Ben-DutkaBelieve it or not, it's daylight savings time again. Yes, it's ridiculously early but just so ya know, you lose an hour tonight.
PS4 availability will be key at launch
I don't think enough attention was given to that manufacturing rumor , which stated that mass production of the PlayStation 4 will begin in August, and there could be 16 million units available for this holiday season. Thing is, if you're going to entice people to buy a product, it really has to be on store shelves, beckoning and taunting. If that product is nowhere, you have to be super gung-ho to try to track it down; if you're even the slightest bit lukewarm, you're not going to bother. If Sony is going to tickle buying bones, that PS4 needs to be easily found right out of the gate. No waiting lists and no stabbings to get systems.
Sure, the PS3 didn't have the best software launch lineup and it was ridiculously expensive, but I firmly believe it would've had a better start if normal everyday consumers actually had the option to buy one. But initial shipments weren't in the millions; they were in the thousands , and that's just absurd. 16 million PS4s available for the holiday season? No chance they'll sell them all; that number just means that it should be ready to go for anyone who wants one. It should be staring consumers in the face at GameStop, Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, and any retail store that plans to stock it. It's entirely critical as far as I'm concerned.
We may be stuck with microtransactions moving forward
EA continues to claim that this business practice has proved popular and even lucrative. Hence, we can't really complain about it if so many people are taking part. It's a model that's guaranteed to be around in some way throughout the next generation, so we should probably just accept it. For me, though, I consider it a dangerous sliding scale-
Right now, I don't care about them because for the most part, from what I've seen, they wouldn't really enhance my enjoyment of the product I purchased. I just don't care enough. So I get Pachter's point . However, the sliding scale is a matter of quality and necessity; what if I need to purchase extra stuff after buying the game in order for it to feel complete? In this way, it's very similar to the downloadable content argument, isn't it? In fact, minus the monetary issue, it's the exact same thing.
And so far, I haven't finished a game, got DLC a little later and said to myself, "Damn, I should've had this at the start," or "this should've been in the game in the first place, because it didn't feel complete without this." I've never said that. I've never played a game and felt the developers actually held back anything significant for the sake of DLC. The bottom line is that if DLC didn't exist, absolutely nobody would be calling any of those games "incomplete" or whining and complaining. Because they all seem fine. We just know there's extra content out there so we feel we have the right to complain that it's not all included. That being said, if microtransactions or DLC start to feel mandatory, I'm going to be upset.
Personal gaming update
I've finally completed Assassin's Creed III and I'm not sure why people are so annoyed at the ending. It seemed okay to me. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation, but that fits the story arc as far as I'm concerned. So I've moved on to playing Halo 4 …
I'll play a few more hours before I pass judgment but let me say this for now- I feel like I've done this before. I'm running around in a sci-fi environment battling the Covenant. Same enemies, same weapons, same vehicles, even basically the same AI. It looks great and plays great. But haven't I done this before? Like many, many times before? Didn't I see most all of this in the original Halo over 11 years ago? You know, I realize that everyone hated The Flood but at least it was something different. I'm sick of the damn Covenant.
I'm hoping this changes at some point. I'm hoping the new weapons, new enemies, and new vehicles are maybe in the latter half of the game or something. If not, I'm not even sure I'll be able to finish it. I've played and completed every single Halo entry thus far but for the first time, I've really started to feel bored when playing one of these titles. Anyway, my girlfriend and I are still going through Portal 2 co-op, which is really fun. 🙂 I also really like Tomb Raider .
PS3 was sold at a huge loss per console so I can see how that shortage happened, PS4 has basic PC stuff in it so it will be cheaper and easier to produce. I think it would be epic if Sony created a limited "Prestige" Playstation for high end consumers that has all tech needed to play PS1/2/3/4/PSN games.
EA often mistakes "cost effective" for "popular".
ETA on Ascension review?
I can't settle on just one thing to play right now, I've gone totally schizophrenic.
I'd pay extra for PS3 comparability in my PS4, that's solve my space and HDMI issues.
Second that, would pay an extra 200-300$$ for backward compatibility (if not more)… could put away all the cords hanging next to my tv that await my desire to play ps1 and ps2 games… wouldnt really help my NES, SNES and N64 cords, but those will disappear when Nintendo makes games for the winning consoles
For a PlayStation ultimate (or Prestige as you put it) I'd happily pay $600, perhaps more – if it was truly backwards compatibility, and not some stream based cloud trickery.
