maybe streaming is too convenient for us
i didn't post shit on this blog in a while, so i'll fix that right now
when i was a kid, sometimes i'd bike my way to the local videotron rental store and get games. the last purchase i made there before it closed was buying a Wii U specifically to play SSB4 and only Super Smash Bros. U. i don't have memories specific about this game that i enjoyed, honestly it's probably my least liked smash bros. out of all that i played. but i still remember actually biking my way to get a whole ass console for a single game. i don't remember shit about mario kart DS, but i remember when i went to buy it.
my steam list is filled to the brim with games, close to 500, and despite the fact that i've played most of them for sure, it's difficult for me to remember what game i played back in 2013, 2014, etc.. and it kinda hit me that the convenience of downloading stuff has effectively erased the journey of going to hunt for a game you really wanted to play. i remember my dad buying me the spongebob movie game on gamecube, and then realizing after the fact that it was rated E10+ and not E. i don't remember anything about that game as it's been like 20 years, but the journey of getting it i still have memories of.
there's no doubt that streaming is ungodly convenient and allowed a lot of creative people get their voices heard without requiring the support of a giant publisher or label, but i feel like the lack of a journey made it harder for art to be memorable. i'm not saying streaming should be gone, but that there's a purpose to physical media that i don't really see talked about. i'm frankly a bit curious as to how gen alpha will look back at their gaming memories in the streaming era.