From Newsgroup: uk.games.video.misc


So GTA6 is rumoured to have a retail price of ninety monetary units for
the basic game and something around two-hundred for a collector's
edition. A meaningless distinction for a game where the majority of the
data won't even be present on the disc. I'm perfectly comfortable
waiting for a cut price.

Play:
--=--

RetroPie (RPi) - Well that was weirdly easier than I expected. I have a knackered old Raspberry Pi 3 unit (in a NES-shaped enclosure) that I
bought accidentally in a big auction lot back in 2020. It was nice to
play with but I never seriously considered deploying it permanently
anywhere. Partly it's because I like using my real gaming media, but
mostly it's because the emulation performance was always just a little
bit disappointing. What I did this past weekend was to get one of my
RasPi 5 units going with RetroPie, and I'm honestly astonished at how
stupidly simple it was to get it going. Obviously you can go mad and set
up a wild configuration to do all kinds of cheat-y, aesthetically
customised things, but I imagine most people just want to experience the
games of their youth again. Of course, I *own* all the games of my youth
and a few more besides, so now that I've typed all that out I wonder
what the point is of even having done all that.

Starblade (PSX) - It's kind of disappointing to play this game on this generation of home game systems where the only input option is the
D-pad. Moving the reticle about in order to target enemies as you fly majestically through the vastness of outer space really needs an
analogue control, and perhaps a slightly higher frame rate. I should
really dig up the PS2 one and see if it's better than that by
comparison.

Want:
--=--

R-Type Tactics I + II Cosmos (PS5) - Arriving in the mail today. I don't
do this on purpose, it's just that everything I pre-order seems to get delivered at the beginning of the work week rather than at the end of
it. Reviews are pretty positive, if for no other reason than that the
game doesn't have to put up with the UMD-based loading times of the PSP.
I have read that you can't get to the sequel or the bonus title until
you've completed the first game, which is a dumb way to do a remaster
but given that I never finished the original I suppose I don't have an
actual problem with the constraint.

Bin:
-==-

Nothing game-related.

-KKC, who has a hilariously stupid racing game to try out soon.
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From Newsgroup: uk.games.video.misc

Kendrick Kerwin Chua <kendrick@nospam.io-nyc> wrote:

Play:

The Pinball Arcade (PSV) - on this again. The WHO dunnit table remains
one of my favourites, I think, but I have to admit that the experience
has been a bit spoiled by my having had some trouble with the
telephone shot. Which meant that I was endlessly hearing every variant
of "somebody get the phone", "I never answer the phone", etc. that the
table has. :-)

I also played Attack From Mars - not especially well, but it's still a
fun one even so. It's curious because it seems like quite a basic
layout, it's almost just targets arrayed around an empty playfield.
I'm not sure you could ever seriously accuse a 90s table of having a less-is-more design, but... maybe in that specific respect at least.

RetroPie (RPi) - Well that was weirdly easier than I expected. I have a

[...]

games of their youth again. Of course, I *own* all the games of my youth
and a few more besides, so now that I've typed all that out I wonder
what the point is of even having done all that.

Game-related existential angst is the best kind.

Want:

Nothing.

Bin:

Heat. Again. And sleep, apparently.

-Rus.
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From Newsgroup: uk.games.video.misc

On 2026-06-21, Kendrick Kerwin Chua <kendrick@nospam.io-nyc> wrote:

So GTA6 is rumoured to have a retail price of ninety monetary units for
the basic game and something around two-hundred for a collector's
edition. A meaningless distinction for a game where the majority of the
data won't even be present on the disc. I'm perfectly comfortable
waiting for a cut price.

I see that they're also making it a digital only release. I get that
there's no point in making physical releases for game preservation
purposes any more (given that the retail version of a game probably
doesn't actually have any runnable code without a day one update / online service) but effectively killing the second hand market is a little rude.

Play:
--=--

Diablo II Resurrected Season 14 (running now)
Diablo III Season 39 (Launches June 26th - tomorrow)
Diablo IV Season of Death Awakening (Launches June 30th)

This is actually a first for Diablo - been playing D2 for 26 years and
doing the seasonal content since Resurrected released in 2021. I used to
do D3 seasonal stuff religiously until it got a bit shit, coincidentally
around the launch of D4. I didn't really do any D4 content because it was
all a bit rubbish.

This is the first time that all three games have planned (or running)
seasonal content interesting enough to play all three of them. It will
require juggling and setting aside the other stuff I've been playing -
which includes but is not limited to:

Tokyo Xanadu Ex+
Yakuza 0
RDR2
Resident Evil Remaster

Want:
--=--

Sword Art Online - Echoes of Aincrad. Played the shit out of the demo and
loved it. Releases mid July

Bin:
-==-

Why is everything so expensive now?

J
--
John Dow <jmd@nelefa.org.invalid>
... Blog & Game Diary : http://www.nelefa.org
/|\ Constructed using SLRN and Vi.
/ | \ Zomoniac is Wrong. Fact.
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From Newsgroup: uk.games.video.misc

John Dow <jmd@nelefa.org> wrote:

Why is everything so expensive now?

I expect that was rhetorical, but just in case:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd95k584pzqo

It's due to the literal deus ex machina any-% global speedrun attempt,
mostly. For once, I'll spare you the part where I gesticulate wildly
in front of a whiteboard like a crazy person, though I reckon AI is
rapidly getting to the point where we should be doing that more. :-)

-Rus.
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