I'd pay extra for that and also for UNLIMITED Sony Entertainment Network/PlayStationPlus Access. Movies, Music, Games and unrestricted Internet.
Ascension review should be done late Tuesday or early Wednesday.
I'm playing through Uncharted 3 crushing mode. Last trophy for Platinum 🙂
Too many DLC trophies though, like 51% is DLC.
DOn't worry Ben. There's new enemies(a new race even), new weapons, new vehicles, and entirely new locales in Halo 4. You must not be very far if it seems like a recycled Halo 1. It's still a Halo game (for me a sigh of relief seeing that a new studio is at it's reigns).
I liked the game alright. I just didn't see it as a progression from Reach, other than it's visuals and higher quality story telling. I like Halo more for it's more wide open levels, something Bungie even boasted about Reach having. Halo 4 is a bit more CoD'ish in design.
Anyway, here's some rambling.. so speaking of recycled stuff. We have a king of recycling, AC 'Arrrr Matey' coming with a new game. That makes the 6th this-gen release of AC. And then there's GoW: A coming. The second this-gen(PS3) release after 3 years, or so. I understand getting worn on redundancy (I'm trying to stay focused in AC:R right now) but GoW isn't the same milk cow, not by a long shot. THe PS3 deserves a second GoW and I think it's 'right' to give Sony fans an update to a platform defining icon.
Anyhow, I'm okay with at least two updates per console cycle, especially a long cycle like this one on harder to optimize hardware, so devs can tap out all of their ideas before moving on to the newer, bigger hardware.
I just don't quite get the lower review scores. No low baller reviewer has yet convinced me of their conclusions. I see a lot of petty subjectivity, false pretenses, and being offended that a single player game tries to implement multi-player, but that's about it. Oh, yah, it 'shouldn't' have so much platforming.. umm that's right. Because what gamers really want, you decided that for me, from GoW is just the visceral action =p And multiplayer is acutally something me, an action hack 'n slash fan, IS interested in. We have shooters a dime a dozen in multi-play. It's nice having a high profile game like GoW try to broaden the offering of multi-play fun. It's an option, yet it seems to have been graded down for even including it. ANd judging from the single player demo, the single player side didn't seem to suffer a bit in quality.
end of rambling ranting!
Anyhow long live Vita, PS3, and Team NInja! Booya!
Last edited by Temjin001 on 3/10/2013 12:04:24 AM
I second your feelings on GOW.
the stock issue they had with the ps3 is exactly why i really cant see a worldwide launch.
its so difficult to do a worldwide launch for a game, let alone hardware!
id be nice, obviously, personally id rather them split up whatever they have between all the countries.
but we all know thats not going to happen!
as long as the ps4 releases in the states by chrissy, is region free both for games and DLC, and you can access any region PSN store, ill be happy.
probably better off importing it anyway considering the ridiculously overpriced extortionate prices $ony always flogs us for!
and people whinge about paying 600 bucks for the launch model, come live here and pay a thousand!
i really dont care about microtransactions, as long as i can get the gear myself fairly within a resonable amount of time.
and that is exactly why i HATE them in dead space 3!
2 hours into 1 and 2 i had so many new weapons, so many new upgrades, new suits, this and that.
im about 80% of the way through dead space 3 and im still going into the store and finding i have about 20% of the resources i need to build a new weapon!
i have not built a SINGLE weapon yet, not ONE!
and im constantly sending out all my scavenge bots to find resources for me, so i should have more than enough!
its quite clear they have made it really slow and hard to build up resources, just to try and force people to spend some extra cash!
even the secret doors you can unlock, you use to find nodes which unlocked these doors.
now you have to use torsion bars which are ridiculously expensive to buy, and nigh on impossible to find!
dead space 3 is the perfect example on why people HATE micro transactions!
i really wouldent care about them either if games were free to play, and you had to spend money to upgrade your gear and such.
fine, i get the game for free than unlock what i want, as long as it wont cost me more than it is now im happy with that.
but there not, when im asked to pay 110 bucks for a game, then pay another 10+ bucks every time i want to build a new weapon, or open a secret door, is where i draw the line!
finished tomb raider last night so now im back onto rising.
so flipping happy i FINALLY finished the monsoon boss battle last night!
man that was PISSING me off!
that has to be THE WORST most FRUSTRATING, REPETITIVE, UNFAIR, STUPID, BORING, CHEAP boss battle EVER created!
so cheap in fact when he leaps on you and you have to wiggle the sticks 90% of the time he would stab me and loose half my health even though i was wiggling my balls out!
in fact i wiggled so much the f*cking sticks came out of their slot, thanks konami you owe me a new controller!
