Next Generation Consoles

[Buffalobiian]

PC games are customizable/modable to extend their play value and graphical awesomeness, and the PC is obviously useful for so many other reasons. Even so, I have an X360 and PS3 for the games that are exclusive to those consoles.

It's true that you can upgrade PCs, but I've also seen that it's really not needed in consoles, since games would naturally scale down for them during their lifespan. Your console probably last about as long as a proper computer.

The PS3 retained 2006/2007 and is being replaced later on this year. My i5-760/HD5870 rig has been with me since around 2009/2010 and I think it's about due for a complete upgrade (as far as cpu/mobo/gfx is concerned) sometime early 2015. The cost of the PS4 is around 500AUD here, and I can't imagine the parts upgrade costing anything less.

The besides the cost here, there's also the cost of running a computer for general use. My monitor/PC idles at around 110watts, and with my sound system plus light cpu load it usually draws 110-150W of electricity. Using the same sound system on my laptop would draw.. 40W max? Electricity's costing higher and higher these days, so it's definitely something to consider.

Gaming PCs have their places and reasons for existence, and cost is one that seems to be diminishing. Granted, some games are simply horrible to play without a mouse/keyboard..

[Animeniax]

Your current PC is fine to play any current game at good to high settings, so the "need" to upgrade is probably fabricated by a sense of consumerism and materialism. At most you could upgrade your GPU and have a system that lasts another few years.

I like the ability to mod games with graphics packs and skins. Of course this means you need a stronger computer to be able to play the games, and admittedly by the time a lot of packs come out I've already completed the game twice and there's little chance I'll play through them again even with the enhanced visuals.

[Buffalobiian]

Your current PC is fine to play any current game at good to high settings, so the "need" to upgrade is probably fabricated by a sense of consumerism and materialism. At most you could upgrade your GPU and have a system that lasts another few years.

I don't know if you missed it in my post, but I was saying that my system would be due for an upgrade at around late 2014/early 2015.

It puts the PC on roughly the same lifespan as the PS3, but with a higher cost.

[Kraco]

I like the ability to mod games with graphics packs and skins. Of course this means you need a stronger computer to be able to play the games, and admittedly by the time a lot of packs come out I've already completed the game twice and there's little chance I'll play through them again even with the enhanced visuals.

I'm not much of a gamer, but the games I've played extensively have always been highly moddable and modded ones. Like Elder Scrolls, Civilizations, Flashpoint/Armas, some Quake engine based ones. And consequently I have used as much or even much more time modding some of those games than actually playing them. I can't be a game dev like DS, yet I derive much satisfaction from creating content for existing games. Regardless, I have of late been considering getting PS4 at some later point as my first gaming console ever to be able to have a look at some of the Japanese rpgs and action games that I've never much experienced due to their regularly missing PC ports.

[Animeniax]

I don't know if you missed it in my post, but I was saying that my system would be due for an upgrade at around late 2014/early 2015.

It puts the PC on roughly the same lifespan as the PS3, but with a higher cost.

Yeah I missed that part because of your long sentences. Work on that please.

I'm not much of a gamer, but the games I've played extensively have always been highly moddable and modded ones. Like Elder Scrolls, Civilizations, Flashpoint/Armas, some Quake engine based ones. And consequently I have used as much or even much more time modding some of those games than actually playing them. I can't be a game dev like DS, yet I derive much satisfaction from creating content for existing games. Regardless, I have of late been considering getting PS4 at some later point as my first gaming console ever to be able to have a look at some of the Japanese rpgs and action games that I've never much experienced due to their regularly missing PC ports.

Definitely half the fun of some games is modding them, and in some cases the mods were better than the original game (CS, BF Desert Combat). I had a lot of fun modding Skyrim because the mods came out in the midst of my 110 hours of game time. That may seem meager to some but that's a lot of time to me.

[Edort4]

What I save from deals on steam, green gaming, humble, gocdkeys compensates expending even 500$ more on a pc than o console. And that without taking into account modding, multitasking, streaming etc.

[Animeniax]

I miss the days when you could sell your PC games either to EBGames or to other gamers. Recently if there was a choice between console and PC versions, I've bought the console version so I could sell it when I was finished. Now with Steam/Origin/etc it's a scam where you can't sell the game without giving away the account.

One thing I definitely prefer with PC gaming is portability. I can play a game on my home PC and then continue during downtime on the work PC. With cloud storage I don't have to manually move save games.

[Ryllharu]

This thread seems to be the most appropriate.



This is Valve's new controller for Steam and SteamOS. Read their announcement page to get the details on it.

Gamasutra has a good article on what developers who have used it say about it.




My Thoughts:

At first, I thought they fucked up royally. But I've changed my mind a little after reading more articles and comments.

Apparently, the thing is about the size of a standard Xbox360 controller (the current de facto standard "PC gamepad"). It has the two trackpads, the four face buttons (ABXY), the touchpad (which is broken up into four quadrants for quick access), two shoulder buttons, two shoulder scroll-buttons, and two paddles on the back where your fingertips end up. All fully configurable and stuff. The things they can do with the trackpads alone seems quite strong, enabling run just by moving to the outer ring, or making it swipeable if you move fast across it, etc.

It seems to have the accuracy of the touchpad on the back of the PS Vita (which is really good), with the added benefit of having some pretty unique haptic feedback in it. I'd love to try the trackpads.

But my major problem with it is the face buttons. The placement on X and A in particular isn't great. It's like R3/L3, but you have to remove your thumbs from the movement trackpad to hit them.

I think their only huge mistake was calling them A,B,X, and Y. They're always going to be treated as face buttons, when X and Y are more of a Start/Select. It also might have been better if they moved them above the trackpads, similar to the way X and Y were placed on the gamecube controller above the oversized A button. If they want to leave them where they are, Valve needs to change them to something else, like 1, 2, 3, 4. That's the only way they'll break the conception that those buttons would be used as frequently as the face buttons on a standard layout controller are.


The really good news? N64 Controller users who were cursed into becoming southpaws should feel right at home. Just swap the pads.

[UChessmaster]

What is SteamOS exactly...?

[darkshadow]

Valve's custom ubuntu for their steambox.

[UChessmaster]

And what does it do that Windows can`t?

[Ryllharu]

Make Valve more money directly. It'll be Valve's walled garden.

As much as Gabe has expressed that Windows 8 and the store "threatens" gaming, it's all just a bunch of bullshit. MS has made no effort to push people to buying games through the store that you can't get elsewhere (besides like Skulls of the Shogun, which they published directly, but is on Steam anyway...).

They claim is that SteamOS is faster on certain games, but by marginal levels (2-3% on Valve optimized old titles using specific hardware configurations).

In reality, MS doesn't give a shit where you buy your games so long as you are using Windows. Gabe cares a great deal about losing the near-monopoly Steam has today.