PL4YST4TION 4

[Dewar]

Without reading the review, let me preemptively hazard that the reason for the better score is that they have less sucky launch games.

 

[uPDATE] This review exposes what bores me so tremendously about these new boxes. It's all technical gushing, but what am I actually going to do with it? Play games, surely. No good games = a worthless thing, no matter how many carefully chosen decimal points Polygon chooses to express its value with.

 

I like knowing the technical details.

 

Edit: I guess this has turned into the next gen thread now, rather than just the Playstation thread.   Listening to the GB guys talk about the new Xbox and reading the Polygon review makes me really wish I'd preordered one. For all the confusing marketing messages they put out, the reality of how the system is designed sounds pretty dang cool. I'm stoked that the new kinect sounds like it actually works, really interested in a lot of of the online integration, and Smart Glass direct to the Xbox bypassing the router entirely sounds awesome.

[elmuerte]

Having watched this, I'll probably buy a 1TB hybrid drive when I get my PS4 and swap it right at the start. I just wish there were 2TB or 4TB options, though I don't seem to be able to find anything of that nature out there right now. 

 

Be aware that these seagate hybrid drives have a long history of issues depending on model, firmware, OS and harddrive controller. You risk data corruption, severe slowness, not working at all.

Or it might simply work ok.

[Sno]

Wait, is this the XBO thread too now?

Anybody else been reading about some of the microtransaction stuff going on in XBO launch games?

Crimson Dragon is a twenty dollar game with progression systems built around an, apparently, crucial and explicitly finite resource that, when it runs out, can only be obtained through microtransaction purchases.

I understand Forza 5 is doing some pretty gross stuff too, but the Crimson Dragon stuff breaks my heart. Killer Instinct is also doing the microtransaction thing, but on a free base game and with what seems to be a relatively reasonable business model.

[melmer]

Yeah forza sounds like a full on free-to-play game.

All that's left is the grind, and it's not a particularly pleasant one. Unlike previous outings, cars don't unlock upon levelling up. Everything must be bought in Forza Motorsport 5, and all transactions take place in a slightly misshapen economy. A series will, on average, net the player in excess of 110,000 credits for just under an hour's effort - but with some of the premium racecars costing well over a million, it's a somewhat brutal grind. Good job, then, that there are tokens purchasable on the Xbox One's marketplace for you to attain the car you're after, or to temporarily boost the rate at which you gain XP. When you've already paid £429.99 for a new console, £44.99 for the game and maybe even £349.99 for the only steering wheel that the game supports at launch, such tricks appear a little unsavoury, and in Forza 5, mechanics greedily smuggled from free-to-play games trample over the elegant RPG elements the series once embraced so effectively.

Eurogamer review stole from gaf http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=719493

It's a little bit scary that half the exclusives at launch are really micro transaction heavy, doesn't bode well for future xbone exclusives. Where as PS4 seems to have quite a clear divide for the free to plays

[Dewar]

Yeah forza sounds like a full on free-to-play game.

All that's left is the grind, and it's not a particularly pleasant one. Unlike previous outings, cars don't unlock upon levelling up. Everything must be bought in Forza Motorsport 5, and all transactions take place in a slightly misshapen economy. A series will, on average, net the player in excess of 110,000 credits for just under an hour's effort - but with some of the premium racecars costing well over a million, it's a somewhat brutal grind. Good job, then, that there are tokens purchasable on the Xbox One's marketplace for you to attain the car you're after, or to temporarily boost the rate at which you gain XP. When you've already paid £429.99 for a new console, £44.99 for the game and maybe even £349.99 for the only steering wheel that the game supports at launch, such tricks appear a little unsavoury, and in Forza 5, mechanics greedily smuggled from free-to-play games trample over the elegant RPG elements the series once embraced so effectively.

Eurogamer review stole from gaf http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=719493

It's a little bit scary that half the exclusives at launch are really micro transaction heavy, doesn't bode well for future xbone exclusives. Where as PS4 seems to have quite a clear divide for the free to plays

 

To be fair, Forza 4 had the car token thing going on as well. Those million dollar cars in Forza 4 were pretty meh anyway.

 

Edit: Forza 5 talk is just making me want to play Forza 4 some more. I'd perfer a larger variety of tracks and cars myself.

 

Edit 2: Xbox One wheels are not even out yet and will run you about $400.

