Next Gen Consoles

Scutch

Scutch

Futsal Master
31 October 2006
Cumbria, UK
Tottenham Hotspur
PS4 launch apparently September time, with the XBox 720 rumoured to be a few weeks later. A press release due in April for Microsoft's next gen console, apparently.

Both consoles offer a "Giant leap for the industry, every step and function. Between 8 & 10 times the power of current generation."

By no means limited to current generation restrictions; 1080p, 60 fps, camera IQ all easily achievable.

Electronic Arts thrilled with the PS4 specs - the new Battlefield is truly stunning.

Games could increase in price due to cost of productivity - averaging up to £10 increase.

Question is:

PS4 or XB720 on launch? They won't be cheap. How many of you high rollers will be getting both on release?
 
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Won't be getting both, depends what's available for each really, PS4 at launch with PS3 games available for a cheap price would have me very interested.
 
I'll wait to pick a PS4 or Xbox sometime in late 2014 when the price drops and most of the launch bugs are gone. I think the PS3 will still be a terrific piece of kit a year from now and I imagine developers will still support it for a while anyway.
 
i'll wait the usual couple of years for the slim model. unless the entry price is affordable and there are good games.
 
To choose between the two consoles at this point would have to be an uninformed decision weighted with bias, and judging from the last cycle, buying a launch model is both expensive and inferior. Seems like you're better off waiting until the more streamlined models are released a bit further down the line.

Larger/better catalogue of games, cheaper/better hardware and you can read the first hand experiences of other users.
 
I'll see what the new Xbox has to offer... But Im probably going to lean towards a ps4 based on the gaikai tech, ps+ and the exclusives Sony have that I already enjoy and would miss.

I hope they offer something different to each other to make owning both worthwhile and not just a way to play the exclusives. Like I have a wiiU, I know it's going to feel outdated once these 2 come along... And yet because of the gamepad off tv play and that I didn't play many of the original wii's best games. Im going to have a lot of fun with it and it feels like it was worth owning. I don't really get that with this gen ps3 and Xbox... If you have one.... It's not really worth getting the other.
 
Neither on Launch, doesn't make much sense with the price point. GTA 5 for example will be released around the same time on the 360/PS3, both consoles will still have another 6-8 months of value IMO with the final set of studios making the last iterations.

Have a medium range PC already so that could help me make the transition anyway with hopefully some of those PS4/720 releases being ported.

Fall 2014 is probably the earliest I'll get one and that depends on how many of those exclusives I'll want that aren't available on PC.
 
Issidingo said:
i'll wait the usual couple of years for the slim model. unless the entry price is affordable and there are good games.
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I wouldn't count on a slim model that soon. I'd imagine both new consoles will be on the large side in order to house some decent cooling. Slim models will be a bit of a design challenge I think.
 
Jamezinho said:
I wouldn't count on a slim model that soon. I'd imagine both new consoles will be on the large side in order to house some decent cooling. Slim models will be a bit of a design challenge I think.
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I wonder if they can make first model around size of current gaming laptop ?

g03_o.jpg


Replace that lcd display thickness to accomodate bigger cooling fans :P
 
I have a PS 1, 2 and 3 so... I'll get a PS4. I'm pretty sure the PS4 and Next Xbox will be quite similar. I never buy a console at launch, though. Probably nearer fall 2014.
 
Don't like the sound of games potentially rising in price by up to £10. A lot of games retail at £45 in shops already. Don't think I'd want to drop £50-55 on a game. Waaaay too much. Not when on current gen games I leave new title for a few months after release and pick them up for £25 or less.

Hopefully they don't go down that route because they'll be pricing out a lot of people. People have gotten used to being able to pick up new releases for around £35 for years now, and I remember being amazed when I looked at the WiiU and seeing its games priced at £50. Instantly put me right off buying the console.
 
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Game prices are always jacked up on release because they know people are desperate for games to play. I remember getting a 360 on launch at midnight and they were asking for £50 for project gotham, perfect dark and COD. I imagine it will be the same for the first few months, especially through the Christmas period and then drop after march/April.
 
Yeah they were similar price when the PS2 was released, something like £44.99 when I got Vice City on release.

They'll come down the same standard they always do.
 
Durango: Kinect, always-on Internet, and installs all mandatory – rumour
A couple of rumours about the next Xbox console have resurfaced, describing a console that is always on the Internet, always watching you with its robotic eye, and always insisting you install your games.




