The Future of Gaming is Now

Every week I'll be here to reveal and review some of my favorite moments from the internet. Whether it be binge-ing television shows, streaming sports or simply getting lost in a YouTube rabbit hole, I'm here to give you my top picks every Friday, as well as the perfect pairing to get into an optimal headspace for them. 

This week, we're exploring the future of gaming with virtual reality, Nintendo's new Switch hybrid console, and other odds and ends from around the net.

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Virtual Reality Fails 

Recommended Pairing: Crystal Pepsi with a Zima back.

Now that we have a week away from political madness, we're going to try and have some fun by taking a look at the exciting (and possibly stupid) virtual world we're about to enter. Google is sending me one of their VR headsets and I'm strangely pumped up about the whole thing*.

 

Look, I know VR technology isn't exactly new. I was one of the few kids who saved up to buy the goddamn Nintendo Power glove and was immediately crushed when Little Mac couldn't get past Glass Joe with the piece of shit slipped over my fists.

 

Anyone who ever tried using the Power Glove knows the brutal sting of a gadget letting you down completely. You wanted to fuse with the character on screen. You wanted your movements to sync. You expected a virtual reality in which the barrier between yourself and the hero onscreen became blurred. Instead, every fool with that shitty plastic glove ended up just holding it in their hands and using it like a regular controller. The Wizard promised us the ability to become one with those pixels blaring out from our old cathode ray television sets. Fuck. Fred. Savage. What a waste of money... 

 

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As far as I'm concerned the only piece virtual technology from the past worth a damn was the ViewMaster from the early '80s.   No not that one. Wait. They rebooted the ViewMaster? Cool.   Nothing will beat the classic, though. Weird depth of field stereoscopic images you churned through by pulling a lever. It wasn't a very lifelike reality you glimpsed into, it was more of a lucid nightmare world. As a kid, I loved them even though they kind of freaked me out.  

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In the '90s we were constantly promised virtual reality was just around the corner.   We had (or at least were promised)...   The SEGA VR



The Nintendo Virtual Boy:

  Random arcade equipment like Virtuality:

 

And of course, the best thing to come out of the '90s virtual Reality craze, The Lawnmower Man:

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Currently, we have the technology to finally get things going in the virtual reality industry. All of the major gaming and media players are on board, and we're getting a substantial push for content and an eventual front runner. 

We still have some fails, but they're operator error, which is hilarious. I could watch these all day.

 

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The Nintendo Switch 

Recommended Pairing: Magic mushrooms and a metro pass.

As I mentioned before, I was raised on Nintendo. (Yes, I went for the SEGA Genesis instead of the Super Nintendo, but that had more to do with all of my other friends already having the SNES and having plenty of access. Also, no censored blood in Mortal Kombat!)

I'm not much of a gamer. I still prefer classic games or indie throwback games when I get a chance to play — with the occasional eight-hour binge of Franchise Mode in each new Madden.

 

This video has me considering my disposable income, though:

 

Here they go again. This seems like a fresh take on the concept of a gaming console. I'm actually really intrigued with the idea of the simplified gameplay when you snap off the little side controllers and hold them sideways. It brings me back to the days of fighting with my sister over who had to be Luigi when we would play two-player Mario Bros. (For the record, the cool kids played as Luigi).

 

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Nintendo has a knack for just making games that are fun to play. Hell, I played more Mario Kart and Wii Golf than anything else in the last decade. I honestly never could get into first person shooters, (it ruined Metroid for me) and I have zero interest in killing people in realistic simulated battles. For me, a game doesn't have to look real, it has to be fun. I mean, isn't that the difference between the Polar Express and any Pixar movie?

Also, I don't like to just sit on the couch and play cause I have a tendency to just lose a whole day. But now you're telling me I can dick around with new hugely expansive Mario and Zelda games while I'm taking the light rail or a dump at work?

 

Awesome!

 

I mean look at this shit:

 

It almost seems like you could get lost in that world without having to drape huge goggles over your stupid face. That being said, if I could play through the original Metroid in virtual reality, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Even if it meant I might look like any of these idiots.

 

'Til next week.

Wanna see more of my favorite innerwebs finds? You can read the full "Mike's Favorite Things on the Innerwebs" series right here.

 

 

*Yes I am required to check out and review VR Porn literally the second my Google Daydream headset arrives.

 

from Myspace - Editorial http://ift.tt/2eDMkJU