Zero Punctuation: Next Gen Buyer's Guide
- Thread starter ZZoMBiE13
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To be totally explicit: Sony hasn't commented one way or the other on used games or always-online. And all the hashtags in the world aren't going to change their mind.Mosesj said:
I don't really understand Yahtzee's bashing of the Wii U. I think the controller's fine, and the games I've played so far either put the touch screen to good use or have it completely optional. Not to mention, having "no games" is not Nintendo's fault at all, just because the third-party developers are a bunch of dicks, ESPECIALLY Ubisoft the lying back-stabbers, so counting that as a strike against Nintendo feels like you're actively TRYING to find reasons to say the Wii U is shit. And even IF you're only doing that to get a laugh, it still makes you an asshole.
Thank you, Yahtzee. I share in his appraisal of next-gen consoles nearly entirely. I was especially impressed that he touched on the idea of the console doing more for its corporate overlord than the player these days (by bending the buyer over and reaming them until they drop cash and personal information wherever possible), and that buying a console because of an "exclusive" isn't a healthy validation of a choice in the market - it IS a hostage situation where players are forced to either put up with whatever egregious demands the console manufacturer insists upon, or be unable to access the game title.
Since the advent of this console generation, I've been saying that we the gaming community quite honestly, need to stamp out the idea of the console once and for all. What was once the only way to get a relatively affordable gaming machine in the house in the NES through PS2/GC era has been outmoded by the advance of technology. The X360/PS3 are little more than locked down, proprietary PCs that restrict rather than enable. Worse, they hold your games hostage - if you want to play Halo 4.. you HAVE to do it on an Xbox360 and you have to pay for your XLiveGold subscription. You don't have the option to say.. roll your own Halo4 server on rented hosting, or use Steam for your friends list and matchmaking etc.. you're locked into the entire console's ecosystem and control. When Sony decided that "OtherOS" shouldn't exist any more on PS3, you had to give up playing games on the thing if you wanted to keep that functionality (because without the update that took away OtherOS, you couldn't go online or load titles with a newer dash required), or just put up with Sony having control over that $600 box you paid for in your living room. Does anyone remember how we added $10 to the price of every AAA publisher game this generation, to $60 USD from $50, on PS3 and X360? That was the cut to be given to Sony and Microsoft. For awhile, Wii and PC game versions used to be cheaper (until Bobby Kotick and friends decided that if gamers were stupid enough to pay $60 for the latest Madden, they would just think that is how much games cost regardless of platform - pure greed, pure profit for publishers and truly rage-worthy).
This past generation marks the point when consoles have turned away from enabling fun gaming for their owners, to serving the increasingly draconian and greedy ends of the corporations that market them and as such, have become a pox on gaming. It is time to leave the idea of the "console" in the dust of history, to put our collective foot down as gamers and say "enough!". There are better opportunities for gaming on the "PC", where users can choose the experience they want instead of having a locked-down force fed operation. Games are all designed on PC and the experience of universally better (Mod support, for instance). For both developers and gamers there are a multitude of options on the "PC" to fit any experience and do so at a lower cost, on hardware that we generally already own and can be used for other functions. While I tend to favor the more open toolsets and platforms (ie Linux, OpenGL etc..), what is most important is that for the time being my PC is mine and under my control; I can choose the hardware and software I like and make the decisions I wish for my own preference. Microsoft/Sony can't "Ban" my PC from ever playing games again if I use a hack in order to load a fan undub, for instance. Hell, I can have a better experience playing Twilight Princess and Muramasa on my PC with the Dolphin Emulator (at 1080p with tons of AA/AF if I so choose) than I can on the Wii. There's never any question about backward compatibility - hell, I can install emulators or even virtual machines to run older content. I can sync a controller of my choosing to my PC for when I wish to play using a gamepad. The benefits are limitless.
Imagine now that your favorite games were available on PC instead of being restricted to a single console platform. Why would you settle for the restrictions of the console environment? It would be a superior, less expensive experience with a ton more options that you control - from mod support, to varying graphical fidelity to accommodate a wide variety of hardware, to multiple points of purchase and operating system support. Instead, the industry has convinced us to kowtow to their unrelenting greed by, just as Yahtzee says, holding our games hostage. Instead of thinking "Wow, I really need to consider buying a 2-year contract on an XboxOne so I can play Game X", we should be demanding that Game X should be available on the PC platform, because we don't like games being used as leverage to coerce us into allowing intrusions to our wallet and our privacy! Don't accept this false dichotomy - refuse to buy games that are console exclusive and let developers and publishers know. Support those who do change their ways and especially the indie studios who make the most ethical decisions with regard to open platforms.
It all starts with YOU. We can change this, but it does mean giving up on some games and platforms that you may otherwise wish to play, if they didn't ask for access to your first born offspring and a Kinect colonoscopy!
Since the advent of this console generation, I've been saying that we the gaming community quite honestly, need to stamp out the idea of the console once and for all. What was once the only way to get a relatively affordable gaming machine in the house in the NES through PS2/GC era has been outmoded by the advance of technology. The X360/PS3 are little more than locked down, proprietary PCs that restrict rather than enable. Worse, they hold your games hostage - if you want to play Halo 4.. you HAVE to do it on an Xbox360 and you have to pay for your XLiveGold subscription. You don't have the option to say.. roll your own Halo4 server on rented hosting, or use Steam for your friends list and matchmaking etc.. you're locked into the entire console's ecosystem and control. When Sony decided that "OtherOS" shouldn't exist any more on PS3, you had to give up playing games on the thing if you wanted to keep that functionality (because without the update that took away OtherOS, you couldn't go online or load titles with a newer dash required), or just put up with Sony having control over that $600 box you paid for in your living room. Does anyone remember how we added $10 to the price of every AAA publisher game this generation, to $60 USD from $50, on PS3 and X360? That was the cut to be given to Sony and Microsoft. For awhile, Wii and PC game versions used to be cheaper (until Bobby Kotick and friends decided that if gamers were stupid enough to pay $60 for the latest Madden, they would just think that is how much games cost regardless of platform - pure greed, pure profit for publishers and truly rage-worthy).
