When Does A Game Cost Too Much.

Posted by Karl Weller on June 5, 2025
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The cost of new games has always been a contentious obstacle for most in the community. What is the maximum you are prepared to pay for new content? £50? £70? £100? Everyone’s tolerance is bound to be different and though there are numerous variables that go into a decision like this other than price, I believe that £70 may well exceed my limit for acceptability. There are few, if any game series that can command such extravagant price hikes. Something like GTA could price significantly higher than most other AAA titles. But if it does exceed the current pricing range of other conventional titles, that could shift others into doing the same. Where does this end? When does a game become widely accepted as too expensive? Also another persistent issue is the size of the games.

Take the newly released Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remake. At a cost of £50, which I personally believe is about £10 more than I’m willing to pay, the download capacity is over 120gb! Now my PS5, bolstered by an external 2tb hard drive, is struggling to compile a back catalogue of titles that is hardly extensive. Now I can manage this collection a little more efficiently, maneuvering save files or deleting games entirely would free up more space for such a sizable download. But even if I were comfortable with the price (which I’m not), or made a concerted effort to organize my save space (which I should do really), with my Internet connection, presumably powered by an old oil fuelled dickensian router, would require a full lunar sequence to download!

They these may seem like trivial and wholly personal issues that aren’t necessarily applicable to you. But that’s because our lines in the sand are in very different places. And it’s not one I’m prepared to cross. Yet, I say all of this having pre-ordered a Switch 2.

Money And Why I Don’t Care.

Posted by Karl Weller on May 16, 2025
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Money, money, money. A fleeting commodity that only seems to get more elusive. Now personally I’m not someone overly concerned with its accumulation. Wealth, or in my case, the absence of it is not something I aspire to. Now perhaps things would be easier if I was driven by affluence. The pursuit of material possessions or just a healthy balance for a potential retirement. Perhaps. But would I be happier? Honestly, I don’t think so. Sure it would be convenient not to have to worry about a mortgage, utilities bills or the seemingly fluctuating economy that rids you of your hard earned graft. But why subject myself to the misery of the rat race, when time is the only valuable resource.

My partner often mistakes my inactivity for laziness. Which often prompts her to impose various household jobs to occupy myself during my supposed “downtime”. Now I understand the confusion, I have attempted to explain on multiple occasions that my reserve of energy is greatly reduced by the exertion I yield during my nocturnal job. Essentially emphasize the fact that I’m bloody tired. Her day is finished. Any additional tasks that she undertakes are approached under the proviso that she can stop, rest and not have to worry about expelling anymore energy if she doesn’t want. I however do not have that luxury. Imagine if I made a concerted effort to pursue more money? To forsake my time, family and possibly my weekend doing a job I’m only doing because of how much money I could earn?

I get so little time as it is, with my weekends compromised by working late. Finishing at 3:30am on a Saturday morning does severely limit my prospects with the family. Most of that time is spent recovering from the fatigue of the previous evening. So dedicating more of my time to another job I hate, purely for financial assurance is just not interesting to me. Because I’ve discovered over the years that there isn’t any job that I’d enjoy doing, regardless of what the money is. Unless the job involves reclining on my sofa, watching movies, drinking copious amounts of tea and waiting for all this to blow over!

Is Gaming Only For The Rich?

Posted by Karl Weller on May 9, 2025
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It’s fair to say that my zest for gaming has somewhat diminished over the past year. Now that’s not to say that there aren’t games that I would like to play. “Monster Hunter Wild” is still permeating as my next potential addiction. The “Elder Scrolls Oblivion” Remake is a wonderful, if curious surprise that I’d be very interested to explore. GTA VI, which last week received its obligatory delay is now 12 months away. Though I have my Switch 2 pre-order ready for next month’s release, that’s really a console used to entertain the family, rather than a system to absorb myself into. But aside from that I find there is little to be excited for in this industry. Now this doesn’t mean there aren’t great games being released, but with the looming industry rise in software cost potentially crippling the more casual consumer, you do start to wonder if you are being priced out.

