Sorry, but when I saw this on my feed, I simply had to.

This happened. Someone actually wrote that the act of falling down had the "exaggerated swagger of a black teen." And worse yet, it wasn't a white person, but someone who seems to be mixed race or Hispanic himself (and has set his Twitter to private as of the writing of this piece).

Jordan. Mr. Ramée. We need to talk. Aside from wanting to thank you for illustrating that minorities can, indeed, be racist, we need to talk about your apparent belief that A) races are monolithic, and B) being part black is enough to override the other parts of a mixed race person. You DO know that Miles Morales is mixed, right? Were you afraid, perhaps, that it would be too obviously contemporary to say "the exaggerated swagger of a young Latino"? Were you trying desperately to sound "woke" for your fellow Starbucks buddies?

Now I'm not a huge Spider Man fan, I'll admit, but looking at your review, the movement isn't that different from what we've seen before.

Honestly, both he and Peter Parker are wise-ass athletes with serious gymnastic abilities who glide around confidently on their webs, and both are incredibly graceful in their movement both in and out of combat.

Also, how many black teens do you see back-flipping off buildings? What exactly is it about this particular backflip that screams "black teen" to you? Would you have said something similarly stupid reviewing a game starring Peter Parker? As James "the Angry Video Game Nerd" Rolfe would say, "what were you thinking"?

Look, I get it. This is a minority character being treated seriously in a video game, and that's a damn good thing. We should see that far, far more often than we do. However, we shouldn't rush to assign every single thing a minority does to their race. Black, Hispanic and Asian people, like white people, are so much more than just their race, and to fetishize their race is just as racist as to ignore or marginalize them.

Note that this isn't meant to try to get you canceled, Jordan. This is in part to laugh at the patronizing, insincere wokeness on display, yes, but also to remind people that while our cultures are an important part of how we grow up and see the world, they are not so all-encompassing that you can look at a back flip off a building and go "yep, that's a black teen." Let's not rush to pigeonhole whole groups of people, everyone.

That last blog was a bit of a downer, wasn't it? Well, let's bring things up a bit!

Seeing as I'm a retro gamer now, at least for the time being, let's talk old-school shop. I adore the older platforms, really, everything from the 2600 to the PS3 and 360. Is it too soon to call the PS4 a retro console yet? I think it is. Maybe we can call it that when the PS6 comes out. Anyway...

Among those consoles I love, you can't argue with the Turbografx-16. A strange little system that came out to compete with the NES in Japan, but ended up overshadowed by the Genesis here in the US, the system nonetheless had some damn good games. It was home to a legion of excellent shooters such as Blazing Lazers, Final Star Soldier, Gate of Thunder, Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire and Lords of Thunder (that last one being worth the price of admission for the soundtrack alone!), but also had some pretty great action-RPGs like Ys I and II, Exile and Dungeon Explorer. Did you know the Turbo saw the debut of Working Designs? Their first translations were published here, and they were seen as a very important part of the appeal for the Turbografx-CD add on.

The Bonk series was their premier mascot platformer. A bit different from Mario and Sonic, Bonk was more deliberate, as enemy encounters had to be tackled more slowly due to bonk's headbutt attack, and the levels were a bit more labyrinthine than what you'd see in early Mario titles. They were also a lot more insane, especially from Bonk 2 on.

The system had a fair share of amazing games, but it was also the console to introduce the western market to the notion of expensive add-ons that were essentially mandatory. The Turbografx-CD addon was $400, and many of the absolute best titles on the system were for the CD. The add-on would be cut to $299, but by that time, TG16 fans were content to wait for the Turbo Duo, an all-in-one for the same price. Between this and the system's atrocious lack of advertising, there was never any way to get past the Genesis, and by the time the SNES came out in 1992, it was an afterthought for most gamers.

So why write this? Well, the Turbografx-16, CD and all, are VERY easily emulated, and Analogue is set to bring out an HDMI version of the DUO early next year. Despite how poorly it did in the western market, its cult following here, combined with a solid 2nd place in Japan, made it a great system to look into, with plenty of awesome titles to look into. Though with emulators, you don't need that rare Turbo Tap to get a 5-player Bomberman session in...

