Hmm... Android games... Vita/PSP/PS1 games...
Pretty clear choice for any gamer. Fire TV and Roku got nothing on the PS1 library alone, let alone the PSP library.
Lack of Netflix is the only serious downside to PS TV, relative to any other set-top box. Sony can still fix that, with not much effort. ...just like they can still add touch support for games that need it. If they don't, they deserve to lose the customers, because they would literally not b...
Racing is sports, in my book. I covered Forza with my statement above.
Without exception, sports titles involve a very limited scope experience -- either its a track that can be streamed, a stadium/course setting that is hardly different from stadiums of the PS2 era, and with a limited number of specialized characters/cars/etc. to boot.
Sports games are fundamentally simple in presentation, and complex only in gameplay (not to compute, but to play -- sports ...
I have a feeling that neither console is looking too good at this point. I actually can't even think of one that truly hits 1080p/60 and isn't a port from an old game from last gen, or isn't a newly ported last gen game (like CoD: Ghosts).
Most are upscaled horizontally, or aren't a solid 60, etc. As far as new disc games go.. I think we have yet to see a 1080p/60 that isn't a sports game, or LEGO, and isn't running 1080p/60 on both.
WTF? There is Netflix on the Vita, and its the SAME system, only without it's own touch display, battery, or controls.
That makes no sense at all. The amount of effort required is probably miniscule, at the engineering/development level -- this is some lame business-side screwup, on Sony's part, or its intentional.
Sony is probably trying to push their own paid streaming movie service with this... which is lame.
3 months before launch:
PS4 is CPU bound, runs game at 1080p/27.
XBO is GPU bound, runs game at 1080p/23.
2 months before launch:
PS4 is CPU bound, runs game at 1080p/27. GPU hits 1080p, but only just. 1080p is 42% more pixels than 900p, after all, and PS4 GPU is 40% more powerful.
Ubisoft engineers give up on squeezing more out of XBO GPU, so reduce the rez. XBO is now CPU bound, runs game at 900p/30. Faster framerate due to resol...
Wow. Just wow. This who debacle reminds me of Frankenstein -- foolish people trying to burn what they don't understand.
It is what you make it.
I think you missed my original point. Sony has, on many occasions, claimed that some of the GPU can be freed up to support the CPU, when extra CPU muscle is needed.
If the XBO version is pulling down 30 fps (33.3ms/frame) at 900p, and the PS4 version is pulling down 27 fps (37ms/frame), at 1080p with the same code, it makes sense that the developers might want to put some GPU resources onto CPU work instead.
With regards to AI, we don't really know what ...
cgoodno,
Your statement is not *entirely* true. In the direct sense, yes AI is typically CPU-only. However...
If a dev needed more CPU time, and was forced to devote (for example) a few of the GPU compute units towards a GPU-friendly portion of the CPU's duties (eg: animations, which is likely expensive in AC, or maybe physics, which seems less likely), then, all of a sudden...
..you have GPU parity. Because some of the CPU work needed...
Sorry, but Drive Club Lite doesn't qualify. You'd have to be a real sucker to believe that's not just a demo with a special name. 10 cars? 5 tracks? That's a demo, folks -- literally 20% of the full game (50 cars, 25 tracks). If they cut 80% of the levels from a game like Batman:AA, what would it get called, other than "Batman: Arkham Asylum -- Demo"? I bet they think they're pretty clever -- probably believing that more people will try their game and buy i...
Hiring contractors is problematic, because lots of contractors will just plain leave, if they are offered a full-time position somewhere else. That's devastating to a small company,like a game developer, who often have just 1-2 people in charge of critical systems, due to their extremely trim budget requirements.
Thus, many developers are forced to offer everyone the potential promise of staying on... even though many folks will not be able to, after the project, and mon...
The margins on AAA video games aren't high enough to justify keeping staff on when the potential money isn't there. You'd think they would be, but game developers (companies) are always just barely keeping their heads above water, because they can only wrangle money out of a publisher to pay extra staff until the project is over.
There just isn't money to spare -- they cannot "eat the cost". The amount of liquid capital in the bank, at an independa...
Actually, allowing people to have a giant library of free/already owned games on the PS4 is not in their best interest.
Sad, but true.
So... how is Vita back touchpad supported again? I suppose Sony could make the front screen work with the PS4 pad (except.. they haven't), but the back pad... I guess you just can't play games that require its use?
Well, until Sony allows the PS4 touchpad to substitute for the front touchscreen, I guess there are actually a lot of Vita games that won't be playable at all. That really makes it a lot less attractive to me. I already own devices that play PS1/PSP ...
Streaming games, over wireless, to the phone... for VR?
Hasn't VR been demonstrated to be pretty nauseating under 60 Hz and with any sort of serious lag?
This thing's pricetag seems very attractive... until you consider that its just a glorified adjustable headstrap with a couple lenses. I suppose it would work decently with a 60 Hz VR game actually ON the phone, but...
You guys are all taking the "$2.5 billion" out of context. This isn't purely about games, or Minecraft at all. MS is pretty smart, when it comes to making money.
>>>
* Minecraft is written in Java.
* Companies pay Oracle for the rights to use Java. Pay a LOT. Microsoft wishes those companies paid for C# instead.
* Minecraft not only makes money, it is used to teach Java to kids. I think its fair to...
They didn't waste money at all.
Let me point out some facts that most people ignore, and let readers draw conclusions as to why Minecraft is worth $2.5B:
First, the obvious, but not most important reason:
0) Minecraft makes money... over $1B to date.
And now to GOOD reasons:
1) Mincraft is written in Java. Java is a language owned by the Oracle corporation, and Oracle makes zillions from letting Java run on over 3 billion...
It's sad, but I think Destiny will actually be a really good game, about a year from now, and after spending about $90-$100 on it. The alpha was decent, IMO.
I'll wait for the GotY edition, I think. Sounds like a lot of the content the game should have had at release is locked behind upcoming DLC paywalls.
In short, either build the whole rig with your $400... or go home.
And make it at least equivalent, in terms of power. There's no magic in a PC that lets you play 1080p/60 on games where a console can't.
@Eonjay,
I doubt these changes save more than a couple $ for Sony, who needs the money to bolster their sagging profits. There won't be a price cut -- who is it they are failing to compete with, at the current price?