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[Eusis]

Now imagine just how much more powerful a machine we could have gotten if they stuck with a 599 USD price point for the high end model.

Combined with the rumors circulating the next Xbox I think we'd have a recipe for an even more spectacular crash than 1983, even if it doesn't actually kill the industry it'd be like watching two people drive straight off a cliff because they think their cars can fly on sheer will alone.

Those systems may have produced games that looked better on average, but I wouldn't necessarily say they were more powerful than PCs of the time.

Yeah, and just compare how some PC games fared once ported off: Ultima 7 was a wreck beyond censorship, Ultima 6 only looked a LITTLE better and had to be seriously compromised due to space (wonder if that would've happened on a larger, late gen cart though), and on PS1 Crusader had its resolution hacked down (nevermind just how quickly strong PCs leapfrogged the consoles then, just look at 3DFX and Quake). At worst PC always had at least a slight edge among the newer, higher end ones, and some of the specific console advantages are eroding, I swear NES and SNES games scrolled smoother than contemporary PC games of the time, but now that's a completely moot point.

 

[Willy Wanka]

I'm slightly sceptical but Sony have plenty to do if they want to win back the majority of the UK market. A £300 launch price point would certainly be an aggressive move towards that.

 

[Commanche Raisin Toast]

i think a $400 single SKU is the best way for them to go. we don't know what will be bundled with it either.

 

[CLEEK]

Those systems may have produced games that looked better on average, but I wouldn't necessarily say they were more powerful than PCs of the time.

The dude reckoned that no consoles launched that where more powerful than gaming PCs. Which is nonsense. Not talking about CPU number crunching for spreadsheets, but about gaming specific performance.

What PC in 1987 had better graphics or audio than a PC-Engine? PCs at the time were still rocking CGA/EGA, with VGA coming out later that year. Even then, PCs were rubbish at 2D graphics, lacking the dedicated hardware to push sprite about. Sound cards didn't exist yet. Soundblaster cards came out in '89.

And the NeoGeo blew away PCs for gaming. The sprite scaling pissed all over the abilities of PCs at the time. Compare any early NeoGeo game to something like Catacomb 3D, which was state of the art PC game at the time.

SNES and PS1 can be argued one way or the other, but I'd argue towards the consoles having better gaming performance. Everything changed mid-way through the PS1 era, when discrete 3D accelerator cards arrived. From that moment on, PCs have always been ahead of the curve. But it wasn't always the case.

 

[Valkyria]

Pc Engine 1987

Maniac Mansion 1987.
Leisure Suit Larry 1987.

I call my case.

 

[Orayn]

The dude reckoned that no consoles launched that where more powerful than gaming PCs. Which is nonsense. Not talking about CPU number crunching for spreadsheets, but about gaming specific performance.

What PC in 1987 had better graphics or audio than a PC-Engine? PCs at the time were still rocking CGA/EGA, with VGA coming out later that year. Even then, PCs were rubbish at 2D graphics, lacking the dedicated hardware to push sprite about. Sound cards didn't exist yet. Soundblaster cards came out in '89.

And the NeoGeo blew away PCs for gaming. The sprite scaling pissed all over the abilities of PCs at the time. Compare any early NeoGeo game to something like Catacomb 3D, which was state of the art PC game at the time.

SNES and PS1 can be argued one way or the other, but I'd argue towards the consoles having better gaming performance. Everything changed mid-way through the PS1 era, when discrete 3D accelerator cards arrived. From that moment on, PCs have always been ahead of the curve. But it wasn't always the case.

You're right, I was thinking more of SNES/PSX as the point where we started to get clear divergence.

Before then, I almost want to say that you have to look to the Amiga to find "PC" games that kept up with recent consoles. Shadow of the Beast, for example, is a game that I'd say matches or exceeds the TurboGrafx and 16-bit twins, though not the NeoGeo.

 

[CLEEK]

Pc Engine 1987

Maniac Mansion 1987.
Leisure Suit Larry 1987.

