Michael McDonald

He/Him - Listener of Music, Player of Games, Eater of Pizza

[Michael McDonald @Terminator_8464]

Mmmmyep
King of the Hill intro remade in Animal Crossing.

[Wario64 @Wario64]

Follow @Wario64 and repost for a chance to win 1 of 5 Steam codes for Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival w/ Deluxe Content from @SaberGames. Giveaway ends on Oct 12th - 6 PM PT

Available now on PC/PS5/Xbox Series/Switch 2 https://t.co/Vh5NcnwySA

[critter @BecomingCritter]

For people that weren't around at the time, this is how Zelda OoT was being reviewed by top magazines:

"When it comes to what people will now demand of a top videogame, Nintendo has moved the goalposts off the pitch, into a lorry, down the road, into the airport, onto a plane and halfway round the world to a different continent entirely."

"When the final version of Zelda 64 arrived we stopped working, locked ourselves into a room with a big-screen TV and played 17 hours straight. After only a few hours of sleep, we were back for more and we couldn't stop until we finished the game. Then, we started over again."

"Perfect. Epic. Unstoppable. Unbeatable. Irresistible. Sensational. The best videogame I have ever played. It is the crowning jewel of the industry. It is Nintendo's finest achievement."

"This is, without a doubt, one of the all-time greatest games made. 50 years from now people will still be playing and enjoying this game thoroughly."

"If you're making games and you haven't played this game, then you're like a director who has never seen Citizen Kane or a musician who has never heard of Mozart... this is as good as it's going to get."

That is to say that at the time reviewers agreed that it was the best game that was ever made, set a new standard for the entire industry, and predicted that no game would dethrone it for a very long time.

[🎮𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙮𝙖🎮 @KaiKai2492]

Growing up if you were a straight guy seeing hot badass females was kinda something we always liked idk what happened are all of these guys gay or what

[Michael McDonald @Terminator_8464]

@HiroyukiMasuno Love all of your work on various NES games, especially Deja Vu. I recently learned there was a cancelled Deja Vu 2 port for the NES. Were you working on any music for that?

[starsleeps @starsleeps]

If anyone is wondering how not updating this app since it was twitter is going: pictures display as links, I can’t post replies, I can see the number of QTs but not what they actually say, and I approximately 75% of DMs never show up. But at least I got that bird.

[UNCLEJUT @unclejut]

Holy fuck this is one of the dopest shots I’ve ever seen

[Michael McDonald @Terminator_8464]

People who never watched House MD probably won’t believe me when I say the episodes with Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit is the most highest rated episodes.

[Larian Studios @larianstudios]

.@gerardway of My Chemical Romance, what do you mean you haven't played the critically-acclaimed Dungeons & Dragons RPG, @baldursgate3

[KAMI @Okami13_]

Hideo Kojima comments on the end of physical game production today in Italy:

"Today you can still download data. But at one point games will make into streaming services like Amazon or Netflix and companies will decide if you can play a game or not [...] At this point I won't have anything of my own [...] the data will be somewhere in a company and I will have the right to access it or not depending on how much this data tap is opened.

The fact that the initial data is not in my possession but is somewhere held by a private company means that I will always have that risk that for any reason, whether commercial or political, the company could prevent access to that data and therefore I will no longer be able to see that film, I will no longer be able to play that game.

This is what's happening next for the world of video games and I fear it will also happen for cinema."

[Here's What I Reckon: @angryaboutbikes]

My favourite firework video on the internet is this one, where 45 minutes worth of fireworks are accidentally detonated all at once on July 4th 2012 in San Diego. I had tears in my eyes, sobbing the first time I saw this. The sound is magnificent. It's the end of days.

[LikeASherwin Gaiden The Man Who ErasedHis Username @LikeASherwin]

Happy 4th of July!

Reminder that this is may be the last 4th of July that you can download the Yakuza Dead Souls - Patriot Pack since Sony is shutting down the PS3 store.

[Does it play? @DoesItPlay1]

Everyone is talking about the digital-physical-split percentages. So we will too!

The TL;DR: Most of what has been parroted about consumer preference is wildly exaggerated at best, or a mix of a bad faith campaign and severe negligence at worst.

Sony has announced the death of physical media because of "changing consumer trends". Most of us can already smell the bullshit it in this fake excuse. It is when we take a closer look that we discover just how much of a lie that statement really is.

Let's start by scrutinizing the most repeated number lately: 85 % of sales are digital.

This number exists. But in what context?

