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[LakeOf9]

Not sure I am the only one feeling this way. But while I have always preferred playing on PC, I used to love consoles and respect and appreciate them. They used to have unique bespoke hardware that was different from the rest of the industry and usually marked a generational leap in the technology used for games that bled over into the PC side of things too. The hardware was unique that had games developed exclusively for and around it (optimizing games for a fixed spec meant that developers extracted a lot more performance from the silicon than they could elsewhere where they relied on abstraction layers and other similar overhead). Console controllers were different and controls were different. Their capabilities were different. Their games were distinct and unique to them, and each console felt different from one another, and from PC gaming, and from arcades.

Today that is no longer the case. PlayStation and Xbox are basically the same hardware. They no longer rely on fixed specs and hardware profiles, with mid gen refreshes and budget models like Pro/Series S. 99.99% of the games are shared between the two platforms, as well as with PC gaming. The controls and controllers are identical. Third party exclusives are dead. Even first party games are no longer exclusive, and often come to at least PC (and if Microsoft has something to say about it, on other consoles too). The generational leaps are smaller and smaller every time, and they no longer are cutting edge even at release (especially compared to PC). Consoles don't even get price drops anymore, which was another thing in their favour. When PCs went all digital, physical media was in consoles' favour, but that's no longer the case as they move increasingly digital. Plug and play used to be a big thing on consoles, but now we have to install games and wait on updates on consoles too. Consoles just feel like worse, more locked down PCs at this point - at which point why not just... play on PC?

The only console that feels like consoles used to (and are supposed to) is the Switch. it's full plug and play, physical media on the Switch tends to mean more than on other systems, it has unique hardware and unique controls, it has first party games that are never going to PC, let alone PlayStation or Xbox, it even has third party exclusives (though fewer than older Nintendo systems may have had, and they do tend to get ported eventually). If the Switch 2 continues the same style and success that the current Switch has, I will probably forego PlayStation entirely starting next gen (haven't owned an Xbox in years so that's no longer a concern) and just go with PC plus Nintendo consoles from now.

I don't know. I just feel like consoles are an unnecessarily worse version of something better that exists elsewhere. As someone who grew up with PlayStation this feels a bit depressing.

 

[64bitmodels]

blame xbox.

No seriously. They introduced PC architecture to console gaming as a whole. then Sony followed with PS4.

Back then it was a revolutionary and smart idea. Now, while it's got a ton of benefits and is a more practical solution overall, it does lead to these consoles losing their charm and identity somewhat

 

[Dacvak]

I agree with you, and I also agree that Nintendo’s consoles are kind of the last bastion of uniqueness. But even the Switch is fairly homogeneous at this point.

I hope we see a surge of indie hardware in the next few years. Stuff like the Playdate would be neat. I manage a team who creates unique gaming portables once a year, with bespoke software and games. It’s a lot cheaper to manufacture than you’d expect. Last year we produced 3000 total units, and the handheld had like five or six different games on it, plus a bunch of fun toys and pieces of software. The whole thing was driven by a cheap ESP32.

Anyway, I’d love to see more stuff like that.

 

[Banjo64]

If Valve hurry up and make a Deck 2 it would make the Series X and PS5 completely redundant until the end of their cycles.

 

[Darkness_Arises]

Why exactly is Nintendo excluded? What unique controls? All Switch exclusive games can be played on much better than native quality on PC, thanks to emulators. Being a Nintendo only gamer, you will also have the privilege of paying 60$ for ages old ports of games like W3 and Doom that look and play like crap on Switch. This weird ass relationship that gamers have with Nintendo bordering on worship needs to stop. Wake up and smell the coffee, Mario Tennis, Mario Party and games of that sort are cheap ass cash grabs that would not sell at 60 to any other audience than the captive Nintendo die hards. I have my Switch around because I like XC1, 2 and 3 (hate X), if I had a PC that could emulate these 3 well, I would have sold the Switch. It has the worst build quality of all consoles I have bought and the joycons are notoriously prone to stick drift.

 

[LakeOf9]

I agree with you, and I also agree that Nintendo’s consoles are kind of the last bastion of uniqueness. But even the Switch is fairly homogeneous at this point.

I hope we see a surge of indie hardware in the next few years. Stuff like the Playdate would be neat. I manage a team who creates unique gaming portables once a year, with bespoke software and games. It’s a lot cheaper to manufacture than you’d expect. Last year we produced 3000 total units, and the handheld had like five or six different games on it, plus a bunch of fun toys and pieces of software. The whole thing was driven by a cheap ESP32.

Anyway, I’d love to see more stuff like that.

I love the smaller boutique stuff like PlayDate (also thank you for creating more like that!)

