Zero Punctuation: Next Gen Buyer's Guide

[newwiseman]

My sentiments exactly though spoken in the Queen's English...

After the success of getting Dark Souls ported to PC and the ease of developing for PC along side the next gen PS4 and XBone I don't see exclusives being much more than get it here early and if it's good you have to wait for it on PC, and I'm fine with waiting.

 

[timboo_drow]

As far as I can tell the WiiU is the only console that is consumer friendly. It has social networking via MiiVerse, but you can completely ignore it if you want. It also does TV, but again, not a huge part of package, easily forgotten.

What they do offer is backwards compatibility with all the games you bought last gen, as well as all the stuff you downloaded, and all your saved games (via the Wii import app) and a fairly easy to use and convenient digital download system. And Super Metroid for 30 cents! The big release games are not there yet, and the 3rd parties are walking away, but I have faith in the first and don't care about the latter. All console releases are a bit deserted for the first 12 months or so, and who buys a Nintendo system to play Call of Duty anyway? The 3DS had the exact same growing pains, but is in full swing now, and even has immense 3rd party support.

Say what you want, but the WiiU is the console actually promising and giving Nintendo fans what they want, and it's a relatively cheap console.

 

[hermes]

In other words: act like you should in the beginning of every generation of hardware and never, NEVER buy something shortly after it was released. You will be less disappointed by the lack of content and the abundance of "features" they forgot to mention to the press and public (both things get better over time)

 

[Mikeyfell]

I would buy a PS4 for Twat Bandits 4 and a Fuck Off buttons.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

So Nintendo would be winning if they had games? Well at least their problem seems the most solvable.

Well we've still got E3 in one week. I already have a Wii U (I wanted Rayman Legends goddamnit!), I will never buy an Xbox so if Sony shows some good games (Maybe a certain guardian, a guardian that's the last of his kind maybe) I'll buy one.

 

[themilo504]

I don?t know enough about the play station 4 to judge it yet,for now it looks oke.

I would like to say I don?t have any plans to buy a wii u, but I know that Nintendo is going to reveal super Mario galaxy 3, and a lot of other first party games that I want, so I?m probably going to pick it up after its inevitable price cut.

 

[hermes]

I'd think he'd be somewhat looking forward to Ps4, after all he always seemed to like InFamous which is just one of the launch titles set for Ps4.

One of the reasosn he liked inFamous 2 was that it had a clear, desicive ending. It story wasn't stretched out to become a big franchise zombie, it was tight, and it had a satisfying ending that tied everything up so we wouldn't have to buy a sequel just to see what was happening.

Then they made a sequel of it anyway.

*head-desk*

To be fair, at least one of the ending was not that conclusive. Sure, it disabled the possibility of a new game with the same protagonist (which the new one doesn't have), which is more than a lot of series dare to do, but it is still possible to make a game in the infamous universe.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

As far as I can tell the WiiU is the only console that is consumer friendly. It has social networking via MiiVerse, but you can completely ignore it if you want. It also does TV, but again, not a huge part of package, easily forgotten.

The Miiverse isn't actually about anything more except games and a few non-game things (Netflix, Youtube, etc). All the discussion is about video-games, and the rest is awesome drawings. That's the difference between Nintendo's social network and Sony/Xbox's, Nintendo makes a gaming social network whilst the other two want to make a social network.

 

[Screamarie]

Hah, I love these kinds of episodes, I think they are a nice break from the normal formula. I like the point near the end about how older consoles didn't need to be marketed in the way the next gen seems to be because it was basically "Buy this and you can play this game you like", whereas now they actually need to convince us to want it, because they don't seem to grasp why most people buy the damn things in the first place.

It was a very funny video, easily the best in a while.

Yeah, that's something I simply don't understand. When I was 12 I didn't need to know a whole bunch of specs for my console,and they didn't have to convince me of any bells and whistles because there wasn't any. I got my PS1 because I wanted to play Final Fantasy 8, end of story, I didn't even know what other games were out there but I wasn't disappointed with its gaming library. I got the PS2 simple because PS1 was AWESOME and I loved all my games, so this new console meant new games WITH better graphics...uh take my money now!

But with this generation I'm just like...why do I want this? I don't have much in the way of money so I have to know WHY I want to spend it and a share button on one and a kinect that seems to be spying on me on the other and not a game announcement on either side that intrigues me...I don't really feel like spending the money.

As for the WiiU there hardly seems to be any games for it, certainly nothing I just HAVE to have, and at nearly 300 dollars just for 8GBs or 32GB for nearly a hundred dollars more (based on amazon prices).

I've been saying it for a long time, we don't need new consoles, especially if a "share" button is a main selling point...and I may just not be getting any of them.

