The fun they take from us in tech.

Active typer: Xenia

Let's start off this entry with an example.

Wake up, it's the early 2010's and the 3DS and Wii U are the coolest new things from Nintendo's bag of tricks! The UI tells you all you need to know: innovation, a new future awaiting, an era of fun!

Now wake up again, it's 2017 and the newest is coming out! The Nintendo Switch promises to be the cream of the crop when it comes to Nintendo titles... but the system itself looks a bit lackluster in looks? Nothing about it screams "cool"... Surely it will get better? (It did not.)

This is not even a new occurrence, but we'll get to that later. For now, the concept is simple to understand, and the question is evident: What happened?

Capitalism. That happened.

Let's face it. When it comes to things like excitement, enthusiasm, joy and hope... the world has been lacking severely in those, especially a certain country known as the USA. We are not experts or even decent when it comes to political standings, as we have mentioned previously. However, we are surrounded by more knowledgeable people on the topic, and wee have a few opinions to share from those sources.

  1. People in power lose from you feeling hope.

Should be relatively simple to parse. In short, with the current hierarchy of power in the world, the ones who have the majority of that power do not get gains from the normal person gaining hope and will to change the world. This is easy to reflect in the way these people try to make things around them change to a more simplified, mostly uninspiring concept around them. Clear examples are present in the tech we use, like the way Apple went and slowly but surely degraded their interface and neglected it to the point features one could demand from other competitors were being sold as deluxe additions to their operating system. Or how Google is currently trying to remove sideloading apps and force people to use the same sources they approve for everything, which reduces the amount of fun that can be had with the capacity of the system. These can easily lead to...

  1. The less variety there is, the more control there is over masses.

Variety is the spice of life, and an immutable part of all entities that inhabit this world. However, that is not good to they who seek to control, for a different person can disagree with them, breaking said control quickly and starting resistance if more like them exist. As such, whether on small or large scale, we can clearly note that one of the core mechanics the ones who do control use to keep people in line is to try to make everything the same, and not allow variety. The sideloading removal previously mentioned comes back into play here, as it means everyone has to be sanctioned by Google to upload or install content, giving them control over your phone in a way computers are not supposed to accept. Additionally, interfaces and systems that are locked down behind proprietary walls are quickly made in a very cookie cutter, one size fits all way. Take Windows and macOS for example, the two main operating systems in the world for computers, and you'll quickly realize that in both of them, the user has to adapt to the system, whereas a device of such capabilites can and maybe should be able to adapt to the user's needs.

  1. Terror and confusion are key in taking control.

And for that to be the case, the less knowledge, the better. Knwoledge is, in some weird way, the art via which we start to unravel the terrors of the cosmos we find ourselves in. While some things are awesome in a biblical way even after we unravel them, the more you understand, the less things you fear. And that is not good for those who want to take control, because fear can cause you to flock to those who have power seeking protection, while understanding is what allows you to gain the power to protect yourself and make decisions that can benefit those around you. And this is where this odd degradation of console interfaces comes back into play!

An era of hope, and it's end.

We were, admittedly, too young to see the Dreamcast, Sega's last console, come into the market, as we were not even a concept in the minds of others at the time. But what we have heard makes the previous generations, and the general concept of what gaming had been up to that point, feel like it is being left in the dust.

Games like Jet Set Radio, Space Channel 5 and the Sonic Adventure series were bright, hopeful and generally awesome in ways that had not been seen before in the ambit of gaming. While many will recognize champions of gaming in the late 90s and early 2000s to be consoles from competitiors like the budding Xbox, the well established 64 and GameCube and the powerful PS2, this underdog managed to hold one thing in it's UI that the others (that did have one) could not: hope. Hope that the world that was coming was going to be very interesting, going up, seeking new horizons and allowing people to be what they wanted to be.

But then... that hope was quickly snuffed out.

As the 2001-09-11 events transpired on the USA and soon-ish after a Great Depression hit the global markets, one thing became clear: this future was seemingly out of reach for the time being. And so, sadly, many started to give up on it. It was a reasonable reaction, but one that would prove to have sad consequences down the road. Hope was failing to reach the hearts of others. And so, what one could consider a very "edgy" era in gaming began, one where things were progressing fast in graphics... and in hopelessness.

Some visionaries have tried to hold out their best, and made great steps in rekindling this hope, across the years since. We have masterpieces, like the Wii to Wii U era of Nintendo, from people like Satoru Iwata, and the indie community is thriving with hope, and increasing by the day, but in the triple A concept of gaming, it is clear that hope is but a distant memory that they deem must be lost to the sands of time.

Nostalgia as a way of rebellion.

In a way, that empowers the past for those who wish to redirect, does it not?

The way these past consoles can still remain around thanks to the power of Homebrew and hacking allow us to recall a time where the products we used to use to enjoy our time were truly ours, and promised us a bright future. Some of those indie games we mentioned before include Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, a Jet Set Radio spiritual sequel that attempts to capture the Dreamcast era's essence, and the Spark the Electric Jester series, a spiritual followup from the second game on to the Sonic Adventure series with topics that can throw off even the most ready players.

We think it is beautiful in a way, to return to the past technologies in a way that allows us to take back hope and power from those who would rather keep it from us by owning everything we use. We hope those who read this can take something away from this reflection too.