Switch hardware is pretty homogenous for sure, but thankfully via controllers and games Nintendo still keeps things unique (plus I hope Switch 2 will have more unique hardware rather than an off the shelf SOC).

 

[Puscifer]

Meh.

It had and always came down to game selection.

blame xbox.

No seriously. They introduced PC architecture to console gaming as a whole. then Sony followed with PS4.

Back then it was a revolutionary and smart idea. Now, while it's got a ton of benefits and is a more practical solution overall, it does lead to these consoles losing their charm and identity somewhat

The Dreamcast was basically a PC

 

[BlackTron]

Why exactly is Nintendo excluded? What unique controls? All Switch exclusive games can be played on much better than native quality on PC, thanks to emulators. Being a Nintendo only gamer, you will also have the privilege of paying 60$ for ages old ports of games like W3 and Doom that look and play like crap on Switch. This weird ass relationship that gamers have with Nintendo bordering on worship needs to stop. Wake up and smell the coffee, Mario Tennis, Mario Party and games of that sort are cheap ass cash grabs that would not sell at 60 to any other audience than the captive Nintendo die hards. I have my Switch around because I like XC1, 2 and 3 (hate X), if I had a PC that could emulate these 3 well, I would have sold the Switch. It has the worst build quality of all consoles I have bought and the joycons are notoriously prone to stick drift.

Theycantkeepgettingawaywithit.gif

 

[LakeOf9]

Why exactly is Nintendo excluded? What unique controls? All Switch exclusive games can be played on much better than native quality on PC, thanks to emulators. Being a Nintendo only gamer, you will also have the privilege of paying 60$ for ages old ports of games like W3 and Doom that look and play like crap on Switch. This weird ass relationship that gamers have with Nintendo bordering on worship needs to stop. Wake up and smell the coffee, Mario Tennis, Mario Party and games of that sort are cheap ass cash grabs that would not sell at 60 to any other audience than the captive Nintendo die hards. I have my Switch around because I like XC1, 2 and 3 (hate X), if I had a PC that could emulate these 3 well, I would have sold the Switch. It has the worst build quality of all consoles I have bought and the joycons are notoriously prone to stick drift.

It's so sad how the entire industry is brainwashed

 

[jroc74]

Based on several recent threads....I think some ppl are feeling some type of way about something.

Cant quite put my finger on it.....

 

[Banjo64]

Why exactly is Nintendo excluded? What unique controls? All Switch exclusive games can be played on much better than native quality on PC, thanks to emulators. Being a Nintendo only gamer, you will also have the privilege of paying 60$ for ages old ports of games like W3 and Doom that look and play like crap on Switch. This weird ass relationship that gamers have with Nintendo bordering on worship needs to stop. Wake up and smell the coffee, Mario Tennis, Mario Party and games of that sort are cheap ass cash grabs that would not sell at 60 to any other audience than the captive Nintendo die hards. I have my Switch around because I like XC1, 2 and 3 (hate X), if I had a PC that could emulate these 3 well, I would have sold the Switch. It has the worst build quality of all consoles I have bought and the joycons are notoriously prone to stick drift.

Pretty clear that your mum had an affair with Reggie Fils-Aime or some shit. Let it go brother, Mario can’t hurt you any more.

 

[feynoob]

 

[lughnasadh123]

I don't see a radical difference between now and when the SNES and Genesis were battling it out. Nor do I want hardware being so unique it's a pita to make backwards compatibility a thing - a reason why the Switch 2 will be very similar to the first one. Being locked out over so many games unless you own all the systems, especially these times, would be horrible.

Honestly this comes across a lot like an external justification for a internal preference. I'm pretty damn happy consoles are where they are software and software wise. Regardless of where people choose to play there's a shit ton of options which feels great.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Any given console is a lot less interesting than they used to be. Sixth gen was the last time there was any meaningful distinction... other than Nintendo being off in lala land with whatever.

I still like consoles because of the consistent performance and lack of issues like stuttering, but I can't say there's much reason to own the full complement of them in any given gen anymore. Which is kinda sad.

 

[gothmog]

If I'm going for the same price range as consoles what PC am I getting?

 

[feynoob]

Pretty clear that your mum had an affair with Reggie Fils-Aime or some shit. Let it go brother, Mario can’t hurt you any more.

 

[Hudo]

then Sony followed with PS4.

But that wasn't a reaction by Sony to what Xbox were doing. That was a reaction of Mark Cerny trying to prevent another PS3 situation, so he chose to be conservative with the architecture of PS4.

 

[Darkness_Arises]

Pretty clear that your mum had an affair with Reggie Fils-Aime or some shit. Let it go brother, Mario can’t hurt you any more.

