Xbox One

[jman]

Nah.. the steamboxes wont do owt to the console market.. any gamer with a pc usually has a console to play on too anyway.. thats just the way it is... I wouldnt want to limit myself to just pc games - they miss out on a lot of console greats... GTA5 hasnt even been announced for the pc yet for example...

[Late]

There's loads come out for pc that don't make console, too. (It's had major problems, so Sim City is probably not the best example, but it's the first that springs to mind.) So I consider it's swings and roundabouts when it comes to what games come out on console/pc.

If a steambox costs about the same as a console, and the games are largely the same, and the resale market's the same (digital download vs physical with restricted resale) - but games cost about £40 on the consoles and about £20 on the pc then I'm definitely tempted by the pc option.

[Late]

ps4/x-one comparison thoughts by Avalanche Studios, on EDGE.
No real surprises in there, tbh.
PS4 has more raw power on paper. X-one not far behind, and eminently capable of catching up with cloud infrastructure and a few other tweaks.
Sounds very similar to the ps3/xbox360 comparisons we were reading around 7 years ago, to be honest, where the ps3 was widely recognised as slightly better on paper, but most games being almost identical on the two machines.

[jman]

There's loads come out for pc that don't make console, too. (It's had major problems, so Sim City is probably not the best example, but it's the first that springs to mind.) So I consider it's swings and roundabouts when it comes to what games come out on console/pc.

If a steambox costs about the same as a console, and the games are largely the same, and the resale market's the same (digital download vs physical with restricted resale) - but games cost about £40 on the consoles and about £20 on the pc then I'm definitely tempted by the pc option.

Well Sim City is probably a terrible example for reasons other than the massive launch cock-up... mainly the fact that its made by EA who use Origin to release their games.. so Sim City and all EA games are not available to download via steam and wouldnt be available on a steam box anyway    (Thats of course if Valve lock the steambox.. i.e. tie it to just using steam.. if they let you download other apps and stuff onto the box, then its entirely possible to play games not found on steam).

But overall I think I'd much prefer console exclusives over pc exclusives.. which usually fall into three categories - MMORPGs, RPGs or Strategy Games... thats not to say I dont enjoy those games.. Strategy games are one of my favourites.. and I typically buy them on the pc for the better experience.. but I couldnt of survived this gen with just a pc and no 360...thats partly because I have bought a lot of used games.. if microsoft are going to regulate and start charging for used games themselves then I'd expect the new game price to go down.

[Late]

Well Sim City is probably a terrible example for reasons other than the massive launch cock-up... mainly the fact that its made by EA who use Origin to release their games.. so Sim City and all EA games are not available to download via steam and wouldnt be available on a steam box anyway    (Thats of course if Valve lock the steambox.. i.e. tie it to just using steam.. if they let you download other apps and stuff onto the box, then its entirely possible to play games not found on steam).

But overall I think I'd much prefer console exclusives over pc exclusives.. which usually fall into three categories - MMORPGs, RPGs or Strategy Games... thats not to say I dont enjoy those games.. Strategy games are one of my favourites.. and I typically buy them on the pc for the better experience.. but I couldnt of survived this gen with just a pc and no 360...thats partly because I have bought a lot of used games.. if microsoft are going to regulate and start charging for used games themselves then I'd expect the new game price to go down.

lol - yeah, Steambox is confirmed as unlocked and open to other systems/applications
Can't remember if they said they're having Windows, Linux, or something else as os, but it's not a proprietary system - and you'll be able to boot into other modes than Steam Big Picture.
Or that's my understanding, anyway, from reports a few months back. Of course nothing's finalised and we're a long way from launch, so nothing's certain. But I'm in no immediate rush to buy a next gen machine, so I'm keeping Steambox in mind as a definite option.

I agree that new game prices should definitely drop if next gen consoles are to follow a similar model to pc games. "Should" is the operative word, though. As I said in my last post, if they're using a model similar to pc games but the console versions are still considerably more expensive than pc ones then steambox definitely looks a tempting alternative.
Microsoft's games next gen really shouldn't be significantly more expensive than games on Steam. Bet they are, though.

