Games Journalism General

[guiltyspark85]

edit: Something else about this game. It's called "mixtape" but the characters have discmans? In the mid 90s a CD burner would have cost a couple grand, and no kids would have had access to one. Even by 1999 they were still $150+ and the price didn't plummet to nothing until a few years later. But then there's also basic looking portable cassette radios sitting around that wouldn't be right either for the mid to late 90s.

The explanation for the burned CDs from the main character is the school has a burner that cost thousands of dollars and she sneeks into the computer lab to use it. I can remember an older kid on my school bus, I think in 96, having a burned CD filled with games and a hand written listing of them in the cover. My understanding was it was a friend of a friend that burned it for him and he paid something like $20 for it. It would have been 98 or 99 that my dad purchased our first CD burner and we weren't wealthy.

80s skateboard instead of 90s skateboard

I don't know anything about skaeboards, but the main character comments about disliking the trend towards narrower skateboards.

 

[p1138]

The explanation for the burned CDs from the main character is the school has a burner that cost thousands of dollars and she sneeks into the computer lab to use it. I can remember an older kid on my school bus, I think in 96, having a burned CD filled with games and a hand written listing of them in the cover. My understanding was it was a friend of a friend that burned it for him and he paid something like $20 for it. It would have been 98 or 99 that my dad purchased our first CD burner and we weren't wealthy.

No school would have blown the money on a burner like that in the early to mid 90s(not to mention burning an audio CD at 1x or 2x would have taken well... 1x or 2x the duration of the audio which is also absurd use for a school. As the price came down, sure. The late 90s, sure they would have been readily available without being exclusively for the wealthy, and by 2002 they were dirt fucking cheap as IDE devices.

So if we assume this is the late 90s...

I don't know anything about skaeboards, but the main character comments about disliking the trend towards narrower skateboards.

And this is part of the problem of the game not knowing what era its in. That skateboard transition happened in the late 80s and very early 90s. By '92 or '93 you'd only see skateboards like that in the toy aisle of a k-mart and nobody wanted them. The trend away from them had already been done and over with for years by the late 90s, at which point if anything more longboards were floating around. Even ignoring that the game doesn't know what time period it wants to be set in, this still makes the character an anachronistic hipster. But even still, the 3 main characters are ALL hipsters riding around on older style skateboards because... reasons?

Meanwhile there's no mid to late 90s boomboxes, cars, or anything else to be seen. Outside of companies like Volvo, the boxy 80s-early 90s vehicle stylings had been largely abandoned. Even companies like Cadillac and Buick were rounding off their boomer-mobiles with the floaty suspension by then.

The portable stereo thing. Shit had already been trending by the late 90s to end up looking like a Sony CFD-510 or similar. Meanwhile everything shown looks more like a Realistic SCR-3 from the early 80s.(they actually look more like modern "retro" bullshit with crappy tape transports than anything actually from the 80s but that's beside the point).

This game is fake nostalgia slop for reviewers that don't know wtf they're talking about. They went out of their way to license a bunch of songs from the 70s through mid 90s, but then also licensed a Mitch Murder track from 2011?

Oh, it's more synthwave faux retro bullshit

 

[Judge Dredd]

The explanation for the burned CDs from the main character is the school has a burner that cost thousands of dollars and she sneeks into the computer lab to use it. I can remember an older kid on my school bus, I think in 96, having a burned CD filled with games and a hand written listing of them in the cover. My understanding was it was a friend of a friend that burned it for him and he paid something like $20 for it. It would have been 98 or 99 that my dad purchased our first CD burner and we weren't wealthy.


I don't know anything about skaeboards, but the main character comments about disliking the trend towards narrower skateboards.

That's not really the problem. The problem is best explained by this meme.

It's not so much that this stuff couldn't have existed, it's that it's a random mishmash of random shit from movies and TV.

eg. The wireless headphones worn backwards. It could be an oversight. Rendering wires can be hard, and putting on headphones backwards could be easily done.

If it was just the headphones, it could be forgiven. But the game is full of these anachronisms. From the tech, to the clothes they wear, and the way they talk.

 

[p1138]

It's not so much that this stuff couldn't have existed, it's that it's a random mishmash of random shit from movies and TV.

eg. The wireless headphones worn backwards. It could be an oversight. Rendering wires can be hard, and putting on headphones backwards could be easily done.

