from modern gamers. I know I've been playing a ton of old school games. I'm really conflicted, because I like the options those service provide but I feel like it's not worth it for me personally because I play so many different games across so many different consoles. Either way, the fact that so many games are so readily available to so many gamers is awesome and it's an overall positive of modern gaming. Just make sure you are getting your money's worth.  

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Alex Kidd in Miracle World

I've been skirting around it for a few years now, but its finally time to add yet another console to the list. A few years ago, I reviewed Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle, a Genesis platformer that I didn't really enjoy all that much. I talked a little bit about how Alex Kidd was Sega's mascot before Sonic became a thing and how hyped up I was to give AKITEC a try, having heard so much about the series. That was part of the reason the game fell flat for me, though poor level design and awful boss fights were more than likely the bigger culprits. What I didn't realize at the time was that much of the positive sentiment I had heard about the series had nothing to do with its lone Genesis entry. Instead, much of the positivity was focused on the various entries on Sega's third generation console, a machine that I have been looking for an excuse to play for a long time. For most North American gamers, the Genesis was the first time we interacted with Sega. Many peop...
Post a Comment
Read more

Valkyrie Profile: Part 1

Since I started creating gaming content, I've promised myself and the few readers I have that I was going to be as honest as possible. I'm going to do that, even if it gets me in trouble. While I try to avoid really ridiculous hot takes, I'm going to absolutely call out games that I don't really like, even if they are otherwise popular. That goes for the popular selections for "hidden gems" or "underrated" games as well. I don't do it often, but I certainly have demonstrated that I have no problem doing it. I did it relatively recently with Yoshi's Island and I've done it in the past with other games like Alundra or Jet Grind Radio. Some of those games I've liked, just not as much as others. Some of them I have actively disliked despite how well regarded they are. Sometimes I get why these games are so beloved (I hated the controls in Yoshi's Island but my goodness is it beautiful and unique). Other times, I don't (Alundra is...
Post a Comment
Read more

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

It's time to keep the GBA Metroidvania train rolling. We started with Castlevania, then moved on to Metroid, and now it's time to make our way back to Dracula's castle. I was pleasantly surprised last year when I, sort of on a whim, decided to take a shot at Castlevania: Circle of the Moon on the Game Boy Advance. I had heard good things about the handheld titles in the series, but never actually took the time to play any of them. And that's a shame, because Circle of the Moon was outstanding. It was truly an exceptional example of just what the tiny but mighty GBA was capable of. It got me excited to dig into the other games in the genre I had missed from that console, both Metroid and Castlevania alike. I moved right along to Metroid: Zero Mission and while I wasn't as high on it as I was COTM, it was still a solid experience that was incredibly well designed and polished. So naturally, the next step in the progression was back to 'Vania with the next in that...
Post a Comment
Read more