Edge #256: Why PS4 is your next console (Shots fired, post-DRM 180)

Oh, you obviously don't understand how this works. Whichever console EDGE picks we're mandated to buy by our socialist government. It's like the BBC.

How else do you think PS3 did so well in the UK?
I've heard PS4 will be the new TV license in 2014.
 

They didn't do 'this'.

That cover was posing a question for an article that concluded the race last gen would be a lot closer than the prior one (PS2/Xbox/GCN). And was published pre-E3 2006, when things started to really go pear shaped for PS3... the question was posed in this way because Sony was still at that point seen as the one to beat, was the dominant player. They by no means singled PS3 out in that issue as the system to get or 'the only choice' or whatever.
 
Not for me, I don't care about any of the games on it. However I really want to try Killer Instinct, Kinect Sports rivals on One, Bayonetta 2 and Sonic Lost World on Wii U and Pokemon Y on 3DS.

But the console itself doesn't gave any faults, it just needs the games.
 
this thing of downplaying games by ''it seems'' is getting tiresome.
Ryse is shit, titantfall is shit, dead rising is shit, killer instinct is shit...bah. Maybe I am a minority, but I like to wait the for final release, to judge a game.

To fully judge them? Sure.

But you're a fool if you don't factor pedigree of the developers into your hype for a game.

The apparent hype some feel for Killer Instinct for example is just something I can't figure out. Rare is a shell of their former selves, with everyone meaningfully involved with the original KI (and most of their best games) gone. Even worse, they aren't directly making it and are instead outsourcing it to Double Helix, who's last PS360 game score sub-40's on both Metacritic and Gamerankings. That is the climax in a downward trend where the last decent game they made was in '02 on the OG Xbox. No one cared about their Battleship game, their Green Lantern game, or even their Front Mission game. Why? Because they were all shit. So now we're supposed to assume that the Killer Instinct IP is some kind of magic that will immediately imbue the title with a level of quality Double Helix has literally never achieved.

Or lets consider Ryse. A QTE heavy, tunneled hack n' slash with random set pieces that include magically appearing spears thrown in perfect unison by an entire phalanx, with no aiming required. What they've shown is pretty light on gameplay. What Gameplay they've shown looks like it was cribbed from Nihilistic's Conan game early in the PS360 generation. This from Crytek who have seen a steady downward trend in quality (that I don't think anyone would argue) with each of Crysis 2 and 3 from the original. Now they're trying to reverse that trend while also jumping into an entirely new genre? Color me skeptical.

Dead Rising 3 is being made by the guys who helped Keiji Inafune and co. make DR2, but prior to that their claim to fame were the middling The Bigs franchise for 2k Sports. So who was more likely to have carried the quality load with DR2, Inafune who has a storied career of great games including the first DR, or Capcom Vancouver, formerly Blue Castle Games? I'm leaning Inafune on this one, but maybe Capcouver proves me wrong. I'll be skeptical until they do so however.

My interest in an upcoming title is entirely tied to the pedigree of the team making it. Brands and continuing franchises are meaningless. Video games are a form of creative media just like music, movies, and television. I didn't get hyped up for the Transformers movies despite loving the IP because Michael Bay was involved and he makes shit movies. Turns out I was right and he turned out shit movies. Crazy how the people who actually make something have more impact on it's quality than the brand they're using as a coat of paint, right?
 
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I'd be happy if it were just the next 360.
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I don't know why you would want that. Do you want the PS4 to be left for dead by Sony in its last years? Because that's the 360 now. Hell the PS3 outsold the 360( 78 mil vs 77.7 mil) and the difference keeps growing now and the PS3 keeps getting games.
 
Have heard other previews of the game? Beyond it having awful framerate even in the demo, the guys at Giant Bomb have talked repeatedly about the current product looking like a big mess (Mind you, that's just in the current state, and maybe optimization will improve the performance). They also talked about how it has lost its comic sensibilities in favor of a more gritty, "realistic" zombie approach. They were very down on it.