If it was just the headphones, it could be forgiven. But the game is full of these anachronisms. From the tech, to the clothes they wear, and the way they talk.

Exactly. I ignored the missing wire for the headphones because I could see not bothering to want to render that. And the headphones backwards is a minor issue. The clothes seemed alright, it was already the grunge era so nothing really stood too out of place. They're supposed to be kids from some suburb, not urban kids wearing jnco jeans or something, or are they hardcore skaters at a skatepark.

But yeah, there's just so much little shit that's just not right. Hell, just making everything look like it fell out of an episode of Saved By The Bell would have at least kept shit more consistent.

edit: Fuck, this is like watching the movie Hackers(1995) and saying that was representative of the 90s, instead of using an example of something like Mall Rats(also 1995) or even fucking Encino Man(1992) that would have been a better representation of "normal" at the time.

edit again: There's a word for these shilling journos. Anemoia. "nostalgia" for shit they never experienced, or never even happened. Another word, Hagioptasia would be assigning special-ness/sacredness/reverence/etc. to shit rather than someone's own memories or experience with it. Sound familiar? At the end of the day it's basic soy consoomerism. Like some retard born in 1995 pining for the 1950s or something and just consooming 1950s shit as if they have any connection to it.

 

[Toxic BRAAAAP Mask]

The fucking official Xbox account came out to shill for Mixtape And they're getting royally raped by so many people it won't archive

 

[Chuck 'n Geck]

The fucking official Xbox account came out to shill for Mixtape And they're getting royally raped by so many people it won't archive

> Just because you're not personally into a game doesn't mean it's a game
ftfy, xbucks

They went out of their way to license a bunch of songs from the 70s through mid 90s, but then also licensed a Mitch Murder track from 2011?

If it was just the headphones, it could be forgiven. But the game is full of these anachronisms. From the tech, to the clothes they wear, and the way they talk.

But yeah, there's just so much little shit that's just not right. Hell, just making everything look like it fell out of an episode of Saved By The Bell would have at least kept shit more consistent.

I've said before this thing reminds me less of the 90's and more of the 2010's. You know, when hipsters were fucking everywhere.

These are hipster aesthetics™.

 

[Strangolapreti]

came out to shill for Mixtape

Do not criticize saar.

Now that I'm thinking, the pajeet trifecta is rape, scam and shit,
Rape: the french kissing scene.
Scam: mixtape is barely a game, not even closed to an indie also its fake 90s nostalgia.
Shit: the character design.

This game has reached level of indian never seen before, perhaps this is why even the hexbox is defending it.

I've said before this thing reminds me less of the 90's and more of the 2010's. You know, when hipsters were fucking everywhere.
These are hipster aesthetics™.

Hipster's 90s aesthetics : 90s = 2020s fantasy adaptation : its source material.

 

[Xavier Renegade Angel]

> We asked the Mixtape devs how they made 2026's highest rated game
Honest answer: "so we've spent, like, four hours a week trying to get everything done, and then Ms. Ellison came in and rated our game the highest everywhere lol."

This is only a smidge more dishonest than when Digital Foundry, - an outlet that focuses on hardware and vidya performance, - conducted an hour-something-long interview with Remedy on how they've made the most STELLAR narrative-driven game of 2024 with Alan Woke 2. Remember when that happened? I had to be reminded.


That's nothing, I'm yet to be vindicated on that Charlie Kirk's murder wasn't just a tard going rouge but, in fact, a jewop

Ghostler would love this game . But when dsp even says your game isn't a game (this man gave a standing ovation to life is strange). Sad times indeed in this (coordinated) death of the industry by the tiny hats. As an old head from the last great decDe the 90s, no one acted like this at all. Their were music autists but none nowhere near as lame and gay as these 3fags

 

[Chuck 'n Geck]

But when dsp even says your game isn't a game (this man gave a standing ovation to life is strange).

0:08

 

[DeadwastePrime]

man mixtape's marketing plan is genius if its relying on word of mouth and banking on the grifter types talking about it to get people buying it even ironically

 

[Quarterback Rex Grossman]

Speaking of David Jaffe, he's trying to start a very impotent slapfight with Vara Dark because she called his dumb ass out
https://youtube.com/watch?v=rCMt9H2bCLM

He's got a crush on her. Last time he called her out he kept mentioning how attractive she was.

