Next Gen Thread (Xbox Series X & PS5)

[Wagszilla]

I go where the games are.

PS2/GC ---> X360 ---> PS4.

Everything Xbox X looks way better to me. Hate the two tone color scheme of the PS5 controller.

Not a fan of how Sony's 1st party games are trending but more interesting than Microsoft, anyway. 

We'll see how it shakes out.

[downzy]

56 minutes ago, Wagszilla said:

Everything Xbox X looks way better to me. Hate the two tone color scheme of the PS5 controller.

Yeah, I would agree that the PS5 controller doesn't look great.  In end it's just a controller but kind of surprised how strange it looks.  

[James Bond]

All they had to do was take the Dualshock 4, make it ever so slightly bigger, and then swap the d-pad/left stick position. Perfect.

[ZoSoRose]

Ive never had a Playstation aside from a PSP. Ive had Xbox because of Halo but getting the Xbox One over a PS4 was a big mistake in hindsight. The one Halo game released for this generation and it was far and away the worst in the series. Microsoft has almost no other exclusives and completely failed to deliver new AAA franchises this gen. 3rd party games have decreased in quality imo with less new exciting franchises than we saw last gen.

On the other hand, Sony has only grown with their exclusive content by releasing new games in old and new series' that look really interesting to me.I am definitely getting a PS5, especially since it is backwards comparable with PS4 games and I can catch up 

Edited April 29, 2020 by ZoSoRose

[downzy]

46 minutes ago, James Bond said:

All they had to do was take the Dualshock 4, make it ever so slightly bigger, and then swap the d-pad/left stick position. Perfect.

Agreed. 

I guess the problem is there are hardcore PS loyalists who are use to the design and wouldn't appreciate a d-pad/left stick swap.  Too many PS diehard fanboys that would have to admit that the Xbox controller layout had won whatever dumb ongoing argument since the 360 days.  

[James Bond]

11 minutes ago, downzy said:

Agreed. 

I guess the problem is there are hardcore PS loyalists who are use to the design and wouldn't appreciate a d-pad/left stick swap.  Too many PS diehard fanboys that would have to admit that the Xbox controller layout had won whatever dumb ongoing argument since the 360 days.  

I'd argue that the argument (that hurt my brain to type 😂) even goes to back a generation to the Gamecube and Original Xbox which also used the asymmetrical layout. It was Microsoft's "S" controller that was refined into the 360 controller and has now pretty much become the standard, so much so that Nintendo's Pro controller is basically the same. Poor old Sony is now the odd one out.

That all said, I know Hori makes an Xbox-shaped PS4 controller but I can't be bothered. At the end of the day, like you said, it's just a controller.

It could be worse. They could go back to the M shaped N64 controller!

Edited April 29, 2020 by James Bond

[downzy]

1 minute ago, James Bond said:

It could be worse. They could go back to the M shaped N64 controller!

LOL.  Yeah, that was probably one of the worst forms of design I've ever seen.  When appearances trumped any sense of utility.

But Nintendo has been the king of poor execution when it comes to peripherals.  I still remember my jaw dropping the first time I saw the Power Glove, but also being inversely unimpressed the first time I played it. 

Nintendo certainly got away with all sorts of nonsense that would never happen in the day of the Internet.  I remember seeing the Power Glove in the movie The Whiz in 1989 right before my family took a year trip around the Pacific in 1990.  When we got back to Los Angeles in late 1990 I couldn't believe I was able to buy a Power Glove for half the price, having no idea that it was utterly useless.  It became instantly apparent to me the first time I used it when we got back to Toronto a few weeks later why they were being discounted.  

[Rovim]

18 minutes ago, downzy said:

LOL.  Yeah, that was probably one of the worst forms of design I've ever seen.  When appearances trumped any sense of utility.

But Nintendo has been the king of poor execution when it comes to peripherals.  I still remember my jaw dropping the first time I saw the Power Glove, but also being inversely unimpressed the first time I played it. 

