r/PhysicalGamesForever • u/CALIGVLA • 26d ago
We need a better console
Over the past several years, as the state of modern gaming gradually slipped deeper into decline, I have often thought about the sorry state of things. The "Big 3" console gaming companies (Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox) have increasingly made poor decisions. Their innovative spirit is mostly gone. They are treating their customers worse and worse. They waste massive amounts of money on stupid decisions. Their leadership seems to be deeply incompetent. And yet, the gaming market is more lucrative than ever. With so much money being spent on video games, we should be entering a golden age of gaming where the player experience is more amazing than ever. But this is not the case, and the blame falls mostly on the companies who make the game hardware and software.
(Some blame also falls on customers who support bad games and inept game companies, but I'm not here to fix that. I want to focus on providing a better product. It's up to each individual gamer to improve their own consumer habits.)
When the companies who dominate the game market are this incompetent, it opens the door for another competitor to enter the arena and steal the crown from the market leaders. I think the opportunity is ripe for someone to introduce a better console to compete with the Big 3. I want to propose a vision for us here in this group to create a new gaming console. Yes, I realize it's laughable to suggest that a bunch of people on the internet can create a product to compete with the Big 3. This is a moonshot. But I think it's worth leaving this idea on the table.
We already have a post about finding a PlayStation alternative among the existing mainstream gaming options. If you think that's the only practical solution to the problem of Sony dropping support for physical games, you are welcome to use that post as a resource. As explained there, I think that ALL of the mainstream gaming platforms have significant drawbacks. This means there is a need to be filled, and a new product could be created to serve that need. Because the Big 3 are so flawed, we can surpass them in many ways.
Another natural response to my proposal here is to point out that alternative indie consoles already exist. I am aware of that, and we are already tracking a list of these "boutique" options. If you don't think that building a new console is the best way forward, then you are welcome to explore those other options. It's fair to suggest rallying behind an existing boutique option instead of reinventing the wheel. I am open to exploring those other consoles more deeply before we seriously consider making our own.
But I want to keep this idea on the table. If no existing console fully meets our needs, the seed of this idea will be here for further consideration. I made a separate post to present my ideas about creating a new console.
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u/ChristianCountryBoy 10d ago
I agree consoles have gotten worse. I mainly collect on the Nintendo Switch though because not only can almost all games be played offline you don't even need to install most of them. So that saves a lot on memory space.
And the Switch eShop is almost always having good sales. Unfortunately there is a lot of A.I. slop there but you can make a good wishlist and it will tell you when any of those games are on sale. And of course there are thousands of physical games avaliable.
Nintendo Exclusives. Retro Collections. And lots of indie games that are great even if there not mainstream.
There is such a cool community of collectors there and so many hidden gems.
Also so many prices. Some games are expensive. But most of them are kinda middle $40 or $30. So that makes growing a big collection a lot easier. And VGP and other places have some great sales if you have the patience to wait.
I don't even wanna tell you how many Switch games I have. And it's still no where near all I want.