So, fellow Turbo fans, any games you'd like to talk about, or see me put a blog out for? And anyone looking to enjoy some Turbo fun, what do you wanna know? It's Turbo Time! Just, you know, don't bang your head too hard against the keyboard. ;)

The election is over, and yet it doesn't feel any better. The same bitterness pervades society as has been since 2015, probably sooner.

Remember 2015? When #GamerGate blew up and the entire gaming fandom seemed to split itself in two. I had initially been a supporter of the movement, tired of what seemed like rampant nepotism and corruption in the games review industry, a move that got me perma-banned from Giant Bomb. Not long after that, I retreated from all games media, disinterested in the increasingly rancorous, partisan direction the whole thing took, as the hard left and hard right took sides and turned it, and every issue with game content, into a crap-slinging affair. I stayed away for many years, as you might notice from the large gap in posts from the time until relatively recently.

The partisanship on this and other sites, however, was only a symptom of a larger problem that has emerged arguably since large, monolithic social media largely replaced the focused, demographic-specific forums we grew up with. Algorithms have herded us all into echo chambers to feed not our hobbies and interests, but instead our darkest impulses, the worst aspects of who we are as a species. We've refused to listen and consider the legitimate points of others, allowing our own views to become warped and twisted, shaped by an increasingly narrow window into the world. It seems the only time we see the "other side," it's the worst examples of it. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Cenk Uygur, or Donald Trump and Alex Jones. We only see the worst in the other side. It's led to the death of civil discourse in the country. Social media is alight with hate and bile being thrown back and forth, the only interaction people seem willing to have with people who disagree with them. This is the sort of shit we used to see only in the games industry, and now it seems to have permeated throughout all aspects of life. Hell, you can't even look at porn without racial nonsense invading it (at least interracial porn). People can't even enjoy the most basic of pleasures without their biases coming into play.

You may wonder what the point of this rambling nonsense? Obviously, the election passed, bringing with it two victories for common sense - the election of Joe Biden over Donald Trump, and the defeat of several Democratic congresspersons who championed extreme ideas like court-packing and the Green New Deal. However, this has only engendered anger, hatred and violence. A police chief has called for violence against Democrats, aggressive protests by fringe lunatics and armed, self-styled militias based on lies and disinformation, family and community relationships strained over who someone supports politically....

What happened to us? Why have we so readily embraced this dysfunction as the new norm? When did we become unable to see the people across from us as fellow humans? It never ends well when we lose our mutual respect for our humanity, our ability to discuss things with people, or at least leave them be. Now, it seems like the US is a powder keg that just needs the right spark to set off the second American Civil War. We don't talk about things anymore in terms of how to fix them. Now we just look to "win," whatever that means.

I honestly wish we were still in a position that forced us to see different viewpoints. Whether watching a Sunday news program or reading the paper or huddled around a GamePro or EGM looking at the latest releases. Somewhere along the line, we've made things so complicated, and the things that were meant to bring us together have ripped us apart, perhaps irreparably.

Is there a solution? Maybe, maybe not. I just hope we can get past the anger, the derision, the hate, and start listening to one another. Hell, I don't even really know what the point of this post was. Just... Just don't let it consume you.

Not so much the system wars forum here on GameSpot, but that's the inspiration for this post, as I've gotten a few of those threads on my feed for some reason. It amazes me how, even as console gaming enters its ninth generation, how little has changed.

The first console war that I, and I'm sure many people reading this, experienced was the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo (Though I'm sure many in the UK have their share of Amiga/ST and Spectrum/C64 memories as well). Not only were people making things up to justify their system, but they'd denigrate great games on other platforms. But that wasn't the worst of it. People would talk shit about the people who owned the systems, not just the systems themselves.

It seems that in the 20+ years since then, nothing has changed. Well, not NOTHING. The players have changed (Sony and Microsoft instead of Sega and Nintendo), the graphics have changed and the tech buzzwords are even more dizzying, but it's still fanboys making ad hominems, insulting the other "side" over non-issues, throwing insults over acquisitions and games, bragging about boxes that are a lot more similar than the Genesis and SNES were.

