Unfathomable Abandonment

When I first purchased a PS3 I was so excited. I had worlds upon worlds ahead of me in the form of updated games, graphics and capabilities. As I had no idea what ethernet was during my days on the PS2, the PlayStation 3 would be my first real taste of online play. This excited me beyond belief and I couldn’t wait to get started. Little did I know that most games were desolate and barely breathing…

It didn’t take me very long to understand that there were certain titles gamers flocked to. Call of Duty was constantly crashing due to overpopulation and beat em ups were full to the brim with 10-year old button mashers. Whilst I was initially a fan of these AAA titles, they got stale quickly and I had a thirst to quench with budget titles and PSN exclusives. Unfortunately I got a little less than what I hoped for, in a lonely, no-platinum-for-this-game kind of way.

It all started with The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, and me being rather heavily inclined to chase trophies. Now, I don’t agree that trophies should only be obtainable by players with access to the internet on their console, I think doing this to long-term boost online servers does the direct opposite and people will only play online to get the trophies and go. Riddick had been released within the week, and I was alone in a lobby, waiting on deathmatch competitors. Riddick had sold so poorly that not a soul was online, and I deemed the platinum unobtainable and moved on.

This issue became more prevalent as more and more gamers upgraded to the now-current generation of home consoles. As I cower in the darkest corners of PS3 releases, the once manic populations of AAA titles are forever dwindling. Here in 2016, most of my games are completely barren, and some of them I never even got to try.

I find myself searching forums for gamers who have a soft spot for shit games, after all it can’t just be me. It turns out there are a few like me, yet their last post was over five years ago and they found the same amount of success then as I find on a daily basis. The internet seems to have a huge gap for forums regarding some of my favourite games of all time.

              Online play is a bear necessity…

Every now and again, the unthinkable will happen. I will attempt to join an online game on one of my many derelict titles and it will connect me to someone from parts unknown who for some reason decided to try at the very same time as me. This happened quite recently with Naughty Bear – and I managed to net two trophies out of it!

The only issue with these infrequent weirdo encounters is that most of them are quick to be butt-hurt. As you have most likely played a game for years and completed the campaign and challenge modes on multiple occasions you are unbeatable, and they will be upset as it’s quite likely they’ve just purchased it and are still getting used to the control scheme whilst you deflufficate them repeatedly and yell obscenities at your television screen.

There are so many titles with no players anymore, it’s a real shame. Games are a form of art, and the majority of them are just left to gather dust and die slowly. From Riddick to Naughty, BioShock 2 to Haze, games are becoming paperweight, and its our job to stop it.

I guess the point in this article is one final question, one last cry for help. Please can someone point me in the direction of the Naughty Bear PSN population? We fans must take a stand if we wish to be ultimately rewarded with a threequel! Raise your bare paws and claw back at all the doubters! If anyone knows anything regarding a potential sequel please do not hesitate to let me know. I will invest heavily in a kickstarter if need be.