rootwork v0.2

I seem to go through cycles with gaming. I'll get fixated on a title or genre and put it down for a while. Occasionally some friends will pick up a title or platform and I'll dive into it with them and then abandon it. Coming off of my Classic DOOM binge last year, I figured this would be a year when I walked away from gaming again for a while. It seems as if the opposite has happened: this year has been full of games.

Last year I had purchased a Steam Deck, hoping to find more time to play but it was large and unwieldy. I carried it to two countries and three states, barely touching it the entire time. I tend to play games at my desk so it was docked most of the time anyhow. I sold it and purchased an Xbox Series S, which was my introduction to Cloud Gaming.

The idea of streaming games is not something I would have ever thought I'd enjoy but it's been very convenient. I had to travel a lot for my last job and it meant I had my Game Pass titles with me just about anywhere I had a solid Internet connection. I have some cognitive dissonance with this. On one hand I like to own my media. On the other hand I don't like physical clutter and I rarely replay AAA games.

On the Xbox, I have been playing Battlefield 2042 very consistently. Early in the year I was playing EA FC 24 but found it to be too much like a slot machine so I abandoned it for eFootball. I also played a bit of Forza and a couple of the COD titles. I generally only played those because friends were playing them and didn't care for them much. Battlefield seems to get the lion's share of my Xbox time. Aside from that, I've enjoyed some of the old Xbox 360 titles, especially Ikaruga and SEGA Bass Fishing.

Game Pass lead me to GeForce Now when a sale was available mid-summer. I paid for a six month subscription and this gave me access to part of my modest Steam library as well as the PC Game Pass side of things. I don't use GFN as much as I would like to and I may not renew it unless I can get another sale. I think this is mostly a matter of limited free time.

Installing Bazzite on my desktop made PC gaming a little easier. Steam was preconfigured along with a host of other useful gaming utilities. I spent this time to dive into shmups like DoDonPachi Ressurection and Danmaku Unlimited 3, trying hard for a 1CC of the latter. I also occasionally enjoy playing Into The Breach or the wonderfully janky title Combat Master.

Speaking of shmups, I have found a renewed interest in them this year and play them nearly as much as I play Battlefield 2042. It seems to kick up some teenage arcade nostalgia. I got my first 1CC ever this year and it was on Ketsui Deathtiny on the PS4. I did purchase physical media in this case and had a copy imported from Japan. I have also been making some progress on completing Ketsui Death Label on my modded 2DS. That has been a great pick up and go title. I hope to pick up the DDP port on the PS4 in the coming months.

On the modded 2DS I also like to play Bangai-o Spirits and Kokuga. While not traditional shmups, they are quite fun. Infrequently, I played IronFall, PES 2013 (I picked this cart up for $5!), Ghost Recon Shadow Wars, and Fire Emblem Awakening. This has been a great little device for kicking back on the couch or for travel.

I have enjoyed emulation a great deal this year as well. I will occasionally use Emudeck and ES-DE on my desktop but I really find it to be more comfortable to play on my phone by way of Lemuroid. While it lacks some emulators, Lemuroid is a very nice low-fuss way to jump into some games. Titles I've frequented include: Sensible Soccer (Genesis), Batsugun, MUSHA, Dariusburst (PSP), Einhander, and Gran Turismo.

Speaking of the phone, I also do some mobile gaming. I quite enjoy eFootball during some spare moments, especially when they have score attack events or crossovers with manga titles. I play Project Bloodstrike with a friend in Brazil, which is a nice CoD Mobile clone. I enjoy Pulstar and Blazing Star from the SNK Collection. Once in a while I'll get a wild hair and play SoTN until it gets frustrating.

This year (and I suppose part of last year), I've really noticed my preference on input has changed dramatically. I used to love keyboard and mouse for most games. Due to my arthritis and perhaps improvements in controller technology, I vastly prefer controllers to the rodent and digits approach. I have especially enjoyed options from GameSir. I could write an entire post about their offerings if I had the energy.

On the Xbox I like to use the GameSir G7 or the Xbox Elite Controller. They each have their advantages but they're wildly different from one another. I tried to use the Elite with my phone but found that balancing two devices was a bit odd. For the phone, I purchased a GameSir X2 Pro but found I couldn't play modern games with it because it hurt my hands. It was fair for more arcade style titles, though. I have generally replaced that with a GameSir G8+ and find it very comfortable despite some sensitivity issues with the sticks. For shmups I use the original Hori Fighting Commander (the one that looks like a SEGA controller) and more recently I've started using a Haute42 T16 leverless controller. It's been a bit awkward but it feels great on the hands and it is super responsive.