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[HaveButOneLife]

sometimes same game was completely different from one system to an anotherm

It's almost as if console manufacturers learned from the issues with having unique architecture or something.

is there even a point of calling them console at this point?

This is literally the definition of a 'home console':

A home video game console, or simply home console, is a video game device that is primarily used for home gamers, as opposed to in arcades or some other commercial establishment.

its lame. there is no reason to own the piece of hardware really.

This is a very silly statement, exclusives prove otherwise as well as things like controllers and unique features (Share Play etc.) unless you're one of those people who think that exclusives are anti-consumer, which is even sillier.

 

[ZenTheShogun]

While I also do gaming on consoles and a big TV..and a comfy chair/sofa, these days very few PC gamers are "sitting at a desk". With an endless selection of gaming chairs and comfortable configurations to choose from you don't at all need to feel like you're back at the office.. Many of us even use controllers while we're at it.

Meh - like 80% of PC gamers play the same games over and over - Fortnite, LOL, PUBG, CSGO, Siege, DOTA 2, WoW and OW. Nobody is laying down to play any of the aforesaid games. I personally play a lot of OW and Siege - fuck chilling on the couch with a controller for that.

 

[Afro Republican]

Xbox One X and PS4 Pro are pretty different from each other:

1. Exclusives

2. Partner features

3. Controllers

4. UI Interface

5. Stores

6. Streaming

7. Productivity

8. Operating System

What you really are wanting is for consoles to go back to being horrendously outdated compared to computers and arcades, so one console manufacturer focuses more on one area that the other is good at since they both are trying to reach a standard close to the computer or arcade standard but don't have the money or tech to do so, so have to compromise with cheap chips and architecture, and then home that their brand managed to do better than the competitors..

Now that consoles no longer do that, we can not recent quality in multiple areas at once instead of having only 5 good areas and sacrifices in the other 495 areas if ya get what I'm saying.

The days when the NES and 7800 were outdated by 4 or 5 years and having one stronger in pseudo 3D and arcade games and the other stronger on tile-based games is a pointless comparison these days, why would I want to buy compromises in 2019 OP?

These days consoles can be outdated but at least they are in the same range as PC's which are the new computer/arcade machine. I don't want an Xbox Scarlett and a PS5 where the PS5 is 5 years outdated from a 1070 but has a louder sound chip and can put two more spites on screen while the Scarlett is also 5 years outdated but had more colors per sprite and can have them at any size.

Even the lowest quality games at least look modern most of the time now (excluding indies)

 

[TUROK]

Ah yes, the newest nostalgia circlejerk of the week.

 

[The_Mike]

It's almost as if console manufacturers learned from the issues with having unique architecture or something.



This is literally the definition of a 'home console':




This is a very silly statement, exclusives prove otherwise as well as things like controllers and unique features (Share Play etc.) unless you're one of those people who think that exclusives are anti-consumer, which is even sillier.

I agree until the last point. Exclusives actually are anti consumer. Being able to play all games on your chosen hardware is the most pro consumerism possible.

But it does of course not work in a world where platforms are chosen because of the games, and not the hardware.

 

[HaveButOneLife]

I agree until the last point. Exclusives actually are anti consumer. Being able to play all games on your chosen hardware is the most pro consumerism possible.

But it does of course not work in a world where platforms are chosen because of the games, and not the hardware.

Hypothetically speaking if "anti-consumer" is used as a way to deter people from console gaming or downplay the importance of exclusives and it's being said as something along the lines of "they shouldn't exist at all", then I wouldn't agree with it. We buy literally any product because it has things that the other doesn't, so how are video games any different?

I think we've all accepted that that one element of exclusives being "anti-consumer" is a necessary sacrifice because without them there would be literally no incentive in buying any console.

 

[The_Mike]

Hypothetically speaking if "anti-consumer" is used as a way to deter people from console gaming or downplay the importance of exclusives and it's being said as something along the lines of "they shouldn't exist at all", then I wouldn't agree with it. We buy literally any product because it has things that the other doesn't, so how are video games any different?

