Intermission - The Journey So Far...

A lot has happened since I last posted a year ago. 2023 was possibly the most busy year of my entire life. I accomplished a lot and with great help and support from my loving partner. But despite how busy it was and the absence of posting, I reached another milestone. I played more than 30 games and in doing so I achieved my goal of finishing all my "must play on PC" games. This is a challenge I set myself when I separated my games into groups of Steam Deck and Not Steam Deck. As I result I bought the god machine, blessed by Gabe himself, the holy Steam Deck. This is easily the best piece of gaming hardware I've ever experienced. It might even be the best. When the Switch was announced it became a bastion of indie titles, an oasis in an oversaturated market. That appealed to me, even more so then the giants I'd always missed out on like Mario and Zelda. But there was one problem. I already had hundreds of indie games on Steam, and so I told myself if they ever made one I would buy it. Well, my prayers were answered and it was beyond my expectation. Every time I boot this up I feel a sense of glee, this indie machine that I willed into existence resting in my palms. But it's not just a simple Steam device, the Linux based Steam OS and Proton allows you to play any game without porting it. Literally anything. Proton essentially acts as an API between operating systems that would otherwise require a port. I'm constantly surprised at how well this runs older MSDOS like games, which even modern Windows often struggles with. This is the definitive OS for gaming, and what makes the Deck so cutting edge. Below is a short list of what I've done or plan to do with the Deck:

• Play any game on Steam, even if it isn't ported
• Use a script to download an emulator for every console that's every existed, and play it's games
• Install battle.net and play World of Warcraft on a console/handheld device for the first time ever
• Dido for Diablo 2 - with resurrected and native controller support, it runs even better on console
• Plug the device into your TV and play games from literally any console (emulated)
• Connect four PS4 controllers and play Halo split-screen or Game cube smash bros on your TV with four friends
• Plug it into a dock (monitor, keyboard, mouse), alt tab and mess around to your hearts content like a PC
• Use it as a portable PC and setup LAN nights (if only your buddies had the Deck)

Now despite all I have achieved in 2023 I have been very slack in posting. I have a backlog sitting there of about 28 games and no idea how or when I'll catch up on them and it just keeps growing. So instead, I just won't. I'll carry forward from this point and eventually I'll fill in the gaps from 91-120. To make this more achievable moving forward I feel a new ground rule is necessary. Aim for 500 words each blog with a hard limit of 1000 and in very rare circumstances (Elden Ring, God of War) can you go past this. Remember why you started this, not to write long-form op eds on your favourite games, but to catalogue thoughts and feels you had at the time regarding a game. Sometime this will explode into a flurry of words, but more often that not less will be more. And if even you would find it tedious to go back and read through your own words, then what's the point? If you ever forgot you way and need reminding, just go back to the first dozen or so posts you did.