UPCOMING VIDEO GAME RELEASES (2014 & Beyond)

[Tabe]

Sony announced PlayStation Now, their streaming gaming service today:

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2014/01/07/playstation-now-streaming-game-service-coming-this-summer/

Beta starts later this month.

[J.T.]

So throughout the whole DRM debacle, Sony went out of their way at E3 to stick it to Microsoft and promote that they are the friend of the offline gamer, but they want to institute and heavily a streaming game service which obvously benefits gamers with clean broadband the most..

[Dank]

How is Sony going to cater to this mythical offline gamer except to let them mail order Chrono Trigger and have a disc sent to them?

 

Yeah Sony I mean why use cool current technology?

[J.T.]

How is Sony going to cater to this mythical offline gamer except to let them mail order Chrono Trigger and have a disc sent to them?

 

Yeah Sony I mean why use cool current technology?

 

Sarcasm that does not poke fun at the point being made isn't really sarcasm.

 

One of the primary selling points for the PS4 to come out of E3 because of all of that DRM nonsense was that the PS4 was supposed to be the console that was most friendly to the offline gamer.  Feeding the fears of limited or no broadband customers won them the PR war and probably will win them the New Gen Console war depending on how fickle or forgetful the casual customer base is.

 

The ever faithful fanboys will stick with the brand they are most loyal to, and hardcore gamers will eventually own all consoles so they are a zero sum market share.

 

We all knew that both companies would cater most to the Always On crowd and that they'd get premium service.  That is the future model.  All of that DRM PR from Sony during E3 was Guyana kool-aid for the congregation. 

 

At the end of the day, Sony wants the same thing Microsoft wants:  they want you to plug in, direct download or stream, have an always on connection, and they want to import some sort of DRM model to control software piracy.  Now they know well enough not to link the DRM to online access..

[Neil Koch]

But its for PS3 games and its cross platform, even TVs will be able to use it. PS4 games will still play just fine without being online.

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

 

How is Sony going to cater to this mythical offline gamer except to let them mail order Chrono Trigger and have a disc sent to them?

 

Yeah Sony I mean why use cool current technology?

 

Sarcasm that does not poke fun at the point being made isn't really sarcasm.

 

One of the primary selling points for the PS4 to come out of E3 because of all of that DRM nonsense was that the PS4 was supposed to be the console that was most friendly to the offline gamer.  Feeding the fears of limited or no broadband customers won them the PR war and probably will win them the New Gen Console war depending on how fickle or forgetful the casual customer base is.

 

The ever faithful fanboys will stick with the brand they are most loyal to, and hardcore gamers will eventually own all consoles so they are a zero sum market share.

 

We all knew that both companies would cater most to the Always On crowd and that they'd get premium service.  That is the future model.  All of that DRM PR from Sony during E3 was Guyana kool-aid for the congregation. 

 

At the end of the day, Sony wants the same thing Microsoft wants:  they want you to plug in, direct download or stream, have an always on connection, and they want to import some sort of DRM model to control software piracy.  Now they know well enough not to link the DRM to online access..

 

You are really stretching to make this point. Always On was part of the process to play an XBone. Playstation Now is an optional service. Sorry you hitched your wagon to the wrong horse pal.

[supremebve]

 

 

How is Sony going to cater to this mythical offline gamer except to let them mail order Chrono Trigger and have a disc sent to them?

 

Yeah Sony I mean why use cool current technology?

 

Sarcasm that does not poke fun at the point being made isn't really sarcasm.

 

One of the primary selling points for the PS4 to come out of E3 because of all of that DRM nonsense was that the PS4 was supposed to be the console that was most friendly to the offline gamer.  Feeding the fears of limited or no broadband customers won them the PR war and probably will win them the New Gen Console war depending on how fickle or forgetful the casual customer base is.

 

The ever faithful fanboys will stick with the brand they are most loyal to, and hardcore gamers will eventually own all consoles so they are a zero sum market share.

 

We all knew that both companies would cater most to the Always On crowd and that they'd get premium service.  That is the future model.  All of that DRM PR from Sony during E3 was Guyana kool-aid for the congregation. 

 

At the end of the day, Sony wants the same thing Microsoft wants:  they want you to plug in, direct download or stream, have an always on connection, and they want to import some sort of DRM model to control software piracy.  Now they know well enough not to link the DRM to online access..

