Toomanywires

I could've played Resident Evil Requiem. In fact, I almost did. But I didn't. Instead, I played Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. A game from 2003, which is ages ago. The blurb on the back of the box promises an INTENSE CINEMATIC 3D ACTION GAME WITH UNIQUE BULLET TIME GAMEPLAY, which is an extremely-2003 collection of words. I have yet to play anything released this year. Instead, I have been discovering and revisiting older experiences. This isn't a conscious rejection of the Modern, nor a disinterest in games that don't scream UNIQUE BULLET TIME. No, my avoidance of 2026 largely stems from a desire to put a dent in the backlog and to play the games that I already have at home.  To be honest, it's also due to a slight disinterest in the year thus far, and a distaste for recent developments in the video game space. Price increases and talk of $1000 next-gen consoles is all a bit off-putting, isn't it? A tad unsavoury. Makes you want to play something you alrea...

I've been on holiday. A trip back to the UK for two weeks. Sun? Yes, there was a bit. Pretty decent for an English summer. Sea? Only seen from the plane as we crossed over from mainland Europe. CEX? Yes, several times. It's lovely seeing family of course, but I also get excited about the little things when I go back to the UK. Popping in to Tesco, buying socks that fit properly, Marmite on toast for breakfast, takeout from the curry house, jogging an old route, and a trip or two to CEX to buy games. I'm not sure whether I ever stepped foot in a CEX, a leading retailer of second-hand media, when I lived in the UK. Maybe there were less of them? I certainly didn't buy many used games back then, and I'd save most of my retro purchases for trips to Japan. But now that I live outside the UK, I consider CEX a little treat and will visit a couple of times whenever I'm back. Inside CEX, the UK residents are looking for a few quid off PS5 games, and the collectors are co...

My Xbox 360 still thinks it's 2012. Trials Evolution showing as my last-played, The Witcher 2 still in the tray, and my full-body avatar jiggling on the dashboard. My 360 is a time capsule of early 2010's gaming, untroubled by system updates thanks to a decade spent in storage. I dusted off my frozen-in-time 360 earlier this month when I was back in the UK. The reason? OutRun 2, of course. I'd long been aware of its existence, but despite my enjoyment of the original and general fondness for arcade racers, I'd never played OutRun 2. This was most likely the result of unfortunate timing and the platforms on which it appeared. It came out on the original Xbox, a console I've never owned; a semi-sequel, OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast, arrived a few years later when I was at the very tail end of an extended period of relative disinterest in video games. I simply wasn't paying attention, so OutRun 2, in all its guises, entirely passed me by. Presumably due to an expired ...