Gaming, what have i been up to: thoughts on Lionhead, Game as a Service etc

Well, i guess i should post at least once every season.



Let's see what has been going on in my gaming life...
- i have been playing Life is Stange (my first, and likely only 1K of the year).  i fricking hate stealth, so the last level was not so fun.
- i beat Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (the first one was much better), now to beat it as the Pro-Reg side.

My Xmas season game purge happened today.
- Gamestop has a deal until March 20th or so where they will pay you the same cash or trade value.  Many of my purchases (most barely played, if at all) found their way into the trade-in.  i traded in 7 games (the only one i really played was Rise of the Tomb Raider).  Now i will be looking for some of these games on digital sales.  

Lionhead: Fable Legends cancelled, Lionhead probably closed.  Bummer.  Fable was probably my favorite Xbox Exclusive franchise.  I liked 2 the best, then 3, then The Journey, and finally the original. Probably no more Fable, lame.

Segueing into my next point:
- Games as a Service.  The concept sucks, the execution is worse and there is no future in the console space for this model.  Even worse is that all these have to have massive PvP components (i hate PvP).  i have seen too many "games as service" pitches shut down.  Fable Legends was the latest example (would have been better as a online RPG, maybe MMO).  There has been stuff like Project Spark and Game Room.  The financial forecasting models on these alone are more difficult.      

That being said, i do "play" Neverwinter (Onigiri is so much better, but for some reason, i just don't play it).  i also wished that Steam Marvel Heroes game would come to the Xbox One.  Basically, the only "games as a service" model that seems to work on consoles (though not as well) are PC ports of established games with no initial entry price.  First party wise, these will never be wildly successful.


MSFT (Microsoft's stock symbol by the way): seem to be transitioning to an Xbox as a service model.  Basically, games on multiple formats (Xbox/PC).  Then there was talk of potentially offering "upgraded" Xboxes as time goes on.  i have no problem with that idea as long as the games still work on the Xbox One launch model (i don't care if they run/perform a little better on newer consoles).  The console generation model as we know it may be heading for an end.  Right now though, i am not bullish on the future of the Xbox (which is Ok since this is the last generation where i intend to buy games - i really mean it this time).    


PS4:  Would i consider purchasing one?  Here are my main complaints about the PS4 (other than the annoying internet fanboys): controllers don't use real batteries and no external hard drive support.  i like the Xbox One controllers and have never held a PS4 one, so i don't know what the difference is there).  So what would cause me to cross the line to the dark side (it is darker than the Xbox One, no?). Maybe it just seems more sinister to me.

$249.99 price point, 1 TB hard drive and PS One Classics, especially Lunar: Eternal Blue (none of this streaming service crap either, real downloads).