Time to play?

CiDeRmAn

I'm not as young as I used to be and, though my free time hasn't changed that much, I find myself watching Netflix or something I've downloaded instead of a spot of videogames.
And when I do play games it winds up being on a current system.

How does this break down for the rest of you?

What factors are skewing your gaming hobby ?

delly

Up until I got into fortnite, my last gaming binge was BF3, before that was company of heroes. I tend to stick with something for a few years, but may have a year of very little play in between. I am into Pokemon go, but don't really count that as gaming.

With fortnite currently, I'll put a couple of hours play on most evenings, but I am not actually in a position to start until 10:30/11:00. Unless there is something really compelling to watch, I don't really have much interest in Netflix or other movies/series. I know the buzz from a good game won't last forever, so can always catchup on watching stuff later.

Just to add, I hit 40 this year and my gaming PC is also aging, so I'm lucky to be able to play anything on it tbh. I've always been a PC gamer though and remember staying up until 3 in the morning when I was 14/15 playing civilization. God knows what I'll be playing when I'm 60!

CiDeRmAn

I used to wonder at those with epic unplayed collections on Steam, and then they'd continue to buy more as sales and long awaited early access titles would pop up.

And now I have a PS digital collection of some 260 titles....
Eejit.

Doge

Ascensi0n seems to be one of the few that actually sits down and and finishes retro games on this forum. Oh if only to have that commitment.

o1s1n

'Alexa, turn on arcade'

/20-30 minutes playing some arcade games.

'Alexa turn off arcade'

Seems to be about the most I can muster these days. Any time I play console games I end up spending most of the time tweaking CRT pots

DaveyDave

I work 12 hour shifts, 4 days on 4 days off. While I have plenty of time for gaming on my days off, I don't play much. I often throw on YouTube or spend too much time browsing Reddit on my phone. When I do want to play something I'm usually in a fussy mood and don't know what to play.

I have a lot of quality content available on YouTube but I need to save it for the night/weekend shifts and be more 'productive' with my days off.

I'm getting a pretty big backlog at this point. While I'm enjoying Shenmue at the moment I'm barely into Doom, haven't finished LA Noire or Burnout remasters and haven't touched Wolfenstein II which I got last year. That's excluding games I haven't finished like Mad Max, Fallout 4 or Trials Fusion. I also have games I basically haven't played such as Heavy Rain/Beyond Two Souls and Metro Redux.

There's some retro games like Splatterhouse and Moonwalker that I've never finished and of course games I still like to play through like Streets of Rage 2. I just need to sit down and start playing stuff! I actually find the games I play randomly are the most fun. I have an itch for Streets of Rage and yet I couldn't be bothered playing it but when I randomly threw in Driveclub during the snow or Trials Fusion the other day I really got into them.

CiDeRmAn

I suppose it's a bit of discipline.
Years ago it was mustered when faced with a cake of CDrs and a modded PS/DC, now it's the lifetime of gaming goodness upstairs and trying to find the bottle to play, say, Virtual Racing on the 32X instead of another game of Solitaire on my phone with Killjoys on in the background!

delly

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I suppose it's a bit of discipline.
Years ago it was mustered when faced with a cake of CDrs and a modded PS/DC, now it's the lifetime of gaming goodness upstairs and trying to find the bottle to play, say, Virtual Racing on the 32X instead of another game of Solitaire on my phone with Killjoys on in the background!

Ah, see you have an abundance of options, which makes it harder knowing it's just a few steps away, whereas with me it's the lonely pc.

Funny actually that I didn't think of saying it, but Dave mentioned youtube and with podcasts in general, they also they take up some time for me. When I'm playing id have the laptop on streaming Joe Rogan live on YouTube. I can't actually remember the last time I watched a transmitted program on tv, if it wasn't for the kids channels, I'd probably cancel the subscription.

BGOllie

o1s1n wrote: »

'Alexa, turn on arcade'

/20-30 minutes playing some arcade games.

'Alexa turn off arcade'

Seems to be about the most I can muster these days. Any time I play console games I end up spending most of the time tweaking CRT pots

funny enough the only regular playing I get to do is the arcade machines. once or twice a week we get into the room, 1 credit each game and call it a night. still it gets regular play
other than that between the yt channels, diy jobs and other sports hobbies I don't do much playing. couple of ps4 session once or twice a month ; finished god of war recently which is a first in a while.
Fixing my vs0080 monitors though I plugged in the ps1 so I finally get to play the collection in 30 mins increments

um7y1h83ge06nx

The biggest change for many in terms of time for gaming, including myself, is having a child.

