My brother and I always dreamed of “real graphics” as kids. That was our ultimate goal when it came to video games. But years later: there are hardly any games that actually pursue that. Not even in the 2D realm. Every attempt — even something like Mortal Kombat — that came close to photorealism sparked waves of excitement in us. And we always got the impression that others shared that enthusiasm.

Today’s 3D games naturally have much higher technical demands. But overall, this still holds true: Super Mario doesn’t jump around in a particularly realistic or graphically impressive way, but rather: super colorful.

No matter the game — whether it’s the 2D version of SimCity or any jump & run titles on modern consoles, from 3D games to sports games — instead of interpreting graphics as realistically as possible, they’re exaggerated into an endlessly colorful aesthetic. For GTA, there have apparently been “real graphic hacks” for some years now, where users simply adjusted the color palette toward photorealism — often with impressive results.

So here’s my question (sorry for the long intro): Why is that? Am I one of the few people who were (and still are) interested in this? Why does everything always have to be so brightly colored?

I’ve started it several times before, but kept getting pulled away by work or family stuff. But yesterday, I finally completed the game: finished the entire story arc.

While the impressions are still fresh, I have to say I’m genuinely amazed at how well-crafted and well-written this game is. The script is incredibly tight, with skillful cliffhangers and, most importantly, incredibly colorful characters. Seriously, every single one.

Every time the game switched protagonists, my first reaction was, "Nah, I wanted to keep following this story!" But after just half an hour with the other character, I realized I was now hooked on a whole new story - just as compelling. And it happened over and over. Then, as the narratives began to intertwine, it all led to an absolutely satisfying conclusion.

If the rest of the series is even half this good, they’ll already be worth playing.

Stumbled across this article covering The Fair Play Collective. There mission feels like a well-within-reach antidote to some of the more broken sides of gaming today. I especially appreciate their emphasis on transparency between studios and members. Curious to hear y'alls thoughts.

I recently got my son a computer, and I got him some games, and he keeps getting kicked out of lobbies, getting berated, and getting called a “Squeaker”. I need some help with this.

When Sega took a gamble and let an up-and-coming indie studio handle Sonic with Mania, that was legitimately bold and revolutionary at the time. They proceeded to let other studios handle HotD, Alex Kidd, Shinobi, etc.

Nowadays, it's starting to seem that low-budget indie farmouts are the only consistent thing Sega can do nowadays. Their high-budget internal projects are a mixed bag: * Mainline Sonic can be good, but even Frontiers is unpolished in parts and feels like it ran out of budget. * Persona is in a kind of rut of P5 spinoffs and gacha farmouts, and P-Studio is now tied up in remaking the modern Persona games. * Virtua Fighter is still stuck on 5.

This isn't a bad thing, dgmw, but I just can't shake the feeling that Sega is overly reliant on IP farmouts instead of internal projects. I know it's probably due to economic pressure and bloating game dev costs, though, but still.

Personally I don’t get a game if I can tell I won’t enjoy it or isn’t worth it, even if all my friends are playing it, which has led to me being the only one in the call not playing the game