Too bad Nintendo produces some of the most popular game franchises like Pokemon or Zelda, and the only way to play them is to buy their hardware. I used to resist buying a Switch, but Breath of the Wild was such an amazing game that I had to get a Switch myself. And to be honest, other consoles are locked down in the same manner. Probably the most open "console" one could get right now is an x86 PC.
I used to worry more about DRM, at least when it came to books.
These days, it is all about convenience. And the realization that I'm not going to live forever, and how many more times am I really going to read this particular book. Because that's what it is all about. There is some (not large) risk I will loose access to my Amazon account, or Google, or whatever. But for most books, if I get a couple reads out of them, that's practically all the value to be extracted for me.
Because of DRM, there is some small chance that I will loose access to a book that is truly a classic, one that deserves to be read repeatedly. In that case, it is OK to just buy it again in some other format, and give the author a little more money (yes, I know not all of the book's sale price goes to the author in most cases).
Some of my most favorite works I have purchased multiple times, and I don't regret it.
It is the same for games. If you want an exemplary open-world experience, you get a Switch, and buy Breath of the Wild. You then experience it (over months or however long you want to play it) and then it is over. There will probably be something else that will capture your attention next year anyway.
If, ten years from now, you really want to play BotW again, and you don't have a Switch, I'm sure buying a used one would work fine. Or else get the current-gen console, and buy the heavily discounted version on that.
>There is some (not large) risk I will loose access to my Amazon account, or Google, or whatever.
I think people significantly underestimate what it would take to lose access to their entire library or digital identity. The wake up call for me was having my access to Youtube revoked because I watched a livestream of Ukraine coverage. I'm assuming all of the stream viewers (helpfully enumerated in the "who's watching list") got mass reported.
For Amazon, this could be as simple as someone calling up your bank and managing to convince a service representative to charge back a few items. That's a pretty much one-way trip to losing your library for good.
I'd like to be able to add modifications to the best games / content that I return to over and over again. Now that I'm older and have money, for some of them I might be willing to pay 10 times just to be able to have it more open to modding. For a tiny minority maybe even 100+ times, if I ever get to be rich enough to retire early and still want to retro-game all day. It satisfies the desire to play an enjoyable game and the desire to tinker.
I agree. I think Nintendo makes fantastic games but I don't like the idea of consoles. They'll repeatedly port their own games to newer and newer console but won't release the games for any general purpose platform. I don't want a pile of electronic waste growing under my TV to play my favourite games spread over hardware generations, I want to just have one computer that I can use as a computer and playing games.
