@Sketcz I think you misinterpret, and perhaps I should have been more clear; my comment is not “pick a side or else”, it’s calling out the hypocrisy of “this is supposed to be a safe/neutral space, but specifically for me and people like me, and everyone else needs to STFU and leave their opinions at the door”.
There’s a lot of “ugh, I wish people would leave politics out of gaming”, which would perhaps be more understandable in good faith if this wasn’t specifically an article about the inherent politics in this specific section of gaming.
Several people in this comments section, as well as others on this very site — including the author — have pointed out having not been very aware of Palmer Luckey’s involvement in weapons manufacturing and/or his political engagements. Using the information in this article and others associated with it, they may decide whether or not to purchase a product made by his retro gaming company. I’d say that makes it worthwhile to post on this retro gaming site.
If that’s something someone didn’t want to hear about or engage in, that’s fine — that’s what the Back button is for. That would be the actual neutral choice, in this instance.
It sure says a lot that the “can’t gaming just be a safe space” crowd are real dismissive about things that make that same space feel less safe for others. Can’t imagine why that might be.
@jamess “You could apply that approach to everything you buy - somewhere up the chain in the companies you buy from there are going to be people with different political views to your own, some of which you will disagree with.”
There’s a pretty big difference between disagreeing with someone politically, and knowing that supporting a product ultimately includes tacit support for building weapons and technology that are used to murder children (as just one example) and accepting that outcome. That’s not “keeping politics out of gaming”, that’s just choosing to ignore the ramifications of engaging in the politics that are already present in this specific area of it, whether you want them to be or not.
It feels a lot like the Pocket product cycle so far really broke Analogue; they seemingly bet the farm on it, and yet despite demand for products in this category, they never seem to have the resources to follow through on their ambitions. While the Pocket itself is still an excellent device, aside from a few limited color variant runs here and there, it seems like development on it is effectively dead. It’s not clear if that’s because of the Pocket itself, or the pivot to the Duo, but something seems to have stretched Analogue very thin in recent years.
I don’t have an outstanding order for this so far, but not because of concerns about availability or release window (which Analogue has never been able to hold themselves to); it’s that, as the article notes, there seems to be no footage of this thing actually working (much less working well), despite the many claims that they’ve made about it so far. Quality of past products aside, that’s still a concern. I hope early impressions are good.
@PowerPandaMods Yeah, the partnership on Fantasian and FFPR was really enjoyable to see. Getting a Switch cart of the former was particularly nostalgia-heavy.
I’d go so far as to posit that the creative side of the business still never fully got back on its feet; Squaresoft took much bigger creative swings than Square Enix ever has (granted, that’s also part of what led to the Spirits Within fiasco), with the latter playing things much more safe since the introduction of a more traditional corporate structure. I’m glad they’re around, and I still enjoy a number of their products, but it’s hard not to miss the Squaresoft of old.
This is annoying, but not as annoying to me as the Switch 2 upgrade pack stuff they’re selling for certain games; every Switch 1 game runs in an emulator on Switch 2, and several will require purchase to unlock the “Switch 2 Edition”, with frame rate and resolution boosts, and DLC in some cases. In other words, charging extra for features that are already built in to the Switch 1 emulator provided by the $450 Switch 2.
This looks great (at least on paper), but I have to admit that I’m a little put off by an extra charge for a whole add-on piece of hardware — to come at a later date — to play physical PS1 discs. Half the point of these consoles is the ability to play original media as close to 1:1 performance and accuracy with their original hardware as possible, but on modern displays (and, in some cases, controllers and other accessories). That said, I don’t think they have a whole lot of competition for plug-and-play PS1 FPGAs, so I guess they more or less get to do whatever they feel they need to do to ship.
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Re: Talking Point: If You Think AI Can Make SNES Games, We Have Some Magic Beans We'd Love To Sell You
Meanwhile: https://www.purexbox.com/news/2025/07/xbox-is-using-the-most-ridiculous-ai-image-to-advertise-new-jobs
Re: WayForward Distances Itself From ModRetro's Re-Release Of Sabrina: Zapped! On Game Boy Color
@Sketcz I think you misinterpret, and perhaps I should have been more clear; my comment is not “pick a side or else”, it’s calling out the hypocrisy of “this is supposed to be a safe/neutral space, but specifically for me and people like me, and everyone else needs to STFU and leave their opinions at the door”.
There’s a lot of “ugh, I wish people would leave politics out of gaming”, which would perhaps be more understandable in good faith if this wasn’t specifically an article about the inherent politics in this specific section of gaming.
