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

PSGames said:
Do people really believe this wasn't considered at Sony? There are even disc based drm patents out there.
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Patents are not a product strategy. Many tech companies ask their staff to patent whatever they can think of, without any particular intent to sell a product based on those patents. Just having the patents is valuable enough.
 
borghe said:
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.

tvtvtvtvsportstvtvsportstvCODtvtvsportsCODliketvtvsports

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.
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What about the games, though? I really like what MS is doing with games for the One. More than Sony (I've had my fill of Infamous and Killzone, thanks). Obviously the situation is fluid but I think MS obviously worked very hard to get titles out there for gamers to latch onto. In the end, I don't care about what type of RAM is bolted onto the motherboard. I just want cool games. If the RAM acts as a proxy for better games, great. Let me see it. I haven't seen it yet.

I have both preordered, but I'll only keep one at most. Right now the frontrunner is the One, honestly.
 
Jason Raize '75 - '04 said:
"How MS blew it"

This cover was pre-DRM reversal
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godelsmetric said:
Can the OP please update with the tweet saying that this was POST DRM reversal? Jesus.
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The fact that MS reversed the DRM, while excellent for gamers, still doesn't change the fact that that IS PRECISELY where they blew it.

Looking around GAF and certainly other communities as well, MS' reversal hasn't really changed anyone's mind about getting the system. The biggest thing the change did (which is great) is assuaged fears for those who already did want to get the system or was already thinking about it. But most people who wrote off the system due to DRM still have no desire to change their mind.

diffusionx said:
What about the games, though? I really like what MS is doing with games for the One. More than Sony (I've had my fill of Infamous and Killzone, thanks). Obviously the situation is fluid but I think MS obviously worked very hard to get titles out there for gamers to latch onto.

I have both preordered, but I'll only keep one at most. Right now the frontrunner is the One, honestly.
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Here's my take.

MS announced a bunch of first party titles and a couple of third party exclusives.

Sony announced self-publishing for indies.

IMHO one of those decisions will benefit the system for YEARS to come, the other is a pretty short term situation.
 
Bgamer90 said:
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.
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Well knowing your point of view, I can see how you boil it down so simply.

But lots of us see a history in MS that goes back to 2010.

1. Kinect focus, continues with XB1
2. Suita driving Xbox division, not gamers or devs.
3. Their attempt at DRM
4. The price along with the specs shows their focus is on TV and Kinect.
5. Spielberg, Water cooler, TV TV TV press conference
6. Their lack of transparency with specs and abuse of buzzwords like the "Cloud".
7. All their public faces are souless asshats, none have any credibility with gamers.

Contrast the XB1 build up, announcement and spin with the PS4; Cerny talks, GG presentations, dev designed and friendly system, released specs, no forced camera, no TV shit, etc.
 
I saw cheapyd crying on twitter about the edge cover, now I see why.

The cover is right though, it is my next console
 
AgentP said:
Well knowing your point of view, I can see how you boil it down so simply.

But lots of us see a history in MS that goes back to 2010.

1. Kinect focus, continues with XB1
2. Suita driving Xbox division, not gamers or devs.
3. Their attempt at DRM
4. The price along with the specs shows their focus is on TV and Kinect.
5. Spielberg, Water cooler, TV TV TV press conference
6. Their lack of transparency with specs and abuse of buzzwords like the "Cloud".
7. All their public faces are souless asshats, none have any credibility with gamers.

Contrast the XB1 build up, announcement and spin with the PS4; Cerny talks, GG presentations, dev designed and friendly system, released specs, no forced camera, no TV shit, etc.
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Can't argue with facts but I'm sure they'll find a way...
 
Jason Raize '75 - '04 said:
What's the logic? Are Edge claiming MS lost the console wars? Lost the PR wars?
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It'll be interesting to see their reasoning. 'Road to ruin' is strong, but I definitely think that - for now - Microsoft has completely bungled the Xbox One rollout, created a massive PR problem for themselves, and the DRM reversal may have had limited reparative impact on the situation to date.

To a certain extent I think the policy reversal may have come too late to stop a herd mentality kicking in against Xbox One or in favour of PS4, at least among the early adopter demographic. In Edge's backyard anyway (looking at Amazon UK preorder charts). Bad news travels further and faster than good. In consumer behaviour and sentiment studies and word of mouth, it's been shown to take multiple positive impressions to cancel out one bad one.

I think this is probably about more than DRM for Edge though. For example issues around developer support and who can bring content to the platform are probably pretty big things for Edge. I'd guess they'll cite that as one of Xbox's 'titanic mistakes'.
 
Probably a stupid reason but the design of the system alone makes me want to purchase it. Did not expect it to look that good. Of course Sony didn't do a good enough job at E3 to convince me of a day 1 purchase(DreamCast will forever remain my only day 1 system I guess) but I will definitely get one Q1 2014. Second Son made that blatantly clear.
 