Great deflection bud, care to address any of the points raised. How exactly is the value proposition of the Switch so much better than PC or any of the other consoles?

 

[Banjo64]

Great deflection bud, care to address any of the points raised. How exactly is the value proposition of the Switch so much better than PC or any of the other consoles?

The title of the thread is that the Xbox and PlayStation don’t feel unique.

What other hand held device can play console level games, has detachable controllers and can be docked to your TV?

Fuckin PC man, are you for real? Imagine shilling for a 500 watt £1k+ device that’s about 5 cubic meters in volume and being tethered to shitty Microsoft Windows just so you can brag about playing Nintendo games on it at higher fidelity

 

[Hudo]

coffee

How many cups?

 

[64bitmodels]

But that wasn't a reaction by Sony to what Xbox were doing. That was a reaction of Mark Cerny trying to prevent another PS3 situation, so he chose to be conservative with the architecture of PS4.

Either way Cerny probably looked towards the PC architecture of the Xbox and decided that implementing it in the new Playstation was the smart idea.

 

[Oppoi]

Xbox falls and all of the sudden the whole universe collapses? Nope, we'll be fine without you microsoft. Hope you find lots of purpose in hell.

 

[Darkness_Arises]

The title of the thread is that the Xbox and PlayStation don’t feel unique.

What other hand held device can play console level games, has detachable controllers and can be docked to your TV?

Fuckin PC man, are you for real? Imagine shilling for a 500 watt £1k+ device that’s about 5 cubic meters in volume and being tethered to shitty Microsoft Windows just so you can brag about playing Nintendo games on it at higher fidelity

I mostly game on the Deck. However, I believe that most 130W TDP gaming laptops released in the last 2-3 years would be easily able to play Switch games better than the Switch itself. The detaching controller gimmick is not for me, but definitely a feature worth lauding for those who use it. I use 2 dupe controllers for my Switch (i) Terios controller, that looks like a Switch pro controller and (ii) Chinese rip-offs of the green and purple splatoon joycons. They work well and have not conked out till now, so as reliable as the OG joycons.

 

[64bitmodels]

Fuckin PC man, are you for real? Imagine shilling for a 500 watt £1k+ device that’s about 5 cubic meters in volume and being tethered to shitty Microsoft Windows just so you can brag about playing Nintendo games on it at higher fidelity

it works and it plays games better than the switch as does the steam deck. So I have little reason to use the switch. Also, Yuzu's on Linux too.

and when did the likes of you start caring about power?

 

[Humdinger]

It's true, consoles are becoming more alike (with the exception of the Switch), and the overlap with PC is becoming greater.

However, I still feel like it's worth owning a console, because of the ease-of-use factor.

 

[phant0m]

It's true, consoles are becoming more alike (with the exception of the Switch), and the overlap with PC is becoming greater.

However, I still feel like it's worth owning a console, because of the ease-of-use factor.

100%

 

[A.Romero]

Game overlap is not even close to 99.9% and controllers are their own thing. That said, pc has been the way to go for over a decade if money is not an issue and it has advanced quite a lot over the last few years.

Consoles are fine for budget gaming and subs do make a difference, they have come a long way too it's just that PC has advanced even more.

 

[coffinbirth]

 

[64bitmodels]

How is this appropriate lol, this is an exclusively 2024 problem compared to back then

 

[UltimaKilo]

I feel like they feel like what I feel like you might feel like without no more yes.

 

[SHA]

 

[Skifi28]

I feel like we've had this thread 20 times lately. It's ok, play your games where you like.

 

[Dacvak]

Why exactly is Nintendo excluded? What unique controls? All Switch exclusive games can be played on much better than native quality on PC, thanks to emulators. Being a Nintendo only gamer, you will also have the privilege of paying 60$ for ages old ports of games like W3 and Doom that look and play like crap on Switch. This weird ass relationship that gamers have with Nintendo bordering on worship needs to stop. Wake up and smell the coffee, Mario Tennis, Mario Party and games of that sort are cheap ass cash grabs that would not sell at 60 to any other audience than the captive Nintendo die hards. I have my Switch around because I like XC1, 2 and 3 (hate X), if I had a PC that could emulate these 3 well, I would have sold the Switch. It has the worst build quality of all consoles I have bought and the joycons are notoriously prone to stick drift.

Some of us value a seamless console experience. Of course I could emulate everything on a PC, but I’m barely on my PC. I travel all the damn time though, and it’s still fairly novel to be able to take my console games with me anywhere I go.

I play my Switch more than any other machine by a factor of probably five (other than my MiSTer), and that’s mainly due to its form factor and simple UX.

 

[Thief1987]

Ok, but who care what you "feel" OP?