Nintendo certainly got away with all sorts of nonsense that would never happen in the day of the Internet.  I remember seeing the Power Glove in the movie The Whiz in 1989 right before my family took a year trip around the Pacific in 1990.  When we got back to Los Angeles in late 1990 I couldn't believe I was able to buy a Power Glove for half the price, having no idea that it was utterly useless.  It became instantly apparent to me the first time I used it when we got back to Toronto a few weeks later why they were being discounted.  

but Nintendo was responsible for coming up with most gaming standards when it comes to control. The cost of being a leader and an innovator is that sometimes you come up with a dud but Sony and Microsoft basically just copied what Nintendo came up with and refined it. (which is fine) but credit where credit is due and all that.

[downzy]

1 minute ago, Rovim said:

but Nintendo was responsible for coming up with most gaming standards when it comes to control. The cost of being a leader and an innovator is that sometimes you come up with a dud but Sony and Microsoft basically just copied what Nintendo came up with and refined it. (which is fine) but credit where credit is due and all that.

I don't disagree with that.  Sony and Microsoft is certainly following the path paved by Nintendo.  My only comment here was that Nintendo also produced a lot of shit that no one has bothered to return to.  

[Rovim]

9 minutes ago, downzy said:

I don't disagree with that.  Sony and Microsoft is certainly following the path paved by Nintendo.  My only comment here was that Nintendo also produced a lot of shit that no one has bothered to return to.  

Not accurate. The power glove was essential in controlling a full body psychedelic rave suit. Way of the future.

https://www.geek.com/news/nes-power-glove-used-to-control-psychedelic-full-body-rave-suit-1605619/

 

[James Bond]

Wasn't the N64 controller the first of its kind to have a fully analog stick? Or one of the first anyways. Then Sony went "oh yes, good idea" and released the Dualshock (a far superior creation) a short time later. A good example of Nintendo being the innovator but eventually surpassed. They set the standard for the industry for others to follow.

[Dazey]

Just now, James Bond said:

Wasn't the N64 controller the first of its kind to have a fully analog stick? Or one of the first anyways. Then Sony went "oh yes, good idea" and released the Dualshock (a far superior creation) a short time later. A good example of Nintendo being the innovator but eventually surpassed. They set the standard for the industry for others to follow.

Analog controllers had been around on home computers for years but I think the Saturn was the first modern mainstream console to have a controller with an analog stick. Namco also released an analog steering controller called the NegCon for Ridge Racer on the PS1 at launch but it wasn't a traditional thumbstick type thing.

[James Bond]

10 minutes ago, Dazey said:

Analog controllers had been around on home computers for years but I think the Saturn was the first modern mainstream console to have a controller with an analog stick. Namco also released an analog steering controller called the NegCon for Ridge Racer on the PS1 at launch but it wasn't a traditional thumbstick type thing.

So I gave Nintendo too much credit.

The N64 controller has so much nostalgia attached to it for me though. I thought it was the coolest thing at the time.

[Dazey]

Just now, James Bond said:

So I gave Nintendo too much credit.

The N64 controller has so much nostalgia attached to it for me though. I thought it was the coolest thing at the time.

I think that this one was totally badass.

 

[action]

I just realised the switch is technically gen 9

gen 8: wiiU - PS4 - XONE

gen7: wii - PS3 - X360

gen 6: GC - PS2 - XBOX

[James Bond]

I consider the Switch to be Nintendo's "do-over" after the lackluster performance of the Wii U. It's everything the Wii U should have been.

[Rovim]

4 minutes ago, James Bond said:

I consider the Switch to be Nintendo's "do-over" after the lackluster performance of the Wii U. It's everything the Wii U should have been.

Nintendo was always inconsistent. Some of the ideas are too wacky but sometimes they take a failure from the past and come up with something cool that is both practical and unique in it's design or it's just a better execution of an existing idea. The analog stick before Nintendo was kinda useless. The N64 was the first time it worked well imo.

