Who Put the Controller in Your Hands

Episode one. We’re back. After years away, Playing Out of Control is on again.

This week was a big one. In the news: Microsoft, the Xbox studio closures, and what the word “subsidy” really means for your library and for backward compatibility. The full editorial, The Subsidy, is up on the site. Then the lighter wins, because there were a lot of them. GoldenEye’s cancelled Xbox 360 remaster recompiled into a real native PC game. Two unreleased Atomiswave arcade football games, Premier Eleven and Miracle Stadium, preserved on the Dreamcast. A lost Sega Rally DS prototype back after twenty years. One person’s eighteen-year remake of the original Mother. Romhack.ing pulling AI-translated patches. Plus quick hits on Space Cyclone, Wolfenstein 3D on the Atari Lynx, the RPG Maker forums closing, and Shinobi: Art of Vengeance.

Then the heart of it, because it’s Father’s Day: fathers and gaming. My dad, a gold Zelda cartridge, and a pawn-shop Sega Master System that made me a Sega guy for life. My stepdad Wayne, a back-room Tandy, and the web software he handed me that built POCG in 1998. And my grandfather, a hellfire and brimstone Baptist preacher who bought a PlayStation so his grandson could review games.

No sponsors. No filters. Just opinions.

This week’s question: who put the controller in your hands? Tell me about the person who made you a gamer.

Next time: the Nintendo 64 turns 30. Send me your N64 memories.