And a lot of the people doing it now were doing it back then, which is incredibly sad. How do you go through high school, college and the outside world and still hold onto these puerile instincts? Why do people, instead of enjoying the stuff they like and having fun, spend so much goddamn energy attacking others? Kids, I get, because kids (and teens) can be awful people, but adults? That confuses me to no end.

Funny enough, the people who seem the most level-headed are the ones who stuck with the older games instead, forming the retro community. Perhaps because of how accessible roms are and how out of the current conflict retro gamers are, but when you see their twitches and their vids, they seem so much more chill. Obviously, there are exceptions, but for the most part, it seems a lot more chill the older the games being played get.

Is there a point to this here rant? Dunno. If I had to make an end point, life's too short to be pissy over stupid shit like this is in the end. Instead of hate, fill your life with love, and enjoy what you enjoy. The box you picked won't really matter next gen, and it certainly won't matter on your death bed.

I find myself in a strange place. The next generation consoles are on the horizon... And I don't give a damn.

I've seen some stuff, sure, and it doesn't look THAT much better than the PS4 and Xbone. Indeed, the expectations seem to be tempered down, with lots of talk about load times and raytracing instead of anything that's really going to look substantially different. Indeed, it seems like these consoles are designed for 4K and fast loading to the exclusion of everything else. I've had NO problems with games loading slowly on the PS4 and Xbone, even with vast open worlds like the ones we've seen in Horizon: Zero Dawn or Red Dead Redemption 2. It seems that Sony's off trying to sell TVs with their game console again, and Microsoft? Is this just their last console, and they're going out with a bang? This coming generation just seems... Bleh.

It's a strange place to be for me. The start of a new console generation has always been exciting for me, what with all the possibilities for new games and new experiences. Now? The excitement isn't there. Other than sequels to Halo and Horizon, I don't care at all about these boxes. That they're likely both to be $500 makes me even more subdued about the coming generation. The Series S had SOME potential, but now that we know it's a digital-only box, that's off the list entirely. What's left seems to be exclusively for people with 50+ inch monitors and an obsession with granular technological detail that has always been alien to me. And the potential for $70 games makes the whole lot even less appealing.

This isn't to say I WON'T get one of these systems ever, but this looks to be the first time ever that I will be waiting for a price drop, possibly two. $500 for systems that don't look like they'll offer anything more than moderately faster load times just doesn't appeal. Hopefully by the time these boxes hit a more palatable price, there's something that's worth spending the money on.

Not to say that I won't be gaming while I wait. There's plenty to play still. Games look like they'll still be coming out on the PS4 and Xbone for some time yet, and I have massive backlogs of shame. Not only that, but my Raspberry Pi 4 and PC have been getting a TON of use during the pandemic, what with all the retrogaming I've been doing. Obviously, GOG and the Switch are still a big part of the gaming diet. Looking forward to the new Hyrule Warriors!

At the end of the day, this is the first time I've not cared at all. Is gaming passing me by? Maybe. But while I love gaming and always will, I'm not an addict. I can wait until it's more palatable for me.

So, what about you guys? Anyone else here not looking forward to or really caring about the next gen consoles? Is it a strange feeling for you as it is for me, not having any excitement or wanting to jump into the next gen now, if ever? I'd love to read your thoughts on the subject!

It's E3 time, and I could give a **** less.

Yep, it's that time of year when we're fed barely anything real. Target videos, hype reels, and other shit that's completely fucking irrelevant to what the final product will be. We've all been on this roller coaster before, some of us many, many times, and more often than not, it leads to disappointment.

There was a time when I was excited for every E3, and would just sit there, GLUED to every morsel of information I could get my hands on. Those times have passed. But why?

A few things. One, I've got a few gaming youtubers on my feed, so anything I give a solitary **** about will just slide itself into my notifications, and all is good. More importantly, we've all been disappointed by games not looking or playing anywhere near as well as their hype videos (damn near every big Ubisoft release lately, among others). It gets just exhausting trying to sort out the truth from fiction.

Put bluntly, why am I going to get into a frothing mess over some game that's almost certain to look vastly different than it does in the heavily doctored hype video? Especially as the two biggest presences on the show floor, EA and Activision, are increasingly removed from my sphere of interest? Especially when specialty media will fill me in better closer to an interesting product's release?

