Long roundabout post warning…

A while back I started playing old games on my phone via emulation. It’s good because they tend to be things you can just pick up and put down whenever is convenient. Currently I am playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories on a Playstation Portable emulator (PPSSPP). And it’s fun. Ridiculous too but very well made and enjoyable.

Anyway, somewhere along the way, I put down a reservation on a Steam Deck. I like the idea of just being able to pick up something, play a game, then put it down. This fits into my life much better now. I used to keep eyeing up the Nintendo Switch but I always decided that it’s a lot of money for what it is especially when you consider how expensive the games are. The Steam Deck is more money (£459 for the middle model) but it’s also a lot more – you can plug it into a dock with keyboard, mouse and monitor and it’s a fully functional PC. I probably won’t do that, but that’s what it is. It’s not just a proprietary gaming console like the Switch. So it makes sense to me. Currently, a website which tries to track order statuses of the Steam Deck thinks I’m about 75% of the way through the queue. Or in other words, a few more weeks…

I used to play a lot of Counter-Strike on Steam. For reasons best known to those who do so, some people will pay lots of money onthe Steam marketplace to make their guns in Counter-Strike look different. I’ve been selling off my old inventory and my Steam Wallet balance is now at almost £200. I had one, to me, completely unremarkable item sell for £55 (could maybe understand if it was an AK-47 but it was an MP9… huh?). So I am going to get a £200 discount off the Steam Deck? That’s pretty good!

Since getting into GTA:Vice City Stories I decided to watch Scarface, since apparently GTA is highly inspired by it. I was a bit surprised by how two dimensional Scarface is, given that it’s a highly regarded cult movie. It’s a functional story but if you look too closely you notice that a lot of details don’t really make sense. The ending sequence is very silly and not really in keeping with the style of the rest of the film. My favourite thing is that the serious assassin who turns up at the end decides to attack at night while wearing sunglasses.

Then I watched Carlito’s Way, which is sort of regarded as a spiritual successor. Carlito’s Way, in my opinion, is the opposite and really very good. It’s grim and depressing, but it’s a well written and well told story with believable characters and I am pleased I watched it. You know what’s going to happen at the end of the film because it’s shown at the very start and then done in a “how did we get here?” long flashback, but it’s still a surprise when it finally happens (again). I hadn’t realised until now how great of an actor Al Pacino is. If I didn’t know, I’m not sure I’d have realised it was the same actor in both films. And if you throw in The Godfather, you have him playing another gangster in another gangster film, and he’s completely unrecognisable between all three of them.

So in conclusion… I’m quite excited about the Steam Deck and hopefully I only have a few more weeks to wait.