[Salacious Snake]

Haven't had a lot of time to mess around on the PS4, but I'm having fun so far. The one thing that's sucking a butt is that the audio keeps freaking out and getting super choppy.

 

It's something to do with how it handles the multichannel bitstream output methods over the optical connection. I can clear it up by flipping the setting around, but it just keeps happening unless I set it to Linear PCM (which is just a stereo mixdown if you're on optical). It happens the most with NBA 2K14, but not exclusively.

 

I wonder if my unit is defective, or if it's a software bug. There are others with the same issue around the internet at least. It's annoying!

[JonCole]

Dumb thing: Xbox One appeals to me more than ever on a technical basis based on its TV integration, yet I cancelled cable last month, don't plan on re-subscribing, and thus it isn't actually a selling point. I mean, I'm sure some degree of that functionality can be felt using online streaming apps like Netflix or Amazon, but using the Xbox as a more sophisticated cable guide/unified UI seems like the real killer app. I wish that they would just integrate support for network tuners or Windows Media Center extender functionality, but I imagine they're trying to back away from that especially considering the removal of WMC from Windows 8 (it's relegated to a paid add on "pack").

 

I realize it's a niche desire, but it's just ironic to me that as soon as Xbox gets good TV integration, it takes out the vision of the 360 being supplement to a cable-card/OTA tuner equipped PC.

[Salacious Snake]

My enthusiasm for the TV features deflated very quickly when it became apparent that it's done using an IR blaster. That and the fact that I don't have any kind of TV service either. But still, conceptually it did look cool at the initial unveiling, as it would solve the problem of every cable box having the worst interface ever.

[JonCole]

My enthusiasm for the TV features deflated very quickly when it became apparent that it's done using an IR blaster. That and the fact that I don't have any kind of TV service either. But still, conceptually it did look cool at the initial unveiling, as it would solve the problem of every cable box having the worst interface ever.

 

Every cable box I've used has crazy input lag to begin with, so an IR blaster would likely only make it marginally worse. Plus, if it could access a network tuner (when I say that, I mean something like this) for access to Live TV it would essentially be the cable box itself and the TV integration would feel super solid, I imagine.

[Zeusthecat]

I have to say, that Forza 5 drivatar feature looks really fucking cool. That type of technology could make a pretty substantial difference in how we experience single player games if it actually works well and takes off.

[Justin Leego]

What hath you wrought upon the thread title, Mington? The System War armies shall descend upon us.

[Frenetic Pony]

*Looks at Forza 5 tragedy, thinks about what they could do to Fable, cries

 

Well really Fable was fucked up by pushing out 3 way too early anyway, and it's not like Molyneux is even there anymore, so whatever. Good job in ruining every exclusive I actually liked from you Microsoft, no Alan Wake 2 yaaay! At least Uncharted 4 is coming, and maybe even The Last Guardian*. PS4 it is then, at least whenever it is that I'm actually interested.

 

*Subject to the apocalypse

[Sno]

*Looks at Forza 5 tragedy, thinks about what they could do to Fable, cries

 

Well really Fable was fucked up by pushing out 3 way too early anyway, and it's not like Molyneux is even there anymore, so whatever.

Fable 3 was fucked up by Kinect integration that was abandoned half way through development.

 

 

Good job in ruining every exclusive I actually liked from you Microsoft, no Alan Wake 2 yaaay! At least Uncharted 4 is coming, and maybe even The Last Guardian*. PS4 it is then, at least whenever it is that I'm actually interested.

 

*Subject to the apocalypse

 

Sam Lake has more or less said that he wants Alan Wake 2 to be Remedy's next project after Quantum Break. Whether that actually happens or not, who knows, but they clearly haven't given up on Alan Wake. (The gist of the explanation about the no-sequel was that, while it sold quite well, it was a slow burn and early on wasn't looking like it would do well enough to justify a sequel. Remedy is a business and needs to make things, and so development began on Quantum Break instead of Alan Wake 2.)

Hey, and Quantum Break sounds awesome.

Remedy doing an X-files/Fringe sort of thing? Eff yeah.

[Frenetic Pony]

Fable 3 was fucked up by Kinect integration that was abandoned half way through development.

 

 

 

Sam Lake has more or less said that he wants Alan Wake 2 to be Remedy's next project after Quantum Break. Whether that actually happens or not, who knows, but they clearly haven't given up on Alan Wake. (The gist of the explanation about the no-sequel was that, while it sold quite well, it was a slow burn and early on wasn't looking like it would do well enough to justify a sequel. Remedy is a business and needs to make things, and so development began on Quantum Break instead of Alan Wake 2.)

