The PS4 thread

[hashiriya1]

That Warframe game is pretty nifty.

[manowarjoe]

My PS4 is waiting for me at the post office, but I can't pick it up until Monday. Aargh the pain!

Oh wow! This has to be eating at you! Ha!

[Thierry Henry]

Now on hold for TWO hours to talk with someone at Sony tech support...

Damn! Did they at least offer you phone sex while you were waiting?

[oxymoron]

Now on hold for TWO hours to talk with someone at Sony tech support...

Damn! Did they at least offer you phone sex while you were waiting?

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Pretty games are way too expensive to make though, so I expect it to take much longer than it has in the past.

Eh, yes and no. Things do get more complex and detailed, but at the same time, new tools are constantly being developed that make it easier and faster to get there...

New tools have always been developed. Even if the production process gets more efficient, it takes an absurd amount of money to create something graphically impressive in a traditional way.

[dsheinem]

I feel like every comment about "hitting a wall" and "graphics can't get more realistic" have been said for the last three generations. PS2 launch games, PS3 launch games, and now PS4 launch games were not a GIANT leap from what the late-era games were on the previous hardware. They are a little nicer. There have always been PC games that looked far better than console games at any and every point of a console's life.

There's also this part of recent history people are forgetting: PC game development takes a back seat to console development for basically every company now (including former PC giants like iD). Are people forgetting that there was a period of 4-5 years in the recent past where PC games were usually ports rather than the other way around? As the new consoles create a bigger market, then PC game development will once again lag. Most estimates are that PC gaming is maybe 10-20% of total industry revenue (and only a small percentage of that is high end stuff). While the capabilities of far better graphics are already and will always be there, most devs will be optimizing for the PS4/Xbox One first and foremost, and PC games will be largely consistent with the hardware found on those systems. You may find slight bumps in graphics from game to game, but I'd be shocked if PC game development speeds ahead of consoles the way that it did in the last couple of years when companies began shifting their resources to PC and/or this just launching generation. If I had to bet, I'd guess that the cycle of PC shittiness has started once again.

[wclem]

I feel like every comment about "hitting a wall" and "graphics can't get more realistic" have been said for the last three generations. PS2 launch games, PS3 launch games, and now PS4 launch games were not a GIANT leap from what the late-era games were on the previous hardware. They are a little nicer. There have always been PC games that looked far better than console games at any and every point of a console's life.

There's also this part of recent history people are forgetting: PC game development takes a back seat to console development for basically every company now (including former PC giants like iD). Are people forgetting that there was a period of 4-5 years in the recent past where PC games were usually ports rather than the other way around? As the new consoles create a bigger market, then PC game development will once again lag. Most estimates are that PC gaming is maybe 10-20% of total industry revenue (and only a small percentage of that is high end stuff). While the capabilities of far better graphics are already and will always be there, most devs will be optimizing for the PS4/Xbox One first and foremost, and PC games will be largely consistent with the hardware found on those systems. You may find slight bumps in graphics from game to game, but I'd be shocked if PC game development speeds ahead of consoles the way that it did in the last couple of years when companies began shifting their resources to PC and/or this just launching generation. If I had to bet, I'd guess that the cycle of PC shittiness has started once again.

Gonna agree with you. I was playing Doom in all its 3D glory on my PC when people were still trudging along on SNES / Genesis era consoles.

Here is your sign, where is GTA V PC owners? I wish it were on PC NOW, but we are being made to wait. The chunks of the pie have to be spread out more and in smaller pieces because there are so many ways to get our money in the gaming industry and very few people really looking for high end PC games. I am kind of surprised that it is still with us sometimes. There was a time I thought PC gaming would die, truthfully I see heavy discounting as what saved it.

[RCBH928]

People with PS4s , did you get the feeling like this is a new generation that is different or did you feel it was just a nice upgrade? I really do not feel this generation has that excitement level we had moving from 64 to GameCube for example , not because of graphics jump but what the system can deliver as a whole . Owning NGC was a totally different from 64, so do you feel the ps4 is a different experience from owning a ps3?

I think some one here mentioned that we are not seeing graphics that demonstrates the power of the consoles now days because its just expensive to create them and only triple A titles with huge marketing can do it. Why won't they build games that look beautiful but in smaller worlds , not every game has to be as huge as Skyrim or GTA 5. I am currently playing Secret of Monkey Island and it has like only 4-5 locations on the main island, still fun.

As for PC gaming, I really never felt PC gaming more alive now days. There are a ton of games for the cheapest of prices and with stuff like Steam and emulators , PC feels a lot like its the ultimate gaming machine. There are games that will forever be a PC genre like RTS and Simulators , even though the PC probably lost its place as the king of FPS (not really sure of the numbers, but hardly do I hear of exclusive FPS PC game) . On the other hand, the majority of people out there are moving away from purchasing a PC in the first place, basically many people moved from owning desktops to owning laptops which are much less capable (my current laptop probably won't meet minimum requirement of 4 year old games, its 5 years old) , and in the past couple of years some people moved away from laptops and are satisfied with just a tablet. The point is , with less people having access to capable PC's , PC games are likely to drop in quality because of the sales drop. I am not saying PC gaming will die, I am just saying it will just not be as shinning as it used to be. Yet I think there was a time when PC gaming was a lot more stagnant , it could be from 2002 to 2006 maybe but I could be very very wrong. This is a totally different topic though which I believe we discussed in another thread in this forum...

[dsheinem]

People with PS4s , did you get the feeling like this is a new generation that is different or did you feel it was just a nice upgrade? I really do not feel this generation has that excitement level we had moving from 64 to GameCube for example , not because of graphics jump but what the system can deliver as a whole . Owning NGC was a totally different from 64, so do you feel the ps4 is a different experience from owning a ps3?

I think some one here mentioned that we are not seeing graphics that demonstrates the power of the consoles now days because its just expensive to create them and only triple A titles with huge marketing can do it. Why won't they build games that look beautiful but in smaller worlds , not every game has to be as huge as Skyrim or GTA 5. I am currently playing Secret of Monkey Island and it has like only 4-5 locations on the main island, still fun.

As for PC gaming, I really never felt PC gaming more alive now days. There are a ton of games for the cheapest of prices and with stuff like Steam and emulators , PC feels a lot like its the ultimate gaming machine. There are games that will forever be a PC genre like RTS and Simulators , even though the PC probably lost its place as the king of FPS (not really sure of the numbers, but hardly do I hear of exclusive FPS PC game) . On the other hand, the majority of people out there are moving away from purchasing a PC in the first place, basically many people moved from owning desktops to owning laptops which are much less capable (my current laptop probably won't meet minimum requirement of 4 year old games, its 5 years old) , and in the past couple of years some people moved away from laptops and are satisfied with just a tablet. The point is , with less people having access to capable PC's , PC games are likely to drop in quality because of the sales drop. I am not saying PC gaming will die, I am just saying it will just not be as shinning as it used to be. Yet I think there was a time when PC gaming was a lot more stagnant , it could be from 2002 to 2006 maybe but I could be very very wrong. This is a totally different topic though which I believe we discussed in another thread in this forum...

I feel like you posted this without reading the last two posts

[Luke]

Concerning Dish's post, it's all a matter of hype. When the snes launched I laughed at my Sister for playing SMB.3 because the ? blocks were square, and not a tad rounded like the ? blocks in Mario world. And when the Sega CD came out with FMV games, I thought the pinnacle of video game graphics had arrived.

Then in high school and the PlayStation arrived, I finally "got it". Constant progression, and we haven't scratched the surface yet.