These days, the gaming platforms are all so similar that it's hard to
get excited about whether I play "Elden Ring" on PS5, - or PC, or
XBox, or whatever - because the experience will be pretty much the
same. But back in the day, if you even suggested - if you even
THOUGHT - you might cross the lines to another platform, that was
heresy of the first order.

So, anyway, that's the background to this month's CRAP poll: what
games on 'the other' platform looked so good - either in gaming or
visuals - that they either seriously tempted or actually got you to
buy one of the heretical devices? What games made you think, "hmmm,
that looks so good that not only do I want to risk alienation from my
peers, but also spend a few hundred dollars just to buy the MACHINE so
I can play it"?

(Of course, this implies you bought into the 'my device is better than
yours' mindset, which I know not everyone did, but I think it was
common enough to inspire /some/ discussion. Plus, this is a
'Completely Random And Pointless' poll, so it's not like it's meant to
be taken entirely seriously anyway ;-)

As for me?

The most notable game of this type was probably "Wave Race 64". Now,
you have to understand; I am /not/ a Nintendo guy. I generally am not
a fan of their hardware, their design choices, their games. There's
just something about their platforms that rubs me the wrong way. But
"Wave Race 64" almost got me to buy a Nintendo 64.

Because, wow, those water physics sure were impressive (I've /always
had a soft spot for water effects. I fell in love with "Eye of the
Beholder 2" because of how awesome the raindrop effect in the intro
looked). But "Wave Race 64" was waaay beyond that; it made me
seriously question the technical superiority of the PC (as I learned
much later it, unsurprisingly, used a lot of trickery to pull off
those effects, but it still required the N64 to push a lot of
polygons). I ultimately held off on the purchase, because I couldn't
justify the cost of the device for only the one game, but it was a
very close thing. When eventually I did acquire an N64, you can bet
"Wave Race 64" was the first cartridge I grabbed.

That's not the only example of a temptuous game for me (with a library
as large as mine, that's probably not surprising). "Alan Wake" almost single-handedly was responsible for my buying an XBox360, for instance
(and -much to my chagrin - two weeks later, the PC port was
announced). "Ultima 6" was a major reason I stuck with IBM
PC/compatibles rather than move over to the Apple Macintosh (I
seriously wonder what my life had been had Origin released a port of
that classic game to the Mac; I think it would have gone quite
differently). But "Wave Race 64", I think, was the most tempting of
them all.

How about you? Have there been any games that single-handedly
convinced you to buy - or almost buy - you buy another gaming device?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thu, 08 Sep 2022 12:10:16 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

[snip]

How about you? Have there been any games that single-handedly
convinced you to buy - or almost buy - you buy another gaming device?

Breath of the Wild. I got a Switch for it and am now quite pleased with
the console. It may well have unseated me from the PC master race, in
fact.

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 9/8/2022 9:10 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

How about you? Have there been any games that single-handedly
convinced you to buy - or almost buy - you buy another gaming device?

Nope. Was never interested in (or had the finances for) anything other
than a computer.


--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thu, 08 Sep 2022 13:21:08 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Thu, 08 Sep 2022 12:10:16 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

How about you? Have there been any games that single-handedly
convinced you to buy - or almost buy - you buy another gaming device?

Breath of the Wild. I got a Switch for it and am now quite pleased with
the console. It may well have unseated me from the PC master race, in
fact.

Well, we can't have that. If I learned anything in the schoolyard, is
that anyone trying to differentiate themselves or expand their
horizons must be mocked and bullied until they conform. So how DARE
you even think the Switch is anything but the subordinate platform to
the unchallenged MAJESTY of the PC platform! For this sin I shall cast aspersions against your intelligence and upbringing. I shall make
suggestively lewd comments about your mother. I shall indicate my
strongly-held belief that my father can physically subdue your father!

All this for the sin of not accepting the completely unfounded and
subjective belief that my gaming platform is the only one worth using.
Take that! I hope you have learned your lesson and I shall not have to
repeat my mockery ;-)

With that out of the way...

Nintendo remains the sole exception in the move towards platform
unity. While Sony, Microsoft and the PC industry are increasingly
moving in lockstep (and even mobile platforms are evermore falling in
line behind them), only Nintendo seems to be willing to go down its
own path.

Now, there's very little about the Switch that actually appeals to me.
It's hardware is antiquated, and I've no interest in spending hours
playing on a handheld device. Its games are almost universally
inferior versions of those I enjoy, or in genres I have no interest in

(I would /love/ to get invested in "Breath of the Wild" but pretty
much everything about the game - its story, its art design, its
characters, its gameplay - is either something I don't enjoy or done
in a way I don't like. The only appealing thing I've seen in the game
is its climbing mechanic).

But I love that Nintendo is doing its own thing, because one of my
major complaints about the modern game industry is how 'samey'
everything is. The big-name publishers never take chances, and instead
just churn out sequels to existing franchises, or games that never
take risks.