SquiddyCracker said:
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.
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It's funny to look at lists like that because pretty much all those points were reversed this generation XD
 
Dave Long said:
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.
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I disagree. Based on what we know today, the Xbox One has more games that I want to play. I'm sure that will change in the future and in the long run, but at launch and within the launch window, I'll be playing more Xbox One exclusives. I'm not how you can put an "objectively" qualification on games.

Moving away from the games themselves, the PS4 hardware is nearly objectively better at this point (one could argue about Kinect and the controller, but I won't) but we don't know enough yet about the services and the interfaces to make any kind of informed decision. We know that today XBL is a better gaming product and that PS+ has a crazy amount of value, but that's all subject to change going into next generation.
 
borghe said:
Here's my take.

MS announced a bunch of first party titles and a couple of third party exclusives.

Sony announced self-publishing for indies.

IMHO one of those decisions will benefit the system for YEARS to come, the other is a pretty short term situation.
Click to expand...

Nobody is going to buy a system based on conjecture or possibilities. Well, some people will, like the people who bought a PS3 for Last Guardian, but I hope they learned their lesson. So it's about what is going to be out there in the time frame I will buy it.

I have a PC I can use to play all the indies I want (it's almost none, I don't care about a game just because it's 'indie'). I can also use that PC to play a bunch of cool 3rd party games. SO it comes down to exclusives. If MS is trying to get exclusives onto the platform again, and sinking dollars into exclusives, that's a good thing.
 
I think something lost in this, because drm and all the blunders are definitely bigger issues, but if they didn't have the drm and their rollout was solid... they are making a massive bet on the kinect.

I know the kinect has supporters and im not trying to say that everyone is against it... but i don't think they've justified it's existence yet. It does dancing/fitness well, but so did the wii. Otherwise has there been a single piece of compelling software for it? Has there been a piece of compelling software that uses it shown for the xbox one? It's clear that the kinect is the reason for the higher price, many gamers hate it, and it's hadn't been justified in the slightest.

And the things that some people do like, like voice commands or simple gestures could easily be accomplished with a $5 Web cam and your headset.


The funny thing is that kinect is so far down the list currently because of how bad Microsoft has bungled everything else.
 
ari said:
I'm sure TGS will change this fact. But RIGHT now the Xbox One have more games announced for it.
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We have Gamescom just around the corner as well. I'm expecting a few MS reveals before the end of the year but I'm expecting Sony to show more.
 
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.
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The thing is that you can say that the PS3 ran down the Xbox 360 because of they lack of new exclusives (technically wrong) or because of their focus on Kinect (This is right) or because they stop supporting it (technically wrong) or lack of indie game support or whatever reason you can say. But I can just see the PS3 being outsold Month by month and year by year in the States and UK and having such a negligible lead world wide that can be reversed in one holiday season.

I don't see how that's the PS3 ramming the 360 or Microsoft dying as punishment because they forgot their roots, it seems like fanboy hyperbole.
 
diffusionx said:
Nobody is going to buy a system based on conjecture or possibilities. Well, some people will, like the people who bought a PS3 for Last Guardian, but I hope they learned their lesson. So it's about what is going to be out there in the time frame I will buy it.

I have a PC I can use to play all the indies I want (it's almost none, I don't care about a game just because it's 'indie'). I can also use that PC to play a bunch of cool 3rd party games. SO it comes down to exclusives. If MS is trying to get exclusives onto the platform again, and sinking dollars into exclusives, that's a good thing.
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Sony have a much better record of supporting their console with a nice variety of content throughout its entire life. MS do not, they support their console with a nice variety of games for the first couple years then they skim support to just their heavy hitters. MS have a lot to prove.
 
Moobabe said:
We have Gamescom just around the corner as well. I'm expecting a few MS reveals before the end of the year but I'm expecting Sony to show more.
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Even so, I seriously doubt the gaming catalog for both systems will be vastly different apart from first parties.
 
SquiddyCracker said:
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.
  • PS+ have tangible gamer benefits, by coming with 1 new game every month, which Xbox Live Gold does not.
Click to expand...

i suspect the PS4 version of the ps+ will ne nowhere as convenient as the present version for ps3 :(
 
NemesisPrime said:
If E3 was about games... X1 would have won easily, but apparently people went emo for stuff that has been all around us for years now. Sony just ass kissed all the hardcore geeks and people just bought it. Edge should know better.... what a joke of a cover TBH.

Another reason why tablets and phones will run the consoles into the ground this generation. It feels like the big bubble of the 80s.
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You heard it here first people. We went emo for defending our consumer rights. We should just bend over and take it and leave all of these anti consumer pro corporations decision alone.
 
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