| Next Generation of Consoles 2020-11-05 |
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| With the next generation of consoles being only 5 days away from being launched. We are so close to a huge change in the look and feel of the upcoming generation. There are many question on which console is going to be better then the other. In my personal opinion not looking at the hardware specs themselves in the beginning they are going to be super close. We could get into the argument the one console has a better GPU, CPU, RAM, Solid State Drives, or a whole bunch of different components. So, what I really think is going to matter is actually the games library and upcoming IP. This is what every user should ask , do you want to play Halo or God of War? What you enjoy playing is going to effect your console buying decision even if there might be some inferior hardware between the two. In my personal opinion Xbox has a better starting library with Xbox Game Pass, the Netflix of gaming, giving you access to 100 games to play right off the bat. Sure it might be a monthly fee to have access to this service but with the price of each game possibly going up to $70 a pop, it's a drop in the bucket to get the pass. Now PlayStation Now does have something similar but some major releases on Xbox are going to be available day one on Game Pass. Console gaming is turning into a service then a box, that is my biggest take away from looking at the outside of this generation. Now I know you might be asking about the hardware. "Gilligan why don't you focus on that?!? It's a huge upgrade from this previous generation!" Which that statement is totally correct! Let's actually take a look at this last gen of consoles to see, why I think in the end it doesn't matter, which console is superior over the other. During the last launch we had the Xbox One and the PS4 launch at the same time with very similar specs. But as the generation went on those specs were seeing their age as new and bigger games came out. So mid generation they rolled out Xbox One S & X and PS4 Slim & Pro. The specs were boosted and these new games ran better on them but launch consoles really didn't feel like they were left behind too much. Sure they were slower to load but everything was optimized perfectly for them. It's like how Apple is with their iPhone releases, you don't see catastrophic / major changes until 2-3 models down the road. So when we take a look back on the new generation any gaps in performance between the consoles will be closed with a mid generation hardware reset. This is definitely going to change the way we see the console ecosystem as we know it. Most changes won't be bad but there will always be hiccups along the way. The change I most like to see is those games that come out on both consoles add in is cross play standard. Because as a community of gamers we should be having fun over the fact which set of hardware is more powerful. |
| Mixer 2020-06-24 |
| One of the biggest streaming events is happening right now and it came completely out of the blue! Mixer, owned by Microsoft, is shutting down July 22nd. This service, in my opinion, has propelled twitch to add features and functionality as a direct competitor. Unfortunately even with signing up some of the biggest streamers to their service it did not improve their viewership. What does this mean for content creators as whole moving on from this major change in the industry? It defiantly will be hard to tell the long term impacts but I do see some key changes moving forward. The first thing I see is even though streamers can seemingly transition over to Facebook Gaming [fb.gg] 80% won't. My reasoning behind this is viewers will lose their anonymity and privacy going to the platform. A viewers real name and account turns into a one click away from someone finding out about them. Most people do not have their account correctly secured. The second change I see is that the majority will transition either back or start fresh on Twitch. Because Twitch was Mixers main competition, a lot of the similar functionality in the dashboards will be a big draw. The flip side though is Twitch is really hard to be discovered on and is a real issue to the physical barrier to entry. That leaves YouTube Gaming as the next best option for a streamer to move their content over to that platform but is severally lacking in add on functionality. My suggestion to streamers being forced out from Mixer are these few things. If you are not bound by a contract with Mixer or even use ReStream.io to stream to all available platforms you want to look into joining. Not only is this a proof of concept that you can see what you like or dislike about a streaming service, you can have your core group of viewers tell you what they like or dislike about each service. They are your community and if they are dedicated to your content they will make the change with you. Lastly even with all of this information going around online this is your channel and your voice ask yourself these questions even if your aren't being effected by this Mixer fallout. - What are your goals for your stream? - Does your content feel like it fits the platform you are streaming on. - Long term where do you want to see your stream at for what you can provide? Just remember don't set goals as viewership count, follower count, subscriber count. The problem if you use those as your goal is that you have zero control over that metric. - Re-watch your content, if you don't like how you are on stream or see something you need to change that can help you out immensely further down the road! Even if you don't like the sound of your own voice. - Lastly are you having fun with what you are doing? Just because you are putting in the time, like a job, if you are not enjoying the process of your stream a viewer might not stay around. They are their for entertainment and if it's not fun for you it will show with how you interact with your audience. A lot of things are going to be changing here within the streaming world and it is up to us as streamers and viewers to where we want to go for content. But the biggest thing we can do for your Mixer friends is pop into their streams say hi and help them out as the carpet has been pulled out from under their feet. As always, have fun! |
| TM Gaming Road Map 2020-05-27 |
| Here is the developmental road map for this site. -First is creating profile pages for everyone with an about, status, and personal journals. Status: Done. -Second is creating the settings page to update your account and modify your email preferences. Done. -Third is creating the latest news input page for site admins and other authorized users. Status: Done. -Fourth is creating a announcement portal. Status: Done. -Fifth is creating something else I have not thought of yet. Status: Always In Progress 😁 |