thaddius' Console Roast 2014 Edition - Round 13

[codezer0]

(1)Too bad there isn't any kind of instance of them overpricing their older games...ever. Also, their backwards compatibility service will be called PS Now, where you can gamestream PS3 (and probably others, we still don't have much info since it's still in beta) to PS4/PS3/Vita/Some TVs. It's rumored to have both a subscription where each month they'll give games like PS+ (it's possible they'll integrate it with PS+, but as I said we have little info) or you can rent/buy the games for what I would assume would be the same cost as digital versions.

Spoiler

Would you look how expensive these PS2 classics are OMG SO OVERPRICED WTF

As you can see, $15 is the highest price they charge for PS2 classics. PS1 games are something like $6.

(2) Unless you're referring to removing the PS2 hardware from the phat PS3s to the slims, then I have no idea what you're talking about since there's no performance-based changes with any of the PS3 revisions besides small changes with the blu-ray drives and cooling.

(3)http://wololo.net/2014/04/30/playstation-4-firmware-1-70-is-now-available/ < Sony disabled HDCP protection in this update, y'know, like they said they would.

It is overpriced, when you have the physical disk sitting there in your hand and the system refuses to play it because it's "not compatible" but then $ony would happily (re)sell it to you for another hike.

Sadly the whole reason that I could never bring myself to buy any re-release (digital or otherwise) of Final Fantasy VII for myself, is because I already spent $50 three times on the game originally, because Sony's shitty shoddy manufacturing practices ruined two of my genuine copies. Hell, the whole reason I even started to look into modding and mod-chipping was because of how unreliable Play Stations were, and the fact that emulation of their systems is consistently terrible. I could get into how ridiculous some of the selections are, but I'll just leave that as a matter of taste. It especially irks me that Sony neutered the PS3 because the firmware improvements to the full-BC models finally made it so that all three generations of games could play, and look gorgeous doing so.

And Game-streaming =/= put the same disc in it and play. Also, the cloud streaming, as we are all painfully aware with OnLive and similar services, introduces additional input lag beyond what modern TV's do (when compared to the CRT's that a lot of these games were originally played on and built for). Some of these high def TV's being pushed on mooks in places like Best Buy and Fry's Electronics have almost a full 100ms of input lag, even on HDMI (and worse on any analog feed). I would hate to think of trying to play a timing-sensitive game like Bust A Groove over a streaming service, no matter how ideal the conditions are. I already have to override how the PS3 handles scaling for PS1 games just to be able to play that game acceptably. And I don't trust them to put in any effort to compensate for this in any way with the re-released games.

There has yet to be a Sony console revision that hasn't taken something out or made it worse. Funny enough, Microsoft's revisions are totally fine with me. Because unlike with the PlayStation, i could buy a 360 "E" right now, and - modding difficulty notwithstanding - I still can do everything with that system that I was able to do with a launch unit. Sure, some would prefer their JTAG/RGH units, but at the least it's not like Microsoft took away functionality from their revised Xboxes like Sony took away from every generation of PlayStation. It's been especially obvious with the PS2 and PS3 re-models that just made the 'new' model look cheaper and more fragile than the original.

As for 1.70 on PS4? It's about time they turned off that nonsense. But it makes them look stupid that they had to wait this long to push out an update for it when Microsoft apparently never implemented it on the Xbox One, or made it an opt-in rather than an opt-out.

 

[Gahars]

It is overpriced, when you have the physical disk sitting there in your hand and the system refuses to play it because it's "not compatible" but then $ony would happily (re)sell it to you for another hike.

By your logic, Sony is shitty because the PS4 can't play your VHS tapes.

Also, please stop spelling it as "$ony." Replacing the s's in a word with $'s ($ony, M$, etc.) is the argumentative equivalent of shitting your pants in public. It stinks, and it's just embarrassing to look at.

 

[codezer0]

After everything they've done to me, you should be glad I'm not calling them by what I really feel about them and their business practices.

 

[Foxi4]

I don't understand why people expect Sony or any other company to support media from obsolete devices. Grab any PS2 disc you own - does it say "Compatible with PlayStation 3" or "Compatible with PlayStation 4"? No, it doesn't, it's a PS2 game. They're doing you a service by re-releasing it on new hardware if it's not natively compatible so it's to be expected that they'd want to be paid for said service. If you don't want to pay for a re-release, here's a thought - why did you get rid of our PS2 and kept the games? Here's another thought - in the event that you haven't, why are you complaining?

Backwards compatibility is like a cherry on top of a cake - it's nice if it's there, but if the cake is terrible, the cherry won't help much. I'd rather eat a delicious cake with no cherry than a stale piece of gingerbread and a cherry to wipe my tears with.

EDIT: In the spirit of "$ony" and "Micro$oft" juvenile naming scheme, I propose "Nint€ndo" as a countermeasure.

 

[JulietStMoon]

In the spirit of "$ony" and "Micro$oft" juvenile naming scheme, I propose "Nint€ndo" as a countermeasure.

Nintendoe$n't. (Yeah I know, it's not quite Nintendon't, but it's close enough).

Also, $ega.

Also, Gahar$.

 

[PolloDiablo]

I voted Xbox One because it doesn't have any games that I want to play.
It's just that simple guys.

 

[codezer0]

I don't understand why people expect Sony or any other company to support media from obsolete devices. Grab any PS2 disc you own - does it say "Compatible with PlayStation 3" or "Compatible with PlayStation 4"? No, it doesn't, it's a PS2 game. They're doing you a service by re-releasing it on new hardware if it's not natively compatible so it's to be expected that they'd want to be paid for said service. If you don't want to pay for a re-release, here's a thought - why did you get rid of our PS2 and kept the games? Here's another thought - in the event that you haven't, why are you complaining?

