Rant about the status of consoles

[gorcorps]

i've been saying this for generations.

BC is a feature that 95% of people want but about 5% of people use and actually care about.

Especially this generation, since we've seen a number of remakes of games from late last gen come to the current gen. TLOU and GTA V were both late PS3 releases so some people (like me) might not have played them before they got their PS4. Lo and behold I got to play them on the PS4, so all is well.

 

[el-Capitan]

Why does everyone always jump onboard of these troll-threads, started by first-time posters? This stuff has all been discussed before ad nauseum.

If you want backwards compatible, keep your old console or get a PC. If not, sell all the old gear and buy the latest!

 

[smackababy]

So, a rant about the state of consoles in the current age, when it has been like that since the dawn of time?

 

[Rage187]

I knew more people with Zunes than iPods...just sayin'

What's it like to be a dirty liar?

 

[poofyhairguy]

What's it like to be a dirty liar?

Hey now, that isn't fair. You don't know he is lying. He could just have a crazily uncool group of peers, or he lives and works in Redmond,WA.

 

[smackababy]

Hey now, that isn't fair. You don't know he is lying. He could just have a crazily uncool group of peers, or he lives and works in Redmond,WA.

Or he knows like 4 people, two of which are his parents.

However, I did like the original Zune and ZuneHD as PMPs. There were well made and had good features. Unfortunately, they just didn't get support.

 

[Lil Frier]

I don't like Apple as a company, and I don't like the iTunes software, so I got a Zune. In addition, I had two high school classmates who got Zunes (small school, and I didn't ever know any classmates with iPods). My sister had a Zune. Two of my cousins got Zunes. Two of us got multiple Zunes (myself and one classmate each got 3).

The only people I personally knew to have iPods were a college roommate and my sister, who sold the iPod to get a Zune. I mean, there were probably plenty of folks I knew who had iPods, but I never knew it, so I don't count potential customers.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Once the iPod turned into an iPhone lite it was over. Maybe before that I don't remember.

 

[Lil Frier]

It was always the iPod, due to several factors we've seen repeated in the smartphone industry. Microsoft took too long to come to market, didn't market particularly well, and was very half-hearted in their approach to the Zune. You can see it with Windows Phone as well, with how they're using even-numbered years as OS-reboot years (WP7 in 2010, scrapping it for WP8 and a new kernel in 2012, and trying to finally leverage it all together with W10 in 2014).

I just never liked the iTunes interface, and I wasn't a fan of the scroll wheel (I liked the Zune's traditional D-Pad interface). My bias against Apple definitely applied, but it wasn't the only factor.

 

[HeXen]

Emulation isn't too shabby at all these days. Some play really good on Androids even. I just wish console makers would develop older gen emulators themselves for various platforms and they could sell it and include a ROM store to sell games on...at least it would be a legit method that caters to a demand while still providing income where it belongs...sure we have PS now or virtual console or the myriad of ported packs but they are not platform agnostic and limited in game selections.

 

[mmntech]

PC used to become obsolete every 3 years, but nowadays even a 7~8 years CPU (Phenom X4 anyone?), paired with a decent GPU makes it for a good gaming rig, which probably blows teh Xbox 360 (and XB1) power out of the water.

PC gaming remained static for so long because the seventh console generation dragged on for so long. A lot of games are ports. Things are about to take a big leap though. Hop into the PC board and check out the minimum specs for Witcher 3.

Emulation isn't too shabby at all these days. Some play really good on Androids even. I just wish console makers would develop older gen emulators themselves for various platforms and they could sell it and include a ROM store to sell games on...at least it would be a legit method that caters to a demand while still providing income where it belongs...sure we have PS now or virtual console or the myriad of ported packs but they are not platform agnostic and limited in game selections.

Nintendo does. Though the Virtual Console is still a bit sparse. Part of the problem is licensing.

Everything up to the sixth generation emulates fine. Though some N64 games are a bit finicky. Things start to fall apart with the sixth generation though. There's some decent PS2 and GCN emulators out there, but they aren't perfect. There aren't any for the original Xbox.

