All the things you mentioned didn’t need to be hooked up to a more expensive device in order to even function. That’s where I think the Oculus Rift runs into trouble. If it were a fully self-contained system that could run its own games, then it would absolutely be worth $600. But since it isn’t, I think it falls…

Thing is, I think Oculus Rift is going to have to drop a lot in price in order for it to have mass market appeal. I’ve thought for a long time that $200 is going to be the sweet spot for it, and it looks like we’re years away from that.

What the people involved with the development of the Oculus Rift don’t seem to be understanding is that the Oculus Rift is going to be seen as a peripheral. A very nice peripheral, but still a peripheral. They can tell us about all the cool tech they put into it until they’re blue in the face; but when it comes down…

I agree. We’re going to have to see monumental achievements in game development on the order of something like Final Fantasy VII back in the day for that $600 price to be more acceptable.

Exactly. It’s a peripheral. Neo Geos and smartphones are not peripherals. If the Oculus Rift had been a fully self-contained system capable of running its own games, then it absolutely would be worth $600. But that’s obviously not the case.

Unless you’re a pro, gaming should be a fun hobby, not a huge investment. $600 for a peripheral — no matter how cool that peripheral is — does not cater to video game hobbyists. Can you imagine the original Kinect for Xbox 360 debuting at $600? Or wait — Let’s cut that in half. Can you imagine it debuting even at a…

I imagine that’s why an early PSVR game we’ve heard about is an on-rails scary roller coaster ride simulator based on Until Dawn. I’m guessing a free-roaming VR game based on Until Dawn would just be too much for the PS4 to handle, especially since the PS4 apparently struggled with Until Dawn (the game’s frame rate…

Exactly. As nice as it is, the Rift is still a peripheral that has to rely on a decently powerful PC to do the heavy lifting for it.

As neat as the technology is, it’s a peripheral. If it could operate completely on its own as a self-contained system, then it would absolutely be worth $600. But it can’t. A decently powerful PC has to do the heavy lifting for it. I definitely won’t be buying one at that price. I’m not sure I would even if I could…

Well, and the fact that he didn’t act like a Jedi when he chose to finish off Palpatine. If he had just gone along with Anakin and brought Palpatine to justice, he might have both saved Anakin and defeated the Sith.

I’m not aware of a Kotaku review for it. And considering that it’s probably the third-biggest release in 2015 for the Wii U (after Splatoon and Super Mario Maker), that seems odd.

Fair enough. That actually sounds pretty nice. Not sure I’d want to get myself heavily involved in the Destiny community (which is what it sounds like I would need to do in order to get the most out of The Taken King), but it’s something to consider.

To me, Rise of the Tomb Raider is the best-looking game of 2015. From the shimmering ice and sparkling snow to the excellent motion capture for characters’ faces, Rise of the Tomb Raider looks stunning. I’ve only played a small portion of it so far, and I’m looking forward to getting into more of it soon.

I respectfully disagree with Destiny: The Taken King being included on the list. While it does seem to be an improvement over the vanilla game, the lack of raid matchmaking badly hampers it in my opinion. I played vanilla Destiny a while back and I’ve been avoiding The Taken King just because it lacks raid…

No Xenoblade Chronicles X? Was it really that bad?

Even though I want to get back into Destiny with The Taken King, this makes me not want to take the plunge. I want to be automatically matched for a raid with a group of strangers. Just throw me in there and let the fun begin. I do not want to have to go onto some online forum to gather a group of people to raid…

You won’t have to wait long. It’s coming to Steam next month.

Halo is different things to different people. For me, earlier Halo games were about teaming up with a friend in co-op to take down the Covenant. But then Halo 4 came along and pleasantly surprised me with the direction 343 took the two main characters (Master Chief and Cortana). So for me, Halo is now about the…

I guess Destiny: The Taken King must be a pretty big improvement over the vanilla game, because the vanilla game was like a Borderlands game if it were devoid of any personality. It was a solid shooter with no real story and no soul. I made it to level 7 or 8 before I traded the game in.

Mass Effect: Andromeda is the number one game I’m looking forward to in 2016, though I wouldn’t be surprised if they push it to 2017.