Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large. 

Back to gaming

It’s been about a month since I lucked into buying a PlayStation 5: I just so happened to catch a stock release on BestBuy’s website. It remains baffling that you still can’t simply walk into any BestBuy or Target and buy one of these next-generation consoles. But whatever; I got mine!

And yet I only started to play games on the PS5 this past weekend. Why the delay? Well, before buying the console I already had set routines and hobbies to attend to. It took a bit of time for me to carve out a space within my schedule to dedicate the few hours per week towards gaming. Much like the few hours I allocate weekly to reading, studying Korean, and piano practice.

The days of playing games with every hour of a spare time is absolutely over. Those days (read: college) was awesome. But back then I wouldn’t have been able to drop $500 dollars on a gaming console at a moment’s notice. Nor would I have been able to pay nearly $2,000 for a television to go along with it. Having an adult income is very nice, though that comes with having adult responsibilities as well that takes up your time.

Anyways, the first game I’ve decided to play on the PS5 is the director’s cut version of Ghost of Tsushima. Having recently read James Clavell’s Shogun, I was in the mood for some feudal Japan action. The game is absolutely stunning: the fictional Japanese island of Tsushima looks utterly fantastic, no matter what the in-game time of day it is. Of course, it helps to have a 4K OLED TV. The last time I consistently gamed, it was on a PlayStation 3 hooked up to a run-of-the-mill 1080P TV (playing Gran Theft Auto 4). The 4X jump in visual fidelity is kind of breathtaking.

I’m going to finish Ghost of Tsushima before moving on to another game, whenever that may be. One game at a time, instead of buying a whole lot of games and jumping around.

Come one come all.

I got a new TV!

Late last week I wrote that I was finally able to purchase a PlayStation 5. On that Sunday, I picked up the notoriously scarce gaming console at my local Best Buy. Was I a bit self conscious carrying the PS5 to the car? You bet! With the rampant retail crime going on in the Bay Area, some thugs could have rolled up in a Honda Accord sedan and rip the PS5 from my hands in a flash. In hindsight I probably shouldn’t have parked at the lot on the roof. By myself.

Thank providence I made it home with the console unscathed. But now there’s another problem: I don’t have a television to plug the PS5 into. It’s been more than a year since I’ve moved to this new spot, and yet a TV still hasn’t materialized. I’ve always planned to buy one, but it’s definitely been on the back-burner, seeing as I don’t really watch that much TV. Other things I used more often were worth spending the money on, like a new MacBook Pro.

Because if I’m getting a TV, it’s got to be a good one. None of the poverty-spec models that costs in the hundreds. So it’s going to be spendy. The best in the business right now is the OLED televisions from LG. Dubbed the best TV for the PlayStation 5 by RTINGS.com, the LG C1 OLED is the one to purchase. 65-inch is the size I bought; could have gone bigger but alas I’m not made of money, despite appearances.

I’d thought about returning to Best Buy to buy the TV, but the 5% back at Amazon with my Chase Amazon card is too irresistible. What’s another few days of wait? Besides, I didn’t have to bug a friend with a large enough vehicle to transport the thing. It was white-glove delivery by a third-party contractor from Amazon. I know this because afterwards, Amazon emailed me a customer satisfaction survey regarding the delivery. I gave the team high marks as I’m sure their pay would be docked otherwise.

Needless to say I am loving the LG OLED TV. The picture quality is expectedly amazing. I’m happy to see the display has a glass cover, which enhances contrast and it’s easier to clean. Cheaper units would have been polycarbonate. Indeed the LG wasn’t cheap, but much like my Pro Display XDR, I’m looking to keep this for a very long time.

Speaking of longevity…

How the turntables

I was writing yesterday about how difficult it still is to buy a new-generation gaming console. The PS5 and the XBOX Series X is out of stock everywhere, and the periodic drops the retail stores do are infrequent enough to miss unless your’e super lucky. I even wrote at the end that I reckon my gaming days are over!

Well, I was super lucky shortly after that. Just as I was done with breakfast, I saw on my twitter feed a post by The Verge saying the PlayStation 5 is in stock at Best Buy online. Without getting my hopes up, it was a worth a shot, so I got in on the virtual line. Meanwhile, I created a Best Buy account as that was a prerequisite for purchasing. The stars must be aligning, because soon as I was done with account creation, it was a my turn to finalize a purchase.

