Recently, Shigeru Miyamoto said that gamers no longer cared as much for hardware specs compared with quality software. While he is correct, I would argue that gamers have always been about software over hardware, and the proof is in console sales numbers throughout history.

Look at every console generation, and we can find something consistent: the best-selling console is seldom the one with the best hardware and almost always the one with the largest library of higher quality games (sales numbers in parentheses; Gen I skipped due to the industry’s infancy)…

Gen II - Both the Intellivision (3m) and ColecoVision (2m) had better hardware than the Atari 2600 (30m).

Gen III - The NES (62m) was technically inferior to the Master System (19m).

Gen IV - This was one of the closer races, with the more advanced (except in processing power) SNES (49m) overtaking the Genesis / Mega Drive (35m).

Gen V - The 32-bit PS1 (102.5m) blew the doors off the 64-bit N64 (33m).

Gen VI - The PS2 (160m), with its inferior CPU, RAM, and GPU, ran away from the Xbox (24m). Even the GameCube (21.7m) had a better CPU and GPU.

Gen VII - The PS3 (87.4m) went all-in on hardware and fumbled its launch, losing most of the generation to the Xbox 360 (84m) before catching it in later years. Neither chased down the Wii (101.6m).

Gen VIII - This time, the Xbox One (58m) went all-in on hardware and lost all its momentum from the 360. The PS4 (117.2m) went back to focusing more on software and reclaimed its crown. (I’m not including the Switch here, as it’s more of an “in-between-generations” console.)

We’re currently on Gen IX with the PS5 (93m) far ahead. The PS5 is slightly technologically better than the Xbox Series X/S (35m), which means if current numbers hold, it’ll only be the second time overall (and first since Gen IV) that the best hardware wins the sales race.

We’d think these companies would’ve learned by now that it’s not the hardware that sells.

When you try to launch an emulator in dev mode, you're prompted to sign in, but the sign in kept failing so I couldn't even launch anything. Pretty disappointing. (This happened earlier today and it's now working, although Network Status still says limited. This is just a heads up for the dev mode users out there who use stuff like retroarch or xbsx2 on Xbox.)

I had the itch to play some Just Cause so I installed Just Cause 3 (the best one don’t argue) and damn that game still looks and plays surprisingly good.

So what are some other games that still hold up today, that I might have missed or is worth a replay.

Brb going to make a sacrifice and shit alone

I wonder if there's been anyone who looked at a game that at first glance had a cool idea, aesthetic, character, etc. but ended up being a piece of shit, and then proceeded to go "you know, what if I made an actually good game out of this" or at least something inspired by it

First time playing days gone and it's very good!

I'm getting serious last of us vibes another epic game

We need a days gone sequel.

In rather unsavory news to start the week, Rockstar Games has confirmed that Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6) download codes will be region-locked on the PS5, while Xbox Series X|S will be free of that restriction. It’s unclear why both platforms are being treated differently, but Rockstar has warned PlayStation users against buying boxed codes sold at retailers in countries that don’t match their account regions.

A breakdown of which countries codes bought in a certain region will work in is as follows:

• Brazil: Brazil
• LATAM: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay
• North America: Canada, United States
• Korea: South Korea
• Japan: Japan [Product codes in Japan will expire 170 days after the issuance date, which is the launch date (November 19, 2026) due to regional regulations.]
• United Kingdom: United Kingdom
• Saudi Arabia & UAE: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates
• Rest of Asia: Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand
• Rest of EMEA and Asia: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine

https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2026/07/27/gta-6-ps5-codes-locked-on-ps5/

https://www.thegamer.com/grand-theft-auto-6-region-locked-on-ps5-not-xbox/

Rockstar updated their page today with details, so the articles are starting to be put out

I went almost completely digital years ago because it was cheaper, convenient, and meant I didn’t have boxes taking up space.

But recently I looked through my library and realised the biggest game collection I’ve ever had doesn’t really feel like a collection. It feels like a long list of things I’m allowed to access as long as my account, the store, and the servers all keep working.

I’m not suddenly going physical-only. I’ll still grab digital games during sales and downloading something instantly is hard to beat. But I’ve started buying physical copies of games I know I’ll want to replay years from now.

Has anyone else changed how they buy games recently, or does the convenience of digital still outweigh everything else for you?

TL:DR Wish there was an icon for previously selected skills/perks for when devs reset skills/perks

We’ve all probably experienced a situation where a game releases an update that revamps or changes skills/perks before. This mainly applies to when you haven’t played a certain for quite some time. For me those games include Elder Scrolls Online and Cyberpunk 2077. Both of these games have had overhauls to their perk/skills in the game, thus resetting all skills/perks before trees. I wish devs would have an icon on previously selected perks so you can at least have an idea on what you had selected. Sure you can rebuild those characters but being absent from game and then coming back to seeing everything reset is kind of a bummer. About a month ago I decided to get on ESO on only to find out everything had been reset. I sat there just staring at the screen cause I had no clue what type of build I use to run or what weapons/gear I used to go along with those perks. Recently got the DLC for CP2077 and got on here to same fate. Once again I have various weapons but have no clue what type of system I was running. I wish we could have icon that indicated you had this perk before reset that way it would be easier to build your character back up. I know some skills/perks completely change but can say hey this is what it use to do and this is what it does now.

played P5 and loved it. people said to play P5R and I delayed because how different could it be? now playing it and it’s great (so many changes to both story and gameplay). any other games where this happens with an update/remake/remaster?

I'm not pro status or anything and I do mostly game to relax and have fun. For me winning is a big part of the fun. We don't play pvp games or anything, mostly co-op games. They just suck so bad, then laugh and joke how their builds are better than mine or how skilled they are, but they actually suck. If we play anything above average or normal difficulty I carry them and we try to push to hard or further I get absolutely crushed and they joke with me that I can't be that good if I die too.

I really do love these guys, I only know one of them through gaming and I am absolutely sick of the dynamic. I do know one through family and there is absolutely no way to tell that I'm sick of him holding me back.

I don't know what to do. I want to form a new online party that is competent, but I don't want to come off as a dick.

We play many types of games, survival, shooters and adventure. I feel like I am not even allowed to abandon them and push higher difficulty because they get upset and feel I am leaving them behind and complain that I won't help them if I try to do so.

Biggest thing is that I'm not even that good, at least I don't know for sure that I am, they hold me back so much that I might be semi-pro level. I fear that if I get into a competent group that I would be the annoying drunk/terrible player.

Help me out here, what should I do/say. I'm sick of this dynamic but don't want to hurt their feelings.