 

[AnOminous]

man mixtape's marketing plan is genius if its relying on word of mouth and banking on the grifter types talking about it to get people buying it even ironically

Sure worked for Concord and Marathon. I'm sure it will work for this thing that isn't even a game.

 

[Xenomorphs Are Cute]

The fucking official Xbox account came out to shill for Mixtape And they're getting royally raped by so many people it won't archive
View attachment 8993843

Archived.

 

[Alcoholism]

The explanation for the burned CDs from the main character is the school has a burner that cost thousands of dollars and she sneeks into the computer lab to use it. I can remember an older kid on my school bus, I think in 96, having a burned CD filled with games and a hand written listing of them in the cover. My understanding was it was a friend of a friend that burned it for him and he paid something like $20 for it. It would have been 98 or 99 that my dad purchased our first CD burner and we weren't wealthy.

Same.

My school had a CD Burner we'd use. We'd rip other kids CD's and then burn them.

Similarly, my dad randomly took us to a Gateway store in 99 or so. Saw the Quake III demo running and ended up buying us a PC with a burner that day. $3000 PC + Monitor, speakers, etc.

I played a ton of games. He browed eBay motors on it for the next 15 years.

 

[p1138]

To change things up a bit(and mixtape does have its own thread now), let's look back at a couple of games that came out in March. One that game journos liked but couldn't even give high scores because they knew it was shit but still complained about anyone criticizing it. And another game that the journos bitched about and gave mediocre and mid range scores to.




Looks like the modern audience failed to materialize again, and the gamers are just all bigot nazi chuds for not accepting some waif of a lesbian in the 14th century engaging in melee combat with men. Maybe Leigh Alexander shouldn't have stuck with that internal narrative about the age of gamers being over or whatever?

And just for the sake of comparison
Sex With Hitler 18 players right now, peak 2,001
Among Ass 1 player currently, peak 2,709
Concord peak player count 697

And this last one... it's peak player count is currently 1, but has a 24 hour peak player count of 6. So this is literally people just leaving the fucking launcher open for god knows what reason


How the fuck is your new game so bad, that it's 24 hour peak player count is getting beaten by a game that shut down 2 months ago on the same day your game launched? There are more people that would apparently stare at the service not available screen, than play the Temu Joan of Arc game.

 

[Frosted Snowflakes]

Looks like the modern audience failed to materialize again, and the gamers are just all bigot nazi chuds for not accepting some waif of a lesbian in the 14th century engaging in melee combat with men.

Why would I want to accept some unattractive lesbo with a haircut that looks like Moe Howard from The Three Stooges?

 

[lolcow yoghurt]

Discmans sucked because impact caused skipping tracks

 

[Toxic BRAAAAP Mask]

Retard journo and human Gamergate kindling, Nathan Grayson, has his ass chafed over the Mixtape situation.

Somehow manages to make this about race.

Now the line is 'indie-coded'

"Zionism is okay in this one case, fellow leftists!"

The Gamergate machine hungers! (A sentiment that retard-in-arms Alyssa Mercante constantly spouts)

"We're not access shills, we all have different opinions! They just happen to all be the same thing..."

Queerphobia and racism, yes that's it! (Has any one even mentioned race or gender? I haven't seen it once.)

"Actually indies come in all sizes and funding" - Nathan Grayson, probably

"You haven't also complained about (insert thing here) so you can't complain about this."

"No one cares about game reviews anyway!" Sure are guntguarding for them awfully hard though.

Uh no? They do this all the time and say you're relics of the past.

So you do admit you all have the same opinion and a financial motivation to astroturf games from big publishers!

It coud be your game next! Ooooh spooky!


Who else here is a QAnoner?


Same site btw pointing out how wrong it is

 

[REGENDarySumanai]

Nate has always been worthless and his opinion is equally worthless. He's the definition of filler.

 

[Toxic BRAAAAP Mask]

Nate has always been worthless and his opinion is equally worthless. He's the definition of filler.

What Zoe Quinn's pussy does to a mfer.