[downzy]

Microsoft to hold streaming event next Thursday (May 7th) to showcase the new games coming to XSX.  I assume this was going to be their pitch for E3 before it was canceled.

It really feels like Microsoft is way ahead of Sony in getting things in order.  It might simply be a result of Microsoft pushing the marketing envelope, but all we've got from Sony is the logo, a shot of the controller, and some technical specs.  I assume they've got stuff planned but they have kept things pretty close to the chest compared to what we've seen from Microsoft so far.

[Dazey]

29 minutes ago, Oldest Goat said:

There's a rumour Sony is redesigning their console's specs due to underestimating Microsoft and that's why they're so silent. XSX is apparently noticeably more powerful than PS5.

I can't believe that would be true. At this stage in the game it's simply too late to make any changes to the spec and still have it on sale in time to compete with the XSX.

[downzy]

46 minutes ago, Dazey said:

I can't believe that would be true. At this stage in the game it's simply too late to make any changes to the spec and still have it on sale in time to compete with the XSX.

Agreed. Plus Sony has already released the specs for PS5. They’re likely contractually committed to their suppliers for the specs already stated. 

[Dazey]

12 minutes ago, Oldest Goat said:

Maybe yeah but not necessarily if they wanted to swap out components with the same suppliers.

For a winter 2020 release those components have already been ordered I'm sure. They're probably already being assembled into final consoles to make the delivery window. If you swapped them out now you'd have to junk millions of components and then tell all your developers that they'd have to modify all their games to work on the updated hardware. It's just not feasible at this point. 

[downzy]

32 minutes ago, Oldest Goat said:

They have many months and I dunno I'd be surprised if, say Corsair, would be like "No. You can't pay us more to swap to more ram." and improved specs if anything would speed up optimization for devs. But you're probably right I'm just saying.

I’m not sure it’s that simple. First, Corsair would have started producing the ram first settled upon with Sony many months ago due to the fact that it takes a long time to make as much product as Sony would need to launch a product as popular as a new playstation. Corsair would already be well within their current production run and Sony would be contractually obligated to buy it. They couldn’t simply just tack on more ram to a preexisting stick or chip.

Second, game designers were given prototype Sony PS5s last year with the tech that would be used in the consumer version. The games those designers have been working on for months or years are likely already tailored to match the settled specs to take advantage (as best they know how at the beginning of a new console cycle) of the settings provided by Sony. Stuff more ram or CPU power doesn’t do anything beneficial to game designers who have launch windows late this year or next year. Nor would they appreciate moving goalposts when Sony affirmed the specs to them last year. 

This isn’t something you can just change on a dime. It took Microsoft years to up the power in the Xbox One. Consoles aren’t like PCs where you can just rip out one part and replace it with a more powerful part and you see increased performance. One of the ways that consoles produce the results they do is through design efficiencies that are carefully put together to maximize performance. If Sony wants to catch up to Microsoft for the nextgen (assuming the rumours are true), they’ll have to do what they did with the PS4 pro and offer a semi redesign. 

[Dazey]

5 minutes ago, downzy said:

I’m not sure it’s that simple. First, Corsair would have started producing the ram first settled upon with Sony many months ago due to the fact that it takes a long time to make as much product as Sony would need to launch a product as popular as a new playstation. Corsair would already be well within their current production run and Sony would be contractually obligated to buy it. They couldn’t simply just tack on more ram to a preexisting stick or chip.

Second, game designers were given prototype Sony PS5s last year with the tech that would be used in the consumer version. The games those designers have been working on for months or years are likely already tailored to match the settled specs to take advantage (as best they know how at the beginning of a new console cycle) of the settings provided by Sony. Stuff more ram or CPU power doesn’t do anything beneficial to game designers who have launch windows late this year or next year. Nor would they appreciate moving goalposts when Sony affirmed the specs to them last year. 