It comes from the Fiscal Year Q4 report for 2025. ONLY IN THIS QUARTER did we get this number. The overall percentage for the entire year 2025 is "only" 78 %.

Still sounds bad. Where is the lie, then?

It comes with what both sides include. The digital part also accounts for digital-only games. AKA products which didn't give a choice to the customer. You could either add to the digital tally or not play these games at all. This alone should show you how they use statistics to deceive the public.

But we are not done.

If you look at honest comparisons, like those we got through the infamous Insomniac leaks in 2022, or certain market reports from the UK more recently, you will find games that even sell predominantly physical. Many of which are Sony's own first party titles. So their games sell more physical copies, but they still dare to use consumer preference as the excuse.

Not convinced?

Let's look at the even broader picture. Researching online we can find an infographic illustrating the development of the physical-digital split over the years. Admittedly, there is a constant decline for the physical share. Abysmal even in the years up to 2020. HOWEVER, in recent years the year on year decline has slowed down and has almost reached a stable plateau.

Oh, and have we mentioned that the vaaaaaaast majority of all players own a console that can read discs? 82 % is the number floating around online. We take a page out of Sony's book and just run with it for now. Only, let's add that even the other 18 % might not be digital-only die-hards. After all, there were times when both the disc console and the detachable disc drive were sold out at some point.

What would you say does that show about consumer preference?

Less than 18 % actually prefer digital.

Just with a little research we have come from "85 % prefer digital" to "less than a fifth of the customer base actually does".

So why does Sony push for a change? You know by now. Money!

Multiple areas they benefit in in an all-digital future:

1) Margins for digital games are simply better. The save the entire overhead for physical production, logistics, customer service/returns, retailer cuts, etc.

2) This is the big one: The death of the second hand market. Or at least they think that's beneficial, if they ignore the facts that second hand buyers can also contribute to digital revenue, and they help with discoverability/word of mouth advertising. We wouldn't be surprised if this comes back to haunt Sony.

3) Pricing monopoly: They set the prices. They decide discounts. They decide the number of sales that happen, if any.

The key word is REVENUE!

Because that is another great opportunity to play with alarming numbers. The revenue percentage split between digital and physical makes the gap look even wider, of course. Despite selling almost 70 million physical copies, that area generated relatively low revenue. It accounts for only a little over 10 % of the revenue generated by game sales.

That's the moment when "reliable" analysts and "quality" media could formulate headlines like "Physical media is dying - Makes up only 10 %". But that's not alarmist enough. They can do one "better".

You might ask, "But DoesItPlay?, why do I see people claim that the gaming space is over 95 % digital?"

Let's reveal the most evil trick of them all, shall we?

Let's take a look at that FY 2025 report again. The overall category is called "Game Software". In here (and subsequently in the blogs of the anti-physical crowd) the biggest lie materializes. "Game Software" does not only include digital and physical game sales. It also accounts for ANY TYPE OF ADDITIONAL CONTENT (expansions, in-game currency, microtransactions of all sorts) and "Other Software", which is not even specified as to what that could be exactly. If we now lump all of this together and check the percentage of physical game revenue, we land at roughly 4,7 %.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the single biggest gaslighting this industry has pulled on you when it comes to lying about consumer preference.

It was never about consumer preference. It was about maximizing profits and control over what should be rightfully yours after a purchase.

[Nina 🐈‍⬛ @vespertinevoid]

This David LaChapelle X-Files photoshoot is unmatched

[Zack Bornstein @ZackBornstein]

They made Jimmy Carter sell his peanut farm

[one dozen bats at a keyboard @PanasonicDX4500]

I’ll never forget the time an interviewer asked Johnny Knoxville about the homoerotic subtext in Jackass and he got mad at them for calling it subtext.

[Once Upon A Time On The Internet @newgroundsdoc]

Today marks 20 YEARS since Animator vs. Animation by @alanthebecker was posted to @Newgrounds.

[Wu Tang is for the Children @WUTangKids]

Happy Pride 🌈

[HIDEO_KOJIMA @HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN]

Just so you know, it may look like "Rainbow Flag" T-shirts that I'm wearing today, but I am not a gay.

[Michael McDonald @Terminator_8464]

Emailed support and they got it all sorted. 👏

[Michael McDonald @Terminator_8464]

Grabbed a “physical” copy of that Nickelodeon Kart Racers Collection game for the Switch cause it’s cheaper than the cheapest digital sale they had for it so far.
Went to redeem the code and the code redeems Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 instead..

[cav empty @cavempty_]

who else stocking up on the limited edition king of the hill wd-40