I think we've all accepted that that one element of exclusives being "anti-consumer" is a necessary sacrifice because without them there would be literally no incentive in buying any console.

As far as I can see, we agree. The last part is the point in both our posts.

 

[renzolama]

Strange. I have a high-end PC, PS4 Pro, XBX and Switch and they have all provided unique and good experiences.

To be fair, this is by far the most unused my consoles have ever been. I own the regular and pro version of both consoles along with the Switch, and my time is split about 70/25/5 PC/Switch/PS4 because there are only one or two PS4 exclusives each year I care about playing and everything else looks and plays better on my PC. I get what OP means in that the Switch has a lot more unique aspects that make it my second most played system currently, but also in that world I'd be back to 2005land being mad I can't play 50% of new releases on my PC which was obnoxious.

 

[Hinedorf]

Consoles like PC's are just hardware. What you're referring to is the Operating system that the very generic hardware utilizes.

 

[HaveButOneLife]

As far as I can see, we agree. The last part is the point in both our posts.

I figured that that's what the last sentence of your last post meant but I wasn't exactly sure and didn't want to assume.

 

[Hulk_Smash]

Is it though?

You can buy a Mac that will play hundreds of games flawlessly? with or without motion controls? on the go or switch to your tv without pressing a single button? at the entry price of $300? Where can I get this unicorn of a gaming rig???!

 

[VFXVeteran]

I think we've all accepted that that one element of exclusives being "anti-consumer" is a necessary sacrifice because without them there would be literally no incentive in buying any console.

I don't see it that way. There are a lot of people that just want to sit down on the couch, turn on their console and play. It's a lot simpler than trying to play the same game on the PC. Also there are a lot of people that don't have the money to buy a computer and play games with it. There will always be demand for that either using a streaming service or console.

I do think hardware may become an afterthought after next-gen though. Google has had a rocky start wtih Stadia but according to DF, the system seems to be stable. If the proof-of-concept actually works after a year or so, then you can bet Sony and MS will be taking advantage of that for their future plans.

Yes, the hardware is similar. This is for the sake of keeping development costs down for the dev companies. It's very expensive to look for an engineer that specializes in PS3 hardware versus one that knows the x86 architecture and the typical graphics API. As development costs approach and exceed 100s of millions of dollars, it's going to become paramount that skillsets for hardware reaches a more broader range. That's thinking from the developer's side of the fence.

 

[jakinov]

You can buy a Mac that will play hundreds of games flawlessly? with or without motion controls? on the go or switch to your tv without pressing a single button? at the entry price of $300? Where can I get this unicorn of a gaming rig???!

Firstly, FYI, this isn't a Mac It's a Windows tablet.

Secondly, I think the joke went over your head. The original comment, said he never seen a PC that looked like a Switch which is essentially a tablet in a dock (not that there's anything wrong with that) so I showed him a picture of a PC/tablet in a dock. So how much it actually costs and what games are supported are moot because I'm not trying to argue that a PC or Mac is a better gaming device than a switch,

Lastly for the sake of argument, motion controls aren't that big of a feat on the Swich, and docking a computing device to a dock attached to a display and not clicking a button is something that has existed long before the Switch was a thing.

 

[Stuart360]

This is where its heading now, the same games on whatever devices you want, and play with who you want. Why do you think more and more games are having cross play now. Consoles, PC's, phones, tablets, they are just the devices to access those games. 10+ years from now, probably every game witll have cross play with everyone, and all games will be on all devices, no more exclusives, hense Microsoft, and imo Sony too at some point.

 

[Xmengrey]

it was always interesting to me that different consoles had cool accessories or features that allowed a game developer to do something unique with, or even when every console had different hardware and games looked different. sometimes same game was completely different from one system to an another

the PS4 and xbox including pro versions are practically near identical. and the next gen consoles will be even more similar. is there even a point of calling them console at this point? they are PCs pretty much all of their games are available on PC through streaming service or just playing the PC version.

its lame. there is no reason to own the piece of hardware really.