This just wasn't possible back when gaming platforms were less
similar. Developers had to take risks and push the envelope to remain competitive. Sure, platform X might not have been able to push as many
polygons as platform Y, but X could move more sprites, so developers
took advantage of that, and created games that had their own unique
look and feel. Now, every platform has gigabytes of RAM and enough
GPU-oomph to push zillions of polygons, and there's nothing to
differentiate them or their games.

Except on Nintendo, with its meager, last-gen hardware.

So as much as I like Nintendo's hardware and their games... I wish
more companies were like them.

(Sadly, it seems the opposite will occur, especially as Nintendo
pushes more towards cloud gaming, which will allow their pathetic
hardware to display the same high-end visuals as everybody else)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thursday, September 8, 2022 at 9:10:31 AM UTC-7, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

How about you? Have there been any games that single-handedly
convinced you to buy - or almost buy - you buy another gaming device?

Way back whenever GTA 3 was in vogue I bought a PS2 to play it. Loved it, loved Vice City even more. I played a number of games I enjoyed on it, but ultimately GTA 3/VC were the only ones that I really would've missed on the
PC, and they eventually came to PC anyway. Runners up include DDR, bard's
tale (PS2 different than the old one) Brotherhood of Steel, God of War and Ratchet and Clank series. Nothing I couldn't have lived without though looking back besides GTA. I actually bought two of these as the first crapped out. The PS2 is the only Console I bought myself, for me.

I also enjoyed it for the ability to rent or buy used games at blockbuster or whatever.
Something that's going if not gone already due to the single user/device one time activations of newer games/consoles.

PS5 now is tempting me, only because I could actually play DS3 on it without (much) worry of cheaters and hackers which are rampant on PC, but were
fairly well handled there by the now defunct Blue Sentinel mod. I can't really bring myself to do it just for that, not to mention I'm highly irked that there's
a monthly fee to Sony just to play online (For why? Just to extract more money?
- that's rhetorical, yes to extract more money for letting you past their gate.)

I can't see myself buying one just for that though, and there's plenty else to try
on PC. A glut of games even.

I have (or the kids/wife) a Gamecube, Wii, Switch, Xbox 360, and Oculus 2.
I also used to have an Intellivision.

Beat Saber was pretty good on Oculus, and really it's well worth the price
just for that, but I never would've bought it due to previous experience
with 3d at a friend's that didn't go well. I still need to try hooking it up to the
PC and playing something through Steam.

Wii - not really anything good except just the boxing that came with Wii-fit. The controllers were the worst thing I ever used, and I'd rate this the worst of all consoles (yes even compared to atari 2600) I bought this second
hand and last gen, so it wasn't very expensive, and it was more for the wife/kis.

Switch - I had a little enjoyment on this, but really the games on it just aren't
my thing. This is for the kids.

Gamecube - some fun games on it, but of the consoles I've had I'd rate it
2nd worst. This came with the wife, it was hers.

Xbox 360 - I got this for the kids very used and last gen. I found the version of Minecraft on it to be far better than the PC or Switch versions. It had split
screen and was fun to play with the kids! I also played GTA V on it and a
few other games I enjoyed. I'd consider this #2 after the PS2.

Intellivision I'd put #3, it had D&D games that you couldn't get on the Atari 2600,
or PC. Also a really good blackjack game that I've never seen done as well. It
may just be nostalgia though as I used to play that with my grandpa. The tennis game was pretty good too. This was actually a gift from my grandpa, and was the more expensive of the consoles on the market at the time.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thursday, September 8, 2022 at 12:01:06 PM UTC-7, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

On 9/8/2022 9:10 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

How about you? Have there been any games that single-handedly
convinced you to buy - or almost buy - you buy another gaming device?

Nope. Was never interested in (or had the finances for) anything other
than a computer.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky dirty old man.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Honestly no and I can't ever imagine me doing it. I stick with the PC
for gaming as it tends to cater better for the games I like. There is
across a bit of bias there as I don't tend to really see what's going on
in say the console gaming world. I did once consider a Wii as it was a
bit different but in the end thought, once the novelty has worn off
that's go to end up collecting dust.

Probably the nearest I've got to it is I've upgraded my GPU to play a
couple of games (Far Cry and LA Noire) that my system was struggling to
play at decent FPS/quality.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

what games on 'the other' platform looked so good - either in gaming or >visuals - that they either seriously tempted or actually got you to
buy one of the heretical devices?