I call my case.

Good job you're not a lawyer.

Or

http://scummvm.org/data/screenshots/agi/lsl/lsl1-1-full.png

Manic Mansion was a port a a C64 game, using the same assets. It was ugly as fuck, until they release an enhanced version a year later that used VGA graphics. Even then, it was hardly a technological powerhouse. Blocky sprites, poor animation and awful sound. Same with Leisure Suit Larry.

 

[chicko1983]

it'll be $550 in AUS

ps3 at $599 US was about $900 AUD, even when Aussie dollar was stronger than the US.

So I reckon it will be $599 here.

I will still get my launch ps4 though.

 

[Orayn]

Good job you're not a lawyer.

Or

http://scummvm.org/data/screenshots/agi/lsl/lsl1-1-full.png

Manic Mansion was a port a a C64 game, using the same assets. It was ugly as fuck, until they release an enhanced version a year later that used VGA graphics. Even then, it was hardly a technological powerhouse. Blocky sprites and awful sound. Same with Leisure Suit Larry.

I'm just gonna follow up with the PC-Engine/Amiga comparison for the heck of it.

It's neither here nor there, I just wanted to post a Shadow of the Beast screenshot. Like you said earlier, the advent of 3D accelerator cards was when the PC genie got out of the bottle.

 

[BurnOutBrighter]

$400 basic version, $500 premium version with bigger hard drive, pack-in launch title and 1 year of PS Plus.

 

[CLEEK]

I'm just gonna follow up with the PC-Engine/Amiga comparison for the heck of it.

Amiga wasn't a PC though, so you're just proving my point more. The Amgia was far, far ahead of PCs at the time for graphics and audio (because it had dedicate hardware for gaming). When I got my A500, our family PC was initially an Amstrad PC1512 (an 8086 CGA/EGA PC) which was worse for gaming than my old C64. The family PC was later upgraded to a 386, which again, while having more CPU power, was incredible poor for gaming compared to the Amiga.

Amiga <3

 

[Commanche Raisin Toast]

for those that think $400 is too high, what about if Sony offered to do the monthly payment plan thing like MS?

 

[joeblow]

and why are you converting from yen? It is the wrong way to do things.

...and why not? As I said, you can account for the built in tax, and then the conversion is in the ball park:

40K yen = about $430. Deduct $30 for the forced Japanese tax and you are at $400. The Nikkei report says more than 40K yen, so that means more than $400.

$450 seems about right.

 

[Valkyria]

Good job you're not a lawyer.

Or

http://scummvm.org/data/screenshots/agi/lsl/lsl1-1-full.png

Manic Mansion was a port a a C64 game, using the same assets. It was ugly as fuck, until they release an enhanced version a year later that used VGA graphics. Even then, it was hardly a technological powerhouse. Blocky sprites, poor animation and awful sound. Same with Leisure Suit Larry.

The case was a joke man, and I mixed up Maniac mansion with Day of tencacle. But anyway PCs has always been ahead of videogame consoles, just look at Doom in 1993 even psx could not handle a decent port.

PD: since when amiga is not a PC? Only computers with microsoft OS are Pcs?
PD2: Bonus round: http://www.maniacmansionfan.50webs.com/versions.html

 

[CLEEK]

But anyway PCs has always been ahead of videogame consoles, just look at Doom in 1993 even psx could not handle a decent port.

Holy fuck, no they haven't.

PCs only overtook consoles when they got dedicated hardware. The same dedicated hardware that consoles had had for years. Late 90s onwards, and PCs have been at the top of the pile. Before then, it was always consoles.

PD: since when amiga is not a PC? Only computers with microsoft OS are Pcs?

Since always. Amiga (along with C64, Spectrum, ST etc) was a home computer, not a PC. As wiki say:

PC - A personal computer that runs Microsoft Windows, as opposed to one that runs another operating system such as Macintosh or UNIX

 

[Valkyria]

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

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

Did you guys really just decide that Linux PCs aren't PCs for some reason?