Activision. Leading the trend of despicable and shady practices that are destroying gaming.

[Twilight Hue]

They were using all sorts of shady tactics prior to the patent information that was recently discovered exposing Activision to this low level of manipulating people out of their money.

The thing I hate about the whole thing as these Shady tactics came right over from phone apps, now they're invading consoles and full price AAA games.

Activision just got exposed but these practices continue. Think you're getting good deals on your apps? Your being manipulated there too, and it isn't surprising to see these type of despicable shady practices on mainstream gaming. I'm sure it's been implemented already.

Phone Gamers this is what they have been doing to you,

If people don't wake up and take a stand, this is the future of Gaming, and the more of this stuff gets exposed, the better it will be.

I honestly wouldn't mind seeing a gaming crash like what happened in the 80s if it means quality games with immersion and honest and fair value for what you pay.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I honestly wouldn't mind seeing a gaming crash like what happened in the 80s if it means quality games with immersion and honest and fair value for what you pay.

Hopefully the next ET isn't too far away. If we could get the quality of games we used to get with the graphics and sound we have today, gaming could be exciting again.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Even after all this......

Activision has submitted another patent that looks to drive microtransactions in its games

This isn't something passive it actually is intended to interfere with your gameplay.
If I pay for a game I don't want to be manipulated and forced to buy their s*** by making my game experience harder to promote me to buy microtransactions.

 

[SomeRandom]

Very true. Gaming is nothing like what is used to be, where you had to practice, develop skills, die countless times, and when you exhausted all lives and continues it was back to level one, and when a series of jumps could be deadlier than most bosses. I remember spending hours, days even sometimes, searching for items and trying to figure things out, but anymore like with Assassin's Creed or Shadow's of Mordoor you just push a button and you shows you exactly where to go. Gaming used to be fun and challenging, and you had to try to beat a good game. Now you almost always you just have to have the patients to stomach doing nothing more than pushing a few buttons every now and then. I grew up playing Punch-Out, and that game sure did not tell you what to push and when to push it, and if you couldn't get your timing right you just was not going to advance to the next fight. And of course there is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a game that feasted on tears and frustration and didn't care if you ever beat it or not.

Oh God TMNT, the memories! The nightmares! The curse words!!
Whilst I like a lot of modern popular franchises, it's nothing compared to the games I grew up with. So I agree with you.
There was a certain sense of satisfaction after finally beating a level or getting that 100% or defeating a boss that is sorely missed in today's games. Well except for Super Meat Boy and Cuphead maybe.
Hell even games that were "for kids" were tricky. I remember many a tear shed at the initial Crash Trilogy and even a couple here and there for the remastered collection (that damned bridge. And yes I know the tightwalk trick, but I swear it would just buck me off randomly for the hell of it.) I remember as a tot being super impressed at myself for getting every single collectible in Croc and even though the secret "true ending" sucked, I was proud that I got to that stage. (For context I was like 7 lol.) And need we mention Dragon's Lair 1 and 2? Lol
And we all had that one friend or older sibling who we'd give the controller to in order to pass that level all franchises seemingly had. Intense stuff as a kid.
But now you could play GTA V blindfolded and still beat it without breaking a sweat. I'm all for different difficulty options for different gamers. But some just give you the game in one mode. Super easy.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

And we all had that one friend or older sibling who we'd give the controller to in order to pass that level all franchises seemingly had. Intense stuff as a kid.

I forgot all about that! Handing the controller to someone else, watch them like you're examining under a microscope, and hoping you learned enough to pull it off on your own the next time.
And then there was Mortal Kombat. The real Mortal Kombat. Not these cheesy lame-*** ones that made everything super easy, but the ones that separated gods from gamers, with the gods making their presence known by dishing out brutal and devastating combo chains and finishing it off with an explosion of gore with a brutality or fatality - back when those were harder than hell to manage to pull off as the button combinations were complicated and they were even sensitive to the distance of the characters, unlike today's "Mortal Kombats" were a simple back-back-b from any distance will do a fatality that gets old because you see them all the time, not at all the rare and grand spectacle they used to be. And, to add insult to injury, the "Mortal Kombats" of today also lack the insanely bad *** theme song.

