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This is just a random question, not looking for any trouble. I am just curious.

Lately, I have been dwelling on a subject that has been bothering me in regards to gaming and how much money I spent on it. With the emulators for the Wii U and the PS3 making the progress they have in such a short period of time, (so quick, that ATLUS is making a big deal out of the potential RPCS3 has to hurt the game's sales) as well as certain games coming to non-exclusive platforms (Killer Instinct 3) I have to ask: what is the point of the media center console anymore other than to function as a glorified DVD player that happens to have some exclusive games? About the only thing that you can lay claim to is convenience and not having to worry about controllers locking up Steam after closing a game (why does Steam do that?) or having to worry about whether your system is strong enough to play certain games, and it being relatively easier to bring to a friends house. You can say exclusives for systems that haven't been emulated yet like the PS4 and the Switch, but let's be honest: outside of some games that I'd be reaching to reference that are not titled Bloodborne, Uncharted 4, Horizon Zero Dawn, or the Last of Us Part II, I don't see much else that is an actual exclusive to the system. So that we're clear on definitions here: exclusive means it has no official port to any other system, PC included. Here's all of the other PS4 "exclusives" that have a version for either the previous gen systems or PC: Persona 5, Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, (those two's PS3 versions didn't come out over here, but it still isn't an actual exclusive in my book) Beyond: Two Souls, Gravity Rush, Journey, the Danganronpa games, Heavy Rain, Final Fantasy XV, any of the deluge of ports (*cough* ahem, I mean, remasters) and almost all of the indie games guaranteed to be on PC or other systems in some form or another. Of all of the specific examples listed here, that only leaves 4 actual exclusives for the PS4, with the last one not even being out yet, and around 10 games for the crossplatform/crossgenerational releases. Yeah, some of the crossplats/crossgens or categories of games I mentioned here may have bad PC ports, if they have one at all, but that's not the point: even if a PC port is bad, someone will eventually develop an emulator that, as long as the developers keep revising and updating said emulator, the games will be playable forever in one form or another. Not to mention, how many of these games are a part of one of those "played one game, played them all" franchises? For example, I beat the original version of Yakuza 2 for the PS2. I decided that, since I heard that the other games (that aren't remakes of older games or spinoffs) had recaps so I could follow the plot without having to play the other games, and that it's a yearly series in Japan, I decided to jump into the latest game that was available to me at the time: the 5th game, in 2017, a game from 5 years ago whose localization didn't make it over here until after three years of it's original release date in 2012. (WARNING: this one does not recap the previous games) The fighting is better, but still mostly the same (though there is more than just one playable character) there is pop-in everywhere, and the frame rate struggles to maintain 30fps. Same goes for Persona 5, though from what I've seen, that one looks like a massive improvement over the repetitive borefest that was the PS2 Persona games, IMHO. (I liked the story, characters, and music, but the "dungeon" in Persona 3 wore its welcome out quickly when nothing was happening in the game, and social link stuff was for NG+ for all practical intents and purposes, and Persona 4 was better, but still somewhat repetitive, and the cutscenes tended to drag) Now, with Yakuza 0 and the remake of 1 on PS4, since those games were originally made for PS3, they run much better at a smooth 60fps on the Slim...something that could be achieved if you play through the games when RPCS3 inevitably is able to emulate the PS3 better with all of the bells and whistles that Dolphin and PCSX2 have and know how to use cheats or patches to have the games run at a frame rate they weren't originally set to run at and if you have the hardware to do so. That sounds like a lot more work than just buying the system and playing it on there, but let's think about it: how much money do you save by not buying a game console? Maybe it's just because I'm about to make a big financial commitment (car or college), but these thoughts have had me looking at how much dust my consoles have collected lately and going "yeah, I'm selling this soon." Yeah, you have to buy a lot of equipment to rip the images of the games off their original cartridges, discs, or whatever storage medium, but once they're on your hard drive, and if you're good at backing things up, you ain't losing those files any time soon. That, combined with the big backlog of games I have, makes the question of "Why should I buy this console for a handful of games when I have 50+ games on Steam I could be playing instead," even if some of those games I bought in collections aren't games I have any desire to play anytime soon. (i.e. I bought the first three Far Cry games plus Blood Dragon even though I have no desire to play the first one and especially the second one if the glitches I've heard about that game are true) Now, with the Switch, even though I think it's a marvelous idea with a flawed execution, (32GB of storage, the cartridge tax, the various hardware issues regarding the joy-cons, the Switch online app, and the dubious future for ports of third party games that aren't indie games just to list a few) as long as Nintendo doesn't try to innovate for innovation's sake, they may have a concept that I have been wanting for a long time: portable gaming on the go that's very comparable to playing games on set top consoles. We haven't seen anything like that I can remember other than maybe the Sega Nomad from way back then, even if the Energizer bunny had a hand in the portable marvel's (for the time) development. The only thing that could trip them up would be if the GPD can make a better version of the GPD Win that has actual, clickable joysticks and at the very least a GPU worth mentioning would be good enough to be capable of playing even most of the 7th gen if not all of it. I know that sounds ambitious, but some people like yours truly don't just sit at home anymore, and the idea of a console you can easily bring with you and can easily play games with one other person with is so cool to me, and I am always tempted to get the Switch, but decide to wait until I have sold my other non-PC systems first. Not to mention, I can take the Switch anywhere with me to play the game if I'm waiting at the doctor's office or something. After that comprehensive wall of text, I must ask: what is the point of the set top box console that is an "all-in-one" entertainment hub now that most of everything is digital when, if you want a Blu-ray or whatever form of storage media becomes popular in the future, you can just get a device that costs less than a used slim PS3? tl;dr - with most of the games being available for PC these days, and considering how the PS4 and XBone are essentially the PS3.5 and the Xbox 360.5(?) using proprietary hardware based off of chips used in actual desktops and their game library, what is the point of consoles now that aren't portable?

So, let me see if I get this. This next paragraph is mostly hating Unless I spend many dollaz on a stupid ass console(along with the games), get a retarded processor and make magic so it exists and works on a pc, or wait 15 years for a decent emulator, I won't be able to play Ratchet & Clanck in my pc (let's ignore the fact that my pc is a briq)? WHO thought this up? Who was the butt? I mean, just because Sony doesn't want my fkn favorite childhood game to be playable on pc because it's apparently PROHIBITED to play with decent graphic setting around there, I am not allowed to play??? Cmon, there has got to be a way. No? I understand that I'm probably just another internet hater but that is bad. Besides, consoles suck, even if I was to buy one every two years (or whatever) throwing my money at the toilet (aka sony) so I could play that 1 game? AT **** SETTINGS?????? I only started thinking about this now because I have nothing to play or do(that I feel like) and I did some quick searching on that stuff. I had hurd so many times people saying consoles are CRAP, but it can't be that bad can it? Someone explain this to me.

Get ready for some changes.. I guess.. Source: http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/05/21/xbox-one-three-ways-it-could-affect-pc-gaming/

I'm absolutely head over heels for this art style. Here's a list of games in this style coming soon (click for screenshots): The Witness Journey Inside Abzu Rime Edit: I removed No Man's Sky for discussion's sake because—while certainly close—it doesn't quite fit the style in the examples above.