I think this might be a hot take, but as the cliché goes, please hear me out.

First of all, what I define by “new and radical” is something that is not only significantly different from what we had before, but it must also fulfill another criteria: it must become ubiquitous.

So, for gaming input devices, I would say that what Nintendo tried to do with the Wii didn’t stick. The technology wasn’t new, but its implementation was new and radical. It was a gamble, for sure. I loved it for what it could do (and, honestly, I miss it), but it’s been almost exactly 20 years now, and the Switch 2 has the double joystick, d-pad, ABXY, quadruple shoulder button combo that all other controllers have. That basic form factor is what became ubiquitous. Motion controls didn’t go extinct, but apart from aiming via gyroscopes, they’re not that common. Classic controllers though, they’re here to stay. In fact, in these last years, I’ve seen the market for controllers explode. It’s wild.

What Nintendo did with touch screens on the NDS/3DS did become ubiquitous though (even if they kind of pulled out of it): That input method is what mobile games rely on. Its home hardware are mostly smartphones. What was new and radical about it (and something that Steve Jobs explained well when he introduced the iPhone) is the idea of having one stylus/finger tip as the tool for for the input, and then designing the input methods (swipe, tap, hold, etc.) around it. Again, the technology wasn’t new, but its implementation was a radical departure from conventions at the time, and again, it became ubiquitous. I don’t see smartphones ever going away (or rather, slabs of glass that we swipe, tap, and hold our fingers on).

I think that there was a hot minute there where we all thought that VR was going to become the next big thing. The input for that doesn’t use technology or methods that are radically different from controllers (they are still just buttons, gyroscopes, and accelerometers, as far as I can tell), but combined with the (supposedly) immersive VR experience, they could have made up for a package that feels new and radical, except that... it became a niche, and I don’t see that ever changing. Baring a leap in technology that allows us to instantly plug into The Matrix, without any complicated setup, I don’t see VR becoming important in gaming, even if it becomes significantly cheaper. It’s just not convenient enough, and in the end, I think that convenience is king, and controllers/touch screens are the ultimate convenience.

You may be thinking about what Valve is doing with touch pads, on both the Deck and their new controllers, but I don’t see it catching on (not to mention that it doesn’t really feel all that radical to me). I’d love to be proven wrong (and I know that those touch pads can do way more than just replace a mouse, since they also have “zones” that can be mapped to, etc.), but in the end, I don’t see it replacing the third pillar of gaming input devices: keyboard and mouse. For PC games, especially certain genres, nothing will ever beat the convenience of that combo.

So, for gaming inputs, I think that we have reached the end of the line. If before the end of my time on this earth, something new and radical comes along that becomes ubiquitous, then feel free to come back here and rub it in my face. I’m willing to bet a lot of money that it won’t happen.

Now, let’s have a talk about form factors, or rather, the hardware.

I think that the Switch 1 and the Steam Deck really kicked off a golden age of handhelds. Indeed, it feels to me as if some new handheld device releases every week. It’s absolutely wild. I don’t know what changed since the launch of those two consoles. We’ve had handhelds since... what? The Game & Watch? Maybe earlier? I don’t know, but it’s been decades. Yet only now has the market for them finally grown big, maybe too big.

Why do I say too big? I would like to know why these companies keep developing new models. Are they really selling that many units and making that much profit? If they are, then wow. Good on them. I’m skeptical though. I hope it doesn’t lead to some market crash. I should add that, as someone who feels lukewarm about handheld gaming at best, I don’t understand why they sell so well (again, if they do). Yes, every time I see a new handheld, I want to buy one, just out of FOMO, but look: I have a Switch 2 and I always play it docked.

I had a GBC/GBA/NDS growing... for the sole purpose of playing Pokémon... always at home. With a couple exceptions on the NDS, I never cared for much else outside of that. It may be that I was conditioned to feel this way about handhelds, since my first console was a Nintendo 64. My preferred way to play games, is to comfortably recline on a chair, turn on a TV (the bigger, the better), grab the controller, and play in the comfort of my home.