 

You are really stretching to make this point. Always On was part of the process to play an XBone. Playstation Now is an optional service. Sorry you hitched your wagon to the wrong horse pal.

 

Once again I have to point out that of course Microsoft and Sony are going to cater to their Online customers the most, because they are the people who have the biggest buying potential.  Why the hell would they cater to the group of people who will buy the least games?  If I'm bored on a Saturday, especially with this weather, it is fairly common for me to impulse buy a videogame.  My biggest complaint is that they don't cater to the online consumer more.  I think all of their games should be downloadable from launch, and if being Always On makes it easier to access those games I'm all for it.  I have never understood why people care about whether or not their system is always on, especially if they live in a place with decent internet.

[Tabe]

Consumerist went hands-on with Playstation Now. 

 

Conclusion: Not bad

[Big Fresh]

How is Sony going to cater to this mythical offline gamer except to let them mail order Chrono Trigger and have a disc sent to them?

Yeah Sony I mean why use cool current technology?

Sarcasm that does not poke fun at the point being made isn't really sarcasm.

One of the primary selling points for the PS4 to come out of E3 because of all of that DRM nonsense was that the PS4 was supposed to be the console that was most friendly to the offline gamer. Feeding the fears of limited or no broadband customers won them the PR war and probably will win them the New Gen Console war depending on how fickle or forgetful the casual customer base is.

The ever faithful fanboys will stick with the brand they are most loyal to, and hardcore gamers will eventually own all consoles so they are a zero sum market share.

We all knew that both companies would cater most to the Always On crowd and that they'd get premium service. That is the future model. All of that DRM PR from Sony during E3 was Guyana kool-aid for the congregation.

At the end of the day, Sony wants the same thing Microsoft wants: they want you to plug in, direct download or stream, have an always on connection, and they want to import some sort of DRM model to control software piracy. Now they know well enough not to link the DRM to online access..

You are really stretching to make this point. Always On was part of the process to play an XBone. Playstation Now is an optional service. Sorry you hitched your wagon to the wrong horse pal.

The "wrong horse" doesn't have Always On anymore, so you don't get to use that against them.

[glfpunk]

It's pertinent to the discussion

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

The "wrong horse" doesn't have Always On anymore, so you don't get to use that against them.

 

No, but his point was that everyone was whining about it when the XBone had it even though the two points are utterly irrelevant to each other.

 

The wrong horse is just a term for the clusterfuck the Xbone has become.

[Big Fresh]

 

The "wrong horse" doesn't have Always On anymore, so you don't get to use that against them.

 

No, but his point was that everyone was whining about it when the XBone had it even though the two points are utterly irrelevant to each other.

 

The wrong horse is just a term for the clusterfuck the Xbone has become.

 

 

But that's kinda my point, it's the "wrong horse" anymore because both consoles are prety much the same thing at this point. X-Box One may have had a rocky road to get there, but now there's not a damn bit of difference between them.

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

 

 

The "wrong horse" doesn't have Always On anymore, so you don't get to use that against them.

 

No, but his point was that everyone was whining about it when the XBone had it even though the two points are utterly irrelevant to each other.

 

The wrong horse is just a term for the clusterfuck the Xbone has become.

 

 

But that's kinda my point, it's the "wrong horse" anymore because both consoles are prety much the same thing at this point. X-Box One may have had a rocky road to get there, but now there's not a damn bit of difference between them.

 

Well yeah, the PS4 is just outright better now.

[Big Fresh]

*Sigh*

Ok, if you say so...

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

?

 

Specs are better. How can you argue otherwise?

[Craig H]

This fucking conversation...This will matter once both systems establish that they can have AAA releases that aren't broken, or other features that aren't completely busted.

 

On a recent Giant Bombcast though, they did point out that the reason why shit is so messed up on the Xbone is because they had to completely change gears at such an insanely late stage. That, and they were pulled in so many different directions to have that system do too much shit at one time.

[Raziel]

We'll never have a system that releases an unbroken AAA title, ever again.

 

We're in an age where everything's too huge and complicated to get *everything* found in a standard Beta.  You need way too many people to fully test it.  Some Year in Review show I saw on YouTube somewhere said it best, we've reached the point we're paying $60 to beta test products now.  

 

We're also in an age that we'll never see a full featured title again, because we'll get fleeced down the line with DLC.  