To counter your arguement about Dead Space 3 I too am 80% into the game and I have a whole arsenal of weaponry of various types mostly of my very own creation and I have a surplus of upgrades and parts for them. I have not spent so much as a dollar (outside of the intial purchase of course)on this game. This issue about microtransactions in this game is grossly over exaggerated. IMO.
Xambito-
Im with you on that. I had so many parts, weapons and blue prints I was actually selling or dismantling them because I had no use for them. The microtransactions are for those that dont want to search, or wait til later in the game to have access to something. That is all.
I also forgot to mention I fully upgraded my rig as well. Ok, for those still interested in Dead Space 3 here's a quick list of what you can do to avoid those pesky microtransactions:
-Exploring the enviroment
-Using scavenger bots. (I found three)
-Sell extra unuseful upgrades
-Kill Necromorphs!
-Revisit rooms you explored. (That video exposing a "glitch" is definitly not a glitch, that happens in almost every room you explored)
There's probably more but I'm a bit rushed.
Blank… You are bonkers but thanks for the laugh!
microtransactions will ruin mp imo.
pgu:
got the plantium trophy for killzone hd
i was playing killzone 2 mp (against bots). now i'm enjoying
my first tomb raider game, i already beat the game once,
but that was kind of a rush playthrough. so i'm on my
secound playthrough and taking my time.
I hope the ps4 come's with 2 controllers. It'd be something new for consoles. I just get so annoyed going to gamestop to buy a controller and get hassled to pre-order something. If i wanted to pre-order something i would do it my godamn self. On the internet.
The microtransactions i feel are going to be what keeps the online for the ps4 alive. I imagine we'll get a default of like 16 avatars and 5 colors. To get more it'll be like 80 cents or something I wouldn't mind that seeing how i buy a new avatar at least every other week. For games though, it's going to break the foundation because your going to be able to recognize what they left out just to pry more money out of you.
PGU: Spec Ops is incredible. I listened to a review when it came out and sure enough they had 'opinion' and i completely missed out. You know how nice it is having a MP where if i shoot someone in the head they go down? Anyway, i also started new games on both FF9 and X. Decided to try an entire new party in ff9. Going with Amarant, Eiko, Freya, and Zidane.
As for FFX going with Kimahri wakka and lulu. Kimahri does more damage than auron at the start which is pretty awesome considering i never knew that. After those two i started Hardcore mode on Fallout NV. I like the new challenge of it. I can't just horde ammo now. I also have to find drinks now too which sucks because i used to sell them for monies.
Started a new game on Demons Souls again. Didn't get far because i died to the blue eyed knight. I put the controller down and shook my head. In Dark Souls i run through the entire game at around lv16 but its just damn near impossible for Demons Souls. Anyway, i also beat Tomb Raider.
It was certainly a great reboot. I don't remember much about the older games but i do know this wasn't to bad. I didn't like how it had "far cry 3 syndrome" What i mean by that is one second the character is "i just killed someone OMG" and like 20 minutes later or less your killing people left and right. Just breaks the point of even having them be against it in the first place.
Yeah, i noticed im replaying a bunch of older games but they seem to have the most replay value compared to games today.
I liked the Flood.
PGU:
I've continued my venture into the unknown lands of writing code on a game engine, and the last couple of weeks I've mostly played around some more with creating landscapes and techniques related to that, like "texture splatting" to make the terrain look better. Cool stuff.
Also, effects is something really interesting.
Did you know that the difference between an explosion and a dust cloud is just the speed of the particle effect? Or that the difference between flames and a waterfall is just the direction and colour of the particle effect!
To understand how stuff works might remove some of the magic from the games, but it surely also adds to the experience to look at stuff and imagine how it could have been coded.
Last edited by Beamboom on 3/10/2013 4:23:38 PM
PGU:
Started into AC3 again im still enjoying it. The story just got irritating, but its based on preference more than anything.
Waiting to see what this new character in Borderlands is, if its cool I may start fresh with "it" and purchase the dlc and enter true vault hunter later on, since it appears no level increase is in sight.
They've sold 77 million PS3's in 6+ years. Am I the only who thinks 16 million PS4's by year's end sounds high?