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Giant Bomb #6 | You'd be hard pressed to find 10 better threads this year.

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what year is it

Some other great themes from the 80s and early 90s:

-Nintendo is going to die because they sell outdated hardware at outrageous prices
-Home computers are the master race
-You need a million dollars to play PC games, what if I just want to chill out on a comfy couch
-Sexism in games is a stupid debate and we shouldn't have it
-Jeff Gerstmann is a real pecker
-How does the industry survive with these pricing schemes
-Car analogies about power versus cost
-It's all about graphics over gameplay these days
-Games are too linear and scripted
-Games today in arcades and on the consoles are too easy and casual games, this is the dark age of gaming
-Magazines are a bunch of shills that give 8/10 to everything
-Jeff Gerstmann is a real pecker
 
this is one of those times i remember that there are people on this site that are discussing things and were born AFTER the dreamcast released

Some other great themes from the 80s and early 90s:

-Nintendo is going to die because they sell outdated hardware at outrageous prices
-Home computers are the master race
-You need a million dollars to play PC games, what if I just want to chill out on a comfy couch
-Sexism in games is a stupid debate and we shouldn't have it
-Jeff Gerstmann is a real pecker
-How does the industry survive with these pricing schemes
-Car analogies about power versus cost
-It's all about graphics over gameplay these days
-Games are too linear and scripted
-Games today in arcades and on the consoles are too easy and casual games, this is the dark age of gaming
-Magazines are a bunch of shills that give 8/10 to everything
-Jeff Gerstmann is a real pecker
you forgot about how young people are ruining everything by being pandered to and don't respect real games
 
this is one of those times i remember that there are people on this site that are discussing things and were born AFTER the dreamcast released


you forgot about how young people are ruining everything by being pandered to and don't respect real games

There are 14 year olds on gaf?
 

FStop7

Banned
We have irrefutable facts about launch games. That are also performing poorly on ps4 (see ghosts framerates). We have no idea how the next ten years will shake out. Clearly ps4 has more potential power. Will people take advantage of it? Probably. But we really have no idea how far the xbox one will be lagging behind in a year. It still could be fairly nominal for most games.

The thing is both of the new boxes are closer than ever to PC architecture. And for BF4 and COD to be running at less than stellar speeds right out of the gate should raise some red flags.
 
So glad I'm not a one console warrior.

It's pathetic that some people feel the need to go out of their way to defend a product based on brand loyalty (that's exactly what it is--no need to try and tell me otherwise), and to be rude about it in the process. Can't wait for these console launches to come and go.
 

Dragon

Banned
The thing is both of the new boxes are closer than ever to PC architecture. And for BF4 and COD to be running at less than stellar speeds right out of the gate should raise some red flags.

In fairness the Ghosts version on the PC isn't exactly optimized either.
 

J-Man

Member
My original point was that a) the disparity between the two systems may not be as big as people were acting like at the time, and b) regardless of how big the gulf ends up being, it won't be a determining factor in the success of the consoles because being more powerful has never, ever been the reason one machine moved more units than another in any generation of video games ever. I certainly don't remember this degree of vitriol toward the PS2, the faraway market leader that was also significantly less powerful than the other two systems at the time.

I think that statement is avoiding the other factors in deciding who 'won' each generation and coming to the conclusion that power can never be a deciding factor. Sure, the more powerful console has never won, but the more powerful has always come out at least a year (N64/Xbox/PS3) after the first console of its generation and were mostly priced at least $100 or more.

Furthermore, I remember plenty of people in my junior high and high school years who bought the N64 and the Xbox because they were more powerful. That's only anecdotal evidence, sure, but I do wonder how poorly those consoles would have sold if they were only equally powerful. I also remember Sony touting how powerful the PS2 was going to be to dissuade people from purchasing a Dreamcast.

I agree with your prediction that this generation will probably be like last generation where multiplatform titles will be near identical in the same way the 360 and PS3 were close (although, perceived advantages will probably fall to the PS4 instead of the XB1 this time), that has less to do with the power gulf and more to do with third party development.

I bought a PS3 first (summer 2007) knowing full well of the development problems and the $100 more because of backwards compatibility and Metal Gear exclusivity. So if people are buying an XB1 because of the exclusive games that are being released that makes sense to me, but the gaming media crying out against people who do find resolution to be important is kinda crazy to me, as it also makes sense to me that people want to play the best version of third party titles (as most peoples collections will probably be mostly third party titles). Isn't that why Giant Bomb is a proponent of the PC platform?
 

RaikuHebi

Banned
I find all of this stuff fun. Learn a thing or two about picture quality, resolution, effects as well.

speaking of old console wars, time to re-pimp my old usenet thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=482425

there's some very familiar stuff in there. especially people complaining about jeff gerstmann being a biased shill because of his reviews
This deserves a bump, but I don't want to get in trouble with mods.
 

