Xbox |OT|

[Shaunodon]

Pemalite said:

coolbeans said:

Yeah.  I leaning more and more towards that mindset as well.  To think of all the work they've done with BC (especially on the physical side) and still push further and further towards digital exclusivity seems insane.

shikamaru317 said:

That seems to be what I am looking at for the future right now as well. Some of these recent Xbox moves I just haven't been a fan of, and these all digital and cloud integration rumors for the next gen Xbox console are very worrying to me. As it stands it is looking like I will go PC + Switch 2 for next gen, PC because both Xbox and Sony put most of their games onto it now (even if late in Sony's case), Switch 2 for the few Nintendo exclusives that interest me like Pokemon and Fire Emblem and Xenoblade. 

Yeah, their backwards compatibility is brilliant and brings with it tangible improvements to games.

I am actually buying *more* physical movies and tv shows these days.

I'm not going to subscribe to:
Disney+ for just the Mandalorian.
Amazon Prime just for Lord of the Rings.
Paramount+ just for Star Trek.
HBO for Game of Thrones.
AMC for The Walking Dead.

Gets to the point where you are better off having zero media streaming services... And just buy the boxset at the end of the season... Not only is it a higher quality version in terms of visuals and audio, but there are no adverts... And if you play your cards right, you save money. - Plus you have access to your copy forever.

Netflix consolidated the media industry for a time and that was great, but then everyone wanted to make their own exclusive walled garden of consumable media, which has made it a fragmented and difficult market.

And I fear video games are trending down that same path, where you only temporary "rent" the game and once the owner of the platform/media is done with it, they will take it away.

It's going to make game preservation hard as well.

Physical is still king while I can get it.

This was my attitude until I began exploring asian dramas. Unfortunately it feels more like a curse than a blessing. Whereas 90% of western shows are woke garbage (be bothered or look down on the terminology for all I care, but the point stands they hardly make anything new that people want) and I could easily sub one month a year to watch everything I wanted on a specific platform, now I need 3 or 4 services most months to follow all the shows I want.

Right now:
Netflix- This is pretty much a mainstay platform for every type of show to begin with, but for asian dramas it also easily has the best selection+output of any service outside of ones specifically dedicated to them; current shows 'Captivating the King' and 'Doctor Slump' which are both off to solid starts.
Amazon Prime- Tends to be bloated with a bunch of trash but is managing to get some much better shows lately, also a bizarre lack of support for higher fidelity compared to Netflix and Disney+; current shows 'Death's Game' and 'Marry My Husband'.
Disney+- Seemed to only start outputting asian dramas in the last couple years and barely advertises them, but all the shows they put on tend to be high quality, notably 'Moving' which was arguably the best show of last year period; current shows 'Flex X Cop' (probably my favourite atm) and 'Shop for Killers'. Also later in February 'The Impossible Heir' and 'Shogun'(remake)-- a western show but set in Japan and looks incredibly promising.
Viki- A streaming service dedicated to asian dramas and fairly necessary if you want to follow shows outside of Korea; current shows ironically not any I'm totally into right now except maybe 'Mars', but I've got like 20-something older shows on my continue watching list (yeah, I have a problem).

The other major issue with asian dramas is there's hardly any support for physical media unlike anime. It's almost completely reliant on streaming services even if you want to watch old shows. The things I would do for an official blu-ray of 'Eternal Love (Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms)'.

Unfortunately this is the modern digital world as corporations want it and gaming is innevitably heading down this route, and the only people we can blame are the consumers who have spoken with our wallets and actions. When people eventually come to realise the control and rights we traded away only after the fact and want to complain, it'll barely warrant a roll of the eyes as even a blind person could see this coming.