To be honest ever since 7th gen the consoles were becoming more like PCs.
Now they are basically PCs because developers wanted something easier to work with which is fine.
My problem with them really just stems from the fact that they charge for online, restrict developers from putting their games on PC(Sony mainly though if anything VFXVeteran is saying that will change), their game sales are no where near as good as things like Steam sales, humble bundle, GOG, they have no mods either.

I can see people owning them for physical media reasons but really if you have a PC in the future it won't be necessary to own any of the consoles.

Sony will likely follow Microsoft in putting their games on PC to increase software sales while keeping exclusives between console competition because that's where it really matters to them.
Microsoft is putting their games on PC already.
For Nintendo you have the Yuzu and Ryujinx emulator which are already playing games though some need work.

the whole point of console sales for both Sony, MS, and even Nintendo(though not so sure about them anymore tbh) is to sell third party games and subscriptions.
Exclusives are meant to bring people to the platform but after that Sony wants you to buy third party games and PS Plus maybe PS Now if you interested.
PC gamers buying consoles for only exclusives isn't what makes Sony money especially since there most popular games don't require any sort of subscription service.
Sony would make money putting their games on Steam, or their own store and hopefully doing Halo Master Chief Collection numbers.
Each PC Game sale is a higher margins than each console sale due to the fact that you don't have to worry about disc manufacturing costs, and you have to freedom to sell anywhere including your own store.
It's also one port to worry about which shouldn't cost millions but you'll make millions back.

 

[Hulk_Smash]

Firstly, FYI, this isn't a Mac It's a Windows tablet.

Secondly, I think the joke went over your head. The original comment, said he never seen a PC that looked like a Switch which is essentially a tablet in a dock (not that there's anything wrong with that) so I showed him a picture of a PC/tablet in a dock. So how much it actually costs and what games are supported are moot because I'm not trying to argue that a PC or Mac is a better gaming device than a switch,

Lastly for the sake of argument, motion controls aren't that big of a feat on the Swich, and docking a computing device to a dock attached to a display and not clicking a button is something that has existed long before the Switch was a thing.

Fair enough.

But, innovation doesn’t always mean coming up with something new. Sometimes it’s the total package that’s innovative and frankly it’s what Nintendo is good at. Taking established technology and finding new avenues to deliver their games in ways their competitors aren’t doing (or PC).

You simply cannot do on PC what you can on the Switch for the price and ease of entry that the Switch provides. So, it pretty easily counters the OPs main complaint.

 

[GoodIdeaBadIdea]

There is only some games available on pc. If it could play every systems games and just need to pickup a different controller that would make the consoles obsolete but they all have exclusives especally the switch.

 

[CuteFaceJay]

That's one crazy looking PC tho.

Pretty much a pocket PC, Evolution from the early touch screen PDA's from way back..

 

[Naru]

I just wish they would bring Eye-Toy back...

 

[HaveButOneLife]

I don't see it that way. There are a lot of people that just want to sit down on the couch, turn on their console and play. It's a lot simpler than trying to play the same game on the PC. Also there are a lot of people that don't have the money to buy a computer and play games with it. There will always be demand for that either using a streaming service or console.

Don't take my word for it, the proof is the fact that exclusives drive up console sales just in NPD data alone.

Would the PS4 still be a major success if it didn't have exclusives that people enjoyed?

 

[Afro Republican]

This is where its heading now, the same games on whatever devices you want, and play with who you want. Why do you think more and more games are having cross play now. Consoles, PC's, phones, tablets, they are just the devices to access those games. 10+ years from now, probably every game witll have cross play with everyone, and all games will be on all devices, no more exclusives, hense Microsoft, and imo Sony too at some point.