Curufinwe

Member
It's pathetic that some people feel the need to go out of their way to defend a product based on brand loyalty (that's exactly what it is--no need to try and tell me otherwise), and to be rude about it in the process. Can't wait for these console launches to come and go.

What do you expect to change after launch among people on forums and people in the media who have been defending products based on brand loyalty?
 
I'm listening to this morning's Bombin in the AM and Alex completely nailed my view on all the resolution & fps discussions.

Alex Navarro said:
If you like the game, like the GAME. You know, if it has a few issues, note that. You know, you can make note of issues without turning it into this world ending discussion of which platform is better or whatever.
 

n0n44m

Member
Mannnn. Brad just posted a really well thought out post literally 2 posts up. But naw.

It's like all of the Internet is ignoring what these people are actually saying, because they didn't say exactly what you wanted to hear.

first, I'm not buying any console now or in the future, so I'm just commenting as a listener

now, although I'm not even close to agreeing with him on the technical analysis, his arguments are a million times more palatable/sensible for me than what I have been hearing on that Bombing in the AM show the past two episodes.

Which I find a bit hard to swallow given their (usually) pretty sensible stance on pretty much all other topics surrounding videogames (which is the whole reason why GB is the only videogame site I remotely care about outside of GAF, and yes there has been plenty in the past that I did not agree with).
 

Dragon

Banned
That's true but BF4 being knocked back to 900p on the PS4 is what really caught my attention.

True enough. I was really surprised when I saw that. I really really don't want sub 1080p games. Else why did I bother buying a 1080p television? Not just to watch Blu-rays.

jeff gerstmann is a lush and a sega-hating tekken-loving N64 fanboy

I knew that rubbing alcohol wasn't just for show!

first, I'm not buying any console now or in the future, so I'm just commenting as a listener

now, although I'm not even close to agreeing with him on the technical analysis, his arguments are a million times more palatable/sensible for me than what I have been hearing on that Bombing in the AM show the past two episodes.

Which I find a bit hard to swallow given their (usually) pretty sensible stance on pretty much all other topics surrounding videogames (which is the whole reason why GB is the only videogame site I remotely care about outside of GAF, and yes there has been plenty in the past that I did not agree with).

Yeah I tend to listen to Patrick and Alex while commuting and the cognitive dissonance may make me road rage haha. I better be careful.
 
Here are the reasons the XBOX will destroy the Piece of Shit Station
2:

1. The PoS2 only has 4 megs VRAM. That's a fucking joke in this day
and age! The XBOX has 64 megs VRAM. 16 times as much! XBOX games will
look 16 times better because of this.

2. The PoS2 doesn't do anti-aliasing. The XBOX has FSAA. PoS2 games =
jaggy pieces of shit. XBOX games = gorgeous, jag-free masterpieces.

3. The PoS2 is a bitch to develop for. The only emotion that the
"emotion engine" is giving developers is frustration! They'd rather be
programming for the Saturn! The XBOX is a dream to develop for.
Couldn't be easier! A six year old could make an XBOX game.

4. MS will spend $500 million on advertising. XBOX ads will be
everywhere! Everyone will want one. The ad campaign will result in
millions of sales.

5. The PoS2 is losing third-party support left and right. Developers
are dropping the system like a hot potato and flocking to the XBOX,
which is more powerful, easier to program for, and has lower license
fees. The XBOX has a ton of Japanese support! All the major third
parties are getting on board. The next generation of major third-party
games will all be XBOX exclusive. The PoS2 will have nothing left!

The XBOX is going to be the best system ever! It will rightly kill off
the Piece of Shit Station 2, and gamers everywhere will rejoice!
I'm not going to get into how you particularly measure how much support
something has, but by applying relativity, the PS2 has a 200 megatons of
Japanese support. And like it or not, Japanese support is what wins a
console war.

wise words to live by
 

Curufinwe

Member
I'm listening to this morning's Bombin in the AM and Alex completely nailed my view on all the resolution & fps discussions.

If this is the type of commentary we'll be getting from Giant Bomb regarding next gen mutiplatform titles, then that's fine by me.

http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/madden-nfl-08-review/1900-6176601/

One of the big points of contention about this year's Madden has been the difference in performance between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions. It was announced some time ago that the 360 version would run at 60 frames a second, versus 30 on the PS3. When you compare the two games side by side, yes, there is a noticeable difference. The PS3 version is certainly choppier and slightly more prone to hitching up in-game than the 360 one. However, simply taken on its own merits, the PS3 version isn't suddenly awful because of this one issue. The choppiness rarely ever distracts you from the gameplay, and for the most part, the 30 frames a second number holds pretty steady. If you have a choice between the two, certainly the 360 version is the preferable one from a visual standpoint, but the PS3 version isn't unplayable by any means.
 

