The Last Act is (Almost) Over

I was listening to Meat Loaf in the truck last Friday because the CD player wouldn't give it back to me the day before. It has to cool down before it will eject anything. I have an iPod and iPad and listen to most of my music ripped to my PC, streaming from Spotify, Pandora, MOG, and YouTube, but when I'm driving it's CDs. I don't have an iPod adapter. Don't really want one. I have ten times more music than I can fit on it anyway. So, lately I've taken to closing my eyes and picking any CD from the rack, because they're all choices I love. I've sold all the CDs I haven't cared about in years, from back when I was still trying to find my musical taste, so what's left is what I want to listen to for eternity. Guaranteed to always be in the mood for whatever I grab.

Wait, why did I come here? Oh yeah. So, The Very Best of Meat Loaf was stuck in the player and "Not a Dry Eye in the House" came on. It immediately brought up memories, as it does every time, of Virtua Racing on the Sega 32X. Yes, unfortunately we had one of those and maybe three games for it, but at least I played the crap out of Virtua Racing. Every day after school I would bring my CD player into the kitchen and play on the tiny 13" screen, always listening to Meat's Welcome to the Neighborhood. Wow, that was in 1995. It's been a while. That got me to thinking of the PS4 announcement and how I am so not ready for a new console. I never am. Not only because they're always too expensive and I never seem to save money for them, but that there are so many games to finish. I still have games from the Dreamcast I haven't started! Okay, new rule: When a new generation is coming, everyone stop making games for at least a year before so that I can catch up.

Adam mentions how there isn't much of a difference in graphical quality. That's not the factor in getting a new console for me, though. I don't expect leaps and bounds, never have. It has to be because everyone from gamers to developers to publishers are adopting it and there must be unmissable exclusives. If a sequel to a favorite game is only available on that console then I'll eventually get it. What I'm concerned with is it should have room to grow. The full potential should be reached at the end of the PS4's life years down the road, not months after it debuts.

I would love to be an early adopter for all consoles, since it always seems like the new generation comes so soon after I got into the last one, but that would break the bank. Hopefully, PS4 is a little cheaper. I don't know much about it yet, because I've been too busy to read up, but something Adam said about it being more accessible ("It's made for people to make games, to get those into the hands of the audience so they have more games to play.") makes me think it might be. It sounds as if they're not so adamant about power without regard for what it takes the developers to get a grasp on it. Though, I wouldn't expect games to be any more affordable.

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