Nonsense, no exclusives will crash the market. It's never going to be a thing. Not just for the market by for the industry as well as developers would still have to be selective on what they release on or have to remove games that don't sell well enough to make a profit on one of the other pieces of hardware. It would also crash the manufacturers because they won't be able to make much money on their consoles because they have no selling points and due to the no exclusives and no uniqueness future you are imagining drunk, anyone could enter with a device.

 

[EverydayBeast]

I like consoles as video game machines but yes they're posing as PCs lol

 

[Bodatan]

PC + SWITCH = Manly and very Chad combination.

 

[dano1]

Xim peripherals says hi.

chances of being in the same lobby is slim to none on a console

 

[majestix1988]

The true differences is just games they release mostly 1st party exclusives due they are system sellers not anti consumer......some will try it's not fair but these games funded by its console manufacturers that will be develop by their owned studios that will have stuck on their files the names who funded it

Meanwhile on exclusives on pc are just unsung heroes that never been recognized due its selfish troubled community if their popularity increases the game itself will have port on consoles

 

[Justin9mm]

I fucking hate this "argument". Who in the year 2019 needs to sit at a desk for PC-gaming? Who? People who put their gaming PC somewhere else than the rest of their electronic entertainment stuff! Ergo stupid people! That's who!

Who? Not you obviously, you may think you live in a world where this is how people PC game but the vast majority still sit.. At a desk, in a chair! I have a mid-high tier gaming PC that I also use for work so I don't want it sitting in my lounge plugged into my TV nor do I want that setup because some people live in proper houses with proper families and it's impractical.

(Rant Incoming...)
I also prefer console gaming because I'm sick of tinkering with PC settings just to get a stable performance. There are so many issues these days, it doesn't matter how high end your PC hardware is, there is either this crash or this driver does not work blah blah blah. Too many settings set off my OCD and I like a simpler form factor of starting up my console and just pushing a button to start my game.

Gaming on the lounge on my 75" 4K HDR TV on my X or Pro Dynamic 4K in 30 or 60fps is just fine with me. PC Gamers have to stop acting like PC Gaming is the second coming of Jesus Christ!

 

[Justin9mm]

Next gen of consoles is still PC hardware, running PC-derived APIs. This dynamic is not going to change, even if the hardware is nice for the cost. The Scarlett is going to be possibly the least interesting console ever considering all first party games launch on PC same day.

Except you forget that games are specifically developed and optimised for console. All those games are built around those specific components in that console. Those specific components have no business running very close to the performance of a mid-high tier PC but they do. That so called next gen console is probably also a quarter of the price.

Please tell me how that is not interesting enough for you?

 

[teh_pwn]

I disagree. It's better to have consoles like PCs for a few reasons:

1) It makes devs more likely to utilize the extra power of PCs since things will scale more nicely. This gen had many excellent PC ports, something lacking in the gen before.

2) Less shitty multiplats on consoles too. How many versions of games were gimped on PS3 because developing for it was so different? A lot. This gen we've largely had games that did justice to the hardware they were on.

3) Backwards compatibility is essentially ensured thanks to this.

If you want unique, go Nintendo. Xbox and Playstation were never that different beyond their exclusive offerings anyways. They just take turns making new features which the other one copies.

Totally agree. All of the hardware choices made sense and were good for the industry with easy multiplatform and minimal retooling for next gen. Devs will keep gaining momentum next gen because they'll be optimizing existing work rather than tossing it all out to figure out the next boutique system.

If Sony and Microsoft would allow it, games could be released as "Playstation" with fine print saying PS4+ or PS 2020+. Same media, just runs at different settings.

 

[Tomeru]

PCs with console benefits. Its great.

 

[petran79]

With Microsoft I fear it is the opposite. They want to make PC like consoles through the OS itself. Fortunately for the time being users realize it and have not fully embraced Windows 10 gfwl version (store, gamepass etc) . But who knows if things will be the same with Windows 11+.

 

[memphisba]

that's how exactly i want it to be. Console to be pc like.