I cannot relate to people who have the courage to take their $200, $300, $400, $500 (or more expensive) handhelds out into the wild, where they could drop from their hands (I’m very clumsy), get stolen, or worse, only to play on a tiny screen while sitting very uncomfortably. If you do this, please explain to me why you enjoy it. I genuinely don’t understand. I’m scared spitless just from yanking out the Joy-Cons from my Switch 2, let alone unplug it from the dock. I also don’t care much for mobile games for similar reasons: screen too small, games not that interesting for me.

Alas, I have to admit that handhelds have become ubiquitous. I’m not 100% sure, but I think that, as a form factor, they might stay around forever. I don’t think that smartphones, the other form factor that is ubiquitous, are going to completely replace them. Handhelds have the added convenience of analog sticks, buttons, and being gaming-first devices. Smartphones don’t have that.

The third and last ubiquitous form factor would be consoles and PCs. I group them together because I have a feeling that sooner or later consoles are just going to morph into PCs. I don’t know what Nintendo will do though. They seem determined to have complete control over their ecosystem, but that will require them to keep releasing new consoles with walled gardens. Can they become the Apple of gaming? Can they make this business model sustainable in the long term? I’m not 100% sure. Either way, “big, stationary gaming machines” as the third category, are here to stay.

VR could be a new and radical form factor, but for the reasons that I mentioned before, I think it will forever remain a niche. Other than that, I can’t imagine what else we could come up with.

Do you agree? Do you disagree? Do you have a different take? Do you maybe have an idea of what could become ubiquitous in the future? Is there an input device or form factor you’d like to be more commonplace (like Mii with the Wii) or be invented (if it hasn’t been yet)?

Maybe I should reserve this for a different topic later, but I also don’t see video games themselves coming up with any new and radical gameplay mechanics anymore. I think we already have all the genres that we could possible come up with, and everything that feels new is really just a mashup of something that came before, arranged in a way that hadn’t been thought of yet... kinda like music.

Inspired by a youtube video thumbnail I saw saying "Which Link would function the best in society?" I didn't watch the video, but that did get me thinking to how weird player characters can behave. You know, with all the walking into strangers' houses, constantly crouching and jumping while moving, breaking any containers we see in hopes of loot, using special powers for silly things... Destroying stuff just for the heck of it...

So! Here's my extended question: how long would a society comprised mainly of video game protagonists last? And I mean protagonists who behave the way players make them behave, not just how they're written by the story. And that includes still having all potential powers.

Can be based on specific past playthroughs, could just be generalizations of how they're typically played. How many protagonist characters could actually hold down proper jobs without getting fired? Who would be able to avoid causing heavy destruction in daily life? Or get arrested fastest?

How long would they be able to put up with other protagonists' weirdness before snapping and starting a city-wide battle?

In the past couple of weeks I've recently watched some console retrospective videos while doing some chores (Liam Triforce's videos on the PS2 and Dreamcast).

It got me curious if anyone would be interested in discussion/retrospective threads on the different console generations/consoles?

I was thinking about using the Wikipedia page for the history of video game consoles to guide this, and potentially adding in some threads for different stages of PC gaming (i.e. decade or 5 year periods).

If there is interest I was thinking of having this be a weekly post. I'd love feedback on which consoles to cover/how granular this would be.
I.e. would it be better to discuss all of a generation's consoles in one thread or separate threads.

Some sample questions I thought of for different consoles:

• What was your favorite memory of this console?
• Favorite/least favorite game on the console?
• "Hidden" games you've played that you think could use more attention?
• Have you gone back to play games on this console or do you still play this games on this console regularly?
• Do you have the console physically or do you emulate the console?
• Are there any region specific games that you wished had been brought to your region, and if there are have any of them been fan translated?
• Are there any interesting tidbits you'd like to share about the console? This could be from promotional campaigns, development stories, fun facts.

I don't play as many new games as I used to, but I've also realized there are tons of games on the consoles I did play that I have never heard of or got the experience to play and would love to go back and try them. I've also seen some channels where people try to play every game on a console which sounds like an interesting experience, especially the guy who is trying to play all 4,000+ PS2 games that were released!

