I’m back from the month-long power down that was the holidays and ready to get to work. Accordingly, I’ve got a super-sized edition of Ask The en ready for you fine folks in Internet land. We’re talking Nintendo Switch, Captain America and where virtual reality stands.
Remember to send in your questions and comments on anything digital entertainment related – not just the Xbox One and Windows. Drop your questions in the comments here, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and now Instagram. That’s right, I now flex for the Gram. A special side note, I’ve killed off Google+ posting as I said I would late last year. At the time, no one protested so I’m assuming we are all good. If not, send me a line. If enough people are cross about it, I’ll see what I can do about reversing the change.
Time to kick the tires and light the fires. Bonus points if you know what science-fiction movie and character I took that from.
Oculus Rift & PlayStation VR
Q. Which virtual reality platform are you planning on investing in? Would you consider PlayStation VR?
This is a timely question. We just made our way out of what was supposed to be the Year of VR. I certainly won’t be investing in PlayStation VR. That’s for sure. Truncated sales forecasts from Sony aside, I’m not making an investing in their platform enough to get all the stuff that PlayStation VR requires. I already have an Xbox One. For all that, I can see what Microsoft cooks up with Project Scorpio.
I will say this. I tried PlayStation VR at E3 2015. I tried Oculus Rift VR at CES 2016. Of the two, PlayStation VR should have been the more viable platform. It has the most games and the most reasonable buy-in point.
Even still, it costs way too much. Also, Sony’s marketing for it hasn’t been all that great.
The elephants in the room here are Microsoft and Google. I’ve yet to experience Daydream VR for Android smartphones, but I hear good things. It’s an open platform, and you’re more likely to have a phone that supports it than a gaming PC powerful enough for Oculus. Microsoft plans to rollout virtual reality headsets that work on mid-range PCs and cost $299 sometime in 2017.
It’s still a wild west out there. Save your money. Buy some stock in Amazon instead. That’s a joke. Now close E*TRADE.
Nintendo Switch
Q. Are you buying a Nintendo Switch?
paige aiden, the media company that I run and write freelance articles through – which really is just me – is strongly considering purchasing a Nintendo Switch for “evaluation” purposes. My official reasoning for doing so is that it would fit into the coverage I do here and for other sites on the web.
Now that’s out of the way. Are you out of your mind? You’re damn right I’m going to buy the Nintendo Switch. I’m going to snatch that console up like video girls in a Drake video that don’t realize Canadian dollars don’t do so hot when trying to buy American goods.
The idea that your portable gaming console and living room gaming console can be a single thing is bloody genius. That I don’t have to restrict myself to digital games to pull this feat off is cool tool. If you think about it, the Nintendo Switch is Xbox Play Anywhere without the rules and hassles.
Two things worry me though. First, thing we should all worry about is price. Anything over $350 kills this thing out of the gate. Second, third-party games. To take off in a big way, Nintendo needs to have at least some group of people who do most of their gaming on this thing and invest in it whole heartedly.
Lastly, that battery life better be decent. By decent I mean certainly more than a couple hours.
Hosting Companies
Q. Which hosting company do you use?
This is a very good question. To answer it, I’d like to take you back to 2001.
There was this service called Angelfire. Angelfire would let you create whatever you wanted, so that it could sell advertisements on your pages. For a while I used Bravenet. I even toyed with Geocities. All were free.
Paid hosting, I’ve done Gator Host before. For a time, I also rented space on a friend of mine’s server. I don’t recommend Gator Host to anyone. I had a terrible experience with them. That being said, they have CPanel equipped servers that are easy to use for anyone starting out.
My current and favorite hosting company happens to be Dreamhost. Their support is phenomenal, even if their proprietary account and server management options aren’t as powerful as what is offered in CPanel on other services.
That’s a pretty strong testimonial, I know. No, this isn’t a paid advertisement, but I have considered rewatching Mad Men recently.
Captain America or Iron Man?
Q. Didn’t realize you did a review of Captain America: Civil War. Which side were you on?
Captain America: Civil War was one of my favorite movies of the year. In fact, I just saw it again on a plane on the road to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. When I’m heading for an assignment, it helps to go ahead and take the plane ride to decompress. What a fantastic movie. It asks deeper philosophical questions that movie goes weren’t prepared for. Shout out to all the New England intellectuals that insist comic book movies have no depth.
As to your question, I’m not sure how you watch Civil War and not come away with an extreme hatred of Captain America. Part of that is by design. They’ve spent so many movies comparing him to a Boy Scout, who always does the right thing, that any deviation away from that is bound to bother folks greatly. Some of that also comes from his treacherous, ham-fisted way of dealing with the issues explored in Civil War. We all like the idea of vigilantes. We love the idea so much that we go see them year after year.
Tony was right. If you can’t except limitations, you’re no better than the bad guys. Captain Rogers’ behavior is representative of the country and ideals he represents. We’re a cowboy nation that always thinks we’re doing the right thing. Sometimes, we forget to look ourselves in the mirror and take stock of how we apply the beliefs were project into the world in own lives.
Team Stark.
Favorite Video Game of Last Year
Q. What was your favorite video game in 2016?
I’d have to say The Division, because it finally got me into play online multiplayer on the regular. I’ve got a few friends that I tag along with on missions. Watch Dogs 2 would be my runner-up, but life has gotten in the way. I haven’t been able to finish it. The game’s tone, attitude and social awareness are refreshing.
Don’t forget to send over your questions for the next edition.
