Title says it all. A bit of an explanation: I used to game a lot as a kid/teenager, and over the years it became less and less. Now with having my own family, time is rare but I sometimes "want the feeling back" I had as a kid and dive into a game.<p>I basically look for a device I can feel connected to. I had the Nintendo Switch and good experiences with it. I am now looking for a device which would feel good "to have" and can play a few games.<p>I am curious about your experiences. Do you enjoy gaming on an iPad? Are you a Switch person? Or do you have a dedicated gaming PC at home?
I’ve been a keen gamer since a kid. Now a dad, I’m in a similar position where I rarely have time to play. But I adore the Oculus Quest 2! I’ve just completed Resident Evil 4 (it took several weeks, but it’s the first time I’ve completed a AAA game in years). The immersion is amazing, I haven’t been this absorbed in a game in a long time. Fighting your way through a fully realised VR environment (massive castles, underground caverns etc) is something new to me. I found that most console games are too complex for me to get back into after a week or two away - the mental effort needed to remember the controls puts me off after a long day of work followed by looking after the kids - but RE4 VR doesn’t have this problem. It’s very intuitive - you grab weapons from different points on your body, reload with physical motions, and there’s only a few actions that map to button presses, so it’s made it easy to pick it up again after a break. I’m looking forward to seeing this platform develop. Bonus: I tell the kids they can’t use it till they’re teenagers, so whilst they hog the PS4 for Minecraft, the Quest is exclusively for my use. :)
Honestly I’m looking forward the most to the SteamDeck. I think it’s going to fulfill a niche that’s never been properly addressed before and I think the same way the iPhone exploded apps, the SteamDeck will drive a Cambrian explosion for games.<p>When you have a very stable hardware system where the specifications are well-known, it removes some of the friction involved in software development.<p>Gaming PC’s for the most part are more of a liability than an asset to game development, owing to the constantly need to upgrade, driven by faster and faster CPU’s. It removes the incentive to design better software.
I, too, have little time for gaming. I love my Xbox Series X - together with Game Pass I have more games than I will ever be able to play. Things Just Work and load times are basically nonexistent, can jump straight in when I do have a short moment for some gaming. Game Pass Ultimate even lets me play on Chrome on my Mac and on my Android phone, although I rarely actually use it, it works pretty well.
I really like Stadia for this. It's not perfect, Google does a horrible job running it, and there aren't a ton of 'big' games.<p>But not having to download games or updates really changes the way you treat it. You just dive in for a few minutes at a time if you want, or hours for the times you have them. Play from your tablet or phone if you want, or pick up a controller and play on the big screen.
The Nintendo Switch.<p>For all the reasons you mention. I have a career, I have a family, and I have side projects. I just don’t have time to dedicate to games. But sometimes you just need to blow off steam for 15 minutes before bed and the Switch is perfect for this.<p>Every game can be paused/stopped by hitting one button. The controls are great, software is great, and I’ve been using the the dock to play games together with family like Mario Kart. I have a bunch of maxed out characters in Diablo 3 just by playing 15 minutes here and there. :)
My son started gaming on an iPad, then a Wii, then an XBox. A couple of years ago we built a custom PC rig for him, then one for my nephew, and finally one for myself.<p>I don't game a huge amount, but we have weekly CS:GO games with friends and family, and I occasionally fire up a few favourites on my PC from Steam.<p>However, TBH, if I didn't also use my machine for work, it would be a colossal waste of money. Prior to building it, I was playing RDR2 and AC Valhalla on a cheap laptop using Stadia, and really enjoyed them.
Starting with your questions:<p>> Do you enjoy gaming on an iPad?<p>Generally no, unless I'm playing a game for which a touch screen provides a good interface. Board/card games are great. "God view" games can be done well. Most first or third person games of any variety suck.<p>> Are you a Switch person?<p>Not really. The Switch is too large and fragile to be pocketed so it's only really portable in the sense that it's not tied to a TV, which means mine just lives in its dock 95% of the time. As a docked console it wasn't even competitive against last-gen hardware, and as a result it exists solely because enough Nintendo first-party games came out that I wanted to play.<p>I was a huge DS person in its era, because I could have it in my pocket anywhere. Pull it out, open it up for even half a level of New Super Mario, then slap it shut and it's immediately suspended for later. Switch has the same function but without the pocketability it's just not as useful.<p>> Or do you have a dedicated gaming PC at home?<p>Always have, always will. The PC is the longest lasting gaming platform on its own, rarely has it ever lost the performance crown, and thanks to both inherent compatibility and emulation it can play the majority of games ever made for any platform.<p>I have consoles for convenience and exclusives, but a good PC is a long term investment that pays off if you really like gaming.
For just AAA gaming (no time like the rest here but I try to do it a few hours per month and often I lose discipline and play too long and feel guilty) the gpd win 3. But hold on; I actually bought that for my current actual favorite gaming device which I spend way too much time on; the Quest 2. I connect them together (as I can stick the win3 in my bag while it has a lot of power) and use Immersive VR to have 5 monitors to code on taking up a fraction of the space. And when I take a break, I shoot zombies or climb mountains. It is not perfect yet, but with more battery life and higher res, it would be perfect for me.