Hey, and Quantum Break sounds awesome.

Remedy doing an X-files/Fringe sort of thing? Eff yeah.

 

Being obsessed with Fable, or at least I was, I can confidently say it was pushed out too early with an artificial deadline.

 

Also I don't like Fringe OR the X-Files, so I'm not really interested in Quantum Break. Glad to hear Alan Wake 2 may somehow still happen eventually, but that's not pushing me towards the Xbox any faster.

 

Of course I consider television to be an outdated concept and have for a while now, and don't multitask when playing games or watching movies/the occasional television show, so the One's OS features are useless for me. If I'm watching a movie then I'm WATCHING the movie, not doing something else. I consider falling asleep or doing anything else a shameful act that ruins the experience, then again maybe distractedly half watching a movie explains the popularity of Transformers and such. People can just pretend the explosion are the only thing there and don't notice it's actually crap while they stare at Facebook most of the time

[Coods]

The most incredible thing happened when I found Polygon's review of the Xbone/PS4. Being a loser, I thought it would be funny to try and watch the video review for both consoles at the same time.

 

The PS4 review was preceded by an advertisement for the Xbox One, and the Xbox One review was preceded by an advertisement for the Playstation Store. 

 

I laughed really hard.

[Irishjohn]

The most incredible thing happened when I found Polygon's review of the Xbone/PS4. Being a loser, I thought it would be funny to try and watch the video review for both consoles at the same time.

 

The PS4 review was preceded by an advertisement for the Xbox One, and the Xbox One review was preceded by an advertisement for the Playstation Store. 

 

I laughed really hard.

 

That's beautiful.

 

I actually just built a PC, thanks to some advice from thumbs (this was my first time and I own a decent PC for the first time ever). It's liberating to read comments on threads like this now. Is this what life has been like for you guys all this time?

[TheLastBaron]

I've never actually watched Fringe, but I love the theme to it. I love the X-Files though.

[Thrik]

Every cable box I've used has crazy input lag to begin with, so an IR blaster would likely only make it marginally worse. Plus, if it could access a network tuner (when I say that, I mean something like this) for access to Live TV it would essentially be the cable box itself and the TV integration would feel super solid, I imagine.

 

My TiVo is ridiculously laggy, how could the XBone improve on this? I've never quite understood how the TV thing works. Can it just send signals directly down my fibre to the provider as if it were the TiVo (which it uses purely for authentication) or is it really just interacting with the TiVo menus quietly under the hood?

 

I've never actually watched Fringe, but I love the theme to it. I love the X-Files though.

 

I loved both those shows. If you can get through the 'we're not sure if we're going to be renewed so let's tread water' first season of Fringe it's worth it, as it very quickly deviates from X-Files to an epic end-of-universe arc. Whereas the X-Files just indefinitely alluded to things, Fringe actually goes ahead and does them and basically changes the world every season.

 

Also, you just can't go wrong with the 80s episodes:

 

 

Is it me or does this random Amiga hack intro at 40:43 sound a lot like the Fringe intro?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50WWFEBsgfk#t=2437

[melmer]

I really loved the first two seasons of fringe, although there was some filler in the first season. I'd recommend watching the pilot

Back on topic, what UK indie dev's think of next gen

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/20/ps4-xbox-one-indie-developers-think-game-console-war

[melmer]

ASDA (UK) has PS4 release day stock if you want one

http://m.direct.asda.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-ASDA-Site/default/Product-Show?pid=003724204&awc=2786_1385040469_d31b67df73035d8d2bf2c4dd7daeb165&cmpid=afc-_-ad-_-awin-_-47868-_-generic&cm_mmc=ad-aff-_-awin-_-HotUKDeals-_-47868

[JonCole]

Seems like many of the biggest retailers are getting last minute extra allocation this time around for both the PS4 and XBONE, maybe supply won't be as big a problem as in the past. 

[melmer]

I'm going to cancel my second pre-order I was intending to sell. It's not worth the effort for the sake of £100. Especially if extra stock has appeared.

[Thrik]

I'll buy it from you for £100.

[melmer]

£80!

Wait...I don't quite think I've grasped this whole haggling thing. I should pay more attention to the apprentice

[Roderick]

I'll buy it for a high price!