I’ll be picking up a PS5 this Sunday at my local Best Buy store. What a surprising turn of events!

Sadly I won’t be actually playing on the PS5 anytime soon. I will need to buy a TV as well. The most suitable unit would be the 42-inch LG C2 OLED that was just announced this week at CES. That is scheduled for release in the Spring, so I’ve got a bit of waiting to do. It’s been a relatively long time since I actually had a gaming console, so what’s another few months of waiting? No need to compromise on the TV I want simply due to impatience.

Besides, there isn’t yet a truly next-gen game out that I’m desperate to play. Gran Turismo 7 isn’t out until March. If anything, I will probably be playing PlayStation 4 titles that received quality updates for the PS5. Final Fantasy 7 Remake is one such game.

Anyways, I guess if you shout at the universe enough, sometimes it will give you what you want.

Love will set you free.

Really? Come on, man

It really grinds my gears to see guides like this: the best PS5 accessories for 2022! As if we are able to simply walk into any Best Buy and Target today and buy one these gaming consoles. A solid year since both the PlayStation 5 and the XBOX Series X have launched, and supplies are still heavily constrained. Unless your’e willing to pay extortion prices on eBay (I’m not), to snag a unit you practically have to keep an eye on supply drops everywhere. Miss them by minutes and stock will be gone again.

On a similar vein, yesterday Nvidia announced the latest top-tier gaming graphics card: the RTX 3090 Ti. Meanwhile, plebs like us still can’t buy a regular RTX 3080 for MSRP. Supplies are so low that practically every place that sells it is charging double. Why doesn’t Nvidia concentrate on making more 3080 cards instead of releasing yet another new card?

I understand why there is a shortage, but it doesn’t make it less frustrating.

However, I really don’t need a gaming console. I hardly have time to game in between my other hobbies and happenings. A PlayStation 5 would just sit and collect dust like my PlayStation 4 did. I currently don’t even have a television to plug a console into. My Pro Display XDR famously only have one input (thunderbolt 3) with no physical controls. A PS5 will work, but there’s no way to control screen brightness or turn on HDR. The $5,000 Apple display truly is the most niche of products. But I do love mine!

I honestly think my days of gaming are over, at least for the foreseeable future.

Romance of the three kingdoms.

I am not getting the Playstation 5

The next generation of gaming consoles is upon us, and I can’t believe people are so willing to drop $500 left and right for both the forthcoming Playstation 5 and the XBOX Series X. Of course, I am the same guy that just dropped well over $3,000 on a custom-order 16-inch MacBook Pro, so who am I to criticize others on how they should spend their dollars frivolously. With this new generation of consoles, I can finally admit and resign to the fact that I’m just not that big of a gamer anymore. Spending $500 on a Playstation 5 just for it to sit underneath my television gathering dust is exactly the same fate as my Playstation 4.

In grand total, the number of games I bought for the Playstation 4 over its lifetime is under 10, which is indicative of how little I game. While the COVID-19 quarantines have turned many into more gaming, I never really participated, preferring instead to read a few more books (nerd!). I don’t think I’ve even finished playing a single PS4-era game through to the end - not even Grand Theft Auto 5 - which absolutely screams out that I am not a gamer anymore. Therefore there’s really no incentive for me to get the Playstation 5; besides, I don’t have the requisite 4K television set to utilize it fully.

And if I were to get a 4K TV, it would have to be an LG OLED unit, which is massively more expensive than a typical LED unit from other brands. Not an expense I want to do right now. Again, says the guy that just spent more than $3,000 on a MacBook Pro. I’m the type of miser that saves to only then spend money on expensive things - no saving for saving’s sake here.

Anyways, will my history with the Playstation brand - I’ve owned ever iteration of the console thus far - end with the Playstation 4? Chances are good, though the proverbial never say never applies here. One can never predict how effective future releases of my perennial favorites like Gran Turismo and Grand Theft Auto will compel me to buy the Playstation 5 (and the OLED TV). But as of right now, I am not joining the preorder frenzy that’s currently going on. No worries here whether or not I can get a unit on release day!

A Sunday morning well spent.