Think back to console wars past. Have you noticed that the further forward you recall them, the more silly they've become? Let's go as far back as, say, Super Nintendo versus Sega Genesis. Both were great and had some multiplatform titles, yet both were heavily defined by their exclusives. You just knew what a Genesis game looked like and what a SNES game looked like. Graphics aside, they simply felt different. Genesis was perhaps the pinnacle of what we understood about gaming and SNES pushed our understanding beyond its conventions (particularly Star Fox). Competition was good. It was healthy. Fun smack talk between two worthy rivals depending on your interests. Then comes the next generation with PlayStation, Saturn, and N64. Saturn's advertising was poor, hurting its success considerably. It really came down to N64 versus PlayStation and the new guy turn out to be the most popular in school. And with PlayStation's success came the expansion of the JRPG genre which has historically been heavily associated with PlayStation since. It became one of its differentiating experiences. Cue Dreamcast, PS2, GameCube, and, eventually, Xbox. Dreamcast bowed out thanks to Sony's aggressive marketing. And some gamers blamed PS2 for that. GameCube lost a good amount of Nintendo's following and Xbox made a name for itself with its relatively robust online platform. In the end, PS2 gained an almost absurd market share for Sony and they rode that fan love into the next generation with...a $600 console with lackluster launch titles? It launched a year behind Xbox 360 which already did online service better and had a good sized install base. Sony dug themselves a hole and they came out of it by devoting a lot of their time to first party titles and creating more immersive, cinematic experiences. These two consoles, vastly different in architecture and online setup, still however shared many titles. Exclusives disappeared. It then became an issue of network, controller preference, and whatever exclusives remained. Then Sony introduced PlayStation Plus, giving them a strong advantage and prompting Xbox to counter with Games with Gold. Competition between the companies heated up and in the process, created a rift unseen in gamers. Xbox vs PS2 wasn't so bad, but PS3 vs. Xbox 360? You had two machines with similar games and vastly different architectures that had people arguing specs for the better part of the generation. Worst yet, you had people who hadn't the foggiest talking specs talking about incredible power differences when the games oftentimes were comparable in performance. Somewhat irrelevant though: Nintendo took down both Sony and Microsoft with a weaker but more unique platform. Despite being the most diverse, people argued about the superiority of the platforms that were more akin to traditional consoles.
And now we have PS4, Xbox One, and Wii U. Again, Wii U being the most individualized console, is set aside...that is, the most individualized at the time of me writing this.
Now, however, we start the generation with two consoles that have virtually the same architecture, have games of similar quality, both have great controllers, comparable online experiences with some minute differences that must be paid for, and share even more games than before. What we fight about now includes (but not limited to) backwards compatibility, Spotify, EA Access, and apparently sometimes, games. And when games are on both, it becomes a matter of frame rate tears, resolution, and loading times. Yep. We're now debating playing old games on our new consoles, having a music service, playing games early/free, and which runs better. It's gotten pretty bad.
But now, Sony and Microsoft made great moves that bode well for the future of their platforms. Now that Xbox One and Windows 10 developed a heavily intertwined relationship with Xbox One, porting and shared experiences are now possible. The best part? Cross-platform play. This, in my opinion, is perhaps the best way to compete in a healthy way. The details still need some elaboration, but presumable, I can either hop on my Xbox One to play with my Xbox friends or I can fire up my PS4 and still play with them. Microsoft has done a lot to make great moves this generation under Spencer and I believe we can say Microsoft has changed their stance on a lot. Perhaps they may wish to move to a more service-based approach where gamers on the PlayStation side of the fence can appreciate their offerings. Regardless, everyone wins. If you worried that not enough Xbox gamers bought a game, your PlayStation buddies may have. And if you're feeling brave, take on your PC mates who undoubtedly employ some crazy advantageous setup (I kid, mostly). My point is, with this move, you have more friends and the experience is cheaper. No Xbox One? Don't need one to play Xbox One players. Are your friends console peasants? You can still hand down judgment from your rig. The sense of community in gaming becomes positive and more friendly with this move. I, for one, cannot say enough how cool I think this is. Remember that guy you argued with on an online message board who said, "dude, you can't beat me in Call of Duty. You're lucky I only have this console or I'd school you!" ? Well, nobody actually talks like that (I hope not) but point being, they're gonna have to prove themselves now. Should be interesting to see how that plays out...
Next, we have Sony with PlayStation VR. It's a complete change of pace with incredible support and great early impressions. A medium many of us have dreamed about since the days of the Power Glove are being realized in a far more glorious format. We're talking about a great sense of immersion, mates. We're talking about an entirely new way to play. We're talking about something significant that actually makes a good case for choosing a console over another that does not limit itself to arguing about trivial things like background music and backwards compatibility (say what you will, but if playing old games is a dealbreaker, well, I'll have to respectfully disagree since both platforms launched without it; it's a bonus, if anything). The future looks great here, especially with a fair price tag and some very interesting looking games. I'll be looking at Robinson: The Journey before too long.