I did hear those criticisms; just saying that it is early and I don't mind a gritty approach considering the nature of the story. I will wait to judge the game but the point was that it is a core gamer title; not just some throwaway game.
 
I don't know why you would want that. Do you want the PS4 to be left for dead by Sony in its last years? Because that's the 360 now. Hell the PS3 outsold the 360( 78 mil vs 77.7 mil) and the difference keeps growing now and the PS3 keeps getting games.

That is exactly why I sold my 360 after about 3 years into the cycle. PS3 seemed to be getting more games and Xbox was not or they were just regurgitating the same ones.
 
I don't know why you would want that. Do you want the PS4 to be left for dead by Sony in its last years? Because that's the 360 now. Hell the PS3 outsold the 360( 78 mil vs 77.7 mil) and the difference keeps growing now and the PS3 keeps getting games.
If you count the early crappy years of PS3 if say they're pretty similar. Throw in years of better multiplatform support, a more robust only infrastructure and console features, I would say being the next 360 would be an excellent position for any console.
 
They are right.

Sony have more exclusives heading to the PS4, heavy hitting studios that have created masterpieces such as Uncharted and The Last of Us (Which is the epitome of cinematic gaming), an indie support that puts MS' to shame, superiour HW, smaller console (despite having a power brick internal rather than external), and is a whole $100 cheaper.

Then add to the fact that PS+ will on the PS4 give you a free game every month, whereas Xbox Gold Live is not, and it's pretty obvious why the PS4 is a console for gamers.

Both systems look to be consoles for gamers; especially considering the fact that both will have a huge portion of the same (multiplatform) games.

If you can't afford both, pick one based on the games and/or features you're interested in (or just price), shut up, play, and be happy.
 
Ugh. It's not the kind of leading regardless of choice such influential magazine should have.


It's not hurt feelings, no market should be ruled by one end all option, neither be encouraged to, is it hard to see it?

It's a magazine article, one cover on a magazine with barely 25k readers amongst hundreds of thousands of words that will be written about gaming this month alone by dozens of free online magazines worldwide that are also available to its readership. What's wrong with a mix of opinions?

It's done it's job (of selling mags/raising the mags profile) just by getting people talking about it and reading the article, the amount of people who will be encouraged by that or any other single article in the games press to not buy an Xbox One is tiny, I think you are seriously overestimating the influence of Edge.

If Xbox One completely tanks in the UK (incredibly unlikely) it won't be because of Edge, it will be because the national press started laying into it too.

If anything, I expect Edge is more likely to set out the counter arguments than a tabloid hatchet job would.
 
I made no reference to Edge in my initial post nor did I even hint that my comment was directed at Edge. It was directed at a poster saying journalists should only report opinion. Hell, I even made a direct statement citing the poster as one of the problems with journalism today (not holding to higher standards).

How on earth did you miss this and how did you think that was aimed at Edge? Lmfao!

well then, try to stay on topic ;-)
 
Forza 5? Dead Rising 3? Targeted right at core gamers.

I didn't mean that they don't have core games, they most certainly do, and many are multiplat, and I meant to imply IF one was not married to playing DR3 or Halo or Forza , there is no selling point to xb1 that sticks out.

Yes, if you have got to play forza or halo or dr3 , its going to influence they buy decision.

I think most 360 owners will stay with xbox, but some will switch. I cannot see what sells a PS3 owner to switch, or a first time console buyer to go XB1 right now.

I'm trying to be objective as possible with my opinion here but its hard to convey this without sounding like I'm trashing the xb1, Irealize this

I'm gonna shut up now :)
 
Haha after the bs ms tried to pull I feel no sympathy no matter what happens. It will be a long time before I forget how they tried to ruin gaming
 
Ugh. It's not the kind of leading regardless of choice such influential magazine should have.


It's not hurt feelings, no market should be ruled by one end all option, neither be encouraged to, is it hard to see it?

Erm, yes? One consumer magazine coming out for what appears to be the most consumer friendly of the big two consoles is hardly a problem. In fact, it's something that's other video game coverage outlets could learn from.
 