This past generation marks the point when consoles have turned away from enabling fun gaming for their owners, to serving the increasingly draconian and greedy ends of the corporations that market them and as such, have become a pox on gaming. It is time to leave the idea of the "console" in the dust of history, to put our collective foot down as gamers and say "enough!". There are better opportunities for gaming on the "PC", where users can choose the experience they want instead of having a locked-down force fed operation. Games are all designed on PC and the experience of universally better (Mod support, for instance). For both developers and gamers there are a multitude of options on the "PC" to fit any experience and do so at a lower cost, on hardware that we generally already own and can be used for other functions. While I tend to favor the more open toolsets and platforms (ie Linux, OpenGL etc..), what is most important is that for the time being my PC is mine and under my control; I can choose the hardware and software I like and make the decisions I wish for my own preference. Microsoft/Sony can't "Ban" my PC from ever playing games again if I use a hack in order to load a fan undub, for instance. Hell, I can have a better experience playing Twilight Princess and Muramasa on my PC with the Dolphin Emulator (at 1080p with tons of AA/AF if I so choose) than I can on the Wii. There's never any question about backward compatibility - hell, I can install emulators or even virtual machines to run older content. I can sync a controller of my choosing to my PC for when I wish to play using a gamepad. The benefits are limitless.
Imagine now that your favorite games were available on PC instead of being restricted to a single console platform. Why would you settle for the restrictions of the console environment? It would be a superior, less expensive experience with a ton more options that you control - from mod support, to varying graphical fidelity to accommodate a wide variety of hardware, to multiple points of purchase and operating system support. Instead, the industry has convinced us to kowtow to their unrelenting greed by, just as Yahtzee says, holding our games hostage. Instead of thinking "Wow, I really need to consider buying a 2-year contract on an XboxOne so I can play Game X", we should be demanding that Game X should be available on the PC platform, because we don't like games being used as leverage to coerce us into allowing intrusions to our wallet and our privacy! Don't accept this false dichotomy - refuse to buy games that are console exclusive and let developers and publishers know. Support those who do change their ways and especially the indie studios who make the most ethical decisions with regard to open platforms.
It all starts with YOU. We can change this, but it does mean giving up on some games and platforms that you may otherwise wish to play, if they didn't ask for access to your first born offspring and a Kinect colonoscopy!
In case noone has answered this yet - Something Awful-type LPs.E-Penguin said:
The superior kind, in other words, albeit not always as entertaining, to most people, at least.
If you wish to know more, just google "Something Awful" in combination with "Let's Play".
A lot of fairly interesting stuff, I have to say.
First of all, the Wii U gamepad isn't as bad as you're making it out to be. Secondly, even if it were, how is that 'unfixable' exactly?ExtraDebit said:
I mean, Did you know for instance that the Wii U supports something like 6 alternative control methods to that 'shitty gimmicky controller'?
There's certainly no lack of ways of fixing a problem with the controller, if there actually was one to begin with...
In most cases it's pretty much identical to having a normal game controller, just like every other system has anyway;.
Dual analog sticks, 4 shoulder buttons. 4 face buttons, 2 other buttons.
And all of them work reliably.
But sure. It's an 'unfixable' problem...
Pretty much my thoughts exactly. Out of the three next gen consoles, I might, *might* get a PS4. Eventually. But I see absolutely no reason to even entertain the thought of getting the other two, and have no incentive for getting any next gen console this year, or even next year. Most of the games I've played lately are all ones that lend themselves much better to a PC environment. Games likes Fallout: NV, Skyrim, Morrowind, Civilization 4, and so on. Games that benefit from great mod support, and are much cheaper and financially viable on the PC than any console anyway. I'm content with waiting several years for a next-gen system to amass enough quality exclusives to be truly worthwhile.
And this is coming from someone that only got into PC gaming a couple of years ago, and who is an avid fan and owner of a PS1, PS2, Xbox 360, and most recently, a PS3.
And this is coming from someone that only got into PC gaming a couple of years ago, and who is an avid fan and owner of a PS1, PS2, Xbox 360, and most recently, a PS3.
What problems are you referring to? Everything that I list above would put an end toward "Console style problems", not simply transpose them to PC. We don't have to put up with those problems at all if we make it clear that we simply won't tolerate them.LordTerminal said:
I don't mind if you think I'm pretentious; it bothers me even less as you don't offer anything in opposition to the points I've made. I'm just sick of the progression of the industry, the negative effect the latest console generation has on gaming as a whole, and that the next generation is looking even worse. Things won't improve unless we do something about them. Otherwise, if we're complacent the industry has proven it will simply keep pushing farther.
(quote yahtzee: what will they do next? yada)
ooorrrrr... the manufacturers will institute an aggressive retirement of games for old consoles and simultaneously squeeze as hard as they can on the used games market. Y'know, so they can force you to buy a new console just to play anything at all.
...nah, that'll never happen. I mean, they'd have to be a bunch of evil manipulative spunkgargleweeweeheads to do something like that.
ooorrrrr... the manufacturers will institute an aggressive retirement of games for old consoles and simultaneously squeeze as hard as they can on the used games market. Y'know, so they can force you to buy a new console just to play anything at all.
...nah, that'll never happen. I mean, they'd have to be a bunch of evil manipulative spunkgargleweeweeheads to do something like that.