And, another nail in the coffin for me. At this point, I'm in the doorway, looking out. Growing up as a kid in the 80's, I've watched the industry go from plug and play to... something else. Whether it's good, bad or somewhere in the middle one thing we can all agree on... it's entirely different. Streaming services, digital distribution, pay-to-play-online, DLC, chopping up games to sell in small chunks down the line, shipping buggy games and using consumers as beta testers, Amiibo.... it doesn't even resemble the industry I fell in love with so long ago. 

To me, it's like a marriage. Sure, you can stick it out. You can pretend that she's still the woman you met. You can push through, trying desperately to hold onto something for the sake of doing so... for the sake of those vows you made decades ago. But you know it and so does she... whatever there was that initially got you into it, it's no longer there. In its place is an imposter. Something different. Something else.

Sorry to get all prose on your guys. But, gaming has been a big part of my life and everything from the companies making and selling them, to the hardware, to the people playing them... it's all changed and what I loved about it is gone.

PC gaming has online it for free doesn't it? I can still play Civilization IV online games free of charge.

Honestly the only good thing about this is that it forces Nintendo to make a good online system. Maybe by the end of 9th generation we will have a robust online system.  

I better get my fill of Splatoon 2 before this trial is up. I don;t think I can play online for just one game now.

And, another nail in the coffin for me. At this point, I'm in the doorway, looking out. Growing up as a kid in the 80's, I've watched the industry go from plug and play to... something else. Whether it's good, bad or somewhere in the middle one thing we can all agree on... it's entirely different. Streaming services, digital distribution, pay-to-play-online, DLC, chopping up games to sell in small chunks down the line, shipping buggy games and using consumers as beta testers, Amiibo.... it doesn't even resemble the industry I fell in love with so long ago. 

To me, it's like a marriage. Sure, you can stick it out. You can pretend that she's still the woman you met. You can push through, trying desperately to hold onto something for the sake of doing so... for the sake of those vows you made decades ago. But you know it and so does she... whatever there was that initially got you into it, it's no longer there. In its place is an imposter. Something different. Something else.

Sorry to get all prose on your guys. But, gaming has been a big part of my life and everything from the companies making and selling them, to the hardware, to the people playing them... it's all changed and what I loved about it is gone.

Some services should be paid. Having the ability to have cloud save is something that is a premium. But the ability to simply play online is not. It has never been until they saw that its nothing but bucket loads of money for something that cost minimal to run. Not to mention third parties run server for tons of games but never get a dime, its just pure profit

Again I must state, a companion smartphone app, that could be paid, maybe voice chat, and cloud saves. But the plain ability to play online should be free.

They might sweeten the the deal a bit more, but the fact still stands that online gaming should be free.

Never mention PC gaming and I think its perfectly reasonable what I propose.