Or lets consider Ryse. A QTE heavy, tunneled hack n' slash with random set pieces that include magically appearing spears thrown in perfect unison by an entire phalanx, with no aiming required. What they've shown is pretty light on gameplay. What Gameplay they've shown looks like it was cribbed from Nihilistic's Conan game early in the PS360 generation. This from Crytek who have seen a steady downward trend in quality (that I don't think anyone would argue) with each of Crysis 2 and 3 from the original. Now they're trying to reverse that trend while also jumping into an entirely new genre? Color me skeptical.

I might be wrong, but this seems to be the exact same combat in batman except instead of your execution being a single button there are multiple finishers depending on whether you want to follow the QTE prompts.
 
I did hear those criticisms; just saying that it is early and I don't mind a gritty approach considering the nature of the story. I will wait to judge the game but the point was that it is a core gamer title; not just some throwaway game.

Without Inafune involved it very well could be just some throwaway game. DR only worked due to a sense of comic charisma that the new media for DR3 isn't just looking short on but instead looking completely stripped of.

Maybe it'll be good, we'll see, but I'm far more skeptical about DR3 being a worthwhile game than I was of DR2, based almost entirely on what their development team is comprised of as compared to the previous to DR games. The other point of concern I have with DR3 is why Capcom didn't just give MS an exclusive but in fact is having MS publish the game with it being developed entirely by a North American studio (pacific northwest in fact). It feels more like Capcom licensing out the IP than Capcom making it if you ask me.
 
I don't know why you would want that. Do you want the PS4 to be left for dead by Sony in its last years? Because that's the 360 now. Hell the PS3 outsold the 360( 78 mil vs 77.7 mil) and the difference keeps growing now and the PS3 keeps getting games.


Mmm What? The PS3 was in third for 98% of its life cycle, now it passed the 360 by less than a million units and the 360 is somewhat left for dead now? Even though it's on its way to become the number one selling console in both UK and the United States, even with a redesign and new game are coming up. It's now dead because after almost a decade the PS3 has sold 300K+ units more.

I don't understand this way of thinking the 360 has being doing great for the entirety of his life span, the Xbox One might sink like the Titanic but what Microsoft did wih the 360 is an amazing achievement.
 
Do people really believe this wasn't considered at Sony? There are even disc based drm patents out there.

Was probably considered, but never gained traction. Considering there are interviews from several months ago where both Yosp and Tretton state they are against anti-used games, and that a massive portion of their market has poor internet infrastructure, it makes sense that they never intended to go the direction Microsoft attempted.
 
I have zero sympathy for Microsoft. I do, however, have hope that they learn a lot from this - much like sony did from their shitty period around the ps3 launch.


It's been a bit frustrating having the media tell us that we are wrong and too stupid to understand how wonderful everything microsoft is doing. I've never read edge but I'm glad someone other than Jim Sterling stood up and said that Microsoft was full of shit and needed to change.
 
OK that's a fair point but the backlash against the PS3 started the second they announced the US price. I'm not attacking Edge and in fact I've subscribed to the magazine for well over a decade. I'm merely pointing out that they have done covers like this before and people should read the articles before crying about them.

That's why I pointed it out - the US price wasn't unveiled until E3 in May; the cover was from Feb.
 
I might be wrong, but this seems to be the exact same combat in batman except instead of your execution being a single button there are multiple finishers depending on whether you want to follow the QTE prompts.

They haven't shown us enough to know what exactly it will play like, but a few things:

1. the Batman games have a much more fluid combat system based on fighting multiple enemies at once. In the Ryse demo most combat was 1 on 1 or very rarely 2 one 1. Batman's combat system only works enjoyably when employed in a "crowd control" style of combat where you're frequently outnumbered. See Sleeping Dogs for further confirmation of this, any fight that was quantity limited wasn't particularly enjoyable.

2. the overt QTEs are much more rampant and come with much less work than Batman and Sleeping Dogs. This is supposed to scale up in the final game, but we'll have to see just how much. A fine balance needs to be struck to make it really work.