 

And it'll go on and on, so long as people keep paying money.

[Craig H]

I just meant not-broken as in "playable."

[Raziel]

So did I

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

Honestly, I don't mind developers having the ability to patch games, or even the idea that I'm beta-testing something for full price at launch.

 

For one, if a cartridge or an early disk system game shipped bugged/bad, you were basically stuck with bullshit forever. The ability for a developer to go in and fix mechanics is still pretty fucking magical compared to that part of my life.

Secondly, I see no difference between buying a game day one and buying any other technology day one. The risk you run as an early adopter has been severe long before this specific scenario of patchable console games.

Third, and this is personal, but I think when games break it's pretty fucking funny as long as it's not wiping save files. 

 

I don't even mind the DLC thing that much! If I don't want that game's DLC, I don't buy it. The cases where it's "removing something from the game" are vastly outnumbered by cases where it's content that needed more time or it was just a weird passion project by a part of the development team. Where I draw the line is the X-Box One Microtransaction madness in games like Forza, Ryse and Crimson Dragon. The entire concept of paying for one-time use items or time-limited XP boosts is fucking deplorable to me.

 

However, if I don't like a thing, I don't pay for the thing.

 

This doesn't seem like a weird idea.

[Death From Above]

There's a lot to be said for just waiting on "Game of the Year/Diamond/Complete/Super-Humongous Big Edition" on major titles these days. You get to skip that patch-and-see phase and pick up the best of (or all of) the DLC. With major titles it's more common than not to have the option now (or at least it certainly seems so), and minor titles the DLC tends to be less of an issue to begin with.

[Big Fresh]

I'm out of Like's, but Broken Lamp has got the right idea.

[J.T.]

I agree with Lamp.  I am almost hesitant to buy first runs of games I know will be popular because I know I'll get burned by the super duper game of the year edition that will have all of the DLC and ultimately be much cheaper and a lot more stable than the first release.

[J.T.]

Oh, I'm not trying to start some Sony vs Microsoft crap, Craig.  I'm just saying that rabid brand loyalty is stupid. 

 

One rig being slightly more powerful graphically than the other is evened out by broadband issues that hamper hosting and I'm sorry but the naked eye doesn't really discern minute differences in HD quality on your television set.  The only person that can make optimum use of a PS4 will be the guy that can afford a 70" LED with theater speakers and a dedicated broadband line and that sure as shit isn't someone like me.

 

Its a mnemonic trap that gamers allow themselves to fall into in order to chump themselves into believing that they made the right choices.  If you're having fun with your friends, then you made the right choice.  Doesn't really matter what fucking console you own.  If your regular gaming buddies bought PS4's and you bought an XBone, then you fucked up.

[J.T.]

specs are better.

 

Specs are a selling point for geeks that need numbers to justify their purchases. 

 

CPU's of both consoles are comparable with advantage going to PS4 in the GPU department since 10% of the XBone's GPU is dedicated to the fucking Kinect:  a peripheral that MS insists be bundled with the console whether you want one or not and jacks the sale price up an additional $100.  A horrible decision.

 

Even so, the naked eye can't really tell the difference visually between one console or the other unless you're sitting right on top of your television.  Console graphics is a talking point of diminishing return. As hardware becomes more powerful, everything will look so realistic that one console being able to render 6000 more triangles than the other really won't matter.

 

Sonyphiles crow about the PS4 since it opted for a very fast 8 gig 5500MHz GDDR5 RAM chipset, but forget that the XBone has an additional 32MB of SDRAM for memory caching in support of the 8 gig 2133MHz DDR3 RAM chipset that the XBone has.  Bandiwidth and Rendering become zero sum comparisons.

 

On paper, specs are in favor of the PS4 but unless that potential leads to optimal performance for software without hardware failure, specs are meaningless.

 

Games and how consoles handle the software are the criteria that should sell consoles.  Whatever console that Mass Effect 4 shows up on first is the one I am going to buy. 

 

Durability should be a primary concern.  If a console pops chips, overheats (I am looking at you, shitty RRoD 360), or has unacceptably long load times, then that should be the point of contention.. 

 

Customer Service and hardware / software support should be the new points of focus for gamers when making an investment in a console. (Network Speed / Lag, Timely Bug Fixing, Personal Information Security, Discounts, Promotions, stupid DRM policies).