Comparing PS4 and Xbox One Launch Lineups

Not too surprising. Exclusives don't seem as common as they used to be. I remember the Nintendo and Sega console wars, with a massive black line between the two, Mario on one side and Sonic on the other.

I suspect Xbox's DRM/online check idiocy and ensuing PR failures will cost them sales, and that otherwise people will just stick with the company they bought from last time.
 
thaddeus6th said:
Not too surprising. Exclusives don't seem as common as they used to be. I remember the Nintendo and Sega console wars, with a massive black line between the two, Mario on one side and Sonic on the other.

I suspect Xbox's DRM/online check idiocy and ensuing PR failures will cost them sales, and that otherwise people will just stick with the company they bought from last time.
Click to expand...

You're right--most people are just going to stick with what they are comfortable with and what their social networks use. But I also think that, in the US at least, Microsoft has squandered an in-built advantage that it had going into this round (Sony has a similar advantage in Europe and Asia, but has not squandered it). A certain percentage of people will buy the PS4 because of its lower price tag, and another certain percentage will buy it because of all the PR failures. These will also handicap efforts to close the gap with Sony in Europe and Asia.

Personally, I go back-and-forth. I like the Xbox One's advantages in media and online services, but prefer the PS4's price point and moderate graphical advantages. I like that Microsoft has adapted to public opinion on some of its unpopular features, but worry that they might get more stupid ideas later on down the line.
 
Ill just buy both and laugh at all the kids arguing over which is better.
 
I think I will hang in for a few months and see when patches come out. Hopefully the Xbox won't scratch disks and eventually fry itself. I also read that the PS4 is actually unbalanced and wobbles on flat surfaces. Not good news at all.
 
If the PS4 wobbles on flat surface that'll be significantly unimpressive. I'd be surprised if that's the case, but one advantage of not buying straight away is that when I do get a new console I know about that and RROD type issues.
 
I'll wait to see what everything looks like next year - price drops, bug fixes, more games, make for a better experience for us. :)

Will probably be looking at the PS4. May wait longer. We're still getting a lot of play out of the PS3, Santa is bringing the kids more games, so without backwards compatibility there's no reason for us to rush into the PS4 at all.
 
thaddeus6th said:
Not too surprising. Exclusives don't seem as common as they used to be. I remember the Nintendo and Sega console wars, with a massive black line between the two, Mario on one side and Sonic on the other.

I suspect Xbox's DRM/online check idiocy and ensuing PR failures will cost them sales, and that otherwise people will just stick with the company they bought from last time.
Click to expand...

I think the lack of exclusives is a shift of power away from the console manufacturers towards the publishers. Which seems odd considering that Microsoft went through a period of buying up successful studios (Bungie and so forth) and still have a large game-making portfolio.

Obviously exclusives cut into the profit margins of those games publishers and companies so it's now down to timed exclusives or multi-platform releases. Where they could make a fast buck is via their online stores especially if, like Apple, they take a slice from every sale so we'll see how that develops in this new generation of consoles.

I said:
I'll wait to see what everything looks like next year - price drops, bug fixes, more games, make for a better experience for us. :)

Will probably be looking at the PS4. May wait longer. We're still getting a lot of play out of the PS3, Santa is bringing the kids more games, so without backwards compatibility there's no reason for us to rush into the PS4 at all.
Click to expand...

I'm not an early adopter so I'll probably stick with current gen for quite a while (especially as a lot of the launch games are coming out on current gen too!). It's always misleading - but it always happens - to declare a winner in the first flurry of sales in the initial months but I would make a gentleman's wager that Sony will win the first round as they seem to have the higest preorders and lack the huge PR gaffes that Microsoft did.

I am a little disappointed with Sony's decision to switch to a paid 'Gold' membership like Xbox for their online offerings (and to also apply this retrospectively to PS3!). Their free online multiplayer was a good selling point for me. I would be ok with paying the content provider directly (e.g. Battlefield 4 publisher) as they should be the ones running the servers and patching etc, but I still scratch my head as to why I should pay the device owners (Sony/Microsoft) as they're only my gateway to the content provider. You don't pay Steam to use multiplayer functions on the games on their database so I just don't get it.

Speaking of which, there's obviously the Steambox, Wii U and other devices out there. It'll be interesting to see what effect smartphones, iPads and other devices has on the traditional console market.