 

[yaleblor]

microsoft wants to invade our homes , george orwell's future is here , always watching , always listening , i for one will not be bugging my own home , that little box will become the ultimate drm , if i invite 30 friends over to watch a nfl football game will i have to pay extra because of the number of people viewing it ? does microsoft plan on selling the data collected from my viewing habits to god knows who ? it can read my heartrate ! this is just creepy

 

[Arslan Aladeen]

I usually hold off on buying a new console until after it's had a year or two under it's belt. That way, they can iron out the kinks and build up a decent library of games. I figure most of the initial games will just be the same games I can play on my current console, just shinier. And in the admittedly rare case of Splinter Cell Double Agent, the older gen version was superior to it's newer gen brother.

 

[Strain42]

I know it's not really fair to say this since the PS4 and XBO were only recently announced and haven't had the time to show off some of their games, but I think if I'm gonna buy any next gen consoles at all, it would be the Wii U.

I always hear people going "But it doesn't have any games!" and that may be true...but I know it's got a lot of stuff coming out that I'm going to want.

Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem, Yarn Yoshi, Super Luigi U, Super Smash Bros. 4, Rayman Legends, Game & Wario and that's just off the top of my head.

Honestly, I know it varies from person to person, but the Wii U has been announcing more games I have any interest in playing than we've gotten from the 360 in the past few years now.

But my rules for buying ANY console is that it has to have at least 10 titles I want before I consider buying it (and at least 5 must be console exclusive)

So I'm not really in any rush to buy any of the consoles right now.

Just that if I was to get any, the Wii U is currently the most likely.

 

[timboo_drow]

As far as I can tell the WiiU is the only console that is consumer friendly. It has social networking via MiiVerse, but you can completely ignore it if you want. It also does TV, but again, not a huge part of package, easily forgotten.

The Miiverse isn't actually about anything more except games and a few non-game things (Netflix, Youtube, etc). All the discussion is about video-games, and the rest is awesome drawings. That's the difference between Nintendo's social network and Sony/Xbox's, Nintendo makes a gaming social network whilst the other two want to make a social network.

Yes, I think you're right there, which makes it even better. I actually did use it a few times helping younguns find some of the more tricky powerups in Super Metroid, as well as clarifying that the person you play is not named "Metroid" and is a girl---and can't crawl because she doesn't need to.

 

[Erttheking]

I'm still willing to give the PS4 the benefit of the doubt, partially because it's not pulling all of the shit that the Xbone is, and partially because I actually like the concept of a share button, because I'm the type of person who wouldn't mind jumping into a friends game and talking to them while they play, maybe looking away a little to type something up on my lap top. Besides, even if you don't want to do it, it's not like the PS4 holds you hostage and forces you to do it.

But I guess this is one of those moments where me and the general Escapist community just disagree on things.

Also, please guys, don't let this turn into a flame war.

 

[Nikolaz72]

I just want to know how much longer PS3 will remain active after PS4 launches. Cause I'm countin' on scoring one of those after PS4 release to play all those exclusives I never got to try.. Like Journey, and those JRPG's that everyone always talks about... maybe uncharted and god of war.

 

[an annoyed writer]

I try to avoid being pessimistic. But it is difficult to get excited for the coming generation as it stands now. Here's hoping E3 turns out fun!

Same here. Microsoft needs to do something more(like fix all of these damn problems) than trot out another Halo to get me interested again. And that's a shame, because I had a lot of fun with the Halo series, especially Halo 3, where it became a lot more than a game: it became a jumping off point for many. It was a kart racer to one person while also being a film set to another, and a screenshot studio to yet another. That is what we want Microsoft, so work on doing that, but make it prettier and more fun to play. We don't really care about all of this other shit, we just want fun games that can go beyond being just games.

 

[timboo_drow]

I'm still willing to give the PS4 the benefit of the doubt, partially because it's not pulling all of the shit that the Xbone is, and partially because I actually like the concept of a share button, because I'm the type of person who wouldn't mind jumping into a friends game and talking to them while they play, maybe looking away a little to type something up on my lap top. Besides, even if you don't want to do it, it's not like the PS4 holds you hostage and forces you to do it.

PS4 is only looking better because Adam Orth didn't work for Sony. That guy single-handedly made MS talk about all the nasty stuff they were probably going to ignore. Sony has the luxury of staying quiet, and to go ahead and do the same things MS is.

Mind you I hope they don't, and think the whole spirit of competition should be trying to offer a product that is preferred by the consumers, rather than doing the same things that someone else is getting away with because "that's the way things are now, deal with it".

 

[triggrhappy94]

I knew Yahtzee made Let's Plays but I didn't know he also watched them.
I have a new goal for my LP series (which hasn't been released yet).

OT:
I can't afford a XBone so it doesn't matter to me what happens.
I'll still have my 360 and enough money to vulturize its library once everyone gives up on it.

 

[timboo_drow]

And the fact that Sony and MS are talking so much about this social networking crap either suggests that it is an integral, therefore unavoidable, part of their design, or they have so little to talk about they have to focus on that. Neither one of these scenarios endears me to those two companies.