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

Vaclav

Vaclav

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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I still say when they want to add two modes for extra value they should trophy them like separate games.
 
Xexx

Xexx

Vyemm Raider
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Noodleface_sl said:
Star Ocean for PS3 was the only game I ever wanted to Platinum, and I attempted it for awhile - but the Platinum for that game is pretty rough and I gave up, although I still think it's one of the better RPGs of the last few years. I enjoy trophies but I don't aim to get them, they just happen now.
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Dude for stomaching Nymle for so long you should get a trophy, badge, and some Squeenix stock options.
 
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Sean_sl

shitlord
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Well this is shitty:Twitch.tv update imposes delay of up to 60s in all streams, viewer interaction severely affected - Neoseeker

In another startlingly anti-consumer decision Twitch.tv has implemented staggering delays in all of its streams as it pushed out what it called a, "Major Video System Update." The update, which Twitch says improves the video system's stability and scalability, adds a delay that can stretch up to 60 seconds. That's a minute between what's broadcast and said by the streamer is received and shown to a viewer -- severely impacting stream interaction.

Let's start at the beginning. Twitch states that they are experiencing explosive growth which has been compounded by the service's release on Xbox 360 and Xbox One, as well as its impending release on PlayStation 4. In order to provide the "best quality video to as many users on as many platforms as possible" this new system has been implemented. Twitch says that the new system allows them to serve 15% more traffic than the old system with the same hardware.

This new system has been at work on mobile platforms and consoles since May earlier this year. They then stepped up and used the system for all viewers for the DreamHack Winter 2013 event to what they call "great success." Earlier this week the system went live full-time for all viewers.

Now for the effects. For large, commentary-based streams like eSports and large sponsored show there will be no immediate effect. Since there's no direct interaction between the broadcaster and the Twitch chat there's no need to worry about delay. However, for streams where gamers are directly interacting with their audience, the new system nigh on ruins communication. Imagine having a conversation where 10-60 seconds fell between each message, on top of dozens if not hundreds of other messages were also intermingled between. Consider streamer to viewer conversation absolutely destroyed.

That's not the only effect, however. Despite Twitch's insistence that the changes have had a positive effect on video quality, many gamers (myself included) believe the opposite is true. Not only does quality fluctuate often and for what seems to be no reason at all, but many viewers claim there are glitches that can make viewing streams a frustrating and low-quality experience.

The simple fact is that Twitch has implemented a system that allows them to buffer streams, catch brief quality fluctuations and alter the overall stream quality (ie lower the quality) to account for said fluctuations, and save bandwidth in the process. As such, Twitch itself is likely saving huge amounts of money on bandwidth at the expense of overall viewer experience. This is, of course, just an educated assumption based on the details provided by Twitch. However, it accounts for Twitch's inability to simply turn off the delay.

Perhaps Twitch couldn't sustain itself with the previous service, but as of right now it seems like Twitch has just exploited its audience's investment in the service for profit. Where else are streamers and viewers supposed to go?

My two cents? This is absolutely nonsense. I'm a frequent viewer on both console and and PC and can vouch for how much worse of an experience console streams have been comparatively. Guess what? Streams on PC are just as bad now. That's not even taking into consideration the stream buffer delay, which is by far the greater insult to viewers.

Twitch folded when it tried to get rid of 480p in one of its last brilliant viewer-exploiting decisions. I don't think they're going to fold this time. Like said above, the new system hinges on the buffer delay and considering how much money likely went into its development I doubt it's something they could, or would, disable. Again, it's nonsense, and if there was another viable service for streamers to go to I'd say saddle up.
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Needless

Needless

Toe Sucker
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I guess that explains why while playing a buddy on SF4, there was a solid minute or so gap between us playing and his stream which was incredibly annoying trying to talk to him and getting a response 1 minute+ later.
 
spronk

spronk

FPS noob
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29,101
if you have a sams club membership bf4, ac4, fifa14, and a few other games are all $35 for ps4 and xbone. I think non members can buy, just have to pay an extra 5 or 10%. gamestop is offering $40 for all these games until like tomorrow or sunday, so if you are a hardcore mofo you could even play ac4 all night and then trade it in tomorrow and walk away with $5 (-tax) for the effort.
 
Utnayan

Utnayan

F16 patrolling Rajaah until he plays DS3
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Sean_sl said:
Well this is shitty:Twitch.tv update imposes delay of up to 60s in all streams, viewer interaction severely affected - Neoseeker
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What a shitty thing to do. Does Ustream have this same delay?