So this year, I'm backing out. I'm content to wait for some other poor soul to wade through the bullshit and bring me stuff that might be interesting to me. I'll wait for the fevered hype until a game's close to release. Finding needles in haystacks is for the young folks.

So the PS5 was recently re-announced, even though there's nowhere near what can be called a final spec for the machine. We're probably another year from even having a real, concrete idea of what the PS5 will offer, let alone a set-in-stone specification or a price point. The promises are being thrown out there, though, with 8K being bandied about as a talking point (For all you guys playing your games on actual movie theater screens), but there's little on specifics.

Sony's reason for talking about the system SO early is sound. They're sending early dev kits to third parties, and don't want leaks to overshadow the next few years of marketing, so they're getting the initial announcement out of the way. However, why is it so important to get all the information on the new system NOW? Yes, the PS4 is approaching its sixth anniversary, but the system will likely see the 7th before the PS5 has been finalized. Hell, it might see the 8th, depending on now fast Sony wants to go.

There's still plenty of awesome coming in the coming years for the PS4, so let's all slow down and appreciate it. At the end of the day, it's not systems we play, but games. I still gotta pick up Days Gone, and Death Stranding is still on the horizon. Let's enjoy the games, and let the PS5 come when it comes. Hell, slowing our roll also helps Sony take their time on the system, make sure all the bugs are ironed out and all that.

It's no secret that homebrew has been a thing for a while now on the popular platforms of the old days (the NES, SNES, Genesis, Amiga...), and new consoles have come out to play them, greatly improving on the shitty Famiclones of yesteryear. Even at the lower end, HDMI enabled clone consoles like the Super Retro Trio Plus are playing much better than they used to, and we have bangin' high-end options like the AVS, Analogue Nt Mini/Super Nt, and the upcoming Mega Sg. And of course, the Retron 5 is still a thing, and still very worth it (just throw away that fucking controller it comes with and use either an OEM controller or one of the awesome premium controllers Hyperkin is putting out now). I hear the Retro Freak is also pretty awesome. Gotta give that one a try, if only because it supports TG-16.

Then there are the re-releases. In the last couple years, Retro-Bit has been working with obscure companies to bring NES and SNES cartridges out, from the Data East All-Star Collection and Holy Diver on NES, to SNES offerings like the Jaleco Brawler's Pack and R-Type Returns. Retro-Bit has even gone one extra by putting out a bundle of the SR3+ with a Joe and Mac Ultimate Caveman Collection cart.

The rise in quality of the controllers being offered, that's understandable, as controllers break and a good replacement is worth its weight in gold (by the say, about time someone started putting out quality Saturn controllers, cannot fucking wait!). But the spike in quality of the clones is interesting. One would think that Retro-bit would try to make its own take on the Retron5/Retro Freak emulation consoles and call it a day, but it seems that improving the old NOACs into something with better compatibility is on both major retro company's minds (both RetronHD and RES+ play Castlevania III!).

So why is it that we're seeing this huge rise in interest with retro gaming platforms? Can't just be us crotchety ol' folks, as most of us have the original systems and ways to get good output out of them if that's what we're in for. Young folks? I'd be amazed if they even recognize the difference between hardware-based solutions and emulators on their PC, but someone's gotta be buying all this shit.

So it defies all sense that there's this growing niche of gamers who are putting money into gaming that's this damned old, but here we are. Is it all just nostalgia, or is there something that modern gaming is missing that is driving people back? More Xbox gamers are probably pining for single player and local multiplayer, but the Switch and PS4 offer one or both of those in spades. Perhaps games are too complex nowadays? I can see people being turned off by all the buttons, motion controls, VR and other extraneous bull that gets in the way of just playing a game.

Either way, it looks like we're in a boom market for the older consoles, and it doesn't look to be letting up any time soon. I for one welcome the comeback of old-school gaming. How about you guys? Any of you enjoying the new retro resurgence?

