Wireless Controllers
Oh to think back to the tedious old days of wired controllers limiting how far we could sit from our console of choice. These days wireless controllers are expected, a prerequisite of any modern gaming console, and we take them for granted. Their convenience can’t be understated. Though for portability and the ability to contort into any weird position we want on the couch without losing control of our favorite playable character does come at a cost: the dreaded low battery.
Digital Stores
Let’s face it, going outside is overrated and a little scary. Thankfully most, if not all, titles are now available for download from the comfort of our homes. With increasingly fast download speeds creeping to all four corners of the globe, the download times are getting more and more reasonable by the day as well. If only developers would stop making their games so damn big. That being said, there’s something entirely wholesome about the days of having to buy a packaged PC game from the local gaming shop. Those large printed cardboard boxes were a treasure, a point of pride, and reading through a physical manual as the game installed was a rite of passage. For convenience, we’ve lost a bit of magic.
Screw your friends who think gaming is for spotty teenagers, you’ve got reddit where like-minded gamers can congregate and get mushy over their favorite game. These places become communities, brotherhoods, communions of the obsessive, beautiful, and unique aspects of the best hobby in the world. Praise reddit.
Patches and Updates
Back in the day a game shipped and that was it, bugs, warts, glitches, crashes, and all were there to stay. No one was going to fix them and that just the way the game was played. Today, developers can throw out patches for even the smallest fix without batting an eyelid. We and devs are incredibly lucky that games can be improved and bettered even after release. Maybe it’s made developers more sloppy when releasing supposedly finished versions of games, but having an update come through for a game you love is always a special moment.
Working Multiplayer
Multiplayer gaming has come on leaps and bounds in the past 30 years. We don’t even flinch when loading up a game where 100 players shoot guns at each other without even the slightest discernible lag. It wasn’t always such smooth sailing, and it’s worth taking a moment to thank the gaming gods for gracing us with the ability to play with people halfway around the world with the click of a button. The friendships, memories, and experiences we’ve all got from multiplayer are priceless.
Black Friday
A bit of a weird one, we’ll admit, but Black Friday is probably among the best times to be a gamer. Games cost peanuts during that fateful day in late November and retailers offer stupidly good discounts for some of the best games. We get great games, spend less money than we would usually, and everyone is happy all round. It’s like Christmas and a birthday merged into one for any gamer worthy of the name.
