The Big Bad Console Thread - Sway your Station with an Xboner !

Strictly speaking from the architecture it would surprise me if the Xbox One is harder to program for given Microsoft's reputation with developer tools and their legacy in the X86 space. Then again they could have gone and implemented some silly software that you have to program around. Sort of like for games on Android, if you want to keep the graphics context when someone switches to another app on the phone you have to do some crazy hacks because the OS doesn't really support it (this could have changed in recent versions but I doubt it). There's some fun stories about melted phones when trying to get around that software limitation

It would surprise me greatly if the Xbox One doesn't have some kind of memory management system for its cache so that the developer doesn't have to worry about it unless they want to. Again though, like I said previously and what the article I linked said, it is all about implementation.

Thorne_sl said:

So let me get this straight. If you do not actively hate the Xbox and aren't sucking Sonys knob you are an xbro? Awesome!

People get too invested in this crap. Lets wait for some games and real info.

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Does anyone actually expect anything but more of the same from both of them as far as games go? I know I don't. I'm pretty sure based on what MS has revealed that I'll be either moving from Xbox only to PS or not buying either of them.

Thorne_sl said:

So let me get this straight. If you do not actively hate the Xbox and aren't sucking Sonys knob you are an xbro? Awesome!

People get too invested in this crap. Lets wait for some games and real info.

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When someone is personally unwilling to say "Hey, shit is bad right now from the evidence currently presented" - yes, they clearly are ostriching. Especially with the lack of spinback - and Sony reaffirming their old statements on more than a few topics that people said "Well, maybe Sony misled/lied at their conference".

Games are going to have to be a ton more original and exciting to me to overlook the fact that I won't be able to rent or trial them to any reasonable degree before purchase - I can quote a dozen franchises that I would never have messed with this last generation without rental/cheap used options - which XBone is clearly attempting to restrict (probably to oblivion in the case of rental). There literally, is not a MS exclusive franchise that I give a shit about without getting a good trial in at this point - Fable was the last of it, and they've long since burnt that bridge of assuming before renting it.

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I will own both but the ps4 has launch titles I want. Xbox doesn't

Agonizing the Bait Master_sl said:

I will own both but the ps4 has launch titles I want. Xbox doesn't

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Microsoft doesn't...yet. I'm sure after E3 there will be at least one thing, 15 titles are being announced 8 of which being new IP. Unless Microsoft has serious policy changes to their DRM I am getting a PS4 but even then i am going to a jealous if the rumor of Fallout 4 being a timed exclusive are true.

That PS3 exclusives list picture is missing some major titles like Ni no Kuni and a tonnnnnn of other Japanese exclusives.

Sean_sl said:

That PS3 exclusives list picture is missing some major titles like Ni no Kuni and a tonnnnnn of other Japanese exclusives.

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that's a first party list

Forbin_sl said:

that's a first party list

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Oh right. I am blind today. Considering those guys make nothing but PS3/PSP/PSV games though they might as well be first party.

Also no one cares about your weeabo games Sean

Ronne_sl said:

Also no one cares about your weeabo games Sean

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Bro like 50,000 people care. Honestly I don't know how they make a profit, theymustbe cheap as fuck to produce.

Also it's hilarious that they all get localized, yet Square and Namco-Bandai are bitches about localizing some of their stuff which would sell a lot more copies.

7 more days. I wonder what hilariously stupid shit we'll see this year.

This Generation's E3 Oddities:http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featur...-oddities.aspx

Wow, that's hilarious Sean - I never saw most of those (just the Wayne's World guy from UBI) some of those are quite hilarious. I've got a feeling "TV, Sports, TV, Sports" XBone might have already deflated any E3 craziness though.

Localization and region locking is something I have never understood. What exactly is the benefit to the publisher/dev side? Is it strictly the fear of importing for cheaper? I can't see that being so widespread that it cuts into the bottom line. Licensing or something? I dunno...