I've been getting more suggested game trailers on youtube and have been surprised by the number of "knock off" games. I've seen three different versions of Dregde (a game I absolutely adore) and a number that seem to be mimicking Hollow Knight. I don't even mean just like fishing or rogue like games, I mean like full on knock-offs.

I get the niche they fill, but I'm kind of curious about the ethics of it. Like, I would love to play more dredge but it doesn't appear more is on the way. But I also don't really want to support a company that is just completely ripping off everything from mechanics to art. Like this game seemingly took the actual artwork from Dredge. As a developer I think I'd be pretty pissed.

Is this really common and I'm just learning about it now? Is it the video game equivalent of Atlantic Rim? Where do people stand on playing these kind of knock off games?

Was listening to the new album by Young the Giant, and there is a sampled quote that I recognize that I cannot place. The song is: This Too Shall Pass (YouTube link to song), and they use it right in the opening.

The sample in it's entirety is:

"There's a new and strange environment at first

Just suddenly finding yourself in orbit"

According to this article, it is from a NASA video archive of the moon landing. So my question is, is there an easy way to search the use of this specific sample, to figure out who else used it to help me figure out why I recognize it? If you recognize the quote, feel free to comment where you recognize the sample from, and maybe it is the same place I recognize it from

There are plenty of video reviews of this car out there from people who do it for a living, but I'm not a car influencer or anything like that, I'm just an enthusiast who bought this car with my own money and wanted to give some real impressions for other enthusiasts out there.

Long ago Subaru made a Forester XT that was more or less a de-tuned STI engine in a compact SUV and it was AWESOME. I had an 04 XT that was turbo-swapped, with race exhaust, it was a very quick car and other than getting terrible gas mileage, burning oil, and eventually imploding the transfer shaft in the transmission, it was pretty great. In the ensuing years Subaru pulled out of WRC, killed the STI, and stopped putting turbos on everything (shame). While the hot hatch market has kept up to an extent, the crossover/smaller SUV performance market more or less died entirely.

Fast forward to 2023, I purchase a new Ioniq 5 to replace our BMW 3 series before our kiddo is born, since it's easier to get the car seat in and out etc with a higher vehicle(if it'd have even fit in the 3 series at all). And it's.....great, they are awesome cars, and changing to an EV was not a big deal at all, we mostly charge at home, but the overall build quality of the Ioniq 5 is really quite good, and it's a well put together car, there's a reason it's won many awards since release, outside of the ICCU roulette(which nobody seems to know whether you will or won't be affected, we haven't, knock on wood).

As things go, at some point I start wanting another enthusiast vehicle, my friends and family have stayed car people the whole time, and there's only so much envy you can have when you see Corvettes, 911s, etc, fast is fun. Well Hyundai releases the Ioniq 5N, the legally distinct M5 Estate, the Great Value Urus. And I happen to find one for a good price, and with another kid on the way, I really still can't have a 2 door sports car, it needs to fit a car seat(or two) and well, if having one of a car is good, having two of a car must be....gooder?

I don't need to tell you about all the weird quirks etc about the 5N, every single youtube video goes over this, it's pointless to rehash. What you need to know: holy fuck this car is fast, if you have been in fast cars, or hot hatches, or supercharged trucks, or tuned builds, I assure you it is likely faster. Over 600hp with minimal losses and a single gear transmission, AWD, and large summer tires will do that. The only car faster I've regularly driven is a 992.1 Turbo S, which is a stupid fast car that it's wild they sell to the general public, but those cost $250k, this costs $68k (or the aforementioned ICCU issues, there is quite a few lemons for far less, and those have pushed the clean titled, low mileage used down as well) so you can very easily pick up a 600hp, practical hatchback, for around 50k or less if you want a buyback. That is an absolutely, tremendously insane value. And yes, we all know EVs are fast, but the suspension setup, the grippy tires, and the additional chassis work they did makes it suspiciously capable to cornering, it corners better than many sports cars stock, which should not happen in a 4800lb SUV, wtf.