 

[SomeRandom]

I forgot all about that! Handing the controller to someone else, watch them like you're examining under a microscope, and hoping you learned enough to pull it off on your own the next time.
And then there was Mortal Kombat. The real Mortal Kombat. Not these cheesy lame-*** ones that made everything super easy, but the ones that separated gods from gamers, with the gods making their presence known by dishing out brutal and devastating combo chains and finishing it off with an explosion of gore with a brutality or fatality - back when those were harder than hell to manage to pull off as the button combinations were complicated and they were even sensitive to the distance of the characters, unlike today's "Mortal Kombats" were a simple back-back-b from any distance will do a fatality that gets old because you see them all the time, not at all the rare and grand spectacle they used to be. And, to add insult to injury, the "Mortal Kombats" of today also lack the insanely bad *** theme song.

Ahh yes, those were the days. I remember as a girl it was especially satisfying to beat a boy at a fighting game (didn't matter which one.) Looking back, I don't know how I managed it, as I'm more of a button masher hoping for the best. But back then I actually pulled off combos on purpose.
And everyone sort after the OG Mortal Kombat because it was just so...........underground lol
Like it was this scourge of the parental/authority figures so it was just the most rebellious thing to do haha
One thing I do not miss from the good ol days of gaming is the lack of save features. When you had dedicated an entire little journal to all the cheat codes we would meticulously copy down in order to avoid the punishment of getting back to the stage you left off. Although perhaps that's why younger me was better at combos. More practice.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

One thing I do not miss from the good ol days of gaming is the lack of save features. When you had dedicated an entire little journal to all the cheat codes we would meticulously copy down in order to avoid the punishment of getting back to the stage you left off.

It's probably purely nostalgia speaking, but I actually miss those days of keeping logs of who said what, hints and clues, and passwords. And because we didn't have the internet there were buying/acquiring hint/guide magazines, Nintendo Power, strategy guides and books, I even still have the back of an old box of Apple Jacks somewhere that has Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past tips on it.

And everyone sort after the OG Mortal Kombat because it was just so...........underground lol
Like it was this scourge of the parental/authority figures so it was just the most rebellious thing to do haha[/QUOT

E]
Ah, those were the days. Parents: Oh my god, that's too graphic and violent! You can't play it, turn it off now!
Us, wait till parents are in bed: "Round 1....FIGHT!"
And then the movie came out, it wasn't that great, but holy crap the scenes with Scorpion were amazing (and since it was back then, that hook coming out of his hand was just mind blowing), and Christopher Lambert was an awesome Raiden, but the real gem was that The Immortals techno version of the MK theme was great back then and is still today a great song to rock out to.

 

[SomeRandom]

It's probably purely nostalgia speaking, but I actually miss those days of keeping logs of who said what, hints and clues, and passwords. And because we didn't have the internet there were buying/acquiring hint/guide magazines, Nintendo Power, strategy guides and books, I even still have the back of an old box of Apple Jacks somewhere that has Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past tips on it.

Oh the hints and clues and passwords were cool. But having to write down a password just so you didn't lose your place was a pain. Like you're a computer PS1/N64 just use some memory space dammit lol. And then when you had that little memory save card only to have it corrupted or accidentally broken or something. Oh the soul crushing loss.
Speaking of nostalgia, what do you think of the "new" Gold version of the Atari HD flashback coming out (or out where you are, we always release like ages after America.) Or the new Sega Mega Drive Flashback? I think my first console I played on was a Sega, can't remember if it was Saturn or something else, since I borrowed it from someone as a test run before my parentals would buy me the PS1 (which of course I'd swap with a friend with a N64 or even a SNES every so often for funsies lol.) Too young to remember anything Atari but the Sega might be nostalgic for me. Might wait for the price drop though, sheesh!

And the OG Mortal Kombat song is so ******. It just punches you in the face and demands you to take notice lol

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Speaking of nostalgia, what do you think of the "new" Gold version of the Atari HD flashback coming out (or out where you are, we always release like ages after America.) Or the new Sega Mega Drive Flashback? I think my first console I played on was a Sega, can't remember if it was Saturn or something else, since I borrowed it from someone as a test run before my parentals would buy me the PS1 (which of course I'd swap with a friend with a N64 or even a SNES every so often for funsies lol.) Too young to remember anything Atari but the Sega might be nostalgic for me. Might wait for the price drop though, sheesh!

Atari there are only a few games I liked. The NES was my first console. But, these flashbacks, I still have all my old consoles. If I get any, it's because they have enough rare games on them that make the flashback considerable cheaper than buying the old cartridge.

 

[Cacotopia]

I'm a purely offline gamer, so I guess this era of microtransactions has never bothered me. Since I couldn't purchase them in the first place due to my console being registered in one country and playing it in another.

IMPORTANT NOTE: DLC is REGION LOCKED. if you ever plan on moving somewhere else all your DLC is suddenly worthless.