EvaUnit02 on 9/9/2020 at 19:36
MS announced the prices for their new gen consoles and the release date.
The big deal for this generation of consoles seems to be just stuff that PC has been doing for ages now: SSDs and ray tracing, big yawn there. I think I'll just pass on Sony's offering and just get whatever Nintendo puts out next. Xbox releases all of their first party games on PC day 1; Sony will likely start putting them on PC after a PS exclusivity window (if Horizon: Zero Dawn PC is any indication); the majority of niche Japanese third party games like Nihom Falcom titles and Yakuza series come to PC now. The only thing keeping non-Nintendo consoles relevant is the exclusive software that they hold hostage IMO.
henke on 10/9/2020 at 06:07
Too early to tell, but I'm leaning towards PS5 at the moment.
Sulphur on 10/9/2020 at 06:13
MS is really leaning in on the value proposition this time, which is bound to be rustling Sony's feathers a bit. Competition is good. Sony seems to have gotten a bit of their PS3-era ego back, so this is timed nicely to wake them up.
The positioning is interesting - MS has the Series S that's affordable, the Series X that's for enthusiasts, and the PS5 slots somewhere in the middle. It's almost like we've PC hardware tiers in the console market. How Sony is gonna sell it should be something to watch, now that MS has made their move.
EvaUnit02 on 10/9/2020 at 20:16
Quote Posted by Sulphur
The positioning is interesting - MS has the Series S that's affordable, the Series X that's for enthusiasts, and the PS5 slots somewhere in the middle.
Agreed. Series S seems like the perfect console for a child or a student, especially when paired with Game Pass.
Renault on 10/9/2020 at 20:58
It always seems like too much is made of hardware specs just before a new generation of consoles launch. Seems to me like it's more about the games. Is there really that much difference in power between a Series X and PS5?
I've been a Playstation guy for the past 15-20 years, but mainly because of their game library, not because of...teraflops.
Sulphur on 11/9/2020 at 04:28
Sure, and we can talk about that when there actually are some.
Launch titles for consoles are almost always underwhelming - there's usually maybe one or two really good titles, and the rest aren't particularly memorable. I usually go Sony because they have some of the best first party studios on the planet, but outside of R&C, nothing in their recent PS5 blow-out looks particularly novel in terms of using the technology in fun ways. Heck, we don't even know if R&C: Rift Apart will be available at launch.
Having said that, my plan is to give it a year or two and see how it goes. I've always supplemented my console hardware with a PC for multiplat titles. Now, while MS is bringing all of their games from their new studio acquisitions to PC as well, we've got the small problem of not having dedicated decompression hardware for SSD data like the PS5/Xboxen do. Nvidia's got their new IO thing that'll use the GPU to do that along with MS's DirectStorage, and that raises bigger questions. In the end, PC ports are going to be in a very interesting place between now and 2022/3.
Starker on 11/9/2020 at 12:08
Couldn't PCs just use more RAM to compensate?
Sulphur on 11/9/2020 at 12:11
Yup. Speculation says that route could mean requirements like 32-64GB of RAM.
Renault on 11/9/2020 at 16:39
I'm usually a late adopter to new consoles anyway, I didn't buy my PS4 until the Pro came out. Waiting a couple of years lets the game library build up and also for pricing to come down on everything. Plus the used game market is always big for me, and there will be a lot available 1-2 years after launch. I suppose my opinion on all of this could change somewhat depending on what Sony ends up doing with PSVR2 though.