Several people in this comments section, as well as others on this very site — including the author — have pointed out having not been very aware of Palmer Luckey’s involvement in weapons manufacturing and/or his political engagements. Using the information in this article and others associated with it, they may decide whether or not to purchase a product made by his retro gaming company. I’d say that makes it worthwhile to post on this retro gaming site.
If that’s something someone didn’t want to hear about or engage in, that’s fine — that’s what the Back button is for. That would be the actual neutral choice, in this instance.
Re: WayForward Distances Itself From ModRetro's Re-Release Of Sabrina: Zapped! On Game Boy Color
It sure says a lot that the “can’t gaming just be a safe space” crowd are real dismissive about things that make that same space feel less safe for others. Can’t imagine why that might be.
Re: WayForward Distances Itself From ModRetro's Re-Release Of Sabrina: Zapped! On Game Boy Color
@jamess “But I’m not here to talk about them. I’m here to read and talk about games.”
You’re literally the first commenter on this article about an associated political topic in games.
Re: WayForward Distances Itself From ModRetro's Re-Release Of Sabrina: Zapped! On Game Boy Color
@jamess “You could apply that approach to everything you buy - somewhere up the chain in the companies you buy from there are going to be people with different political views to your own, some of which you will disagree with.”
There’s a pretty big difference between disagreeing with someone politically, and knowing that supporting a product ultimately includes tacit support for building weapons and technology that are used to murder children (as just one example) and accepting that outcome. That’s not “keeping politics out of gaming”, that’s just choosing to ignore the ramifications of engaging in the politics that are already present in this specific area of it, whether you want them to be or not.
Re: The FPGA N64 Analogue 3D Has Been Delayed (Again)
It feels a lot like the Pocket product cycle so far really broke Analogue; they seemingly bet the farm on it, and yet despite demand for products in this category, they never seem to have the resources to follow through on their ambitions. While the Pocket itself is still an excellent device, aside from a few limited color variant runs here and there, it seems like development on it is effectively dead. It’s not clear if that’s because of the Pocket itself, or the pivot to the Duo, but something seems to have stretched Analogue very thin in recent years.
I don’t have an outstanding order for this so far, but not because of concerns about availability or release window (which Analogue has never been able to hold themselves to); it’s that, as the article notes, there seems to be no footage of this thing actually working (much less working well), despite the many claims that they’ve made about it so far. Quality of past products aside, that’s still a concern. I hope early impressions are good.
Re: "The Situation At Square Was Awful After He Quit" - Nobuo Uematsu Pays Tribute To Final Fantasy Creator Hironobu Sakaguchi
@PowerPandaMods Yeah, the partnership on Fantasian and FFPR was really enjoyable to see. Getting a Switch cart of the former was particularly nostalgia-heavy.
Re: "The Situation At Square Was Awful After He Quit" - Nobuo Uematsu Pays Tribute To Final Fantasy Creator Hironobu Sakaguchi
I’d go so far as to posit that the creative side of the business still never fully got back on its feet; Squaresoft took much bigger creative swings than Square Enix ever has (granted, that’s also part of what led to the Spirits Within fiasco), with the latter playing things much more safe since the introduction of a more traditional corporate structure. I’m glad they’re around, and I still enjoy a number of their products, but it’s hard not to miss the Squaresoft of old.
Re: Nintendo Locking A Screen Filter Behind A Console Upgrade Hasn't Gone Down Well With Everyone
This is annoying, but not as annoying to me as the Switch 2 upgrade pack stuff they’re selling for certain games; every Switch 1 game runs in an emulator on Switch 2, and several will require purchase to unlock the “Switch 2 Edition”, with frame rate and resolution boosts, and DLC in some cases. In other words, charging extra for features that are already built in to the Switch 1 emulator provided by the $450 Switch 2.
Re: Here's Your Best Look Yet At Taki Udon's SuperStation One FPGA PS1, And You Can Order It Now
This looks great (at least on paper), but I have to admit that I’m a little put off by an extra charge for a whole add-on piece of hardware — to come at a later date — to play physical PS1 discs. Half the point of these consoles is the ability to play original media as close to 1:1 performance and accuracy with their original hardware as possible, but on modern displays (and, in some cases, controllers and other accessories). That said, I don’t think they have a whole lot of competition for plug-and-play PS1 FPGAs, so I guess they more or less get to do whatever they feel they need to do to ship.