For evidence of something similar you just need to look at the Saturn. Sega found out too late that Sony were going all in on 3D and simply added another processor to give the Saturn a power boost late in development. This made it an absolute bastard to develop software for. They also tried to jump the queue by shipping a few months early which pissed off developers, retailers and pretty much everybody else. The Saturn bombed, the PS1 took over the world and the rest is history. Bit of a shame really as the Saturn was easily the most interesting console of its generation. 

[action]

On 4/29/2020 at 10:51 PM, James Bond said:

I consider the Switch to be Nintendo's "do-over" after the lackluster performance of the Wii U. It's everything the Wii U should have been.

the switch is easily nintendo's best console ever, and that's without factoring in the portable mode.

it has legacy content from all era's, and the controller options are plenty. the gamecube controller, the snes controller and the nes controller are all available in official versions. there are such classic games from the past such as street fighter, doom, turok, outrun and some of the better current gen and past gen ports. the switch library, when it comes to nintendo, is pretty much unmatched.

the only genre really lacking to this day was a no-nonsense, non futuristic or non cartoonish arcade racer, but burnout will soon fill that gap. (I don't consider gear club arcade enough, grid autosport was too much sim and asphalt 9 was marred by stupid microtransactions). 

the FPS genre is well represented with classics such as turok 1 and 2, doom 64, doom 2016; wolfenstein II, and soon 3D realms' newest build engine game: ion fury.

fighting games are there too, with street fighter II, mortal kombat 11 and smash brothers

as for turn based RPG's you've got final fantasy 7, 8, 9 and 10

open world action adventures: skyrim, withcer III, saints row the third, ...

then there are some truly great classic  games such as wild guns, castlevania and contra collections, outrun, Doom I and II, sunset riders, secret of mana, commander keen in keen dreams, star wars episode 1 racer, shadow man, 

all of this rounded out with the latest ,nintendo games

[James Bond]

3 hours ago, action said:

the switch is easily nintendo's best console ever, and that's without factoring in the portable mode.

it has legacy content from all era's, and the controller options are plenty. the gamecube controller, the snes controller and the nes controller are all available in official versions. there are such classic games from the past such as street fighter, doom, turok, outrun and some of the better current gen and past gen ports. the switch library, when it comes to nintendo, is pretty much unmatched.

the only genre really lacking to this day was a no-nonsense, non futuristic or non cartoonish arcade racer, but burnout will soon fill that gap. (I don't consider gear club arcade enough, grid autosport was too much sim and asphalt 9 was marred by stupid microtransactions). 

the FPS genre is well represented with classics such as turok 1 and 2, doom 64, doom 2016; wolfenstein II, and soon 3D realms' newest build engine game: ion fury.

fighting games are there too, with street fighter II, mortal kombat 11 and smash brothers

as for turn based RPG's you've got final fantasy 7, 8, 9 and 10

open world action adventures: skyrim, withcer III, saints row the third, ...

then there are some truly great classic  games such as wild guns, castlevania and contra collections, outrun, Doom I and II, sunset riders, secret of mana, commander keen in keen dreams, star wars episode 1 racer, shadow man, 

all of this rounded out with the latest ,nintendo games

See a lot of what you said is where Nintendo loses me a bit. While it's their best console, at least in a very long time, the selling feature of a modern console shouldn't be ports of old games. Don't get me wrong, it's cool to have Saints Row on the go (for example) but it carries a "been there done that" when compared to the competition, especially for someone like myself who isn't an "on the go" gamer.

Am I really going to spend money on a Switch just so I can play a game that was popular five years ago at the airport?

Nintendo constantly just repackages and sells the classics. It's even worse now with their Switch Online nonsense. Yeah, it's cheap, but I don't "own" anything. I'd rather just pay set prices for a game and own it forever like the other consoles than be subscribed to play. Sure, you get plenty of classics, but there's only a select few I genuinely care about. I'd happily pay for each classic Mario game in a bundle to have downloaded and own.

They are pretty much the Apple of the video game industry. Present dated technology as new, overcharge for it, and watch the sheep roll in.

I say that with love as a Switch owner of course. Nintendo's first party titles continue to be excellent.