This week we’re stitching together our ideal console.
Every console should have StreetPass. Imagine that? Even if it simply sat snug under your telly, you could swap greetings and gifts with your downstairs neighbours, or ping the handhelds of random passersby.
One of the things I loved about the 3DS’ StreetPass was the feeling there were countless people around me all with a 3DS in their pocket. Even if you didn’t talk to that person next to you at the bus stop playing surreptitiously by themselves, you knew you might have a little hello from them waiting, another puzzle piece, another warrior to help defeat a dungeon alongside you.
It’s that feeling of being connected, I suppose, however passively, to others playing games around you. It’s why I’ll still pop onto my friends list as soon as I switch on my Xbox, just to see what people are playing. Or why I’ll add friends to my list even if I’m never going to play FIFA or Warzone with them. It’s nice to feel connected, especially right now.
And those StreetPass games – god, I miss those little rituals. I feel the battle for my eyeballs each evening, between games and Netflix and Twitter. Do I play something? Do I switch on a console and browse what to play for 30 minutes? Having a StreetPass queue to clear acted as a reason to switch on and see who had passed by.