On a side note, you might wonder why I suddenly got this on my mind. Well, I have the Retron5, AVS and Analogue Super Nt, with plans to get the Mega SG on its release, and just recently picked up a couple of Hyperkin Cadet NES controllers and the Data East All-Star Collection. Look forward to my thoughts after I've played with 'em some more, but suffice to say, they're mostly positive.

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it!?

After that whole Gamergate mess, I rather became disillusioned with games media in general, and really just kept away for a few years, just to clear my head. Hopefully I'll be able to get back in the groove, but it seems that, outside the fringes at least, we can get back to talking about video-games again, and that's what I'm in for.

And what a time to talk about games! Microsoft has announced that they're bringing Xbox Live services to Android, iOS and Switch, and while it's VERY unlikely that you'll be able to use their services to play online on Switch in lieu of Nintendo's, it does seem a portent of things to come.

It's no secret that the Xbox One has not enjoyed great success worldwide, only selling 41.4 million units since it launched in late 2013, putting it in a pathetic spot against the PS4 (92.2 million), and with the Switch, a console that came out in 2017, looming closer in the rear view mirror than Microsoft would like (30.3 million).

Let's not mince words here, the Xbox One is a failure, especially outside North America. While it's no surprise that Japan laughs at the idea of buying a Microsoft consoles, Europe isn't exactly embracing MS either, and the market that carried Sony through the tough first half of the PS3's lifespan has remained a stalwart ally during this generation as well.

Honestly, I'd go so far as to say that the Xbox 360 was a fluke. Had Sony not essentially sacrificed the PS3 to win the HD movie format war, the Xbox 360 would likely have sold somewhere between the OG Xbox's numbers and the numbers the Xbox One has now. The PS3's initial failures allowed MS to leapfrog Sony in North America and actually hold onto Europe for a while, forcing Japanese third parties in particular to stop ignoring the platform, which gave them a whole lot more parity in game selection.

Now? That parity is gone. Microsoft's mostly getting only the surefire hits from Namco, Square-Enix (with the obvious exception of the Eidos games, where MS still gets parity) and Capcom, while the rest of the Japanese development community focuses mostly on the PS4 and Switch, with the occasional token Xbone port. And make no mistake, even if you don't play Japanese games, this is a big issue, because it highlights the real issue with Xbox One - a DIRE lack of reason to buy the thing.

You're not going to get Activision and EA to make games exclusively to Xbox One OR PS4, so they're not really a reason TO buy an Xbox One instead of a PS4. Halo is in decline judging by 5, and Gears 4 suggests we've seen that franchise's peak as well. There's Forza, yeah, but it's not like quality racing games are hard to find on either platform, and Crackdown? Crackdown 3 is NOT showing what the prolonged development period was for. Meanwhile, Sony and Nintendo are pumping out exclusives that keep knocking sales and perception out the park, with Nintendo finally getting it in their heads that they actually have to make games and not just party favors. Say what you will about Nintendo, they've learned at least that lesson from the Wii U's failure well.

So that leads us to today. While Sony does have PlayStation Now, they're not pimping it NEARLY as much as Microsoft is pimping Xbox Game Pass. Instead, Sony continues to amaze and astound with new and established IP alike, while Nintendo returns to making stellar evergreen games. Microsoft? It seems every bit of good news about them involves other platforms, be it playing Fortnite and Minecraft with PC and Switch players, or indeed their Xbox initiative for the rival Nintendo switch. Sea of Thieves was a hot mess, State of Decay 2 was a non-event and Crackdown 3 looks like the best Xbox 360 game of the year. Where's the excitement for playing Xbox games on Xbox, that you can't play on platforms that aren't Xbox?

There just seems to be this overwhelming feeling of... surrender. Microsoft just looks like they're ready to wave the white flag. The company as a whole is profitable, but it's no secret that the Xbox division has been an albatross around the company's neck for most of its existence. With PC having reached maturation as a market and MS Office remaining the dominant office suite, Microsoft's issue isn't profit, but growth. The Xbox hasn't really helped the company grow, and while I personally like Bing, let's not act like it's putting a dent in Google's hold on the search engine market. While it moves into cloud services to fight Amazon, I'm not sure it can keep this game console lark going for much longer.

