Comments 327

Re: AI, Please Leave Our Favourite Video Games Alone

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

@RootsGenoa Awesome to hear!

I'm the same when it comes to Ray Tracing and 4K. New games generally don't float my boat, but regardless, I choose to game on my 1080p monitor rather than my older, larger 1440p monitor I've got.

I'm not perfect either, but yeah, as long as we make strides toward our goals, then it's all good! If I'm in the same spot in 5 years, then I'll know I'm doing something wrong, haha.

I don't recognize the person I was before I moved to the country 8 years ago, let alone who I was before that, haha!

Re: AI, Please Leave Our Favourite Video Games Alone

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

@RootsGenoa This is a very city-folk thing to say. Have you done much to reduce your carbon footprint? I'm legitimately interested, btw, it's not a dig!!!

I moved to the country in 2016, and now live on a small block of land in a 65sqm house running off solar and using water tanks. I've sold off my old gaming PC and almost entire retro gaming collection to go low-power digital.

I've got city-folk family that will spout this stuff, but use an incredible amount of power and water, and rely on a lot of disposable products for just one person. Tell them to cut back when they stay with you, and it's like they've been shot in the heart.

I game on a laptop and Switch, and will be replacing my laptop with an ASUS ROG Ally X next month.

I'd love to get to know you if you're like-minded that way - I don't think there's enough people out there vocal about saving power when it comes to gaming as a hobby.

Re: AI, Please Leave Our Favourite Video Games Alone

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

I usually intensely dislike stuff like this, but the Shenmue one is actually really impressive, in a way. Super, SUPER held back by ancient NPC animation routines, but impressive. Once the technology improves, this will become way less creepy.

The Mario 64 one can burn in hell.

Comments about AI tech being a trend will age like milk.

I'm not super about it all myself, but it's not a trend and it's not going anywhere. It'll be the norm, because humans can't help but only care about themselves and the bottom-line by cutting costs and ruin things that are awesome. See THE INTERNET.

Games crafted by humans will become boutique and expensive, just like music, music on Vinyl and analog synthesizers, because the general masses won't be able to tell/give a hoot.

It's already written, and as a collective, we've proven already exactly the way this will all play out, unfortunately.

Re: 20 Years On, PS2 Classic Gran Turismo 4 Gets A Fan-Made Retune

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

I wish I could stomach sim-racing because GT3 & 4 look great! I can play GT 1 & 2 these days, because they're relatively arcadey now due to being pretty old, but I just can't get along with these two.

Which is a shame, because the Japanese soundtracks are phenomenal, and the course design and visuals are fantastic.

Great work to the mod team, nonetheless!

Re: Creator Of PS1 Emulator DuckStation Threatens To "Shut The Whole Thing Down" Following License Change

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

@JonathanChapman @BLAZINOAH
Couldn't have said it better myself. The internet is full of entitled people that think they deserve things, just because they scream loud enough.

We don't 'deserve' ***** when it comes to hobbies and interests. We're lucky, and we should be appreciative that we get anything at all. Most of the cool progress that happens in retro gaming these days comes from people's volunteering of their OWN FREE TIME to do cool things. We should really remember that.

Re: MechWarrior Fans, Take Note - Boomer Shooter 'Mekkablood: Quarry Assault' Is Coming Soon

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

@Hexapus This got a laugh out of me. Also found this on the Steam Page:

"AI Generated Content Disclosure
The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:

Dall-E 3 was used to help generate the textures and pixel art, no artist prompts were used, just generic terms. Suno was used for the music. Eleven labs was used for some of the voice work."

Might explain the oddness But seriously, I don't mind AI-generated content like this.

Re: Sega's Spirit Is Alive And Well In DDI Rally And Super Retro GP

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

I purchased DDI Rally and refunded it immediately. I could absolutely see what it's going for, and I WANTED TO LOVE IT, but the quality just isn't there. I'd love to give it another crack, but all the dodgy crashing in the trailer above (which shows no high-level gameplay play at all) doesn't really inspire much confidence that things have changed on that front.

I've also tried the demo for Super Retro GP, and it's much the same. There's a strange positive buzz around the demo, which I just can't see myself. I love the passion on display, but I just wish the dev were better able to execute his vision. Maybe all they need is more time, and he's shared the games waaaaaayyy too early.