So then: is the 5N worth it over the normal 5? If you do not want an enthusiast vehicle, no it's not. Especially in the US market, the 5N loses amenities that it gets in other markets, or that are on the Limited trim of the base version: no HUD (Boo), no heated rear seats or sunshades (Boo) and no sunroof option(idc). The Limited trim seats are also much more comfortable for long drives, and you have the relax/recline function for charging stations. The 5N bucket seats are perfectly comfortable, they are actually great for the car, but I had to drive the car back 250miles and it was fine, but it would have been better in the default seats. Other downsides: the range is TRASH, expect 200miles at full charge max, 10% of battery buys you 20miles, the car is on fatter, larger wheels, with lots of additional cooling for performance, and you WILL want to drive it like a lunatic because the car BEGS you to. I wouldn't recommend this car as a first performance vehicle for someone, it's just too fast. Nobody should go from a normal car to a car that runs an 11.1 quarter mile bone stock.

On all the N options: I basically never use the e-shift, I don't care, I like not having gears, it's what you'd want in any car if you could get away with it. Shifting is vestigial, and while I can understand coming from manuals, people like the sensation, it's kind of fun, but I like going fast, and I want the cars full power as much as possible, but it's there if you want it. I really like the N-Pedal, I absolutely adore one pedal driving, and while I usually use the max default regen, the N-Pedal cranks that even more, and a quirk is that, because it's intended for track use, N-Pedal won't bring you to a complete stop the way that max regen in default will, I wish they'd change that honestly. Dynamics wise, this car has a rear power bias, and if you make a turn and punch the gas you WILL kick the ass out, especially in N mode(which is basically how I have the car every time I drive it, with everything in Sport+ except ESC in sport not off, and suspension in normal (sport+ suspension is harsh)) so it is far livelier than any other EV with big HP and accel numbers out there. And while again, it is not light at 4800lbs, considering the new M5 weighs nearly 6000, there's no shortage of large and heavy performance vehicles these days.

So yeah, I've had the car for several months now, and really enjoy it, and wanted to share my own opinions with you all, for the price to performance ratio of this car is truly, truly stupid, and you're not sacrificing practicality for it. One of the first things I did was throw a car seat in the back, and it's got enough boot space to put my kid's huge wagon+anything else. You really can't buy anything at all comparable for less than double or triple the price. Downside is that there simply isn't that many 5Ns that were allocated to dealers, and at the beginning they were charging over MSRP for them because they could. AND there's no telling that the ICCU may or may not fail, and it'll brick your car if it's not fixed, so that's a downside, that said, going back to the title of this whole post, my Suburu XT also exploded it's transmission and couldn't drive anywhere afterwards either, at least the ICCU is under warranty for a while, and I went through I think 3-4 high pressure fuel pumps on my first gen 335i, too.

We don't have a ~cars area, so hopefully hobbies is the right place, cheers.

Introduction

I consider myself an author. Not that I have ever published anything that I have written.

If I'm not mixing up my timelines, Sid Meier's Pirates! was the basis of my second unfinished novel. It was the story of a 17th century French sailor, thrust into the world of piracy as he searched for his long-lost family while trying to acquire a new one by courting the beautiful daughter of the mayor of Caracas. In the end, the only family that he managed to find was the band of rowdy pirates that he captained across the Caribbean.

This might sound like a good story, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't. I would have been ten, maybe nine years old at the time. I knew very little about family dysfunction, romantic love, or the age of piracy. I understood next to nothing about the demands of narrative style or structure. I simply played the game on my Commodore 64 and wrote down what was happening to me.

So, Sid Meier's Pirates! has been a fairly big part of my life. I have not only played the game (many times), but I have spent a considerable amount of time thinking about it. I could even say that, through the act of creative imagination, I have lived it. It is certainly part of my identity.

And yet, I have never finished the game. Just like my early novel's fictional French captain, I have never found all of the missing family members. And while I have retired many of my characters, I have never been hugely successful in the outcome. I have never reached an ending that I would consider definitive.