Backwards compatibility is like a cherry on top of a cake - it's nice if it's there, but if the cake is terrible, the cherry won't help much. I'd rather eat a delicious cake with no cherry than a stale piece of gingerbread and a cherry to wipe my tears with.

EDIT: In the spirit of "$ony" and "Micro$oft" juvenile naming scheme, I propose "Nint€ndo" as a countermeasure.

Considering how many playstations I had to go through with each generation, backward compatibility is practically mandatory to make it worth its over-inflated price tag.

Second, I can attest under oath that playing PS1 & PS2 games on a PS3 is definitely a markedly better experience than when played on an actual PS2, even when using the exact same cables. I even went out of my way to put both systems on Component and 480p just to make sure that it wasn't just some trick... the reality is that on my 60gig, the PS1 and PS2 games I do play on it do look better.

They don't load better than a PS2 game on HDLoader, but... I'm still waiting for a Cobra'd REBUG firmware to help solve that, and finally retire the PS2, and restore an available set of inputs so I can use it for something else, like possibly a future modded console. I recently got some soldering tools, and the prospect of a potentially super-easy way to bring component video to some of the retro consoles is too tantalizing to resist.

 

[Foxi4]

I'm still undecided between the Wii U and the OUYA. For all intents and purposes, the OUYA is obviously the worst out of all four since it's an Android microconsole with little dedicated software worth mentioning... but on the other hand, it delivered exactly what it promised and it's generally well-received by its fans. The Wii U on the other hand is a disaster - it's in the big boys league but it fell on its face and shows no signs of recovery, that's a far more spectacular failure. My vote probably won't change anything anyways, just giving my reasons for thinking about those two.

 

[Smuff]

It has to be the Ouya.

Unfortunately this does not mean that I have any desire at all to own any of the other three. The only one that comes close to making me think about a Christmas splurge is the WiiU as I have a Mario crazy 4 year old in the house who bugs me about it every five minutes

So far this generation is neck-and-neck "meh".

 

[Taleweaver]

Nintendoe$n't. (Yeah I know, it's not quite Nintendon't, but it's close enough).

Also, $ega.

Also, Gahar$.

Let's not forget:

Nvidia $hield

N€o G€o X

$team

Ou¥a

On£ive Onliv€


...I'll be going now.

 

[mid-kid]

As one of the biggest features I look for in a console is homebrew, I don't see anything wrong with the OUYA.
I know it misses most of those top-tier games, but honestly, I couldn't care less. Most of them are remakes of remakes anyway.
That said, I dislike all the others, as they try desperately to create their own social networks and stuff to get people to play only on their console. IMO, they fail terribly.
Still waiting for the day when they release their SDKs for free, and use a multiplatform means of communication.

 

[Foxi4]

As one of the biggest features I look for in a console is homebrew, I don't see anything wrong with the OUYA.
I know it misses most of those top-tier games, but honestly, I couldn't care less. Most of them are remakes of remakes anyway.
That said, I dislike all the others, as they try desperately to create their own social networks and stuff to get people to play only on their console. IMO, they fail terribly.
Still waiting for the day when they release their SDKs for free, and use a multiplatform means of communication.

There's this platform called PC - totally open, you can customize it from the ground up, I think you might like it.

 

[mid-kid]

There's this platform called PC - totally open, you can customize it from the ground up, I think you might like it.

I mostly game on my PC, but I didn't mention it as we're talking about consoles.

 

[chavosaur]

I'm actually curious thaddius, did the Steam Box cross your mind when building these polls? I guess it's technically supposed to be a console but then agin I guess no one has really had any hands on experience with it.

 

[Veho]

I'm actually curious thaddius, did the Steam Box cross your mind when building these polls? I guess it's technically supposed to be a console but then agin I guess no one has really had any hands on experience with it.

It's not even out yet, so there's no point.

 

[thaddius]

Veho is right. I considered it but people are having a hard enough time with the consoles that are released.

 

[CompassNorth]

I'm actually curious thaddius, did the Steam Box cross your mind when building these polls? I guess it's technically supposed to be a console but then agin I guess no one has really had any hands on experience with it.

It's not a console, not even "technically"
It's a small form factor PC

 

[Taleweaver]

I'm actually curious thaddius, did the Steam Box cross your mind when building these polls? I guess it's technically supposed to be a console but then agin I guess no one has really had any hands on experience with it.

Well...I actually have. But it wouldn't be a fair competition in the slightest. More like entering a fetus into a "most beautiful baby"-contest. Not only would it flat out win the ugly contest, you shouldn't be comparing the other babies to begin with! This generation has just begun, and just last generation showed that popularity varies with time (the wii was insanely popular at start while the PS3 had a terrible launch. Things changed "a bit" during that generation).

 

[XDel]

I don't own one, but I got to give OUYA points for trying something new(ish).

 

[fojacko]

Why no "all" option?

Something, something, pcmasterrace...


All seriousness though, all consoles are really disappointing for me, underpowered consoles that frankly were overpriced when they came out (for what's inside them). You could spend £100 more on a pc (you could easily buy a decent pc for £450) , then after about 10-20 games, the price difference would be negligible since the pc counterparts of games are much cheaper, for example Xbox one COD:Ghosts is £32, pc is £23, Xbox one BF4 is £42 pc is £27, Xbox one titanfall is £40 pc is £30, etc you get the point. Not to mention steam sales which would save you loads of money.

I have a WiiU, but that's only because I love mario games, which is the only franchise that i care about that isn't multiplatform.