After 20 years of gaming, here's why i love consoles now. All plus points listed below are PC features which are found on consoles now:

Online gaming - console plus
No cheating on - console plus
big screen gaming - console plus
high definition - console plus
updates and patches. Annoying as well but essential - console plus
youtube, netflix, spotify - console plus
media servers for video streaming - console plus

in my opinion, a console performs like an all in one entertainment box.

 

[nani17]

Consoles are just shit PCs but I love them. I mainly play on pc but I still own a console for those amazing exclusives like God Of War

 

[Nergigante]

I think games provide the different experiences not console. But Switch is so different, so I partially agree with you.

 

[memphisba]

i have yet to own a console that fails on me and that's about 7-8 yrs on the average. What wears out are the damp controllers. With a console inital setup spanning over that amount of years,its very much good return on investment.

 

[Rean no Kiseki]

Yes i know! When I update R6 Seige i get a message that my Nvidia drivers are out of date and it's causing me frame drops and i need to update them!
Or when I downloaded SIN 1998 from PSN and it ran like absoulte shit!
/s
This hyperbole about consoles being PCs now with updates and such is stupid.
I don't need to play with my settings or overclock my GPU/CPU or whatever to get the best out of a game or to even get it working in the 1st place!
So yeah as long as it's a small box that I can put under my TV that updates occasionally and play my games without needing me to play with it's settings i'm fine.

 

[Trimesh]

i have yet to own a console that fails on me and that's about 7-8 yrs on the average. What wears out are the damp controllers. With a console inital setup spanning over that amount of years,its very much good return on investment.

I think you have been lucky then. I've had lots of consoles fail on me.


Nintendo: actually pretty good - only failures were a graphics corruption in my SNES and drive problems in the GameCube.

Sony: PS1 - CD drive failure, PS2 - stopped reading DVDs and then suffered from a strange problem where the audio started to slow down and then the console crashed. PS3: BR drive problems and then YLOD. PS4: optical drive problems.

Microsoft: Xbox: optical drive. 360:RRoD (twice!) Xbox One: OK so far

Sega: all OK except for GD-ROM problems with the DC.

 

[Contica]

Anyone who says consoles these days are very different from each other, must have been born after 2000. With the exception of Nintendo's efforts to do different things, PS and Xbox are basically, on the surface, the same thing with some different games.

The most exciting time to be a console gamer, as far as I'm concerned, was when we got PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and Sega Saturn. That was a huge deal. We went from sprites to 3D, and we had consoles with very different capabilities. I still remember how exciting it was to discover which would be better between Sony and their choice of doing CDs, and Nintendo who decided to stick with cartridges, but had 3D accellerated graphics, unlike Sony.

These days I look forward to new consoles, but the differences between them are pretty much irrelevant.

 

[TheSHEEEP]

Non PC exclusives make hardware worth owning. Not everyone wants to sit at a desk to game.

I agree about owning a console if you want to play an exclusive game (not that there's much choice in the matter, really).

But if you think you have to sit at a desk to play on PC, then boy do I have some news for you...

 

[Damien Crowley]

Who? Not you obviously, you may think you live in a world where this is how people PC game but the vast majority still sit.. At a desk, in a chair! I have a mid-high tier gaming PC that I also use for work so I don't want it sitting in my lounge plugged into my TV nor do I want that setup because some people live in proper houses with proper families and it's impractical.

(Rant Incoming...)
I also prefer console gaming because I'm sick of tinkering with PC settings just to get a stable performance. There are so many issues these days, it doesn't matter how high end your PC hardware is, there is either this crash or this driver does not work blah blah blah. Too many settings set off my OCD and I like a simpler form factor of starting up my console and just pushing a button to start my game.

Gaming on the lounge on my 75" 4K HDR TV on my X or Pro Dynamic 4K in 30 or 60fps is just fine with me. PC Gamers have to stop acting like PC Gaming is the second coming of Jesus Christ!

Ah fuck it, not worth it.

 

[lock2k]

I totally agree with the OP.