A general overview of the hardware codenamed Durango was published by VGLeak as part of an article on Durango’s XDK. The site has released a number of documents believed related to the new Microsoft console, and although this information can’t be verified, independent sources have corroborated many of the details produced in the past. Even if authentic, the information may be out of date.

With those caveats in mind, here’s the full text. Bold text is my emphasis.

The Durango console is designed to offer developers modern hardware that is more powerful than the Xbox 360. It uses a familiar x64 Architecture and tools, and compared with Xbox 360 development, will reduce development time and effort spent on performance optimization. Hardware accelerators, including “move engines” for common tasks, will be added to the console. Move engines can perform common game tasks like compression and decompression while moving data around the system. The console also has dedicated hardware support for common audio processing tasks that reduce the amount of CPU time that must be devoted to audio. The GPU provides considerable computing power, and supports Direct3D 11.
Durango will implement different power states so that it can always be powered on, but will draw minimal electricity when not in use. The console will be ready instantly when users want to play, and will always maintain a network connection so that console software and games are always current. With this “Always On, Always Connected” design, users will quickly and easily enjoy their connected entertainment experiences, with no waiting for the console to restart or install updates.
Every Durango console will be sold with a new high-fidelity Kinect Sensor, which will be required for the system to operate. The console will provide HD video, and will use new depth sensor technology to provide better screen resolution and less noisy depth data. Active infrared illumination will provide high-quality monochrome images even in low ambient light conditions. A wider field of view allows play in smaller spaces, and removes the need for a tilt motor.
System software will offer a full set of system API for Natural User Interface (NUI), and the API set will be an improvement to the corresponding API used by Xbox 360. Skeleton tracking, identity and other NUI functions will be performed by the system, and for that reason, titles no longer need to allocate title resources to NUI.
The Durango controller will make the best-in-class Xbox 360 controller even better. it will have low-latency wireless connectivity to the console, and improved ergonomics. System interaction that use the controller will be simplified to make them easier for noncore gamers.
Every Durango console will have a hard drive, although its exact capacity has not been chosen. It will be large enough, however, to hold a large number of games. All games will be installed on the hard drive. Play from the optical disc will not be supported.
Durango consoles will have a Blu-ray Disc drive. Disc media will be used for distribution, but during gameplay, games will not use content from the optical disc. An installation system is being designed that will allow gamers to begin playing while the game is being installed on the hard drive rather than waiting until installation is complete.
Audio output from Durango will be all digital – 7.1 discrete PCM output through HDMI and [obscured]. Hardware accelerators will be included for decoding and decompressing common audio formats. There also will be a dedicated sound processor to perform common signal processing in hardware.
.
Microsoft is expected to reveal its new console – which many people are calling the Xbox 720 or NeXt Box while we wait for an official name – sometime over the next few months, with most guesses putting its release down around the same time as the PlayStation 4 – during the 2013 holiday season.
 
Honome said:
I hope the "always online" doesn´t mean that it´s a mandatory thing to play any game even offline, that would be totally ridiculous.

Also the fact that the games won´t be played from discs but only from the internal drive may mean that the block to used games rumor can be true in the end.
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End to some retailers as well
 
This would be a crazy move by Microsoft, and it'll make my decision on which console to buy very easy.

I'm not that bothered by the 'always on' thing, but having to have the game on the hard drive to play it will mean that every xbox will have a limited amount of games you can ever play for it before filling it up. Plus next gen game install sizes will be huge compared to games we currently have. If you use the game disc one time only, does that mean we can never uninstall a game if the hard drive gets too full without completely losing it altogether? One of the advantages of being able to install xbox games right now is that you can always re-install it at a later date if you're not playing it and want to free up some hard drive space by deleting the installed game.

Secondly, I buy a LOT of used games. Without these, I would not be able to buy half of the games I otherwise would be able to. Now, I know this means buying second-hand isn't putting money back into the developers, but I have bought a lot of full-price games in the past that are sequels to games I'd initially bought second-hand. Without being able to try them at a cheap price I wouldn't have got into the series and subsequently not bought the sequels at full price. Now, some people have suggested that it might lower the price of games like it works on Steam, but I don't buy that. MS will charge every penny they can. Just look at MS and Sony's digital downloads on their stores for current games. Most are at £59.99 which is insane. Whereas Steam seems to make things cheaper due to the lack of overheads, physical media, lack of second-hand market, MS and Sony just see it as being able to charge extra for the convenience of the user getting something instantly from home.