3. Most importantly, melee combat is not the focus of Batman of Sleeping Dogs. All the Batman games focus much more heavily on stealth, puzzle solving, and silent take downs. Sleeping Dogs is driving heavy, shooting heavy, and the combat system is effectively there to be better than what GTA and the like had previously offered up. Ryse is a straight action game using what most closely resembles the combat engine from sandbox titles. That is, to me, a very bad sign. I don't see how you can do nothing but use that combat engine (and some cheesy looking phalanx sections shown in the demo) for an entire game and have it be a worthwhile experience. The depth and interactivity are just too low for it to cut it in the genre it's supposed to fill. God of War's combat system looks leagues ahead of it in terms of actually playing a game and people have chided the God of War franchise for a few iterations now over it's gameplay being inferior to the most recent Devil May Cry or Bayonetta.
 
The problem is Sony's Online. If it is still not up to par with Live, I will have to buy a Xbone for my MP games. Playing online with friends on the PS3 is a Disaster!

But next gen Sony has the console that comes with a headset, and has cross game chat.

MS dropping the headset and putting a new connector on the controller seems like a bad idea.
 
Mmm What? The PS3 was in third for 98% of its life cycle, now it passed the 360 by less than a million units and the 360 is somewhat left for dead now? Even though it's on its way to become the number one selling console in both UK and the United States, even with a redesign and new game are coming up. It's now dead because after almost a decade the PS3 has sold 300K+ units more.

I don't understand this way of thinking the 360 has being doing great for the entirety of his life span, the Xbox One might sink like the Titanic but what Microsoft did wih the 360 is an amazing achievement.

Umm no, it's left for dead not because it's being outsold by the PS3 but because it's not getting first party support. What first party games came out for it in the (now) closing times of the generation? Does it have a swan song? No, it doesn't, and IMO that means it's been left for dead.
 
Interesting if at time of writing the DRM reversal already took place.

Presume it's all vastly outdated now, what with Microsoft's reversal on DRM and so on.
I was wondering that myself.
Doubtful it's been two weeks. They would've do e some changes or at the very least heavy editing

I doubt it. They had the time to re-write it if that was originally the main content.

Recalling back issues due to misinformation is much harder to do.
Oh, didn't know that. I figured the issue was being readied before all this with MS went down.
 
The problem is Sony's Online. If it is still not up to par with Live, I will have to buy a Xbone for my MP games. Playing online with friends on the PS3 is a Disaster!


You're overstating that quite a bit. Online play on the ps3 is fine. But why are you comparing the xbox one to the ps3 anyway? That makes no sense.

If you want to see the direction that Sony is heading in i would assume the vita is the place to look. Party chat, cross game chat, can run skype in background while playing games, etc. It's actually the best current online setup in terms of features... it's just that no one notices because there's 8 vita in the world and as much as people bitch when handheld games aren't online the fact of the matter is very few people actually play online multiplayer on them.
 
It's not really even that controversial. As someone who used to write about games in print, I would easily go with a cover like that because after E3, there's just no question that Sony's machine is the one to pick over the Xbox One.

For me personally? Wii U has many of the games I want to play, so it's not going to hold for everyone on a personal level, however more objectively speaking, Sony has all the games the gamers will want on a console more focused on playing video games.
 
Talk about fanboy bait. I'm sure it'll be one of their best selling issues.

Sony has all the games the gamers will want on a console more focused on playing video games.

You don't think that's a bit subjective? Hint: it is.
 
Both systems look to be consoles for gamers; especially considering the fact that both will have a huge portion of the same (multiplatform) games.

If you can't afford both, pick one based on the games and/or features you're interested in (or just price), shut up, play, and be happy.

Ok, here is where I strongly disagree with your statement.. FOR gamers implies that the target audience of the XBONE is gamers.. or at least a heavy presence.

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that says otherwise.

emphasis on the WinRT VM with Windows Store (instead of self publishing indies to XBLA)

that says otherwise.

attempt at DRM to "protect" big publishers.

that says otherwise.