Just like I have never published anything that I have written.

And this is exactly the type of game that Pirates! is. It is an open world game in the truest sense of the word: it gives you a world to live in, to sail in, to plunder and fight in, to look for treasure and lost family members in, to court beautiful daughters in and to change the course of colonial history in. But it doesn't give you any definitive goal. The journey in Pirates! matters far more than the destination. Because there really is no destination.

Just like in my writing.

Or perhaps also in life, you could say?

The Gameplay Loop

Sid Meier's Pirates! is a collection of systems that harmonise rather beautifully. It is one of my favourite game designs.

You start by selecting the era in which you want to play, a choice that determines what the world looks like and how it behaves, and some details about your character. You are then given a ship and a crew, and off you go. You can read the incredibly detailed manual, and you really should because it's wonderful, but you don't have to. It's quite an intuitive game.

Your crew expects you to provide for them. Their loyalty is for the plunder and the plunder alone, and it is up to you to make them rich. If you don't have enough gold for them, they will begin to mutiny. The bigger your crew is the easier it is for you to plunder, but the more of them there are, the smaller each individual member's cut is, and therefore the unhappier they are. And the longer you wait until you divide the gold with them, the less happy they will be with you. There is this constant push and pull, which is at the heart of many of the game's systems.

And here is the catch: every time you divide the plunder, time progresses. The game gets more difficult, not only because you can change your difficulty level at this juncture, and not just because you lose much of your crew and fleet, but because your characters ages. And the older you are, the more difficult fighting becomes. Them old bones won't be so flexible.

You cannot die, though. If you are captured at any point, you go to the gallows. It's not game over, but you lose possessions and time, as you age in prison.

And at some point, you will just be too old. Continuing the life of a pirate makes sense no more. Age has defeated you. Piracy is a young man's game and it is time for you to retire. And when that happens, the game looks at your possessions and other accomplishments, and tells you what your character's life in retirement will look like.

Within this overall frame, the game loop itself is basically a collection of mini-games: navigating the Caribbean winds, making decisions in towns, arcade-style ship combat, a light strategy game for land battles, a fighting game for sword fights. And, in a later edition, a rhythm game for dancing that many didn't warm to. You can look at maps and search for lost treasures, hunt for other pirates, do heists on silver trains (for some reason removed from later editions), build your reputation, court governors' daughters, conquer cities, trade goods, micro-manage your fleet and crew, and so on.

Underneath it all, most events are random, which makes each time you play the game unique. This includes everything from smaller details to the larger geopolitical reality that is happening around you in the Caribbean. Nations go to war, make peace with each other, cities change hands, all without caring one bit about your plans or needs.

It really is as close to a perfect game that I can think of.

History, Versions & Availability

Sid Meier's Pirates! was designed and programmed by the industry legend that is Sid Meier. Although Meier was a co-founder of MicroProse and had already created around twenty games, Pirates! was the first game to feature his name in the title; something that comedian Robin Williams had apparently suggested that they should do. Or alternatively, as Meier himself remembers, the marketing department came up with the idea to try to get people who loved Meier's flight simulators to give a chance for this otherwise impossible-to-sell pirate game that Meier had insisted on creating. Whatever the reason, it started a trend. Later on, we would get titles like Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon, Sid Meier's Gettysburg!, Sid Meier's SimGolf, Sid Meier's Starships, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Sid Meier's Colonization and, most famously, a game and series called Sid Meier's Civilization. Not all of them always led by Meier, but always given his stamp of approval.

The game was something of a departure for the designer, as he had mainly worked on flight simulators and other war games until then. Interestingly, Meier programmed most of the game in BASIC, which means that a lot of the code for the original Commodore 64 version is openly readable. If you'd like to learn more, this 8-Bit Show And Tell video is a really interesting dive into the code.