Thirdly, rumours have it that you won't be able to play offline games without an internet connection because it needs this to verify that your game is legit. This is the singular worst thing about the console and will mean I go with PS4, if this is true. Why the f**k should I buy a console, a game, for up to £450 in total and then find that I can't even play the offline version of the game because my internet or router is playing up? Crazy. Our internet was down in my local area over a weekend a while back, this would mean that over that time I couldn't even play a console game in single player mode, offline? Wow.

It's all rumours at the moment but for me the PS4 is winning out. It doesn't have the issues that plagued PS3, it's being designed almost like a PC which will make developers easily be able to take advantage of it's power, online is still free, no mention yet on blocking used games (though that's still possible), and Sony confirmed that games will be able to be played offline and you'll be able to re-use the game disc for installs.

Unless Microsoft pull out some technological beast that oustrips the PS4 I'm going with Sony I think. Besides, I prefer the exclusives these days. I got my 360 and sampled all the MS exclusives like Gears of War, Halo, Forza etc and enjoyed them, but I'm bored of them now. The new Gears game doesn't interest me. Sony seem to have a bit more originality going for them these days too.
 
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They will have to do something that when you first install the game then you need to be connected to the internet to activate it. That would stop piracy to some extent and wouldn't mean you had to have an internet connection to play games all of the time and could still play offline?

and if you uninstall a game you can still keep the saved game info on the system, just in case you want to re install the game again and play it?

Or they wont do either and it will be stupid :PP
 
BobbyBox said:
They will have to do something that when you first install the game then you need to be connected to the internet to activate it. That would stop piracy to some extent and wouldn't mean you had to have an internet connection to play games all of the time and could still play offline?

and if you uninstall a game you can still keep the saved game info on the system, just in case you want to re install the game again and play it?

Or they wont do either and it will be stupid :PP
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As far as I understand the rumour you'll have to be online each time you play so that you can be granted access to your own game, a kind of digital verification system. If that's true then no way am I investing in it, and lots of others are saying it too. I read two stories on it yesterday and each one had about 2-300 comments from readers saying if this is happening then they're going with Sony. Interesting times!
 
Suuuuupertalk said:
As far as I understand the rumour you'll have to be online each time you play so that you can be granted access to your own game, a kind of digital verification system. If that's true then no way am I investing in it, and lots of others are saying it too. I read two stories on it yesterday and each one had about 2-300 comments from readers saying if this is happening then they're going with Sony. Interesting times!
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Yeah it is stupid, but surely if your are installing it onto your hardrive (And you have to do this) then it only needs to be verified once? It's just over kill to do it every time and unnecessary.

If you can't play the disc unless it has been installed onto your hard drive and you verify it when you first do it, then they know that the installed version of the game has been verified.

I'm probably missing something, but as you mentioned they risk alienating so many people if you have to be online to play all of your games (Or initially start them).

It's very rare I don't have the internet anyway, but for those times it messes up etc it would be crap if I couldn't play anything and I know a lot more people that play offline.

Maybe they have weighed it all up and estimated how many people will not buy the machine because of this, against how much money they lose in piracy and second hand gaming?
 
I'm pretty sure there will be some sort of activation code on these discs so lending them to friends or trading them in can still be possible. It's just that when the next person tries to use that disc they'll probably have to pay to activate it like the online passes we have now.
That way they make money on 2nd hand games, game shops can still let you trade games in and sell them on and it links into this piracy/online thing in that you'd need an official disc to be able to install the game and need the activation code.
 
BobbyBox said:
Yeah it is stupid, but surely if your are installing it onto your hardrive (And you have to do this) then it only needs to be verified once? It's just over kill to do it every time and unnecessary.
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I agree, and maybe that's what will happen. But the rumours that you'll need constant Internet connection are gathering pace so we'll have to wait and see. I also agree it would alienate customers, me included. Needing an Internet connection to play an offline version of a game already on my hard drive is a farce. Just look at how Sim City has turned out.

I'm not even sure how damaging the second hand market really is to be honest. As I said before, being able to pick up second hand games has seen me actively get into a game series I otherwise wouldn't have tried. And younger people who can't afford games won't be able to buy between themselves and share a game etc. they'll end up just not buying it at all I'd imagine.
 
