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

DMK_sl said:

BF4 graphics lacking on the PS4... This could also be the case with the Xbone unfortunately we don't know yet.

Click to expand...

If its that's the case with BF4 on the PS4 then it will be exactly the same situation on the xbox even moreso considering it is slightly more underpowered then the PS4. Would be nice if this wasn't the norm for this generation but I think the standard will be 720 scaled to 1080.

Cor_sl said:

I guess that puts into perspective how 'weak' the PS4 and Xbox One are. An overclocked 7850 with an i5 can run BF3 at 1080p, 60fps, ultra w/ fxaa, and I imagine it'll be able to run BF4 similarly well. Disappointing.

Click to expand...

You are working on the odd assumption that BF4 will be no more visually intensive than BF3. On top of that, a PC built around a cheap 7850 and a cheap i5 will still be significantly more expensive than a PS4.

Ronne_sl said:

Come join the master race if you want real "next gen"

Click to expand...

Szlia_sl said:

You are working on the odd assumption that BF4 will be no more visually intensive than BF3. On top of that, a PC built around a cheap 7850 and a cheap i5 will still be significantly more expensive than a PS4.

Click to expand...

Not to mention these are early builds of launch titles. There's really no perspective to gain here.

Well, apparently an i3-3220 with a 7850 can run BF3 at 1080p60fps on ultra. A build with those components comes in at around $500~ (http://i.imgur.com/DcT6Y1A.png). If you already have a case, hard drive, PSU, etc., it comes in at even less. And then, of course, there's going to be new mid range cards released next year that will cost the same as the 7850 but deliver more performance, meaning better performance for the same cost.

RE: BF4 system specs. I was just going off the fact that the leaked 'minimum' and 'recommended' spec lists for BF4 were near identical to BF3. Sure, it's possible that the game could be significantly more demanding, but I doubt it considering how close it looks to BF3 graphically.

The argument of hardware cost is moot anyway, because games are where the majority of the money gets spent over the long haul, and PC pulls way ahead there.

Still can't decide if I buy a new console or not. They look nice and everything, but other than Dragons Crown I can't remember the last time I turned any of my existing consoles on =\

Not all is well in house Microsoft:http://www.eteknix.com/microsoft-inv...xbox-division/

A report by BizJournals claims that ValueAct, a $2 billion Microsoft investor with a 1% stake in the company, is seeking to achieve some major changes at Microsoft. Analyst Rick Sherlund claims that big changes are going to take place very soon as other shareholders support the decision to get rid of Steve Ballmer in addition to the investment group ValueAct. According to the report ValueAct are seeking to replace Steve Ballmer because his strategy "inspires little confidence".

Apparently Microsoft has no choice but to give ValueAct a board seat otherwise they might launch a "public war" on Steve Ballmer and Microsoft that could end with serious turmoil at the company.

"A decision by the board at Microsoft to offer a nomination for a board seat could keep the activist agenda behind closed doors and take longer for shareholders to see potential benefits"

Furthermore it is believed they might target the Xbox division and try and get rid of it altogether. This would allow Microsoft to focus on other products and mainly Windows.

"Xbox is cool, but by our estimates Microsoft has not made money at this"

Click to expand...

It's probably nothing though, since it's just a measly 1% investor.

Szlia_sl said:

You are working on the odd assumption that BF4 will be no more visually intensive than BF3. On top of that, a PC built around a cheap 7850 and a cheap i5 will still be significantly more expensive than a PS4.

Click to expand...

Also assumes a final client which is obliviously false.

joeboo_sl said:

All the bickering over which system is more powerful, or has better graphics is almost completely useless. Every system generation to date has had it's winner decided by who has the most interesting unique software(and more often than not, it's the less-powerful system winning the sales battle).

NES crushed the technically superior Sega Master System thanks to the likes of Mario and Zelda.

Genesis crushed SNES through the majority of the 16-bit lifecycle(Genesis outsold SNES in America until it was discontinued in 1995, whereas Nintendo kept making the SNES for several more years, thus eventually pulling ahead in sales)despite being quite a bit less powerful

The 32-bit PS1 crushed the 64-bit N64

PS2 might be the only system that won, and was the better piece of technology, compared to the Xbox(but that comparison is subjective. PS2 is more powerful in some departments, but is the lesser machine in others. There's no real clear dominant technology in this generation)

Xbox 360 won out handily in North America over the more powerful PS3.

The PS4 being more powerful means absolutely nothing if they don't have a LOT of unique software that people want. They better have a pretty solid exclusive library built up by the time the next Halo shows up on the XB1, or they could be in trouble again.

So out of the last 5 generations of consoles, only once has the superior hardware won and sold more systems.

Click to expand...

So many incorrect things in this post. In some sense it comes down to games, but it is not that simple.

