I collected video games for a hobby, play them occasionally, and don't worry myself much about the future of the gaming industry because of my age.
The economics of my hobby pretty much precluded my owning or playing games until heavily discounted, but I have found that I finish "new" games much more often than I do "retro" games. Whether this is due to changing difficulty or progression saving, I can't say. But I will say that I am truly impressed with the visual quality of modern games.
I used to feel dismayed by the thought that all games being sold digitally, but that doesn't even concern me now because it just means there is a clear endpoint to my collection and that's a good thing.
And though I would be loathe to game on a PC, with it's entire library being digital I suppose, I was always a bit curious and perhaps even envious of the Steam library. I remind myself that the creators of the original Xbox had considered giving it the capability of playing PC games but concluded that the quantity and quality of PC games was so poor, it would probably damage the reputation of the Xbox console.
Having said that, I know for a fact that playing a bad game of a type that I like is much more enjoyable for me than playing a great game of a type I dislike.
I was intrigued hearing about a new Steam console because of the access to it's library and the fact that it was not a miserable handheld device, but concluded it was not a device designed and dedicated purely for gaming, but more of a media streaming device capable of surfing the internet and reading email to which I have little interest. More's the pity. But if that's where we end up as gamers, well so be it. I still have a collection of unplayed retro games to console myself with.


Quote Originally Posted by Gameguy View Post
What do you mean "expired"? Operating systems still work after official support is discontinued, I've had no problems with this while using my PC almost daily. For security concerns, my free antivirus software still updates daily and really that's all that's needed.
I was doing just that, using a "free" antivirus software that constantly nagged me to purchase it with annoying popups. After more than a year of this with no detections, I concluded that my style of PC use that involves no downloads could be conducted safely with an up-to-date operating system alone. This new Dell, the least expensive version they produce was on sale for just under $400, is the quietest PC I have ever been around. It makes absolutely no noise at all. But it is not a gaming PC. At least I don't think it is.