I reckon these days I only play games for about 3 hours a week max. To fill the void I'm listening to a lot more gaming podcasts in the car and watching some game related YouTube channels.

I'm not going to be an early adopter next gen, will sit back, see what happens and buy one console. Right now I have a PS4 and Xbox One that was bought pre baby and a Switch that I got at Christmas. They really are not getting the time.

Inviere

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

And now I have a PS digital collection of some 260 titles....

Serious question... Is it a concern for you to consider Sony may at some stage pull the plug on live services for those systems, leaving your digital purchases lost to the ether.

Or, would you envisage they'll make said purchases available to you on successor systems (if they're compatible).

CiDeRmAn

Inviere wrote: »

Serious question... Is it a concern for you to consider Sony may at some stage pull the plug on live services for those systems, leaving your digital purchases lost to the ether.

Or, would you envisage they'll make said purchases available to you on successor systems (if they're compatible).

I have been raising that question since digital marketplaces have been a thing, especially on such closed systems as consoles.
All it takes is Sega to lose the Ferrari licence and bang goes ongoing access to Outrun HD... though I can still download it from the XBLA servers as I bought it at the time.
It's the argument for physical copies over digital.
But then, physical formats will only be accessible as long as you own a system that can run it.

So far Sony and MS have been pretty good, with titles appearing across formats being downloadable for the new without a new purchase... mostly.
I still paid a few euro to play Resident Evil 4 on my PS4 recently....

Nintendo seem to be happy to buck this customer friendly trait and charge me again for Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64... as they know I will pay it...

CosmicSmash

I find myself playing the older consoles more than anything these days, I've held off buying any of the current consoles apart from the Switch. I'd say I'd get about eight to ten hours in over the course of the week. I'm home by 3.30pm most days so it gives me a chance to get some game time in if I've nothing else on, everything's set up in the kitchen so that does make it easier too.

The Last Bandit

Kids are an absolute time sink. Probably 9pm before they're all locked away comfortably in their cages and up for work at 6am doesn't leave a lot of spare time

The Switch and GPD have been great for me, can manage a few hours a week with those handhelds, main consoles haven't had a proper seeing-too in ages..

um7y1h83ge06nx

This generations great implementation of rest/sleep mode is great. Quick to pick up and quick to put down, ideal for a busy lifestyle or if you have kids.

I hope I always have some time for games, I love the escapism and find it a great way to unwind. I doubt at 35 now I'll ever get sick of games.

Jack burton

I still love playing games. Literally don't have enough hours to get through what I want. Between work, my dogs, my farm, designing on the PC, Lazer steak stuff, trying to get to training at least twice a week and my wife being 9 months pregnant at the moment gaming time is pretty slim.

I do get the odd hour out in my garage but I usually play some pinball for the time.

Doge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IjLXvxFiMc

accensi0n

Doge wrote: »

Ascensi0n seems to be one of the few that actually sits down and and finishes retro games on this forum. Oh if only to have that commitment.

Ah I'm just the only one coming on here fishing for 'thanks'

DaveyDave

A friend of mine borrowed the PS4 for Spiderman so I'll have plenty of time for retro games in the next 2 weeks. I don't think I've activated my Xbox Game Pass yet but I don't need to play anything new as I have plenty of unfinished games.

I have week off at the end of this month, so this should lead to some progress across various systems!

Chris_Heilong

I tinker with my systems or emulators and rarely have time to play, most of the time if I push myself to actually start a game I will finish it but I have put 156 hours into Monster Hunter World which is more time than I have played anything Retro in the last 2 years combined. I still try to find time to play Street Fighter 2 Hyper fighting when ever my brothers come over.

o1s1n

Managing an hour or two of Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers on the 3DS before I drift off at night.

It's a remake of a Saturn game so that counts

I don't know about you guys, maybe it's an age thing or I need glasses, but anytime I play a game with lots of text (or read a book for that matter) I end up drifting off to sleep.

Playing through the Jake Hunter games was a constant battle with my eyelids!