Strictly speaking, I have never been a gamer, although I enjoyed in the past playing games, either alone or with friends; back then the hardware was the C64 and later the Amiga. I still have memories of epic tournaments, one of which brought me and a friend to an actual physical fight:^)
After growing up a bit, and as a formerly avid SF reader, I started enjoying immersive games with actual plots. I liked a lot Half Life 2, although it didn't really have a fully developed plot, and later fell in love with the Mass Effect series, which to me is a kick ass TV series waiting to happen.
I have considered multiple times getting a console, but always chose the PC. Actually I still have my old Wii which I use from time to time to do some exercising at home, but for serious gaming, today I'd get a PC. My current machine is too old for anything serious, so I'm planning to get soon an upgrade with a Ryzen G series CPU which would work for light games.
The choice IMO depends on what the user might do (or plan to do in the future) with the device. A console is a much simpler device one can turn on and start playing in seconds, while a PC is more time consuming (installs, load times, fiddling with drivers or other issues, etc.) but is also on a whole different league wrt features and use cases. I left out small devices like tablets and portable consoles because to me they're too limited, and also I can't feel immersed in a game if it occupies just a small screen, but since you mention them, I would suggest a look at the Steam Deck: <a href="https://www.steamdeck.com/en/" rel="nofollow">https://www.steamdeck.com/en/</a>
The Gamecube was and is by far my favorite console, still; which is easy to say because mine's still humming along as smoothly as it did in 2005. Built like a brick, great ergonomics in the controller, no "loading" between levels or startups, and the games are free from the various monetization schemes that I find plague games these days. I find the graphics a lot easier to parse than the overly "noisy" graphics that consumed the next generations.
I don't spend much time gaming but the few hours I do spend here and there are on the Quest 2 which could also be categorized experiences than games though I play those too. I also play an RTS (starcraft2) on PC--it's not meant as a dedicated machine but being Windows is the only use it gets.
I play stuff on Linux, it's alright. It's not as mindless a setup as gaming on Windows, but tech like Steam Proton and WINE have come such a long ways that I can comfortably play the vast majority of Windows releases with near-native performance on the same device I write code with. It's pretty comfy once you get the hang of it, I'd recommend checking out library compatibility[0] and some benchmarks[1] to get an idea of how far things have come. It's not too far-fetched to just build your own Linux console as a weekend project.<p>[0] <a href="https://www.protondb.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.protondb.com/</a><p>[1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voXc1nCD4IA" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voXc1nCD4IA</a>
The PSP has tons of emulators/homebrew + native PS1 support, and you can use Android or PC to emulate the DS/GBA pretty well (same instruction set or JIT-ted emulators). Good thing about Nintendo systems is ROM size, so you can have tons of games and not get bored.<p>Plus, if you have an old android phone with buttons or close volume keys, you can use it as a <i>complete</i> portable GB/A or DS. I remember to have played the heck out of SFA3/Pokemon in an old phone on long trips.<p>So I would stick to portable handleds and check out ports or exclusives. If you have a modded home console its more of the same but with better graphics and power or more space for ROMS.
PC. I've always enjoyed strategy games, both RTS and turn-based. Mouse + keyboard is still by far the best interface for it. I also don't game enough to have a dedicated setup.
One can't really go wrong with any of the current gen consoles (PS5, Xbox Series X/S). They are incredibly powerful, and there's a good choice of games.<p>It feels harder to recommend PCs for gaming nowadays since a lot of games are designed for console-first, and the prices for average graphics card are now at 2x the price of the consoles. But also depends on the preferred genre. For indie games or some of the competitive online games PCs might be better options.
I've been in a retro game mood with GBA games, so I bought a RG351P. Emulates up to n64 and comfy to play in bed. They released a newer version, the RG351MP, with slightly different screen size. But interestingly there should be a chip upgrade in the next year that will allow smooth emulation up to ps2 (so they say, the current chips are old to say the least).<p>Retrododo has good reviews of these types of devices. Not affiliated, just think their content is good
My Kodi box, which runs on a cheap 2011 entry level nuc. Kodi has supported emulators really nicely for a while. Definitely has some quirks which are inherent to emulators, but switching from watching series and live tv, to your favorite games of the past in one interface gives a pretty satisfying feeling. It's a pretty open software stack as well, which is important to me.
I have a PS4, and it's been great so far. It's low power (Solar panels are my main source of electricity) and the performance is great. I don't really enjoy gaming on small devices, and I prefer reading when I'm outside (Kindle). I also don't enjoy gaming on laptop (too expensive) and most desktop PC are too power consuming.
I would like to get back into retro gaming. As a kid had a NES and SNES. Of course sold the devices later on. Now with a kid in my own i would like to share the experience.<p>Buying original equipment is very expensive. But emulators are abound. A middle ground would be for me to play those with original controllers.<p>But how could that be done?
I love the PlayStation Vita. It's just such a small, delightful device. And the buttons feel great and the size feels great for the hands. I do have a Switch as well, but I don't really love it the same way.<p>Too bad there were not many of us.
If yo don't have enough time, then go with PS5. It's powerful, has good quality exclusive games, and is just plug and play.<p>PC gaming can give you more, but it also requires more care and time to maintain, upgrade, run, install, and optimize.
The one I’m most impressed by is the Quest 2. The one I spend the most time gaming on and ultimately have the most fun with is still the PC, as it has been for the past 20 years. I absolutely cannot stand touchscreen gaming.