In addition to resolutions, new years are always good times to start thinking about the futureeeee, with or without a wibbly oooOOOoooOoooOh intonation. Predictions about what's going to happen over the next 12 months abound, some of which are more spurious (and light-hearted) than others. But such near-sightedness is not what we're concerning ourselves with today in this latest edition of Ask RPS. We're looking much further ahead, thanks to this excellent question from MiniMatt.
They ask: "Dearest RPS, This being your 150th year in PC gaming [Ed: this question was submitted in 2023], please tell us what the next 150 years hold? Will VR become universal? Will the desktop PC box survive or will we all move over to laptops & steam decks? Will industry continue to consolidate or fragment? Get yer nostradamus on and tell us Peter Molyneux's future.
Indeed, a lot has changed in the world of PC gaming since our esteemed founding in 1873, so come and find out our best guesses for what the future holds below.
]]>It's time for another edition of Ask RPS, where we answer reader questions put forward by RPS supporters. Today's question is a nice, warm, fuzzy one, as it's all about the good times we've had playing games in co-op with friends and family.
It comes courtesy of Aerothorn, who asks: What is your favorite co-op gaming memory? (along with the additional clarification that these memories don't need to be confined to designed-for-co-op games, but could also stem from playing a single-player game with a friend. "I used to play Descent with me piloting and my friend gunning!" they said).
So which games make us think of happy times with pals and good company? Come and find out below.
]]>Ask RPS returns for another installment today, this time focusing on some of our daily food and drink habits. Technically, I have mashed two supporter questions into one for this post, as to me they seemed inherently linked, because what is the point of tea/coffee if not to also have a nice biscuit and a sit down at the same time?
With that in mind, today's questions come courtesy of caff, who asked: What is your favourite biscuit? and PolygonClassicist, who asked: What are the caffeine habits of the RPS staff? (along with the extra sub-question clarifications of: when do we like to have our coffee, espresso, tea, soda and/or energy drinks? How do we like to consume them? And how much caffeine do we all consume on a daily basis?) Come and find out how we all get through the day (in a, err, not at all dark way) below!
]]>Cor, has it really been almost half a year since we've done one of these? Apologies, readers. I honestly don't know where the time goes. It's probably because we're spending too much time with our favourite guilty pleasure games, which is the subject of this latest Ask RPS column.
The question comes courtesy of ronzilla, who asked: What were your favourite guilty pleasure games of 2022? As in, I play this all the time and I'm semi-embarrassed to admit it?
A good question! In canvassing the wider RPS Treehouse for their responses, it quickly became clear that most of our guilty pleasure games extend way beyond the bounds of just the year 2022, so we've answered a bit more broadly than the original question perhaps intended. Still, hopefully there are still some entertaining answers in here nonetheless.
]]>Ask RPS returns today with a question that takes us right back to the beginning of how we all got here. Not in the scientific, evolutionary sense of all of human history, I should add, but rather how we, the RPS Treehouse, ended up writing about video games for a living.
The question comes courtesy of Bloodyhell, who asked: When did you know that you not only wanted to play games, but to write about what you played? And, does writing about games ever dampen your enthusiasm when you are dealing with deadlines and putting words on a page?
A sneaky double-part question, there, but both good questions nonetheless. So come and find out our collective origin stories, and whether any of us have cried tears of pain and regret over the years after turning our favourite hobby into an actual job.
]]>In the latest edition of Ask RPS, our new mailbag feature where RPS supporters pose us questions that we then answer in public posts for everyone to enjoy, we're turning our gaze to that loved and loathed staple of the video gaming landscape: achievements. Ah, achievements. Never mind if they're good or bad. Today, we're remembering the terrible things we've done to actually get them.
The question comes courtesy of Fachewachewa, who asked: What's the worst thing you've done for an achievement? Or more generally, a time you were focused on a specific goal in a game, reached it (or gave up), and after, looked back and thought, "Why did I do that?"
Why, indeed. Come and find out which achievements have spawned our biggest gaming regrets, and why not tell us about your own gaming follies in the comments? We can all wallow in our foolishness together.
]]>A few weeks ago, I talked about a number of new features coming to RPS in 2023, and here we are with our very first edition of Ask RPS! This is a new mailbag feature where RPS supporters get to pose questions to the RPS Treehouse team (mostly video games-related, though not necessarily always), and we then answer those questions in public posts for everyone to get involved with. Easy peasy.
To kick us off, our first question comes courtesy of Old_Man_Gaming, who asked: "What was the first game that really grabbed you and dominated your life?"
Come and find out which games had us trapped in the throes of childhood mania below, and why not tell us about your own gaming obsessions in the comments? You might just find a surprise kindred spirit.
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