Mostly Normal Monthly #0008, April 2021
Digital disappearances.
The Digital Dystopia
By Jon Swanson
Even digital stores get shuttered.
As many of you have heard Sony is shutting down the digital storefronts for the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 3. While this move may not be surprising for some (we are a full generation removed from the PS3) I think it has implications regarding our digital future of which we are not fully aware.
A couple of years ago, in January 2019, Nintendo decided to shut down the Wii shop. The following year they shut down the eShop, a service available on the Wii U and 3DS family of systems, in select countries. Rest assured our days here in the States are numbered. After the eShop is closed the only way I can play one of my favorite games of all time, The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker, is to buy an overpriced Wii U and physical copy of the game (hopefully it’s not scratched to hell). A move I’m sadly contemplating as I’m writing this.
Just looking at the title screen made me miss this game! - Photo via hiddentriforce.com
I think the dystopia I’m pointing to is clear: we are reaching a point where the most common way to purchase entertainment media is leaving us without a true sense of ownership and absent of the ability to play them in perpetuity.
To me the solutions are as apparent as the problem. While these storefronts are closing you are still able to download purchases you’ve made. This means that the games on these stores exist somewhere seemingly forever. Why not compile the media into one simple digital storefront available on the current-gen consoles and/or PC? Sony fans such as myself have been waiting for Sony to respond to Xbox’s aggressive and consumer-friendly moves. How about you throw the games on the PSP, PS Vita and PS3 stores into PS Now!? I’m sure PlayStation’s top marketing gurus could figure out some ideas better than these as well as how to make them viable. In ten years I need a way to show my son the masterpiece that is Metal Gear Solid 4. Sony, won’t you please think of the children!!!
Skyrim Scavenger Hunt
By Chris Stern
Play is universal.
Every so often life puts me in a situation that shows me the breadth of who and how people play games. Recently, due to the pandemic, I have not had as many opportunities to stumble into these conversations. Thankfully, with the vaccine rollout pressing onward, I found myself around an older coworker making small talk for the first time in a *checks watch* yeah, in over a year.
That conversation ranged from talking about our shared enjoyment of cooking, suggesting a cool cookbook to check out, and getting listful about the long lost joy of hosting dinner parties. Eventually as we sat together my colleague said, “Hey Chris, you like games, right?” I nodded my head and thought, “Yeah, that’s an understatement.” This coworker went on to tell me all about how he had gotten into playing Skyrim again during the pandemic, and how he created a way to play the game with his 9-year-old daughter without any conflict or violence. They had come up with the game “Skyrim Scavenger Hunt” where they each came up with a list of 5 items from anywhere in the game and had to race to find them while avoiding combat.
Find the Namira’s Rot and Fast! - Photo via dailyecho.co.uk
He stated that he is playing it on an Xbox 360, which warmed my heart even more. As a person who can get caught up in needing the latest hardware, but loves going back to old games I missed, it reassured me to see that there was still room for joy and improvisation within a roughly 10-year-old game played on 15-year-old hardware. He went on to tell me about this creepy puzzle game that he can’t play with his kids around. “Limbo?!” I exclaimed, nailing it on the head.
The conversation fell into a common talking point for average folks - what games got you through the pandemic. I showed my coworker Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which he had not heard of, and ended up discussing the plot and themes of Persona 5 as if it were the latest prestige drama from HBO. By the end of the chat I started enthusiastically recommending Switch games for his brother-in-law to check out on his new system.
This and many other interactions with coworkers has taught me not to make any assumptions about what games have broken through to the mainstream. For every “I play 2K, GTA, and Call of Duty'' chat, there’s an “I love State of Decay 2, and play it every night” or “I am on the practice squad for the local 2K e-sports team.” Game players are everywhere. “Gamer” is more and more a meaningless identifier. I couldn’t be happier.