Console Warz, 2020

[FMPONE]

Just curious where everyone stands on PlayStation 5 vs the Xbox Series X. I’ve heard that the Series X has more powerful system specs? 

Unspoken of course is the fact that Nintendo consoles are almost always the best consoles. 

Here is a thread to discuss the ongoing Console Battles for supremacy. I thought it would be interesting to see everyone break down the Pros and Cons of each. I don’t really care about Halo anymore and have consistently delayed buying a PlayStation, to my regret, so will be purchasing a PS5 upon release. 

[ZZZ]

The spec war is ludicrous in the comments sections. Teraflops vs SSD speed. The only advantage that I see is that PS5 might draw less power and the system might use up less RAM due to the SSD speeds. Other than that, the xbox has more TMUs and more ROPs, which translates into more pixels.

Games on PCs from now on are going to require SSDs and 8-cores are quickly going to be a requisite.

[-HP-]

At the end of the day, a console is only as good as it's games (exclusives). There's other variables such as how powerful the hardware is, ease and accessibility for developers, it's price all the way down to how good it's UI is and social features.

Last gen, the xbox dominated the first half. It released a year earlier, was cheaper, great social features, big portfolio of games both first and third party. The ps3 eventually caught up in the second half, as the price went down, developers eventually cracked that god awful cell processor along with its weird hardware and it had awesome first party games.

That said, the winner was still the wii, with more than 100 mil consoles sold, and hardware had nothing to do with it, as for my original point. But, you can also argue that Nintendo plays in its own league.

This gen, the undeniable winner was the ps4, there's almost no point in owning a xbox one. The switch also came later, with a GPU isnt exactly powerful and again it's just Nintendo doing what it does best, but this time you're also seeing a lot of third party games being released there. 

Now, for the new gen, I think Xbox is really going to try and refocus itself back to games. Not long ago they acquired 12 or so studios, which in itself is a move that speaks volumes about their strategy. I'm loving what I'm seeing in terms of specs too, and I absolutely love the xbox controller.

So, time will tell... by default, I'm a Playstation guy, I just love the whole ecosystem they've got going on, but I'm hoping this new gen the fight is brought back to a even playing field, and we have some healthy competition between the 3 giants.

[Vilham]

Guarantee there will be next to no difference between the visual quality of games on either console.

Microsoft drive to make all their games playable on PC is great for gamers, not so great for Xbox, meanwhile Sony has half a dozen high quality exclusives.

Sony has "won" every generational contest against MS, I doubt there will be any difference here.

[dux]

Sega Saturn

[Zarsky]

Nah, VR is the future, so I'm all in on the Virtual Boy.

 

Hardware looks similar for both consoles which gives a lot of promise for the games to come. My main console is a PS4 Pro, and it will fly out of the window once PS5 enters the house. Got a fairly decent PC that will take care of the Xbox side of things. All bases covered. Bring them games.

[-HP-]

6 hours ago, dux said:

Sega Saturn

Sega Dreamcast!

 

*fixed

[Minos]

I'll go with a Nanica Smitch next generation!

[FMPONE]

I know we’re fucking around here but this is the only viable gaming option for those with seventeen AA batteries 

[-HP-]

The game gear had a radio antenna adapter? Wat

[blackdog]

On 4/10/2020 at 5:21 AM, [HP] said:

That said, the winner was still the wii, with more than 100 mil consoles sold, and hardware had nothing to do with it, as for my original point.

That’s only a win for shareholders. In Wii’s case sales “mean nothing”, in the sense that so many people bought it, got bored after a short time when the novelty of Wii Sports ended and the console lied there to collect dust and take shelf space.
They maybe got it out when someone got them a game for their birthday or bought the balance board, and that as well was shelved shortly after.

I would be interested in seeing the actual number of players actually logging in and regularly buying games.

I’ve had the PS4 6 months, only completed one game but already bought more games for it than my friends when they got their Wiis.