I've found the Early Access for Super Polygon GP much, much better. The physics, while still a work in progress, are sound and feel like a legit SEGA/NAMCO racer. Not at all like Virtua Racing, but much more like Indy 500 & Ace Driver. And though there are serious performance issues right about now, I can see them being sorted out, and the game is making good progress with the updates.

Re: This Adorable New Super Mario Fan Game Looks Absolutely Incredible

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

@Azuris I'm not saying you can't disagree and have an alternative opinion. You can, and that's fine. I usually am not all that into western pixel art myself, I get it. Having now played the demo, this game doesn't adhere to that imo, it's got it's own thing going own.

But calling is 'generic western slop' is a bit mean. Also, the rest of their comments are almost always cutting something down in a poo-pooing fashion. That's what I meant by negative.

Re: Hoonigans Is A Mix Of Project Gotham Racing And Micro Machines For Your Game Boy Color

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

This one still needs a bit of work. Insta-purchased it after seeing this article, btw.

There's some funky jerky scrolling when you turn, and I'm definitely not a fan of the auto-acceleration in the gameplay; I think the game suffers a bit for it.

Fingers crossed the dev continues to tweak this, because it's got a lot of promise! The presentation is utterly fantastic.

Re: Final Fight MD Dev Working On 'Driftin' Rage', A New 16-Bit Racer For Mega Drive/Genesis

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

@GOmar It absolutely doesn't look exactly the same as OutRun? The only way it's like OutRun is in the way that Lotus was like OutRun, or Top Racer was the same as OutRun.

And I don't think it's fair to judge the eventual game on what is an early peek at some cool, and obviously early, technology. You're talking about it like it's finished.

I guess Earthion is redundant too. And ZPF.

Also, I guess my beef is that I just really don't like watching people piss on indie passion-projects that are obvious labours of love. If it's not for you, move on, but... eh.

Re: Final Fight MD Dev Working On 'Driftin' Rage', A New 16-Bit Racer For Mega Drive/Genesis

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

Yeah, those curves seem like a proof-of-concept so far. It's quite obviously still a WIP, because there was literally no track design, just some curves to show off the scrolling.

But this looks great, and is the exact genre I've been hanging out for for AGES!

Love the colours, and again, the scrolling looks nice and smooth already. Really hanging out for this one!

Re: Metro Siege Is A Fantastic New Beat 'Em Up Coming To The Amiga

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

@KitsuneNight That's the fun of it - the rabbit hole, haha!

Ahh well, fair enough - it'll always be there for you if you decide to give it a crack one day

YouTube a few best-of lists (Kim Justice has some pretty amazing Amiga coverage) and you'll be on your way.

On a side note, I've almost entirely stopped playing new games, well at least those that aren't in the retro-vein. Large libraries like this that I'm working my way through slowly actually keep me gaming.

If it weren't for retro gaming, retro game hacks, new games for retro systems or indie games that are like retro games, there'd not be a whole lot out there for me any more!

Re: 8BitDo's Anniversary Celebration Includes Gold And Silver Controllers

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

@Azuris It's laggy on even PC. And I've never used bluetooth audio on the Switch ever, mine is used 100% docked.

To be honest though, I refuse to use any Bluetooth controller these days anyways. There are better Bluetooth controllers than any of the the 8bitdo units in regards to lag (the best I've found on Switch were the BigBig Won Blitz and the PXN 9607x), but over the years, I've come to despise it as a controller technology - if a controller doesn't come with a 2.4ghz dongle, then it's out for me.

Re: 8BitDo's Anniversary Celebration Includes Gold And Silver Controllers

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

@Blast16 Pairing used to be an issue, but not these days. Other than that, it'll be the Bluetooth lag that gets you - they're some of the slowest controllers I've ever experienced on the Switch, either wired or wireless.

Which is a shame, because they are perfect otherwise. I love the amazing build quality, buttons, d-pad and all the rest.

They really need to get onto a 2.4ghz variant.

Re: Mega Drive / Genesis Shmup 'ZPF' Smashes Kickstarter Goal In Just 19 Minutes

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

@GOmar I apologize for assuming. Most of the time it's an internet way of passive-aggressively telling people to basically love it or leave it, I definitely read it wrong then.