Platforms & Versions:

Sid Meier's Pirates! has had a long history after its initial Commodore 64 release. I personally count five major versions and say that you can decide which one you want to play based on which version of our previous pirate game, The Secret of Monkey Island, you preferred:

• Sid Meier's Pirates! (1987, Commodore 64 and others, sailing screenshot, governor screenhot, duelling screenshot): This is the original game and, for me, the "authentic" Pirates! experience, if played on the C64. But of course it is, because this is the version I grew up with. The art design is minimalistic, clean and crisp. It is also the blockiest of the versions. Choose this if you, like me, insisted on the original EGA (or CGA!) version of The Secret of Monkey Island without voice acting. A DOS port of this is included in the Pirates! Gold Plus release, where you will probably want to choose EGA graphics, even if the loading screen is in CGA. Make also note of the "Pirates! Cheat Sheet" pdf file in your game's bonus content directory, as you'll need those dates to answer the copy protection question correctly.
• Pirates! (1990, Amiga and others, sailing screenshot, governor screenshot, duelling screenshot): This isn't really a different version as much as a port. I don't think Meier had much personal input on this one. It's quite similar to the original but with softer graphics designed for more developed systems. Some like them, I'm sort of ok with them. Consider this if you chose the updated VGA version of The Secret of Monkey Island without voice acting. Although I don't think this one is on sale anywhere.
• Pirates! Gold (1993, DOS and others, sailing screenshot, governor screenshot, duelling screenshot: This is a full remake with improved graphics and tweaked gameplay, again without Sid Meier leading the development. Play this if you went through The Secret of Monkey Island with the VGA graphics and voice acting. Many seem to consider this the definite experience, but I don't quite see the allure myself as in many ways it sits a little uncomfortably between the purity of the original and the modernisation of the 2004 remake. This is inluced in the Pirates! Gold Plus release.
• Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004, Windows and consoles, sailing screenshot, governor screenshot, duelling screenshot): Subtitled Live the Life, this is a full Sid Meier helmed remake (notice that his name is again part of the title) that streamlined the game, made it more modern, switched to 3D rendered graphics, added some story bits, and notoriously introduced a dancing mini game. I think it's ok, although I feel some of the identity and charm was lost with the newer cartoony graphics and sounds. In this one, I sadly don't taste the saltiness of the sea anymore. It feels more like a game. But you may want to choose this if you were happy to play the remastered edition of The Secret of Monkey Island with its new graphical style and streamlined user interface.
• Sid Meier's Pirates! Mobile (2008, mobiles): This is a mobile port that I don't think is available any more and that I have never played. I think it's largely based on the 2004 remake?

Genre(s):

Open world, action-adventure, strategy, Sid Meier

Links:

• Moby Games (1987 version)
• Moby Games (1993 version)
• Moby Games (2004 version)
• Wikipedia (1987 version)
• Wikipedia (1993 version)
• Wikipedia (2004 version)

Stores:

• Steam - Pirates! Gold Plus (1987 & 1993) (on sale until May 3rd!)
• Steam - Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004)
• GOG - Pirates! Gold Plus (1987 & 1993)
• GOG - Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004)

Game Setup

The main purpose of this topic is to get people up and running with the game. As such, it's recommended that you:

• Share which version of the game you're playing

• Share what hardware you're playing it on

• Share if there are any tools/mods that you recommend

• Share anything you think is important for people to know before they start the game

• Ask questions if you need help

Another purpose of this topic is to revisit the game and its time period:

• Do you have any memories or associations with this game itself?

• What about its system or era?

• What aspects of retro gaming were common at the time?

• What other games from the same time period are you familiar with?

• What are you expecting from this game in particular?

Finally, this topic is the beginning discussion for people starting to play it:

• Post updates sharing your thoughts as you play.

• Ask for help if you get stuck.

• Offer help to others.

It is recommended that you reply to your own posts if you are making consecutive updates so that they are in the same thread.

Important

• Any links to the game should be legal distributions of the game only. Please do NOT link to any unauthorized copies.

• Put any spoilers in a dropdown block. Copy/paste the block below if needed.

<details>

<summary>Spoilers</summary>

Spoiler text goes here.

</details>

FAQ