It is such a huge risk now. Time as well as financial limitations dictate this hobby, especially at my age. If I’m not working, which currently involves overnight shifts, I’m sleeping. Which again requires me to sleep during the day. Then most of my time is dictated by family responsibilities. So finding any time to immerse myself in a game, particularly expansive open world RPG’s, with branching quests and narratives is a tricky thing to navigate. Particularly when you consider that the only time I get for myself is in the evenings. So because of work, I only get weekend evenings. By which time I’m liable to fall asleep with my character standing there, tapping his foot in frustration and tapping his imaginary wristwatch, wondering why I’ve abandoned him in a troll infested cave for 3 hours. And there’s the cost. What if by some miracle I’ve found the time to indulge in this expensive hobby? Can I really risk spending £70 on a game I don’t like?

Sure you can take the time to read reviews, gauge some kind of insight from public opinion. Even relying on instinct to make an informed decision. But that doesn’t guarantee you’ll like it. I was convinced that I’d love “Balders Gate 3”. Everything I’d read and heard suggested as much. And though I respected the game and the developers remit when it comes to creating games, I just couldn’t get into it. Now that’s not necessarily the games fault, and certainly more of a “me” problem. But it is still a lot of money to spend on a game you are not enjoying. It used to be that you could rent a game, a process that would give you ample time to assess whether a game was right for you. But even if renting was still such a thing, you’ve now got to find £80 worth of disposable income to purchase it.

Somehow, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Has Returned.

Posted by Karl Weller on May 1, 2025
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So Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remastered has been released. No preamble. No lengthy waiting period. Hell, not even an announced release date! Now this may speak to just out of touch I am with the current slate of gaming releases, and the conduct of games studios to not even promote software you’d expect would warrant advertising, considering the time, effort and money that goes into any game. Especially from a publisher as renowned as Bethesda. But here we are, relishing the remake of a game I remember with such fondness, it could almost be like I was reminiscing about my own daughter walking for the first time. Oblivion was not only my first Elder Scrolls game, but my first Bethesda title. By the time I’d gotten around to playing it, Skyrim was only a year or so from its initial release on the PlayStation. And though the exploits of the Dragonborne would receive consistent, some might argue excessive rereleases, Oblivion was somewhat neutered, perhaps even ridiculed for its outdated combat, graphics and now legendary voice work.

So it’s strange to me that after such an extended period, Bethesda has just shadow dropped a remaster for a game that could conceivably just release again on modern consoles, with minimal effort and cost? I’m not mad, just curious. Sure it might have been nice if they had given me, but only me, some notification about its impending release, just to give me some time to budget for it. But why so mysterious with what appears to be a well polished, dare I say, playable Bethesda game? And to make it immediately available on the PlayStation, is shrewd marketing by Microsoft. You relocate Xbox exclusive content, by a company you paid an exorbitant amount of money to purchase for the sole reason of exclusivity, announce to your competitor “hey look, we can play nicely”. And earn an additional stream of revenue from a competitors store. And considering the dearth of PlayStation exclusives, that aren’t rereleases of “The Last Of Us”, this must rankle Sony.

What I hope this does is twofold: remind players just how wonderful Oblivion is. But also provoke Sony out of their own self-infflicted inertia, and create the Sony games that used to make Xbox jealous.

So…I Pre-ordered A Switch 2.

Posted by Karl Weller on April 17, 2025
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Considering my previous post, whereby I lambasted Nintendo’s direction for the next iteration of the Switch. I feel something of a hypocrite when I say that I’ve pre-ordered this misbegotten console. My shift from modest skepticism to “must have day 1” wasn’t one of sudden reassurance by Nintendo or even my typical proclivity for impulse, but rather an investment. Right now as it stands, I have the funds to purchase the Switch 2, having set aside a tidy little reserve for a console I was confident wouldn’t and couldn’t disappoint. Though my reservations about the console are still relevant, with the sharp price increase of first party games being a particular blotch, one that I believe will have reverberating circumstances for the entire industry, I’m still optimistic about the purchase.

It’s understandable that many would view my patronage to a conglomerate like Nintendo as a betrayal. A corporate shill who cares little for the rising gatekeeping from the rich that prosper from the objections of the poor. But really it’s just a selfish endeavor, one motivated by the potential investment of owning a console that at some point will release with titles I can play with my daughter. “Mario Kart” is huge in our household, being the only game that even my partner will happily participate in. There is bound to be a new “Animal Crossing” game in the near future too, another title that both myself and daughter are massive proponents of. And the thing is, my daughter is getting older, and already regarding me as “cringe”, so it won’t be much longer until she wants nothing to do with me. At least with the Switch 2, we can still have somewhat of a connection. Even if it means she humiliates me in “Shine Thief”.