Cultured Vultures: In the spirit of preserving some kind of history of this industry, we’ve decided to list some of the best games that you just simply can’t get hold of digitally at the minute.
Tim and Luis talk what they’ve been watching and playing along with the news from the past week, including all the games from Sony’s “State of Play,” Evil West, Silent Hill: The Short Message, Hideo Kojima weirdness, Spec Ops: The Line delisted and more!
A stellar work of sobering proportions, Spec-Ops: The Line is an outstanding third-person shooter that on first glance conceals its hidden depths.
It's really a shame that the Spec Ops reboot didn't continue into a series. Obviously the story in The Line is over. But each game could have delved into the different psychological effects of war as well as exploring different takes on Heart of Darkness. In a sea of mindless military shooters it was nice to finally play a shooter that actually had something to say.
This game was the last of a dying breed, a signifier of where shooter games (and videogames more broadly) COULD have gone if developers didn't pivot so hard into the online services, micro transaction, season pass, yada yada.
New narrative territory exploring the actual art form of gaming and storytelling within it.
A brilliant depiction into what war can really do to a person and doesn't glorify it in any way.
I heard this game might be getting delisted, which is a travesty, this is one that should be preserved forever
I think the title was unfortunate - it was when Moder Warfare got big so I assumed it was yet another clone. Fortunately, because ps plus I checked out this gem of a game.
The dangers of an all-digital future have been laid bare as Devil May Cry 2 and 3, and Spec Ops: The Line, disappear from online stores.
Well you have been warned about this since around 2006 except the gaming and general media don't care about preservation (They just want free content to review and move on with their career). In fact it was these same outlets that used to boast about cutting the cord and going all in on subscription and cloud services.
I remember when DLC started on consoles and people were screaming to not buy into it. show them with your wallet that you don't want studios to sell you the remainder of a game.
they didn't listen then. they are not listening now.
These games are best played via emulation now anyway and so they are preserved
Technically you can still get it digitally if you pirate it, the promise of digital is kept alive by the people. Thankfully I bought it long ago, think it's time I sat down and actually play it tho.
Gaming shelves have definitely gotten smaller over the years for sure.
In my home city we have 1 GAME retailer where you can buy games (limited shelf space) and 1 supermarket called Tesco and that's basically it.
I also live in the 5th biggest city in England so it's not like I live in a small city either
I can see why everyone uses online stores like Amazon these days to get there copies cause cities in general are shite these days NOT just games either but clothes etc.
I really think we will see Xbox disappear from the shelves in the next year with PlayStation following with the ps6.
I see Nintendo as the only company to still sell physical media long term due to the nature of their systems being portable seeing as they target a younger demographic and don't seemingly want to split their development pipelines up to a home console and handheld again.
Sadly though there's going to be a time where we have no choice physical is dead and the only way to buy games is digitally and worse we have to pay whatever the company wants for them can probably kiss sales goodbye to
I disagree I played little Samson and final fantasy 1 for the first time this year and loved it those games 30 plus years old.
I know kids that are playing super Mario 64 for the first time to.
If a game is good a game is good and it could still find an audience 10, 20 or even 50 years down the line.
So I disagree if you want to play a game it can sometimes not be about waiting but also discovering.
Just checked Steam and it is in fact no there anymore. I had it originally on PS3 and consider it a masterpiece. Should have bought it on Steam when I had the chance.
I'm telling you. Pirating will save the game industry. As much as they're purposefully trying to crack down on it for obvious and not so obvious reason, it'll continue to exist and allow games to be reserved and keep publishers in check.
keys are about $30 USD on key stores. so it is still possible to buy the game. Last time I purchased a key for a game no longer available on steam I was still able to add it to my library.
I just started playing Spec op. I've had it for years on steam and forgot about it. Such a good game.
Honorable mention to the excellent Driveclub, one of the best racing games of all-time and one of my favourite games ever.
Outrun Online Arcade, Sega Rally Online Arcade, After Burner Climax... all good stuff. I keep my 360 hooked up to play these as well as the TMNT games that were also delisted.
I have quite a few of these. Timed licenses suck.
wow...I have all of them except the Nintendo ones either in physical or digital version.
Also..Deadpool the Game is missing on that list.