Blog

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

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.

On HD televisions

I can fondly remember the first time I upgraded to a proper HD television. At 32-inches, the Sony Bravia isn’t large compared to the common behemoths of today, but the huge jump to 1080p resolution was stunning all the same. Those were the days when I’d find any excuse to dig up some HD content to enjoy the sheer picture quality that’s being blasted in front of our eyes. The Planet Earth series was an absolutely treat; so was “The Lighting of the Beacons” scene in the The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. HD was such a significant leap that I felt like I was participating in something off in the future, but I’ve somehow gained early access. It was a delightful.

Fast forward to today, and here I am still with my 1080p television, though it’s since grown to a lofty 58-inches in size. The 4K revolution is largely complete now - I don’t suppose you can even purchase a 1080p unit right now - yet I still do not feel a great need to upgrade; the incentives just aren’t there. Broadcast television still isn’t fully 1080p yet, and with Netflix you have to pay extra if you want 4K streaming. The next generation of gaming consoles from Sony and Microsoft touts 4K playability, but until there is a game to entice me to upgrade (such as whatever the next Grand Theft Auto will be), I’m quite okay with my original SKU Playstation 4.

It’s really easy to get used to something that once awed you immensely, to become bored with it and needing to chase after the next innovation to placate the human insatiability for novelty. This is how people get onto the endless hedonistic treadmill, feeling the need to keep buying news things. As an owner of a sports car costing in the six-figures, I totally get it, though I also gained the understanding that these shiny objects aren’t going to make us happy if we’re not at a base level happy to begin with. The increase in joy from achieving whatever newness is momentary and fleeting, and soon we’ll be back to our old normal, chasing after the next hit.

Owing a 911 hasn’t made me any happier than before, though that’s okay because that’s something to work on from within, rather than hinging on external objects or circumstances. I think it’s important to remember the initial joy when we first attained our nice things - like a sports car or HD television - to carry that burst of happiness through to the present. This exercise makes me grateful to have these things now, and how much I’d wish I did if that weren’t the case. That should be satisfaction enough.

The waiting game.

Quick thoughts on Disney Plus

The much-anticipated streaming platform from the House of Mouse - Disney Plus - finally launched yesterday, and as expected from the biggest entertainment company on the planet, the interface is slick, and playback is super smooth. There’s no hiccups to speak of so far from my perspective (it worked perfectly with Chromecast), though from what i can gather on twitter, other folks are experiencing momentary hang-ups and unresponsiveness due to the sheer demand for Disney Plus.

I guess even the biggest entertainment company on the planet can’t stress-test its platform properly before a launch.

Due to it being a normal work-day yesterday, I haven’t had the time to really delve into the enormous amount of content on Disney Plus. It’s wild to see the entire back catalogue of The Simpson - 30 seasons of it - available to stream; imagine binge-watching through all of it - surely whatever life you previously had will no longer exist. The complete seven seasons of Boy Meets World - the seminal sitcom of my childhood - is also available, which means i can finally delete my downloaded bootlegs (surely the statute of limitations have expired by now).

Similar to what MP3 did for music, it seems people are entirely willing to trade visual quality in return for convenience and ease of use when it comes to streaming. I for one can dig the minimalism of having one device to access all the TV shows and movies there is to offer, even if a high bitrate blu-ray version does look magnitudes better on a properly setup 4K TV screen. Indeed, the quality of streaming is “good enough”, much like how MP3 sound quality is good enough to forgo the hassle of swapping CDs for every album you want to listen.

And also like music, the future of television (and maybe even movies) is streaming, though I wonder how our respective internet service providers feel about the immense amount of bandwidth it’s increasingly using - especially once most of the content switches over to 4K resolution. I have a monthly soft-cap of 1 terabyte with Comcast, so that’s going to be a problem down the road because it streaming 4K for one hour requires 7 GB of data. Hopefully Comcast will make the consumer-friendly move and get rid of data caps altogether, but then again, this is Comcast we’re talking about.

Late last night I watched the first episode of The Mandalorian, the Star Wars series that’s headlining the Disney Plus launch. Not having watched any Game of Thrones, it is my first exposure to this new generation of TV shows with production budgets equal to major studio films. It’s quite amazing to see such quality and scale on the television screen, and The Mandalorian is rather impressive so far. The upcoming Marvel shows have movie-like big budgets as well, and it seems the defining line between television shows and theatrical films is quickly blurring.

Exciting times. I’ve subscribed to other streaming platforms before, but it looks like Disney Plus has and will have the goods to keep me hooked for a long time.

Look at these people lining up to buy dim-sum when other shops in Chinatown offer largely the same quality.