 

[ReBurn]

blame xbox.

No seriously. They introduced PC architecture to console gaming as a whole. then Sony followed with PS4.

Back then it was a revolutionary and smart idea. Now, while it's got a ton of benefits and is a more practical solution overall, it does lead to these consoles losing their charm and identity somewhat

Mark Cerny took credit for introducing "supercharged" PC tech to the PS4. Cerny also gave a nod toward favoring PC-like architecture given that it lowered barriers for third party devs on the platform. There weren't really any benefits to using custom hardware any longer given that PC gaming hardware had largely standardized and eclipsed the performance of consoles by the end of the PS360 generation.

The Dreamcast was basically a PC

Dreamcast wasn't a PC. It used a Hitachi SH-4 RISC-based CPU. It could run Windows CE, but Windows CE wasn't based on the Windows NT kernel that ran on x86 PC's. It was made for embedded devices. It could run well on low memory, low power ARM. MIPS, or SH-based processors. It also ran on Microsoft's PocketPC devices, but those weren't actually PC's either.

 

[Celcius]

Yep PC + Nintendo console is the way to go at this point

 

[R3TRO]

Basically…

Like shit pc’s for people that don’t want to invest money for good hardware.

 

[drganon]

You don't need to share your blog posts with us.

 

[leo-j]

Dualsense is not the same controller as an Xbox controller at all….. and tbh PlayStation games are very different because of that controller vs the Xbox counterpart.

 

[WakeTheWolf]

Can't play Bloodborne or Stella blade on PC. I'll be honest I just prefer console experience.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

blame xbox.

No seriously. They introduced PC architecture to console gaming as a whole. then Sony followed with PS4.

Why would you blame MS for Sony PS4 moving to PC architecture? Don’t forget Xbox 360 went with a fully custom CPU/GPU/eDRAM setup.

More like, blame Sony and their Cell CPU for making a basic ass gaming PC seem way more appealing in comparison.

 

[Del_X]

Agreed. I was jazzed to get both a Series X and PS5 at launch (which I did). I have played them less than 100 hours and just main on PC. They're probably going to turn into entertainment boxes for the kids in a couple year.

 

[nial]

But that wasn't a reaction by Sony to what Xbox were doing. That was a reaction of Masayasu Ito trying to prevent another PS3 situation, so he chose to be conservative with the architecture of PS4.

FTFY, Mark Cerny was not the one calling the shots. Still love him, tho.
For OP, I really don't get all this bitching about special hardware and some shit, it's been over a decade, let it go already.

 

[IAmRei]

Why exactly is Nintendo excluded? What unique controls? All Switch exclusive games can be played on much better than native quality on PC, thanks to emulators. Being a Nintendo only gamer, you will also have the privilege of paying 60$ for ages old ports of games like W3 and Doom that look and play like crap on Switch. This weird ass relationship that gamers have with Nintendo bordering on worship needs to stop. Wake up and smell the coffee, Mario Tennis, Mario Party and games of that sort are cheap ass cash grabs that would not sell at 60 to any other audience than the captive Nintendo die hards. I have my Switch around because I like XC1, 2 and 3 (hate X), if I had a PC that could emulate these 3 well, I would have sold the Switch. It has the worst build quality of all consoles I have bought and the joycons are notoriously prone to stick drift.

You dont know the magic of switch games, i see. I have some friends like You at first, until my friend visit me, and they play Nintendo games together.

And soon after that, almost all of them bought Switch.

 

[bitbydeath]

I disagree, the move to make games more streaming based, (not just faster loading), is an innovation brought about by consoles.

Remember that lag in PC games not experienced in consoles? That’s because consoles changed how things work that PC will learn from.

 

[lh032]

console bashing week again?

 

[Danjin44]

No offence but you guys stress over most pointless stuff......For me as long as I get the games I care about then I'm happy, nothing else matters.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

And yeah OP I totally agree. We’ve reached the point where games are all built using cross-platform game engines that scale all the way from phones to high end gaming PCs. And it’s so expensive to make a AAA game that it doesn’t make economic sense to target just one platform anyway.

I’m basically PC + Nintendo already. I have a PS5 but it’s mainly for 4K blu ray and for my kids to play Hogwarts

 

[EverydayBeast]

Consoles are on fire it’s exciting give Sony some credit they could lay down to pc overlords and at this point Nintendo is ok with ancient hardware Nintendo shows pc overlords that graphics aren’t everything
PC Overlords:

Nintendo:

 

[DavidGzz]

It's just a side effect of maturing and becoming less attached to brands. Also, a big factor is backward compatibility. It strips the older units of their identity. Now they just play your library with worse graphics or framerates.