Eighth gen systems have proven very difficult to emulate. The only working one is Dolphin, for the Wii. There's been some work on one for the 360 but success has been limited. PS3 has some pretty exotic hardware so it'll probably be a long time before we see something that works, let alone works well. As an aside, and speaking of exotic hardware, I'm very happy Sony kicked RAMBUS to the curb for the PS4. That company should have been run out of business a decade ago.

 

[gorcorps]

Why does everyone always jump onboard of these troll-threads, started by first-time posters? This stuff has all been discussed before ad nauseum.

If you want backwards compatible, keep your old console or get a PC. If not, sell all the old gear and buy the latest!

We're bored

Frankly without all these rehashes this place would be completely dead

 

[smackababy]

PC gaming remained static for so long because the seventh console generation dragged on for so long. A lot of games are ports. Things are about to take a big leap though. Hop into the PC board and check out the minimum specs for Witcher 3.

Everyone keeps saying this, but that just isn't true. The console lifecycle for last gen lasted maybe a year longer than previous lifecycles.

The problem isn't lengthening of console lifecycles, it is the lightning fast pace at which PC hardware is being put out.

 

[Lil Frier]

PC gaming remained static for so long because the seventh console generation dragged on for so long. A lot of games are ports. Things are about to take a big leap though. Hop into the PC board and check out the minimum specs for Witcher 3.

Minimum CPU: Phenom II X4 960/i5-2500K
Minimum GPU: Radeon HD 7870/GTX 600
Minimum RAM: 6 GB

None of those are outrageous. The CPUs are a couple of generations old. The GPU options are reasonably cheap, as the 660 is about $170, and the 7870 is just an older version of the 270X, which gets as low as $160 (but is mostly $180-200). The RAM's a bit high, but most everyone has 8 GB or more now, so it shouldn't be tough for folks to manage.

In fact, I think that the worst thing some unprepared people are going to be shocked by is the HDD space these games are needing. The Witcher 3 needs 40 GB of space, and it's hardly the first newer title to ask for this much or more. I'm still sitting on a 640-GB internal HDD myself, but I get most of my games on my One. However, THAT thing only has a 500-GB HDD, and with Halo taking up more than 60 GB after the patches, we're in for some serious drive issues. Microsoft really was short-sighted with the One with the drive size.

 

[Blanky]

A fairly ridiculous thread for all the reasons already stated.

 

[Schfifty Five]

Your example of a decent gaming PC for $588 is missing one important factor. You need to build the computer yourself. Sure, YOU may know how to do it, but not everyone does. So factor in a professional installation of the PC, testing, and burning it in, and that could be another $50-200. PS4 and XB1 come prebuilt and ready to use out of the box.

 

[HeXen]

PC gaming remained static for so long because the seventh console generation dragged on for so long. A lot of games are ports. Things are about to take a big leap though. Hop into the PC board and check out the minimum specs for Witcher 3.




Nintendo does. Though the Virtual Console is still a bit sparse. Part of the problem is licensing.

Everything up to the sixth generation emulates fine. Though some N64 games are a bit finicky. Things start to fall apart with the sixth generation though. There's some decent PS2 and GCN emulators out there, but they aren't perfect. There aren't any for the original Xbox.

Eighth gen systems have proven very difficult to emulate. The only working one is Dolphin, for the Wii. There's been some work on one for the 360 but success has been limited. PS3 has some pretty exotic hardware so it'll probably be a long time before we see something that works, let alone works well. As an aside, and speaking of exotic hardware, I'm very happy Sony kicked RAMBUS to the curb for the PS4. That company should have been run out of business a decade ago.

Virtual console is limited and only for Nintendo's platforms. Not quite what I meant.

 

[tential]

Not true. Tential wrote a short, offensive post, with no information, only hate. And the post was plain wrong. I was referring (and quoted) him, nobody else.
So what does your message make you look like?

I wrote a short post because I didn't need to write a novel to get my point across (for once).

You didn't do the correct research. You bought a console, then you complained about things that you could have looked up before (like if Xbox 360 users can play with Xbox One/PC users).