And last but certainly not least, Nintendo's NX looks to be a sincerely competitive platform that can rival PS4 and Xbox One in terms of power with super-easy development (if the rumors are true). It's a promising prospect for Nintendo that almost guarantees third party support and shows their return to good form. This is a platform to get excited about as it looks to be recapturing Nintendo's glory from the SNES/N64 days when it made you proud to own a Nintendo. Things have changed over the years, but NX sounds oh so much better with every patent and rumor that surfaces.
In summary, we have some great things over the Horizon for all three of the companies. Big things are happening and we can really embrace the offerings of all three. If VR is your thing, you can get a pretty well-received setup at an affordable price on PS4. Wish Nintendo would get with the times? Hang on as we learn more about the NX. Can't wait to get into the game with some cross-platform goodness? Thanks, Microsoft. Maybe it's just me, but this is the healthy competition and diverse interests and experiences I've missed for so many years in gaming. It's great to see that we can still be surprised and all three are doing big things for us, the gamers.
To that, let's agree: that 'This is for the Players' and it's high time we 'Jump Ahead'. And as a keen throw back, 'Get N or Get Out'.
The Final Fantasy VII Rebirth combat director has expressed that he wants the final part in the trilogy to offer players "even more freedom".
I love the game so far but please don’t make the final part a mini game fest
Everytime I get to a new part in Rebirth it’s “mini game time”
Hope ya don't mind me asking since it seems like you've played it, did it feel like a decent step up from the last game or was it more like the best from the last but more polished?
It makes Remake feel like a demo.
9.5/10 imo. And I think the “mini games” did a great job of adding variety to the gameplay. Purely optional as well.
Here's my thoughts
I think it's a big step up from the first instalment, I'm enjoying it way more.
I thought keeping it just in Midgar was silly, it felt dragged out and it didn't have much variation in terms of the scenery.
However with Rebirth, as soon as you get out of Kalm you have a big world to explore and it's great to just wander round and explore.
Now that I'm half way in though, despite still liking what I'm playing, the gameplay loop is now starting to slow down on me. I've got to a new region and I'm like "Yaaay...need to go and find those towers again, oh look another special beast marker, is that a bird I see in the distance? Better follow it to another Mako Crystal"
It's like....you know how Peter Jackson was only supposed to have two Hobbit films then Warner Bros wanted a third film so he stretched the second film out as much as he could so he could keep stuff for the third film making a trilogy? Yeah it feels like that, so these mini games are a part of that overall gameplay loop to keep us going and stretch the game out overall so they have something for the third and final game.
I personally think you could have had the first instalment get you out of Midgar and through to Grasslands / Junon and the second game finishes things off.
I had a weird cycle of love/hate for all the mini games as I played through. At first I really hated the seeming need to check all these boxes while exploring the grasslands. I didn't enjoy the Gilgamesh quest initially, and thought Queen's blood was fine but didn't want to commit to it. The side quests didn't really grab me either.
Then for some reason everything in Junon region changed my mind and I did pretty much everything. I liked most of the side quests, I actually liked playing fort condor (didn't care for it in the intergrade dlc). And my interest for completing these quests stayed pretty much through to Cosmo Canyon.
Then they added that horrible Lifestream memory/battle mini game and I started getting so burnt out of it all. I just wanted to do the story. I didn't do any side quests in neibleheim and beyond except for the summon. I abandoned Gilgamesh.
So what I'm saying is I would like the third part to go back to the focused progression from remake. Keep the mini games to the gold saucer. Start the game snowboarding if you want, but from there keep the story rolling.
That's funny you say that because I did everything in the Grasslands but once in Junon I started to slow down a little until Corel where by the end I was burnt out. I'm still currently going but I'm just doing what I can while things keep getting thrown at me.
I would have preferred half of these mini game side fillers / collectibles for some really beefy side quests that really adds onto the world of FFVII.
As long as it comes out on PS5 to have the entire series on one platform, do whatever you want
Wccf tech writes: "Kingdom Come Deliverance 2's scope was impacted by the Xbox Series S hardware limitations, as developers could only make a game that was 25% bigger than its predecessor."
This is the issue with things like this
Xbox Series X is apparently to MS the worlds most powerful console
However the Series S is obviously a limitation because it’s underpowered and developers have to go for parity.
So what’s the point of the world’s most powerful console if you are holding third party developers back? They aren’t going to push themselves if they have to think about the weakest console.
