PlayStation Plus and Game Pass are more important than ever – games shouldn’t be a luxury item.
Have a wonderful Friday everyone! How are your holiday preparations going? We’re going to Denmark for a week at the end of July. Camping with children for the first time – and for my wife and I the first time in a good six years. I’m curious when they’ll throw us off the premises, because with two kids who are just seven years old in total, it gets louder and at rather unchristian times.
After the confirmation came from the campsite on Funen, the first thing we did was set up the old tent, which luckily we had bought a good seven or eight years ago and was big enough. It was last loaned out and I wasn’t sure what condition it would be in. So I took responsibility for my firstborn and thanks to his help it only took an hour and a half to set up the tent (regular set-up time: 15 minutes). I was curious to see how the kids would react to the part – extremely well, as it turned out. They played in it the rest of the day and really fucked it up from the inside.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens when you can’t even open a brimming pantry to spontaneously cook alternate lunch option number 3b because one of the two doesn’t like the texture of the canned soup. What are your camping experiences (and tips) when traveling with children?
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Missed the last issue? Click here for episode 50 of Alt+F40: Why I love Dragon’s Dogma and why my knees were shaking the first time I played Mario with my son (https://www.eurogamer.de/warum-ich-dragons-dogma-liebe-und-mir- the-first-playing-mario-with-my-son-knees-shook)
Game Pass and PS Plus may not save the games, but many gamers will
I’ll be brief today, which doesn’t mean I care less about this issue’s prime cut. But in this case, every word too many is one that distracts from the core. So watch out!
In times when the world situation is changing so drastically that the relative wealth of entire nations is being re-calculated, one should question one’s perspectives. For example these: Does it matter that much whether an all-you-can-eat buffet of video games, like Game Pass is, will have a positive or negative impact on this medium in the long run? In the current situation, one thing is clear to me: people are more important. And those who have to tighten their belts in times like these shouldn’t have to choose between a heated apartment or a new video game. This is where Game Pass, or even a service like PlayStation Plus Extra (albeit minus new first-party titles from Sony), can play an immeasurably important role.
I know the crypto socialist in me is coming out all too clearly. But lately I’ve become more and more allergic to the naysayers who accuse Game Pass of somehow diluting this hobby. After all, a hobby is only as good as the people who pursue it. And the more people who can afford access to current games, the better. In view of the provider – the Microsoft mega-corporation, of all things – this is not exactly intuitive: But something like the Game Pass is currently making a major contribution to the democratization of this playful lifestyle because more players can participate in it.
Let’s not fool ourselves: next year at this time almost every household will be faced with energy and heating back payments in the four-digit euro range. People have had to give up their hobby for less. So let’s not ruin one of the measures that keep the door to this medium open to quite a few people. Because that is privileged gatekeeping from the bottom cannon.
And yes, I’m also concerned that Game Pass might change the design of the games over time. From firing cool bang effects in the story right at the beginning to get the player hooked faster to more aggressive secondary monetization, a lot is conceivable. But at the end of the day, what’s more important is that with this new way of accessing games, games are no longer a luxury for people who can afford them.
The most important thing of the week, week 27/2022, Alex Edition
In rotation: I like Ms Marvel still very good, however it does exactly what all Marvel series do and puts in a rushed turbo on the last two episodes. I’m not sure why the MCU films never seem as “fast, fast, fast” as the series, despite the much shorter running times. It was all a bit sudden and some effects inexplicably pulled from the CG moth box, while certain phenomena found far too little explanation. Fortunately, everything is still fine with the characters. This show actually manages to make you feel something.
Of course, this also applies to barry, which I’ve now reached the second season. I’m at least as ambivalent about the main character as I was about Walter White, almost a little more. Except that Barry aims even more for comedy, and then relies on making the laughs stick in your throat. I will write elsewhere about the finale of The Boys. Playfully, I have more days again Hunt: Showdown in Quickplay that just doesn’t want to get old.
Music tip of the week: Testament – DNR I stared at the Reload Festival poster for a second too long in passing and I felt like going to a metal festival again. Why is an influential thrash band like Testament so small and so far down the poster? Unfortunately, I have to say that most modern varieties of this music have become very boring to me. But every few months it grabs me and I have to listen to a few old tunes again, like now DNR from the formation around chief grater Chuck Billy. The track still wipes the floor badly with many younger bands today. Beautifully wild signature riff by the guitarists and driving drum work by Dave Lombardo. According to the motto “whoever plays faster, has a break faster”, it’s already over after 3:32 minutes with a big grin. Far too many metal bands these days confuse expansive intros and overly convoluted song structures with sophistication. Wills are none of them. So now it’s over and I can get back to post rock, indie and art house love songs.
Highlights of the week: I already wrote last week that the first video game session with my son was so mediocre because the Pro Controller of the Switch is too big and the Joycon is too asymmetrical. He just didn’t know exactly how to hold it. So this week I bought him his first controller of his own: a PowerA Nano. It’s insanely small and seems to have been a good grip. The second round is still to come, but he takes it right into his hands. More when we’ve tried it. Otherwise I started Wolfenstein 2 The New Colossus (https://www.eurogamer.de/games/wolfenstein-2-new-colossus) again, the first time in the international version, with the original speakers and without “regime”. Holy shit – what an opening!
Despite being five years old, the game has aged as well as possible, runs on the new PC at 300 frames per second and what kind of performances and what a good book are in here defies description. I’m not entirely sure what went wrong with Youngblood – it was quite a hodgepodge – but I really missed that wild but oddly workable mix of drama and exploitation violence. Wolfenstein 2 keeps catching me off guard – and I wrote the walkthrough! That really shouldn’t be possible. I hope that the series somehow continues at Machine Games. And if not: too bad, but this is one that will stand the test of time!
Center (!?) of the week: After the electricians had to be asked for ages – a call back is probably too much to ask, even after the third call to the constantly indisposed person responsible – four sockets went over the Jordan in one fell swoop on Wednesday. The good thing is that we spontaneously found an electrician who will take care of the problem with the old lines. As soon as we are on vacation with the children – at the end of July – this will be implemented in our absence. It’s good that something is finally happening.
Low point of the week: I quite like Dune Spice Wars by Shiro Games. Still, I understand anyone who would have liked to see a classic real-time strategy game set in the Dune universe. A sequel to Westwood’s pioneer Dune 2, so to speak. Indie developer Glyph Worlds wants to do exactly that and actually the signs were quite good: The name is great – Barkhan is a crescent shaped dune, got it? – and the rest is simply copied from the template one-to-one. But the Steam demo has some weaknesses that spoil the anticipation of what should be available for purchase next February.
The technology is old-fashioned (for free!) and the art direction is extremely spartan and incredibly blocky. The farthest camera angle is way too close, the sandworms are so lightning fast they must have been borrowed from Tremors. They destroy anything that even thinks of stepping onto the sand in a matter of seconds without anyone being able to react. And you can commission the building of things, but you can’t cancel it, with the result that I commissioned 25 ore collectors once on my second try. Too bad, the music is great and the design of the “sand snakes” is more than acceptable. I think this game could still turn around, but the demo doesn’t do it any favors. I’ll keep an eye on it, because actually I’m really keen on a new RTS Dune…
Reference-www.eurogamer.de