Unless the next generation Xbox lights the world on fire, what does Microsoft really see happening? Do they just turn Xbox into a PC game streaming service? Not sure how viable that would be for fast-paced action games outside of the US' major coastal centers, but it's not like Xbox has really ever been a global phenomenon. Honestly, I can see them turning inward, making more PC games, putting out the surefire stuff on Sony or Nintendo platforms while the rest is just PC/Game Pass. Maybe put out a game pass streaming box, try to be Onlive 2.0. However, Microsoft can't just keep making consoles that lose money the way they've been doing.

Personally, I hate the idea of losing a manufacturer, and the competition that it brings. While MS' contributions to gaming have sometimes been detrimental (pay for online, microtransactions, et al), they proved to be a successful check against Sony's hubris, keeping core gaming going while Nintendo went off the deep end with the Wii. However, for the Xbox, as a distinct bit of hardware, to be a viable contender, they need to make their own platform exciting again, and that means a massive investment in first/second party games. The Xbox needs its' definitive games, more than just Halo and Gears, that really make people say "I need to get an Xbox."

While they focus on spreading Live everywhere, though, I don't see it happening.

As some of you may know, DmC: Devil May Cry: Definitive Edition is being released shortly. Now, there's one documented edit being made, as Eddie Makuch sensationalizes here.

Now, at first glance, it does seem like Ninja Theory and Capcom are kowtowing to SJW meddling.

During a early cut-scene, main antagonist Mundus is outlining his nefarious plans with his demon mistress Lilith. In the original game, the scene plays out like this.

Mundus: "Soon I will own everything worth owning. I will control the world through debt. I have absolute power."

Lilith: "The world is at last your bitch. As am I. Nothing left but to grab it by the hair, bend it over over, and f..."

The Definitive Edition version, however, keeps Mundus' line intact, but shortens Lilith's to chop off the suggestive bit.

Mundus: "Soon I will own everything worth owning. I will control the world through debt. I have absolute power."

Lilith: "The world is at last your bitch."

Seems pretty damning, doesn't it? However, there's more to the story, as we see by reading more of the article.

DMC: Devil May Cry also contains an implied sex scene between Mundus and Lilith, which remains intact in the Definitive Edition. The alteration of the cut-scene was first discovered by Eurogamer.

In a statement to GameSpot, Nijna Theory creative director Tameem Antoniades the decision to alter the dialogue between Mundus and Lilith.

"We did make an edit to the opening cut scene. It wasn't a case of censorship as there are far more suggestive scenes in the game," he said.

"We felt that scene in particular drags on a little bit for the opening sequence and frankly, we didn't like the line. Those few seconds were irrelevant to the scene and is covered effectively in a later scene where Mundus is metaphorically shafting world leaders."

Now, consider the lines I've put in bold for a moment. While I would have had Lilith's line cut off after "... As am I," it seems as though Ninja Theory is less concerned with censorship and more concerned with improving the narrative. I certainly appreciate that. That line is completely useless in the context of the opening, and only serves as padding in an already stupidly long opening. Now, if other, more suggestive content is kept in the game, then we can let Ninja Theory off the hook. At worst, this is just them trying to make the game a smoother experience for newer users, which is fine, although as George Lucas will attest, that can earn a different type of ire... I'm getting ahead of myself.

Basically, smoothing out a single line doesn't necessarily mean that Ninja Theory and Capcom are in cahoots with Anita Sarkeesian, Zoe Quin and Brianna Wu, especially if Lilith remains dressed the way she is in that scene. See, while gamers are understandably paranoid about SJW meddling - and who wouldn't be when Giant Bomb, the former gold standard for integrity, marches in lock-step with Sarkeesian and co? - the fact remains that developers and publishers need to be given the benefit of the doubt. If other suggestive content is conspicuously cut, then we can tar and feather Ninja Theory. If Street Fighter V comes out and Cammy is covered up head-to-toe without so much as an ankle showing, then we can rail against Capcom (at least for submitting to SJWs, Capcom has other sins...).

Basically, what I'm saying is that, in the war against the enemy, we must hold onto the integrity that differentiates ourselves from them. We must not rush to conclusions, or paint with a broad brush, or we become no different. Let's see what the final version is like before we get the pitchforks out, yeah?