I loved when consoles had completely different games of the same properties such as Alladin on Genesis and SNES and also Jurassic Park. It was cool to have a unique version of those games and for those who were able to afford both it was awesome.

 

[diffusionx]

Except you forget that games are specifically developed and optimised for console. All those games are built around those specific components in that console. Those specific components have no business running very close to the performance of a mid-high tier PC but they do. That so called next gen console is probably also a quarter of the price.

Please tell me how that is not interesting enough for you?

Even that stuff is not as interesting as it used to be. "Nobody" is writing assembly routines to optimize their games like they did on Ps1 and N64. “Optimized” these days mostly means tuning settings to the hardware similar to the PC versions. For example, RDR2 on Xbox One X has some settings that are lower than low on PC. And even if devs come up with some really clever and interesting way to punch above the weight, it's stuff they can use on the PC version because, again, it's similar hardware and similar APIs.

Part of the difficulty here for comparison's sake is that the console CPUs are so low-end and bad that nobody put them in any PCs, but in general, the games perform about as you'd expect I think.

 

[deriks]

This thread is uninteresting

 

[lock2k]

This thread is uninteresting

Yet you were interested enough to come here. lol

 

[majestix1988]

its uninteresting its on performance and quality are like PC that console showing this days but in reality the one talk about mostly games on machines except on PC.....its different community of gamer ecology(talking about games first then performace/quality of hardware they used with little effort to talk about how is game actually they just telling its fun....but in reality....well lacking what is game all about due they are busy tinkering its to its best performance...you will see on neogaf threads its (75% mostly talkabout parts/performance/quality on their machines of game itself while 25% its gameplay) meanwhile on consoles(mostly gameplay and its story + amazed on graphics created by game developers) you will see this future on death stranding pc version next year

 

[Secesh]

Consoles becoming PCs is a good thing if it means they will eventually catch up to the tech. I don’t care a bit about having whimsical bullshit shoved into a console as a marketing point. I want good games that I can play with a controller from my sofa.

 

[sunnysideup]

Ps2 was the last great console.

When japs went handheld, and american pc game developers moved their games to lead on console. Traditional console gaming died.

 

[Airola]

Consoles and games are suffering from identity crisis.
If I were an asshole tyrant, I would make it a law that no game would be allowed to be made for two different machines unless they are made heavily different.

Imagine every console having their own IPs of first person war games, ice hockey games, puzzle games, adventures, everything!

Jurassic Park Sega vs Nintendo situation is the peak of when consoles and games still had identity.
Looking back, I'm really glad Wii happened because they were forced to do different things with IPs like Dead Rising and Dead Space. Even the Ghostbusters game had to be made to at least look different to have a bit of personality left.

It removes the console warring.. Thank god!

Platform doesn't matter anymore. Game driven industry now.

Nah, it has just made console wars even more petty than ever before.

People are now counting frames and the amount of lines on screen as their ammunition in their wars.

 

[Thaedolus]

I think people are struggling to grasp the difference between hardware architecture being x86 or x64 based, and what the actual difference is between a closed console platform/ecosystem vs fully customizable hardware you can run any code you want on.

With very rare exceptions, consoles aren’t upgradable. They’re built to a uniform spec which games are specifically programmed to run on. This comes with both benefits and drawbacks, but you’re largely locked into that hardware for several years (or this was the case until the pro systems became a thing). What the actual hardware is inside is basically irrelevant except for the fact that now that consoles have similar architecture to PCs, releasing games for PC is now fairly trivial compared to recoding a PS3 game or something.

Calling consoles and the Switch basically PCs now because of their architecture is needlessly reductive. There are still fundamental differences between a PC, a console, a phone, a tablet, etc.

 

[o5ca12]

i always thought it was about exclusives to differentiate between one console and the other... things like FF remake causing an uproar hehe

 

[Starlight Lotice]

I agree op. I wish different consoles had shitty gimmicks or games looked shit on one console compared to the other.

Bububu, my console looks better, n00b!