Oh I've always been frustrated by Sony console exclusives that I've never played and kept hearing about, and actually did get a ps5 specifically to
play them. So far I've played 3 games on it, and they are all PS3-era 'classic' games. They are I'd say very decent games, but nothing as yet as
yet has truly justified the purchase. I'll try a truly 'next-gen' game eventually, so holding off on any judgement.

rms

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

So, anyway, that's the background to this month's CRAP poll: what
games on 'the other' platform looked so good - either in gaming or
visuals - that they either seriously tempted or actually got you to
buy one of the heretical devices? What games made you think, "hmmm,
that looks so good that not only do I want to risk alienation from my
peers, but also spend a few hundred dollars just to buy the MACHINE so
I can play it"?

Never, not even close. I've bought plenty of consoles but never because
of the graphics. There's two reason for that, one is that I never bought
a console when it first game out, which the only time consoles have been
able to compete with PCs. The other is I've never really bought a game
because of it's graphics. Graphics are just too superficial a thing, I'm
not going to be ooo'ing and awe'ing at the graphics for 40 hours while
playing a game. (An exception to this would be Ultima Underworld whose revolutionary graphics also had an revolutionary effect on gameplay.)

The reason I buy a console is because it has games that I can't play
on the PC, which is why I haven't bought a console in a long time.
Pretty much every game for the consoles Microsoft and Sony make are
available on the PC, while Nintendo's has maybe one or two games I
actually want to play that aren't on PC.

--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/
db //

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

haha I just noticed that one of the series I specifically bought the PS5 for
is now coming to PC very soon:
"The UNCHARTED: Legacy of Thieves Collection, remastered and optimized for
PC, hits Epic Games Store on Oct. 19, and if you pre-purchase it, you’ll get a snazzy new Fortnite glider in the shape of Sully’s seaplane"
Rumors are swirling about Sony putting out some sort of PC gaming client,
that will be interesting.

rms

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Friday, September 9, 2022 at 12:46:28 PM UTC-7, rms wrote:

haha I just noticed that one of the series I specifically bought the PS5 for is now coming to PC very soon:
"The UNCHARTED: Legacy of Thieves Collection, remastered and optimized for PC, hits Epic Games Store on Oct. 19, and if you pre-purchase it, you’ll get
a snazzy new Fortnite glider in the shape of Sully’s seaplane"
Rumors are swirling about Sony putting out some sort of PC gaming client, that will be interesting.

I've noticed a lot of games in the last couple years have been showing
up on PC that were exclusives at one time. I'm still waiting on Bloodborne and Demon Souls. I'm not so sure Bloodborne is quite my thing, as I've
never been into victorian magic setting. Demon Souls is so old, who knows if I could stand it, especially as I couldn't stand DS1 remastered long, and that's
newer. I could probably emulate it at this point anyway if I really wanted to go
to the trouble.

I just looked at a short list of the 'best' PS5 exclusives. One I have on PC - Death
Stranding, so that's not even an exclusive. Another I've seen on PC as well, and beyond that the only one I'm interested in is Demon Souls.

There's also cross-play with some where you can play online with people on two different platforms, so even that doesn't necessarily matter anymore.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

rms <rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net> wrote:

haha I just noticed that one of the series I specifically bought the PS5 for >is now coming to PC very soon:
"The UNCHARTED: Legacy of Thieves Collection, remastered and optimized for >PC, hits Epic Games Store on Oct. 19 [...]

Unfortunately, the "collection" is only the 4th game and it's standalone expansion. I have the first two games in the series on the PlayStation
3 and would love to play them again on the PC.

--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/
db //

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

So, anyway, that's the background to this month's CRAP poll: what
games on 'the other' platform looked so good - either in gaming or
visuals - that they either seriously tempted or actually got you to
buy one of the heretical devices? What games made you think, "hmmm,
that looks so good that not only do I want to risk alienation from my
peers, but also spend a few hundred dollars just to buy the MACHINE so
I can play it"?

Well, after I got heavily into GTA: Vice City on the PC I bought a PS2
when GTA: San Andreas came out for it in 2004. I later got the PS2
exlusive GTA games for it too, Liberty City Stories and Vice City
Stories in 2005 and 2006. And GTA 3 since the PC port was crap. I think
GTA3 might be the only old 3D GTA style game I didn't max out to 100%
since there was a bug which makes that impossible in some conditions and
would require starting over.

I also bought an Xbox360 when GTA4 came out but I didn't get into that
much at all. Actually the two DLCs for it were more fun than the main
game. Good thing there was this new promising little game called Mass
Effect for the Xbox. I played GTA5 on it too but that was also meh. I
think I used the Xbox for some videos too, The Guild especially since it
was available for free in Microsoft's video service and in HD quality
too.

Recently I've kinda tried to buy a PS4 or PS5 to play Horizon: Forbidden
West but, well, right now those systems aren't easy to come by.

So as a kind conclusion, I suppose I got plenty of bang for my buck off
the PS2 and it wasn't that expensive in 2004 anyways. The Xbox360 not so
much. At least I didn't get the original model where overheating was a
bit of a problem. While my console worked fine it was still noisy and
slow though.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)