Oh, and I get NF's point about the Xbox One having a better media offering than the PS4 but that's only true in the US as they haven't signed or designed their content deals outside of the US. A bit similar to my gripes about Sony's japanese publishers taking forever (if at all) to port games to the EU. That's one thing I hope dies in the new console generation - region exclusivity. I understand that translation costs money, but not that much and it's annoying when I have to see whether or not I can import a game from a different region and cross my fingers to see if it'll work on my PAL configured machine.
 
Sorrow, region exclusivity does seem a bit bizarre nowadays. I also feel sympathy for the Aussies, who have to pay a fortune for their games (I've read it's cheaper to actually import a game from the US than it is to just buy one in a shop in Australia).
 
The PS4 does seem to be really limiting using it as a media platform. Unless these things are changed, I see no reason to stop using the PS3 :-(

Can I watch DVD movies using the PS4 system?
Yes, the PS4 system supports DVD movie playback; you will need to download and install the PS4 system’s day-one system software update 1.50, and then activate your Blu-ray Disc video capability with a one-time activation through the internet in order to play Blu-ray Disc films and DVD video content.

Can I listen to audio CDs using the PS4 system?
No, the PS4 system does not support audio CDs.

Will users be able to connect an external hard drive to expand storage on the PS4 system?
No, this feature is not supported on PS4.

Will PS4 support media servers or DLNA support in order to stream videos or movies from a home PC?
The PS4 system does not support client functionality for media servers.

Taken from: PlayStation 4: The ultimate FAQ – Europe – PlayStation.Blog.Europe
And: PS4: The Ultimate FAQ – North America – PlayStation.Blog
 
Dozmonic - Your last 3 points actually put me off buying the PS4. The PS3 does all those things and more. I just can't fathom how Sony would charge an exorbitant price and not have these features. Maybe the console would cost a lot more with these features.

I also heard that PSN will now including a subscription fee when you get the PS4.
 
The audio CD issue seems weird to me. It's not something that bothers me personally, but it seems so easy and basic that it's odd not to have it.
 
It's primarily an attempt to force users to use the play station media streaming services. The thing is, Sony don't seem to realise that humans don't like to have choice taken away from them and will find a way around it. They're doing themselves no favours with those kind of decisions because usually their hardware is better and more reliable than microsoft's
 
Ah. That makes sense. It's obnoxious, annoying and counter-productive, but it does make sense.
 
thaddeus6th said:
Sorrow, region exclusivity does seem a bit bizarre nowadays. I also feel sympathy for the Aussies, who have to pay a fortune for their games (I've read it's cheaper to actually import a game from the US than it is to just buy one in a shop in Australia).
Click to expand...

it is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper to buy a game in the US and import it for Australians. And by significantly i mean up to and sometimes even more than 50 or 60% cheaper. Mortal Kombat (the new one with the x-ray moves) for example, when released was refused classification in Oz, so i had to buy it from the US... for USD$40. i paid AUD$37. Free postage.
Had the game been released in Oz, i would have happily supported my local retailer and paid the VERY likely price of AUD$100 (or $10 more or less). Classification board in Australia lost retailers a huge chunk of money by not allowing the game to be sold.
The stupid thing with the pricing issue is that most of the newer TVs and of course the consoles themselves can go back and forth between PAL and NTSC. Personally i've never had an issue with format incompatibility. So theres almost no reason that region exclusivity should continue to exist, nor for that matter regional pricing variations. i can understand the business reasons, but the practical realities of a global market make them all-but null and void.
 
That's pretty disgusting, frankly. Presumably downloaded games cost just as much?

On the PS4: I'm hearing reports that when new buyers turn it on it, er, doesn't work. Even worse than the 'meant not to work' pre-bricked Xbox One, this is just a not-working mistake by the manufacturer. Not sure how commonplace the problem is.
 
thaddeus6th said:
On the PS4: I'm hearing reports that when new buyers turn it on it, er, doesn't work. Even worse than the 'meant not to work' pre-bricked Xbox One, this is just a not-working mistake by the manufacturer. Not sure how commonplace the problem is.
Click to expand...

Not entirely surprising. Launching a console is a difficult thing to pull off.

But it also illustrates why I think being a fanboy is self-defeating--these companies don't really care about you, outside of your being a conduit for profit. I don't really find that problematic (it's how the world works, of course), but it also makes brand-loyalty a bit weird. There is no "good" one and there is no "evil" one--just more and less PR-savvy ones in specific situations.
 
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