Master System and NES were released in NA in '85, but the NES had been around since '83. So of course the technology was worse, it was two years older (though it had 5 audio channels to 4, it was worse in every other technical category). But the reason Nintendo won that generation was the small crash of '84, that put a huge number (relative to the time period) of non-Japanese developers out of business and the strict contracts that leverage allowed Nintendo to enact on third party developers. Two year restrictions on porting games, for instance. If cross-platform has been a thing that was allowed, it would not have been as one-sided, or if so many developers hadn't gone out of business right as they both were releasing overseas. Even then, the SMS was the winner into the mid-90s in Europe, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand. The difference between the areas where SMS won and lost? The relative size of the marketing budgets. SMS won in every territory where it outspent Nintendo in marketing, despite all other factors. It didn't have a US office at all and sold the marketing rights for the US to Tonka toys, who sat on them till the contract was up. Which resulted in fun things, like Nintendo actually telling retailers they could have the NES or the SMS on their shelves, not both, and retailers put the NES up. So 8-bit generation: won by bloodthirsty business practices and marketing.

The SNES had a less powerful CPU than the Genesis. In every other category, it was more powerful. 256 colors vs 64, 128 KB RAM vs 64 KB RAM, 64 KB sound RAM vs 8 KB sound RAM, larger sprites, more layers, 32k+ colors vs 512. Again, two year gap, Genesis released in '88, SNES in '90. So of course the later released system had better specs. Sega did better this generation, making most of their market gains in (and this shouldn't surprise anyone) NA. Because they had a marketing campaign this time, including the famous "What Nintendon't" campaign. This is when Sega did something remarkably stupid, they started releasing hardware add-ons like the Sega CD and the 32X, rather than focusing on games. They went from winning with a less powerful console, to losing. Sega cost themselves the 16-bit generation.

The PS1 was less powerful than the N64. In an interesting way, Sony forgot something really important with the PS3 that they should have learned from this generation. The N64 was more powerful on paper, just like the PS3 was more powerful on paper than the 360. Reality? The N64 being constrained by the cartridge memory almost always looked worse and was harder to develop for. Both at their best? N64 looked better. But most multi-platform releases looked better on the PS1. Just like, despite the power, most multi-platform releases of the last generation looked better on the 360. Timing again played a role, with the PS1 releasing two years earlier and so already having saturation, in addition to the enormous marketing campaign.

PS2 was the better machine. The Emotion Engine was brilliant and the PS2 could do things that were only possible on dedicated graphics workstations prior. Everything being integrated and designed from scratch made an enormous difference. The only place the Xbox was even a little ahead was the sound chip. However Microsoft knew they were going to lose this generation, so their marketing strategy was about getting the brand out there, getting in-house developers, building connections, etc. It isn't even really fair to compare them, PS2 was just a money making machine, the Xbox was a sunk cost to break into a new market for Microsoft.

PS3 was more powerful on paper, but (and we learned this from the N64) being harder to develop for costs you. The 360 is very easy to develop for, especially by comparison. Though going purely by sales, the Wii won this generation, being 22 million ahead of the 360 and 25 million ahead of the PS3. Which it did with marketing. Marking itself to "non-gamers", which, in gaming, is basically an untapped market.

So out of the last five generations, marketing and business decisions (good or bad) decided all of them. By that metric, I am going to predict the PS4 wins the coming generation. In seven years it'll be 5-10 million consoles ahead of the XOne, at roughly 85 and 75 million respectively.

Very informative post. You have a hell of a memory when it comes to gaming consoles, or did a lot of research for the sake of that post. Have some internets for your hard work.

Xarpolis_sl said:

Very informative post. You have a hell of a memory when it comes to gaming consoles, or did a lot of research for the sake of that post. Have some internets for your hard work.

Click to expand...

I wrote a paper on it for a class, so yes to research, but not just for the sake of the post. Re: internet comment, feel free to repost it wherever.

Genesis outsold SNES? I knew one person who had a genesis and he wished he had an SNES like the rest of us.

I'm not sure if this is buried anywhere in here so it might be a double post. While most of these games look fun they all look like they could have been on the original WII years ago. Not exactly next gen especially when only one shows the use of the new touchpad which is the most innovative part of the new console.

Xbro assures me that everything internet nerds say about xbone is all false, and monday MS is going to reveal what the real hardware is and there's no way its some cheap old 7770 gpu. All the comments from developers, industry professionals and ATI themselves were just lies made up by internet nerds. Also, the bit about BF4 proves that the ps4 is a steaming pile of shit and the xbone will totally dominate every game. Every single game on the xbone will be 1080 60fps and every game on the ps4 will be sub 1080 and 30 fps and that's a fucking fact and he'll bet you his paycheck on it.

I should really just pretend to agree with him because I'm not buying either one anyway unless there are a parade of exclusives that I really want to play. I said the same thing about ps3/360 and still haven't bought a console since the SNES. I just don't like games that much any more.

For him it's moot anyway, dedicated servers wins the console war for the CODbros.

More annoying is his constant shittalking about how pc gaming is dead and only nerds play pc games and I should buy an xbox and be a CODbro because that's where all the players are and on and on and on and holy fuck I haven't hung out with him for almost a year now because I'm so fucking sick of hearing it. I've lost my only friend to fucking Call of Duty and Rush Limbaugh.

I'll totally take his bet, that sounds like free minimum wage. Yeehaw, happy meals for everybody at McDonald's on me.

Tuco_sl said:

I'm your friend, kreugen!

Click to expand...

Tuco, you haven't had a friend since you got rid of your awesome western dude avatar - let's be honest.