I am really wondering what the next 5 years is going to be like for gaming. As we have said before, the AAA model is not sustainable anymore. The top tier developers and publishers can't break even on anything less than 4-5 mil in sales, and the way they are set up they can't produce smaller titles with the amount of staff/overhead they have. Then we have the public conditioned to think that a 60 dollar retail game has to be something like cod/bioshock/gow/uncharted/gears. There are some decent games that come out that sell for shit at the retail price, but with the overhead involved they really can't charge less.

Indie types are really going to take off, and the digital distribution methods like steam and mobiles at the 5-30 dollar price point are going to be what sells. I think we will see 5-10 big releases a year and the rest will be digital titles from smaller groups. It wouldn't surprise me if we see more dev studios going to a contract style employment model almost like Hollywood and actors.

Thorne: I believe it's mostly pushed for companies that have separate wings for publishing - which is becoming rarer these days. But largely so they can track we've got X sales in the US markets, Y in the EU, blah blah blah - which importing/etc mucks with.

I think better tools and more standardized engines (which is far more possible with everything being X86) would go a long way to helping the industry stabilize. These next generation systemsshouldmake development easier. I think the whole "development costs are going to skyrocket!" thing is kind of weird, because now they're basically just making 3 PC versions and the PC versions have always looked significantly better.

The bigger developers probably do need a great deal of restructuring, but I think there's far too much "the sky is falling" type shit being said. People will adapt or die and the industry will be better for it.



RE Localization/Region Locking: Beats me why anyone does it (region locking). The PS3 was region-free though with the exception of *1* game that a developer had some bizarre import concerns over, I imagine the PS4 will be the same.

Localization has actually been pretty good for a while now, with a few very weird exceptions which are baffling. Considering that NIS/Gust/Compile Heart/etc games are super fucking niche and probably don't even sell 100k copies yet still get localized and are voiced (most of the time) with walls and walls of text, they must make a profit off of it. There are a bunch of those games and they keep getting localized and released. Yet, despite that, Square and Namco-Bandai have been absolutely retarded about not releasing some stuff and their games sell quite a bit more than that. Square having to be convinced to localize Bravely Default, which has been lavished with praise, is absurd. and Namco-Bandai have been bitches about getting Tales localized. And there was the whole bullshit with the Wii RPGs getting localized.

There's also a bunch of PSP games that have never and will never be localized. Yeah, PSP sales numbers suck outside of Japan, but if those super niche PS3 games are making a profit off localization then even PSP games would unless they sold 0 copies. Also Final Fantasy Type-0 not getting localized is extreme fucking bullshit.

The big companies easily make a profit off localization, so them being bitches about doing it is just insulting to the fans of those games. I'm guessing they just think of it as a hassle if there's not X amount of profit off it.

Btw, those super niche games have better voice work than the vast majority of Square's titles and there is a lot of love and care put into the translation work.

No doubt that better tools and consolidated engines will help. I definitely don't think the sky is falling, but I expect to see major changes especially on the digital front. People don't understand what these huge budgets consist of, new tech and prettier gfx don't cost a penny, it's paying the people who use the tools. A 300 person project that lasts 2 years is going to cost 20M no matter how you cut it. The big studios are geared up to crank out these huge games with huge teams and have no hope of breaking even anymore unless you have one of a few big selling franchises behind you.

Forbin_sl said:

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In some ways, that's abadthing. Every team that's working on Last of Us, or Puppeteer, or Beyond, or GT6... isn't working on PS4 games. It's a lesser case of why the WiiU has struggled - they had too many teams working on stuff for other systems for far too long.

Hell, if we want to get into E3 predictions, I think:

MS wins on quantity.
Nintendo wins on quality.
MS wins overall (quantity x quantity).

(Keep in mind, I plan on buying a PS4 first out of the systems!)

I'm weak and can't resist new shiny tech. I will likely buy whichever comes out first, and the other one before Christmas. I tell the wife one of them is for the kiddo! Or something like that!

Somehow I still don't have a WiiU, don't know why but those franchises just do nothing for me anymore.