The truth hurts though.

 

[BoberFett]

Not true. Tential wrote a short, offensive post, with no information, only hate.

Seriously? That's what you consider hate?

Yup. All of the info is out there, he just decided to not research, then cry later.

It's dismissive at most. Amazing what people will call hate these days. Everyone needs a thicker skin.

 

[RussianSensation]

Everyone keeps saying this, but that just isn't true. The console lifecycle for last gen lasted maybe a year longer than previous lifecycles.

Nope. The average console life cycle for 20 years has been is 4.5-5.5 years.

Xbox
Xbox 360 - Nov 22, 2005
Xbox 1 - Nov 22, 2013 (8 years from 360)

Playstation
PS3 - Nov 17, 2006
PS4 - Nov 15, 2013 (7 years from PS3)

Last generation was the longest average modern console generation of all time, longer on average by 2.5-3 years.

I don't understand the point of BC personally as I don't see the point of buying a new $400 console to play 8-9 year old games. In that case, just buy a used 360 or keep your existing one. Life is too short to care about $$ for a used 360/PS3 if you really want to catch up with 7-8 years of their games.

Console ownership on the whole tends to be at least as expensive if not more expensive than PC gaming because PC games cost a lot less on sales and go on sale quicker and more often. But no matter what hardware you have on the PC you cannot play Bloodborne, Uncharted, God of War, Gran Turismo, Forza and so on, so it's a moot point.

 

[smackababy]

Nope. The average console life cycle for 20 years has been is 4.5-5.5 years.

Xbox
Xbox 360 - Nov 22, 2005
Xbox 1 - Nov 22, 2013 (8 years from 360)

Playstation
PS3 - Nov 17, 2006
PS4 - Nov 15, 2013 (7 years from PS3)

Last generation was the longest average modern console generation of all time, longer on average by 2.5-3 years.

Wtf are you talking about? NES original JP release date of 1983. SNES original JP release date 1990. PS1 1994. PS2 2000.

No new console was coming in 2-3 years. Again, the last generation was maybe a year longer than normal. Let's not forget what PCs could do in 1994 and what an SNES could do. Let's paralell that with the rapid advancement of PC power in the mid 2000s. PCs have outpaced console development and eclipsed them in power, but that is only recently.

 

[Ichinisan]

It seems the Wii U is the only console with reasonable backward-compatibility for the previous generation. I read that the PowerPC team has been disbanded, so we probably won't ever see anything else based on that architecture. If the next Nintendo home console has any backward compatibility, I expect it will have to use software emulation of the PowerPC processor functions.

 

[Ichinisan]

Wtf are you talking about? NES original JP release date of 1983. SNES original JP release date 1990. PS1 1994. PS2 2000.

No new console was coming in 2-3 years. Again, the last generation was maybe a year longer than normal. Let's not forget what PCs could do in 1994 and what an SNES could do. Let's paralell that with the rapid advancement of PC power in the mid 2000s. PCs have outpaced console development and eclipsed them in power, but that is only recently.

Last NES game in the USA was 1995.
Last Super Famicom (SNES) game was in 2000.
Last N64 game in the USA was in 2002.
:thumbsup:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_last_games_released_on_video_game_consoles

 

[calyco]

I agreed initially on the lack of backward compatibility. Then I bought like 5 of my favorites again on PS4 and was pleasantly surprised the definitive editions were pretty good eg. Sleeping Dogs, GTA V, Tomb Raider. Even though it didnt seemed that much better in Youtube vids I watched. More content, better graphics and more fluid gameplay - worth it to me. Add the new features like much better PS4 controller, charge while rest mode and play music while gaming sold it for me.

 

[smackababy]

play music while gaming sold it for me.

Consoles have regressed in that regard. On the original Xbox, the music stored on the HDD was integrated into the game. For example, in GTA San Andreas, I had a radio station dedicated to my music and it was amazing. The Xbox 360 (and future consoles) screwed this up, but separating it outside the game into a "blare it over everything" method, which is terrible.