[Late]

Whilst Kinect 2.0 is impressive, it's also bloody scary too.
It's constantly recording both video (at 1080) and audio, it knows who's in the room, and it knows where their eyes are pointed.
Aside from the obvious potential for marketing and voyeurism, Microsoft reportedly have patents in place to check how many people are watching a film, for instance, so they can charge extra if there's more people in the room, and patents to pause adverts if you look away from the screen...

[harv]

Lmfao

Good luck with seeing the retail prices of games going down this gen. A lower price means less royalties on each game sold for Sony and Microsoft. Can't see that happening tbh. If anything you'll probably see games being a tenner more expensive due to development costs rising now that developers have the power under the hood to make 1080p native games possible.

Going to be interesting to see what Sony do after all of this fuss over the One. They'll probably leave it up to the publishers which could see PS4 owners boycotting games. Going to be very interesting to see how this all turns out.

[jman]

If anything you'll probably see games being a tenner more expensive due to development costs rising now that developers have the power under the hood to make 1080p native games possible.

Why haven't pc game prices gone up.. and why are Wii U games the normal price then?  All games on the X1 will be available in disc and digital form.  I cant see why game prices will stay the same when they have cut the middle-man out with FULL digital downloads.. and cutting the middle-man out from used games will surely make more money for publishers.

Going to be interesting to see what Sony do after all of this fuss over the One. They'll probably leave it up to the publishers which could see PS4 owners boycotting games. Going to be very interesting to see how this all turns out.

Dont forget.. Sony introduced PSN Pass a few years back now.. and whilst they dont charge for single-player content on used games at the moment (and to be fair to the X1 - Microsoft have not fully confirmed anything yet)... why would they of done this if they are totally consumer-focused - this type of thing has been brewing for a long time... Sony are as money grabbing as Microsoft imo.

EA have dropped their online passes - this is enough to say to me that whatever happens... individual publishers/developers wont be implementing their own systems come the next gen... I cant see EA implementing online passes for the PS4 but not for the X1.. its going to be all down to Sony/Microsoft how they handle it.. via a fee to play the entire used game or a fee to play the online portion of a used game - hopefully it will be the latter for both companies.

[harv]

PC games are cheaper because of piracy being rife on the platform. Wii U games at launch were a tenner more expensive than their PS3 and 360 counterparts. When all 3 current gen consoles are on the market you'll probably see the price of Wii U games going up too despite the platform being a great deal cheaper to develop for due to the tens of thousands of pounds of middleware and software free with each dev kit and the lower native resolution.

They certainly won't be cheaper.

[Late]

Rumours today that activation fee for second hand X-One games will be around £35.

If true they can stick their console up their ar$e.
(An uncomfortable proposition with any console. Probably moreso with one that's akin in size and dimensions to my first video player.)

[bealec]

If that's correct then I'll be buying a ps4.

Who decided that was a good idea?

[harv]

If that's correct then I'll be buying a ps4.

Who decided that was a good idea?

See the image I posted above lol.

That can't be right, surely..? That's going to put the likes of Game, CEX, Zavvi and HMV out of business. And they're all struggling to stay afloat as it is. That has to be a load of old bollocks, even as much as a tenner would be over the top.

If that's true then the console is going to fail miserably unless it's £199.99.

[harv]

Looks like they're changing their plans now lol

They had to really, whoever thought that was a good idea is a few sandwiches short of a picnic!!!

[Late]

That's not a change of plans - that's a dismissal of a rumor. A subtle but quite pertinent distinction.

[jman]

Aye, I think the rumour was from a website saying that the maximum discount on used games would be 10%.. so taking 10% of a normal £39.99 RRP gives you around £35... all of it, just pure speculation of course.  There are a lot of questions, all of them hopefully being answered at E3.. although I don't think we'll get a release date or price from either company.