And I don't feel like I should support them that way. I mean, I have in the past: I backed Mikael Tillander's Tanzer on Kickstarter years ago, and I'm a big fan; we got digital copies with that too. I've also purchased most of the games Mega Cat Studios has physically on their site via Itch or other means, which is why I'm not a fan of this wave of suddenly making things physical only.

Physical games are great, but also I feel even the retro development community is reaching a point where it's quite obviously exploiting people, their nostalgia, and their love of just buying things and accumulating stuff.

It just rubs me the wrong way, I guess.

My issues with this are beyond gaming though, and is a global thing that drives me crazy in general, though.

Basically, what I'm saying is that I'd love a ROM option in the Kickstarter to legitimately support the devs. If they don't want a distribute a ROM file out there themselves, then that is their prerogative, but somebody else will do it for sure. I'd rather just not play the game that way. We should have learned the lessons of that whole thing already.

Re: Mega Drive / Genesis Shmup 'ZPF' Smashes Kickstarter Goal In Just 19 Minutes

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

@GOmar Why highlight 'plastic and cardboard' like I'm the one in the wrong for not wanting them? Retro gamers come in many different shapes and forms these days, and I've gone from a physical collector to preferring to keep a mostly platform-agnostic digital library.

Also, that's a convoluted way of helping them out and getting access to the rom. Admittedly one I've thought of, but it just feels wrong to wait for a ROM dump when I could have had the option to just straight-up pay for a ROM myself.

Ultimately, it's their decision in how they choose to distribute their game. I'll wait and see if they end up offering the ROM file for purchase after the fact, but if not, then I can definitely live without the game; no FOMO here.

Re: Mega Drive / Genesis Shmup 'ZPF' Smashes Kickstarter Goal In Just 19 Minutes

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

@belmont Yep, I'm out too. Which is a shame, because I'm generally not shmup fan, but I really, really loved my time with the ZPF demo rom.

I have a few handheld emulation machines and that's how I choose to get my retro fix these days. I'm pretty minimalist in general at this stage of my life, and have mostly sold off my large physical collection because I live in what is basically a Tiny House now.

I'd love to support the team, but not all of us want shelves and walls stacked with plastic and paper just to play video games :/

Re: Meet The Solo Dev Whose Sega Rally Tribute Could Become An Official Sequel

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

Literally my favourite game of ALL TIME. I do hope this can shake the typical Unreal Engine look though, and really take on a SEGA Rally vibe. The whole charm was in the hand-crafted tracks and their iconic scenery. I really dislike the look of stuff like UE5's nanite, because it just screams procedural generation. I know it is, but I dunno, I guess it looks sterile to me. Although, at least I can tell which parts of which track each of these featured screen shots are - that's promising!

I did actually try the 2022 demo, and it ran like garbage on my gaming laptop back then, so I'm hoping it was an optimization issue and UE5 will run on my laptop

Also, please please PLEASE nail the physics, and base them on SRC. I don't even think any of the rally sequels got near the OG handling, despite being a lot of fun!

Re: Poll: What Do You Think Of Jo's New Look In Perfect Dark?

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

As a gay dude, I miss the days when characters of all sexes were unapologetically going for sex appeal. By making characters more true to life, they're looking lazy, boring and forgettable to me. Besides, real people irritate me these days, why would I want them in video games I play?

So yup, not a fan of the new Joanna. I have a soft spot for early 2000s Joanna, because the Y2K styling was ON POINT, haha!

Re: Nightdive Studios Teases 'The Thing' & 'Killing Time' Remasters

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

This is amazing. I'm all down for Nightdive doing whatever they want - I'll be here on day one for both games. The Thing is an brilliant game too, I used to own it on OG Xbox.

On a related note, I can't believe people had the nerve to complain about PO'ed being released instead of 'something good'. Preservation isn't just for those top games. PO'ed is actually playable and fun now, thanks to the remaster.

It wasn't released in place of other games, it came out in addition to the other stuff they have cooking.

Love Nightdive and I'll be picking up each and every game they do. It's like they know my exact gaming tastes

EDIT: Killing Time now has High-Res sprites, and they look even sharper than the 3DO version! It now looks like the screenshots/bullshots that they promoted the game with in Next Generation magazine back in the day! So cool!!!