Suuuuupertalk said:
I agree, and maybe that's what will happen. But the rumours that you'll need constant Internet connection are gathering pace so we'll have to wait and see. I also agree it would alienate customers, me included. Needing an Internet connection to play an offline version of a game already on my hard drive is a farce. Just look at how Sim City has turned out.

I'm not even sure how damaging the second hand market really is to be honest. As I said before, being able to pick up second hand games has seen me actively get into a game series I otherwise wouldn't have tried. And younger people who can't afford games won't be able to buy between themselves and share a game etc. they'll end up just not buying it at all I'd imagine.
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I guess the same as Radiation and that they will just give out activation codes to reactivate a second hand game. They could do it, so for the first 6months you can't reactivate a game and then after you buy a reactivation code for a second hand game for whatever price. Just an example, I don't really know, but there should be many ways not to cancel out the second hand market altogether.

Again it just seems unnecessary and will end up with them losing players of the new xbox and its games.
 
It must do some damage. I've gone into Game shops plenty of times and handed them a copy of a game I've just picked up off the shelve only to be offered a second hand copy by the staff for something like £4 less.

I tend to pay the little extra knowing my copy won't have a huge scratch on it or some other fault. But if I did pick the slightly cheaper.... All that money goes into their back pocket, the devs lose a sale and miss out on that cash.
I imagine more people would take the cheaper copy... Especially the casual fans who just view it as a game on a shelf.


I still think the used market is needed though. Like say you see a new game coming like yakuza 4 and start to think of playing through 1, 2 and 3 before its released. Trying to find them new is next to impossible. The ps2 games especially. Yakuza 3 was quite recent but as its not a huge seller it's hard to find it on the shelves months down the line as new.
 
Radiation said:
It must do some damage. I've gone into Game shops plenty of times and handed them a copy of a game I've just picked up off the shelve only to be offered a second hand copy by the staff for something like £4 less.

I tend to pay the little extra knowing my copy won't have a huge scratch on it or some other fault. But if I did pick the slightly cheaper.... All that money goes into their back pocket, the devs lose a sale and miss out on that cash.
I imagine more people would take the cheaper copy... Especially the casual fans who just view it as a game on a shelf.


I still think the used market is needed though. Like say you see a new game coming like yakuza 4 and start to think of playing through 1, 2 and 3 before its released. Trying to find them new is next to impossible. The ps2 games especially. Yakuza 3 was quite recent but as its not a huge seller it's hard to find it on the shelves months down the line as new.
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That's true, game shops can't be endearing themselves to publishers because you're right, high street shops do take the piss sometimes with second hand prices. I too see them selling used copies at just £3 less than full price.

I wouldn't mind not having second hand games if the prices were a bit more reasonable to be honest. Prices are really low on Steam and people buy stuff they wouldn't ordinarily try, and the money goes to the publishers. I get the feeling if and when games become totally digital, MS and Sony will, if anything, hike their prices up because they'll view it as a captive audience.

I guess the old captive audience issue is what MS is striving for here. Complete control over what access a customer has to their own product, no second hand market and the freedom to charge what they like. I mean when both companies started releasing digital copies of their games online I was excited. Then I realised they were charging £60 for the 'convenience'. The complete opposite to the PC market in fact.
 
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Radiation said:
I'm pretty sure there will be some sort of activation code on these discs so lending them to friends or trading them in can still be possible. It's just that when the next person tries to use that disc they'll probably have to pay to activate it like the online passes we have now.
That way they make money on 2nd hand games, game shops can still let you trade games in and sell them on and it links into this piracy/online thing in that you'd need an official disc to be able to install the game and need the activation code.
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I'd be cool for that. Have been complaining to a friend that I wish they'd let you do a full install to the hard drive and just have a once off acitivation. That way you can load up whatever game you like without needing to swap discs.

If they let someone else activate their own code on a 2nd hand disc, I wonder what's to stop you lending out the disc so someone can borrow it and install it, pay for an activation code but not have to buy the disc itself?

Would they make it so you can't have the same disc activated on two consoles at the same time?
 
If they want everyone to buy new games or games from the Xbox Live store, then they have to adjust the pricing here in Australia. FIFA 13 is currently $49.95 for a retail disc copy and from Xbox live marketplace is $99.95. When games first come out here, they're $69 for a really cheap price or $79-$89 normally.
 
Will be buying an Xbox 720 for the exclusive next gen GTA 5. Not a rumor just a hunch and the reason the launch date got pushed back.
GTA game have always mattered in the console sales wars and Microsoft understand this.
 
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