Edited April 11, 2020 by blackdog

[will2k]

<start>

      <slightly off-topic meme>

</end>

      </slightly off-topic meme>

Now back to your on-topic conversation 

[Beck]

On 4/11/2020 at 6:10 AM, [HP] said:

The game gear had a radio antenna adapter? Wat

It was a TV aerial so you could watch TV on your Game Gear. I had one and it worked really well, just didn't have the amount of batteries required to run the thing so was always tied to a plug in the wall

I'm holding off on this generation, probably going to wait a couple years, see what games come out and maybe wait for a good bundle deal/the inevitable mid-generation console upgrades (PS5 Pro/Xbox Series XXX). I game mostly on my PC anyway and play co-op games with my fiance on the Switch. So far the PS5 has my vote since they'll probably have the better games. We'll see what MS can do.

[Mitch Mitchell]

On 4/9/2020 at 10:33 PM, FMPONE said:

Just curious where everyone stands on PlayStation 5 vs the Xbox Series X. I’ve heard that the Series X has more powerful system specs? 

Unspoken of course is the fact that Nintendo consoles are almost always the best consoles. 

Here is a thread to discuss the ongoing Console Battles for supremacy. I thought it would be interesting to see everyone break down the Pros and Cons of each. I don’t really care about Halo anymore and have consistently delayed buying a PlayStation, to my regret, so will be purchasing a PS5 upon release. 

 

XBSX

Pro: Hardware

Con: Cost of ownership

What we want: Absolutely no dedication of system resources being applied to anything other than games, whilst playing games; movies whilst playing movies; tv whilst watching tv and more importantly, for the second time: games whilst playing games.

 

PS5

Pro: Hardware and developer-centric

Con: UI/GUI/UX (historically)

What we want: A new PlayStation. I know, it sounds kinda crazy, but it really is at the center of our desire: a new PlayStation. Not a new games console, but a new PlayStation. There has always been something very 'Japanese' about the PlayStation, almost as if the designers came down from Mount Fuji with a smile on their face and joy in their hearts, eager and willing to bring that joy to others with ingenuous reverence and indifference to what others were doing at the time. PlayStation was different, unique and very very very clever.

PlayStation is not another games console, it is a PlayStation. Emphasis on PLAY.

 

On a technical level, I think Sony has won this round.

On a perceptual level, I think MS has the lead, but will lose by a gnats hair as this round will be very very very similar to the XB360/PS3 round, wherein the difference wasn't very high (1 million units to PS3?).

 

As an aside to this, and from a developer standpoint: how due we feel about Real-Time, now that lightmaps are no longer going to be a requirement? And games install sizes are going to be significantly reduced for the same reason? We will need the basic texture for sure, but no more lightmaps? That's quite a reduction pre-runtime and runtime. Very interested in this, and, coming back to the comparisons between MS and Sony; as Sony has a gargantuan lead over MS for decompressing textures in real-time, what is MS going to do when developers cannot use MS for game worlds that require rapid speed of loading? Is it going to be like GTA3 all over again, when you have to wait for the games console to load the adjacent segment of the map, poised at the ready, unable to take your eyes off the screen because when it (finally) loads, you are traveling at100 miles per hour and might hit a truck and die?

The thing about developers is that they cannot go back. You give developers tools and they will use them with reverence, and, they will have to have uncomfortable conversations with the higher-ups along the lines of 'we cannot make the XBSX load the map that fast...you need to make the map smaller, or introduce a game mechanic to stop players moving so fast'.

XBSX will break games that require fast loading, AFAICT.

[blackdog]

48 minutes ago, Mitch Mitchell said:

On a perceptual level, I think MS has the lead, but will lose by a gnats hair as this round will be very very very similar to the XB360/PS3 round, wherein the difference wasn't very high (1 million units to PS3?).

What makes you say that? With all Xbox games coming to PC as well I feel like: “Xbox what?” and I’m talking as someone who really likes the X360 (my first console as well)