I was noticing a delay of about 25-30 seconds anyway - which was annoying. I was watching a stream of Knack and would ask a question, 30 seconds later it popped up on screen. What's the point of this service when there is a huge delay on it?

If they are running out of funds, charge a subscription then. (Maybe that is what they are gearing up to) - $19.99 a year gets rid of the delay.
 
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Man0warr

Molten Core Raider
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Ustream doesn't have the same amount of viewers, so it doesn't really need the delay.

It's basically a way for them to get more out of their current hardware before needing to get more servers - they are still a pretty small company after all. Their infrastructure in Europe is pretty bad, lag-wise.
 
Joeboo

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
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Does anyone else almost never play DLC for games? Once I beat a game I almost never have a desire to go back and play an extra couple hours of it weeks or months later. I don't think I've ever played any DLC unless it was available on release day with the main game, or it was DLC for an MMO/multiplayer game where my interest in the main game lasted for months and months to begin with.

After beating AC4, I have no desire to play any DLC, and as much as I enjoyed Bioshock Infinite this year I never fired it back up for any DLC.

Maybe I'm the odd one here
 
Joeboo

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
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I've never bought one, and even though I could also easily pirate/torrent most DLC I don't even bother with that either. Just no desire to go back to a game unless it's a full-blown expansion/sequel
 
spronk

spronk

FPS noob
23,847
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joeboo_sl said:
Does anyone else almost never play DLC for games? Once I beat a game I almost never have a desire to go back and play an extra couple hours of it weeks or months later. I don't think I've ever played any DLC unless it was available on release day with the main game, or it was DLC for an MMO/multiplayer game where my interest in the main game lasted for months and months to begin with.
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i bought the season pass of ac4 because I enjoyed the game so much, but usually I'll just pirate the shit out of a game after I beat it to play the single player DLCs - did that for Borderlands 2 and Bioshock. Its kinda fucked/weird to pirate a game you bought but you know what, fuck gaming companies for nickel and diming everything to death now. LE, CE, season pass, DLCs not part of season pass, GOTYs with all DLCs, Bioware's shitty GOTYs that don't include DLCs, its so bad now. There is still no way to buy a single Mass Effect sku that includes every game and every DLC, over a year after ME3 is out.

Meanwhile I have 100+ games on steam I have never even installed, but that does make it easy to buy nothing during steam sales.

I will say I really enjoyed the AC3 DLCs, thought the story there was better than AC3 itself. I liked the bioshock infinite DLC (the story one), although its a "to be continued" thing. I bought 3 copies Tomb Raider on a recent sale to give away as gifts, because they did it fucking right: all DLCs were multiplayer maps only, once you beat the game you were done and it was an awesome game.
 
Fight

Fight

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
4,737
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I never go back and play DLC when it is later released. I do however sometimes wait to play games, purchase a complete package that has DLC included in it... but ya, even games I fucking love, such as Mass Effect series, I never revisit for DLC releases.
 
Noodleface

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
38,655
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I don't know when this season pass shit started but it is some real bullshit. Give me a goddamn game and periodically release a map or two FOR FREE. Just like they used to. Or let players create maps.
 
Soygen

Soygen

The Dirty Dozen For the Price of One
<Nazi Janitors>
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joeboo_sl said:
I've never bought one, and even though I could also easily pirate/torrent most DLC I don't even bother with that either. Just no desire to go back to a game unless it's a full-blown expansion/sequel
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I'm the same. I have so many games in my backlog and somewhat limited free time to play them all, so I avoid DLC 99.9% of the time.
 
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Phaenos_sl

shitlord
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joeboo_sl said:
Does anyone else almost never play DLC for games? Once I beat a game I almost never have a desire to go back and play an extra couple hours of it weeks or months later. I don't think I've ever played any DLC unless it was available on release day with the main game, or it was DLC for an MMO/multiplayer game where my interest in the main game lasted for months and months to begin with.

After beating AC4, I have no desire to play any DLC, and as much as I enjoyed Bioshock Infinite this year I never fired it back up for any DLC.

Maybe I'm the odd one here
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I can't remember ever going back and running through DLC content. That said I probably will be making an exception when they release the single player Ellie story for TLoU.
 
Soygen

Soygen

The Dirty Dozen For the Price of One
<Nazi Janitors>
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Phaenos_sl said:
I can't remember ever going back and running through DLC content. That said I probably will be making an exception when they release the single player Ellie story for TLoU.
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Yup, I will buy that one as well.
 
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Sean_sl

shitlord
4,735
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Some DLC is shit, but a lot of it isn't. To *never* get DLC is silly as hell, because you're basically missing out on some really great Expansion Packs by doing that.
 
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