MeltedJoystick.com Gaming Blog

China Being China

Sun, 10 Nov 2019 15:20:13 -0500

This week, news broke that China will be implementing strict new regulations on videogame playing for minors. These regulations include a 90 minute/day gaming quota on schooldays, an online gaming curfew of 10:00PM every night, and a micro/macro-transaction budget of $57USD equivalent/month, as relayed by th...

Reports of Kotaku’s Demise are (Unfortunately) Greatly Exaggerated

Sun, 03 Nov 2019 14:54:23 -0500

This week, all gamers who place themselves further Right on the socio-political spectrum than ‘Woke Black Gay Trans-Woman’ were treated to a string of rumors and speculation that Kotaku, the formerly-Gawker Media-owned, formerly beating-heart of onli...

Backlog: The Embiggening – November, 2019

Sun, 27 Oct 2019 16:31:37 -0500

Alas, in this world of corporate corruption where our government by-and-for the People is railed against by our own politicians, who inform us that “private” ownership puts things in the hands of the people, whereas “public” ownership puts things in the hands of some evil, bureaucratic entity (when, in reality, that’s the exact opposite of the Truth), it’s no surprise that November i...

Fear and Loathing

Sun, 20 Oct 2019 16:31:09 -0500

With Halloween – the Druidic celebration co-opted by both the Catholic Church and American Consumerism over the centuries – just around the corner, it’s impossible to step into any public space without seeing its festive trappings everywhere, as people revel in the indulgence of the supernatu...

Can Anyone Legitimize Mobile Gaming?

Sun, 13 Oct 2019 15:08:39 -0500

Mobile gaming is a massive, multi-billion dollar industry, yet it has been a plague upon the world since its very inception. While a few Japanese developers, like my once-beloved Square-Enix, tried to migrate traditional gaming to the mobile space of...

Five Inscrutable Things the Games Industry Still Does in 2019

Sun, 06 Oct 2019 16:31:43 -0500

5. Draconian DRM and Treating Customers Like Criminals It’s the eternal tug-o-war between corporations and customers. No matter how many studies, or sales models, or anything else rooted in facts proves that anti-piracy measures accomplish nothing, and that giving...

Backlog: The Embiggening – October, 2019

Sun, 29 Sep 2019 16:04:18 -0500

Welcome back to another look into the near future! October is just around the corner, and that means Halloween has already been on the public’s mind for… err… two months. But still, October is the month for scaring the crap out of each other, and the overwhelming number of upcoming releases certainly has me unnerved. Especially due to the continuing trend of shovelware and ports domi...

The ONLY 3 Subscriptions Worth a Damn

Sun, 22 Sep 2019 15:17:43 -0500

Oh, great. This week Apple Computer announced that they will be adding yet another subscription gaming service to the ever-increasing pile, alongside the likes of Microsoft Gamepass, EA Access, Uplay+, Google Stadia, PlayStation+, and Nintendo’s thing. The sad part is, no matter what each company’s force of deluded fanboys might spout in the feverish midst of their White Knighting and/or shil...

Fragmenting Digital Ecosystems Re-Open the Sea Lanes for Pirates

Sun, 15 Sep 2019 15:42:06 -0500

When Electronic Arts and Ubisoft launched their respective digital storefronts, launchers, and gaming clients in 2011/2012, they, in essence, created a wedge. When lumberjacks use wedges, it’s to amplify mechanical force and split a single large log into two (or more) smaller portions. Most recently, Epic Games has donned the plaid flannel shirt and stocking cap of legend, shoving their own wed...

Vaguely Related: The Hurto Diet

Sun, 08 Sep 2019 16:01:37 -0500

MeltedJoystick’s favorite fur-bearing creature, Chris (a.k.a., Hurto, a.k.a., THEdisgruntleddwarf), has been on a low-carb, low-sugar ‘keto’ diet for a few months. On this diet, he must refrain from eating most staple foods, which all contain tons of carbohydrates, incl...