I had an old 42" plasma up until 2 weeks ago, when I bought this: Link

The difference is jarring. I don't know all the technical reasons why, but just to sit and stare at it is a joy. I took to rewatching all of my favorite blu-rays and playing some of my favorite games again. It's like seeing them all again for the first time.

Good luck deciding. :)

Firstly, punctuation. Learn it.

Secondly, this is what is known as progress. Technology advances. Old hardware cannot support the visions of new artists.

That said, no one is forcing you to do anything. And wanting to offer a product for sale is not greed. Wanting to support the new X1/PS4 platforms to help see your vision of a game realized is not greed. Greed is putting money or material possessions before all else. Greed would be scaling back their vision to sell the games on old consoles that have a bigger install base just for the sake of more possible customers.

The console makers aren't greedy because they want to make a profit or earn a living. You, or I'm guessing your dad/mom/guardian, makes a living somehow. You (or Them) accepting that check for your (their) time is the same thing as a company offering a product. If you find no value in the new product, stick to the old machines. That is your right. But what isn't your right is to kick in the door and cry about not being specifically catered to.

I really liked the Tony Hawk games. And Skate. And SSX was probably my favorite of the lot.

But if we can take a look at the most recent SSX, we can see how these kinds of games will probably never exist in the current landscape of gaming again.

The SSX reboot or remake or whatever it was showed players that the current level of talent at the big publishers has no real idea why their old properties were successful. They leveraged skill as part of the experience. You couldn't just pick up SSX Tricky and do the coolest moves without learning the game and failing a lot in the process. And even once you'd become skilled at the gameplay, you could still fail miserably if you didn't have your timing down.

Fast Forward to the latest SSX, and it's a cacophony of bad decisions meant to make players feel amazing with no real effort. You can spin insanely fast at all times, building your tricks was super easy and million point scores were the norm, not the exception that came from learning the game really well. The "Everyone gets a trophy" routine may be great in little league when kids are building their self esteem, but the core gamers who loved SSX loved it for it's blend of interesting characters (which the new one watered down), easy to learn but hard to master gameplay (which the new one neutered), and skillful execution of a simple premise (which the new one didn't manage to pull off well enough).

I call that an allegorical example of the whole "extreme sports" sub genre that has faded away over the 7th gen and all but doesn't exist anymore. Because publishers are scared to make a game that is challenging anymore. Afraid that it won't make back it's insanely high budget if people have to spend a little time learning the mechanics.

Story, setting, music: Vice City. I'm an 80s survivor, so the music of my youth holds a special appeal to me.

But for sheer gameplay nirvana, it has to be San Andreas. It has a great story, great music, and the best gameplay of the series. I still don't think an open-world game has topped it. Saints Row 2 came close, but I still feel San Andreas edges it out by a small margin.

I've honestly never seen a game that made me sleepy in any way. The interactive nature of games means they are typically engaging parts of your brain, so I can't see how they would aid your battle with insomnia. But, I guess if it distracted you from whatever is running through your mind, it might help. But if that were the case, any game would do.

What I do when I'm trying to sleep and having trouble shutting off my brain is watch movies or television shows I've seen multiple times. I have a few movies I've watched enough that they are all but committed to memory. This allows me to focus on something other than the thoughts racing through my head, but since I know what's going to happen in every scene I don't focus on it so much that it keeps me engaged. It usually works, for me anyway. And when it doesn't, I have a bottle of Xanax. Maybe share this problem with your doctor or get a sleep aid like Advil PM or something?

I hope you find something to help.

The only one I have any real affection for anymore is Dead Rising. So if something were to happen, I'm sure Microsoft would step in and offer up the dough to keep their semi-exclusive title from rotting and probably buy Capcom Vancouver outright.

The rest of them, honestly, can burn for all I care. Capcom the business has all but ruined Capcom the developer and Capcom the brand for me.

I play Words With Friends a bit. That's about it for mobile gaming for me personally.

And I enjoyed the Angry Birds when they started using the Force. Up until they tried the Jedi Mind Trick of trying to get me to buy stupid trinkets to remove the challenge. The challenge was the only reason I enjoyed it.

Did you enjoy that Amazing Spider-Man game?

I think I pre-ordered it during that brief window when it looked like I would be skipping the X1. So I probably have it pre-ordered for PS4. I don't honestly remember. Which platform isnt' that big of a deal with this gen unless there are obvious differences in graphical fidelity like Tomb Raider or somesuch. Both have decent online features that still need refinement, both have comfortable controllers, and both platforms have a good enough GUI that I don't like or dislike one over the other in any significant manner.

But all multiplats are open for reevaluation pending new information. If one is clearly superior, we go with that one. ;)

I do know that I pre-ordered Arkham Knight for X1. I flipped my Batman: The Dark Knight 2-Face collector's coin and it decided on Xbox.

@Lulu_Lulu:

Well my reviews are like a cacophony of mini rants lol (OK not really. But I do pride myself on tortured metaphors, so there's always that).

I have heard a lot of people use a lot of terms to describe Asylum and City. But dull, that's a new one. I'll concede to dark, but that's kind of Batman's thing. Unless your Adam West, it's hard to be the Dark Knight without the dark part.