How great video games are. What a wonderful medium it is, and how much pleasure it brings me to have been present for so much of its evolution, development and advancement.
I say this as I'm riding the emotional high from beating Sonic Forces, which I'll be writing up on MoeGamer next week. Taking this journey through the complete Sonic series has also been a journey through a significant part of gaming history, stretching right back to the 16-bit era all the way to the present and beyond. Along that journey, even though it was with just one series focusing on one main character (and his friends), it's a real pleasure to see how creators have done their best to experiment, try new things, make things better.
Your opinion may, of course, vary on whether things have really gotten "better" over time — there are certainly a lot of ways in which they can be argued to have lost their way a bit, and this excellent, long video by Accursed Farms details just one way in which certain parts of the business have definitely gotten worse — but, on the whole, I find myself thinking "gosh, I'm really glad I got into video games" more often than I think "I wish I'd never got into video games". (I don't actually think I've ever thought the latter, to be honest, though I have said out loud that an all-streaming future will be the point at which I jump off the bleeding edge and become a purely "retro" gamer.)
Games have consistently brought me joy over the years. They've kept me company when I was lonely, sad or anxious; they've helped bring me together with new people and give me something to talk about. They've provided an outlet for my creativity and a hobby that extends far beyond just playing the games; I do what I do on MoeGamer and YouTube because I love it.
This was all rather gushing, wasn't it? But Sonic Forces' ending was pretty great, and I just came away from the whole thing thinking "I love video games". So I thought that might be a fine thing to write about!
Now it's time for bed. I have a podcast to edit tomorrow!
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