I have had personal issues I am dealing with I need to get sorted out.  I am not going to go into details, but it  involves a lack of money and stuff.  I don't need to burden anyone with this, as it is likely doubtful people can help (yes I can use help on the job front).  And this will also impact what I buy or not.

And I could go on about how amazingly stupid console partisan posts I have seen on here, and get annoyed.  That may cause me to step away.

But, it doesn't cause me to like permanently step away.  What can do it, and E3 will decide for me pretty much, is the way the industry is going.  I like games a lot, but if the industry is going to do everything in its power by worshipping DRM, to prevent bad titles from getting discounted, and bad studios from closing, and operate on a blockbuster model with razor thin margins, that cause it to not innovate, I am done.  I will stick to retro, boardgames, and other stuff I have with CADERS.  Microsoft has no ideas for game rentals, and the industry pushes presales up the wazoo.  And it goes on and on and on.

At this point, I refuse to be part of this.  And I am sorry, FPS #47 isn't enough.  I will look to throw my money more indie way or boardgame stuff, and not have to tie into all this nonsense.  And for me, I can leave a parting shot here by saying this: DIVX BONE(R)

Go look up DIVX DVD player for the reference, and also note boner there refers to an error (not the other thing).

So this is it.  I am likely to go ahead and drop off here completely and watch the industry crash and burn and purge itself, unless E3 shows something different.  Things haven't hasn't change much over 30 days.  Maybe if there was a retro game forum on here, I could hang on.  Else, I have CADERS on Facebook to discuss stuff.

In my going, if I do, I go away and reinvent myself.

You should do what I do... Nintendo + PC combo! Did that job not work out for you? Thought you finally got a job.

I had a sub-contractor/contractor position doing level 1 helpdesk for Apple.  The metrics changed for approval, and got reduce entirely to customer surveys customers had to decide to fill out.  Neutral surveys were treated badly. 

So, I got one neutral survey by someone who said their daughter would call in later, and then one where the person was ticked off at AT&T charging restock fees, and they were over 200 miles from an Apple Store.  So, while I fixed their problem and actually did decent customer service, I got a bad survey because the person was ticked off.  The job paid less than $10 an hour and I had to provide the bandwidth and phone line to.  It had no medical benefits, and if anything happened technically, I did not get paid.  And if it was the cable company that messed up the bandwidth, I got written warning for attendance, because it wasn't the company.  A promotion to senior level support ended up being $1 more an hour.

And I will say this.  If you EVER get a survey by a company you need to fill out, end up saying the person did a great job.  You do a bad survey, you could cost someone their job.  If you have a general feedback box to the company, you can complain there.

Anyhow, I press on without money coming in.  LEAST on my mind is getting new videogames or a new system.  Heck, I also need to get a new computer as I am using one the family has here.

And PS4 isn't an option? Not even Wii U?

There is life in gaming beyond Xbox. It gets better.

I need to see what Sony does regarding the licensing (why I await E3).  Microsoft had implemented all this as per the request of publishers, to manage things.  Again, I will wait and see.    As of now, it is likely Sony or nothing.  And I await a miracle for Microsoft to see if anything is there.  If you look back in the past, you will see I was leaning Playstation side anyhow.

On a practical level, I don't have money for much of anything.  So, practically, it is to my benefit for the industry to run itself in the ground.  I am also up for another PC sometime (I am using someone else's now), so I could do gaming stuff that way if I REALLY want to.

The Wii U, AT MOST, would be a second console.  The second screen really didn't do it for me,

Damn, well I remember your thread that had an article which you were in talking about how you finally got a job after being unemployed for a very long time.  I feel for you cause I've been laid off twice in the past year or so.  I work as for a contract company that hires for contract manufacturing (Flextronics).  So I am a contract worker (Aerotek) for a contract manufacturing company (Flextronics).  I work in Texas which is a "right to work state" which basically means right to not form unions or fire anyone that is trying to.  While there are many bad things associated to unions there are also many good things.  Anyways, being a contract employee they can basically get rid of me at will.  Supposedly this new area I am working in while eventually hire everyone on to full time employees of Flextronics (only because the customer demands full time employees working in the area not because Flextronics is so "generous").

Were you working for a contract company for Apple?  You weren't hired directly by Apple but through a contract company?  Sounds like it with such low pay (under $10).  Your work situation sounded pretty bad due to multiple factors.  If I had an extra computer that was actually worth a damn I would donate it to you.  Do you have stores like Discount Electronics that sell cheap refurbished PCs for $100-150?  While they aren't meant for gaming they could be at least used for web and word document.

Oh no, you have money and unemployment troubles again Richardhutnik? I thought you had a new jobs since a year or half a year back.

But if you are unemployed now for a while then honestly that's just an even stronger reason to hang around VGC in all your freetime.

It does NOTHING to benefit me to read about game title hype trains and so on, for new content.  For me PERSONALLY it is a LOT better for me to think everything sucks out there and not worth my time, so I keep my wallet closed.  I also have little to discuss here.  I did drop STRONG hints about having a retro game forum, but that got shot down here.  And I am sick of console partisanship at this point.  

I also can't afford to have free time.  I need to seriously put every second of free time to constructive use, even if it is taking a nap.  Not discussing videogame stuff I am not in a place to buy at this point.  Unemployment is NOT a reason to take a break, it is a reason to find constructive things to do.

I understand that the forums and to follow the gaming industry in general can be depressing, almost destructive. I often feel the same way. Fanboyism and the bad direction the industry is taking.

I wander what happened. In your private life that is.

You shouldn't leave though. You're a great guy and one of the original members.

I am going to say if anyone cares, you can find Richard Hutnik on Facebook (that is me) and even through the group CADERS (caders.com) if you want to keep in touch. I do NOT want to air my dirty laundry about my personal life online. When that happened in the past about my job situation, someone replied to an article on it and said I should kill myself so his taxes would be lower.

The short-hand here is if I am here, and air my real opinions on this, googling is going to reveal things potentially counterproductive to myself finding work. I will go off forums to describe in greater detail. So, it is, uless you have something nice to say, don't say anything at all.