Curufinwe

Member
This interview with Mark Rubin might help get the reasoned discussion going.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/05/call-...-that-were-not-allowed-to-talk-about-4173810/

GC: So, just finally, I have to ask: why does the PlayStation 4 version look so much better than the Xbox One? Is the resolution really the only difference?

MR: [laughs] Yep, it’s the only difference. The TVs are different on some of them, but… they both have their different rendering engines but they’re as close as possible. It really comes down to resolution. Xbox is upscaled 720, it’s outputting at 1080p but it’s upscaled from 720. Whereas PlayStation 4 is native 1080p. So that’s really the only graphical difference. But it is enough. Some people here are saying they don’t really notice a difference…

GC: Was that the guy with the white stick?

MR: [laugh] But yeah, the PS4 looks really good.


GC: So the obvious assumption from all this is that the PlayStation 4 is definitely more powerful than the Xbox One, is that true?

MR: [acting very embarrassed] I can’t answer that.

GC: You can’t answer it on a technical level or because you’re being diplomatic?

MR: Can’t answer that.

GC: You can’t say whether you’re avoiding the question for diplomatic reasons?

MR: [embarrassed] I just can’t say anything…

[Even the attending PR guy is looking embarrassed by this point]

PR guy: It’s very hard for us to be…

GC: Are the console manufacturers leaning on you to avoid these sort of questions?

MR: [unsure - speaking to PR guy] I don’t know if that…

MR: [even more embarrassed to us] Yeah, there’s things that we… We sign NDAs with the first parties [i.e. Microsoft and Sony - GC] and there are things that we’re not allowed to talk about.

GC: So when John Carmack and Shinji Mikami say the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are almost identical, is that something you could agree with?

MR: Hmm… I would say that’s a bit inaccurate but I wouldn’t be able to tell you any detail of why that’s inaccurate.

GC: For diplomatic reasons?

MR: Yes.

GC: Okay, that’s fine. I think we can all read between those lines. But that’s absurd, how can they not except any journalist, any reasonable journalist, not to ask that question? It’s what everyone wants to know.

MR: [still feeling very awkward] The key thing is we try to focus people away from that sort of thing and try to focus them on the fact that the game is fun no matter what platform it’s on.

GC: Do you think with the next game you make there will there be such an obvious disparity between the two formats?

MR: Unknown… But over time… If you look at Call Of Duty 2 compared to COD 4 there’s a massive graphic difference, they look very different. So I think we’ll get better, yes.

GC: But will that same proportional gap always be there?

MR: Don’t know. Until we get there I honestly don’t know. To be not diplomatic or anything [laughs] we really don’t know. We’ve done as much as we can in the time we have to get where we’re at. Will they close the gap? Will they go off in the opposite direction? Who knows? But for this game it is what it is.
 

Truant

Member
This interview with Mark Rubin might help get the reasoned discussion going.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/05/call-...-that-were-not-allowed-to-talk-about-4173810/

I'm bringing this shit back for that interview:

KuGsj.gif
 
Really looking forward to today's podcast, I want to hear Jeff's lowdown on Ghosts since I can't play the damn game for myself thanks to weird performance issues.
 
i just tuned in to an ugly brown and gray pile of rubble and the final kill camera showed that the guy was missing 90% of the shots but hitting anyway
 

SJRB

Gold Member
Glad to hear the boys survived their 24-hour marathons.

Also - this castle map is way, WAY too big for 6v6 TDM.
 
i like that they're looking back at cod2 so many years later to see how far we've come

wait

that doesn't look like a ww2 gun

it's actually a secret time travel level you can get to in 2 if you eat the potato the commisar gives you at the beginning. Nobody found it until now.
 

Dragon

Banned
BTW did Jeff say anything about Jar Time ever coming back? I know there have been a fair number of things that have gone away with Ryan's passing but I wasn't sure if he's weighed in on that one. I really enjoyed that segment and it's been absent for a while.

Edit: Oh I must have missed the one at the end of September, my bad guys.
 

Lunzio

Member
BTW did Jeff say anything about Jar Time ever coming back? I know there have been a fair number of things that have gone away with Ryan's passing but I wasn't sure if he's weighed in on that one. I really enjoyed that segment and it's been absent for a while.

Edit: Oh I must have missed the one at the end of September, my bad guys.

He'll get around to more eventually for sure. Answering tumblr questions on that site is a decent replacement to hear his thoughts though. Can't ever get enough of the Gerstmann.
 
at some point call of duty plots went from tom clancy airport novel stories to weird underground patriot fiction about glorious american spec ops groups fighting against the hordes of commu-muslim hispanic undesirables trying to destroy freedom
 
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