Now I'm not going to get into "f*** MS. GO PS4!!!!".. Because that isn't where your post is coming from. BUT, I would argue that XBONE is absolutely FOR the mass market.. and that ISN'T a criticism. I don't think it's any secret that that's where MS is targeting. Of course a core gamer will greatly enjoy the system (now), but I also don't think that is really a priority for MS.

They have their song and dance right now in exclusives and studios.. but they did at the beginning of 360 and again at the beginning of Xbox as well. After two generations MS' modus operandi is very clear. Get the core gamer in early on, and then expand to the broader mass market ASAP.

The problem this time is that they don't have the core gamer wrapped up. Funny enough, without DRM and Kinect 2 there isn't a reason they couldn't have had it. But Kinect 2 appears essential to their REAL desire (mass market) and DRM... well... is what it is.. or what it was.. or whatever.

TL;DR. While a core gamer will certainly have some core gaming enjoyment from XBONE, the system and future plan of the platform seemingly has very little to do with the core gamer. About the only way I see it maintaining this gen's Xbox brand momentum among the core gaming crowd is... umm.. I guess I don't know.. Sony stumble's somewhere along the way? It really is Sony's game to lose at this moment.
 
Both systems look to be consoles for gamers; especially considering the fact that both will have a huge portion of the same (multiplatform) games.

If you can't afford both, pick one based on the games and/or features you're interested in (or just price), shut up, play, and be happy.

Precisely, because it looks like exclusives will be far and few between next-gen, they become a much less smaller argument for each one of the consoles. That's when you start looking at other factors, such as price/size/indie friendliness/subscription benefits/power.

Looking at those factors alone, it's kinda not even debatable that the PS4 comes ahead of the Xbone.
  • $399 vs $499
  • PS4 is smaller than the Xbone
  • Sony has a stronger support for Indie developers than MS by allowing self-publishing and highlighting indie developers that need highlighting (e.g. not Notch and Minecraft)
  • PS+ have tangible gamer benefits, by coming with 1 new game every month, which Xbox Live Gold does not.
  • PS4 has faster RAM, a more powerful GPU, and more available RAM for games according to fact and very strong speculation.

There are a number of things we're kinda unclear on atm, such as the cloud factor of both consoles, but because both MS and Sony have been evasive on that subject (and outright deceptive, such as MS insinuating that Xbox Live Gold would have access to 300k servers) we cannot take these factors into consideration when it comes to deciding the best console for people who aren't capable of spending $900+ dollars on console gaming (as they would if they were to buy both consoles).

I'm assuming that this is more or less what EDGE have stated in the article, and await confirmation from someone who has read the issue.
 
Mmm What? The PS3 was in third for 98% of its life cycle, now it passed the 360 by less than a million units and the 360 is somewhat left for dead now? Even though it's on its way to become the number one selling console in both UK and the United States, even with a redesign and new game are coming up. It's now dead because after almost a decade the PS3 has sold 300K+ units more.

I don't understand this way of thinking the 360 has being doing great for the entirety of his life span, the Xbox One might sink like the Titanic but what Microsoft did wih the 360 is an amazing achievement.

I'd assume he's referring to the fact that Microsoft stopped making any new exclusives not named Forza, Halo, or Gears several years ago, meanwhile Sony has games like The Last of Us, GT6, and Beyond coming out for PS3 the same year PS4 launches.

Sony never stopped supporting the PS3 while MS has been all Kinect on the 360 and have never looked back. For a core gamer isn't it nice to know the console you're buying will actually see relevant software throughout it's entire life?

Microsoft isn't alone on this though. Nintendo does the same thing. They left the Wii high and dry for a few years before getting the Wii U out (which makes their lack of quality Wii U software even less excusable).

This is why the PS3 has ran down the X360 despite the 360's superior price point for much of the generation, lead console focus for most 3rd party titles, and an entire year head start. It's why both consoles have been closing on the Wii for several years now as well.

There is still a pretty legitimate chance if you ask me that as the PS3 and 360 head towards more mainstream price points that we might see the PS3 pass the Wii's total units sold globally, largely thanks to Sony continuing strong software support through the release of it's next product line.
 
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