The issue wouldn’t be as bad if it was just Xbox but you are also affecting the PS version aswell
I think developers need to start just taking advantage of a console and if one of them can’t do X Y and Z then f*** them…why should the others suffer. What’s MS going to do? The bigger the franchise the least chance MS are going to tell them to f*** off. Baulders Gate 3 seemed to have stood their ground and suddenly their “strict” parity rule didn’t really matter. We suddenly got super optimisation efforts for the Series S that got things sorted.
I agree, and the sad part is use normal folk saw it the second they announced their plans.
More info from the author of the article, I think: https://www.reddit.com/r/ki...
Quote:
"1) I was told this info from the producer of the game Martin Klíma.
2) He specifically said the game will have only one mode.
3) And this mode is 4K 30 on PS5/XSX and 1440p 30 on XSS.
4) He said that the game is already running north of the 30 FPS cap so the performance should be stable on launch, much better than KCD1.
5) The limitation was XSS because of the 10GB memory. He said that's why they wanted to make the game 25% larger.
6) Speculation on my part: the output resolution is probably upscaled and the reason why there won't be a 60 FPS mode is because it'll most likely be very CPU heavy, like Dragon's Dogma 2 for example."
Doesn't seem like they're adding a 40fps mode on PS5/Series X for launch even if they can handle it.
I'd much rather have 1440p/60fps or even 45fps. Having just one, even with the Series S in mind, is disappointing.
Remember when xbots were adamant that the series s won’t hold back the gen?
Microsoft just needs to let go of the mandatory parity. Who cares if your grandma doesn’t understand that a game cannot be played on the S. It’s not like it she can buy you a physical game for it anyway. Before buying the game put up a notice that it only works on series X. If you’re buying for a friend-allow for a refund.
Bam. Everyone is happy. Most series s owners are for casuals that want Game Pass anyway and most likely don’t purchase most games.
If the developers want it to run on S, let them figure it out.
“During the event, the Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 producer also revealed that on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, the game will run at 4K resolution and 30 frames per second“
Another “creative decision” right? 🤦♂️
Since you're not an amateur and clearly know more than them, can you over there and help get the game running on the S without having to sacrifice their true vision. Us gamers would really appreciate you using your wisdom for good 🙏
Thousands of games run just fine on S.
But Kingdom Come is the game that can’t. Must be one hell of a game!
Custom Controller Company HexGaming launched a Kickstarter campaign for their latest pro controller, Hex Phantom. - IS
I really feel that MS is turning the negativity around a lot, and that Sony being so beaten down last generation, and that MS being so beaten during the Xbox One reveal that they both have become more humble.
Phil Spencer at the helm of MS seem to also has steered the industry into positivity.
Let's hope we can end 3rd party exclusivity soon so all gamers are treated equally and can get access to games they want on their platform of choice.
All the console turmoil makes me glad I spent my money on building a new PC.
Most of the 3rd party games come to PC, Xbox games are coming to PC, and we are starting to see more cross games.
Unfortunately I don't have much reverence for PS4 exclusive since I grew up with Nintendo consoles, and then I got a 360.
On top of that, I can get all the new games for $30 dollars on day and date.
Great time to be a PC gamer.
All the positive things that MS are doing is still not swaying PS fans minds in picking one up. And granted that once you become a loyalist you tend not to want to give credit to anything else.
They see these moves are desperation and MS practically begging for somebody to buy their product (like that video professor guy hocking his DVD's on how to teach you to use your PC or whatever). The fact the XB1 has gotten so much better than it started out means nothing to them. They have their minds made up and nothing is going to change that.
But there is a faction of gamers who see the changes and understands that healthy competition can mean those involved will all be better for it. It is those people that fit right in the middle, willing to give something a chance because they believe in potentiality. They believe there will be something appealing to them to warrant a purchase.
This gen is probably the most close i have ever seen in terms of the two (major) players being virtually the same system. A few specs different but still more alike than different. It's like each side had a spy sitting in on the others round table discussion about what to build next.
There seems to also be this consensus that what one company does, the others have to do. Meaning they expect the same across the board when each company can do what they want. Sony can do their own thing, MS their own thing and of course Nintendo as well. Yet when they do their own things they get serious heat from gamers questioning "why" as if gamers suddenly forgot that these companies are supposed to do their own thing. It's what makes them unique and differentiate them from the next.
They can't please everyone and when they try they get criticized for it. I really do wish the next gen is as different with each companies idea as possible.
I guess with the PS4 selling at a rate of 3:1 even before PSVR price announcement and MS's announcement to get most games on PC I'm not sure if there is that much competition involved anymore.
What console war? PS4 is like at 40 million sold while Xbox One is at 20m. I won't even mention the Wii U.....
If you ask me this war is already over, there is a clear winner.