Well this does make things more complicated.  

I'm still leaning heavily toward PS4 at launch, Xbone at first price drop, but now selling blood or something to fund both is sounding more appealing. At the very least, MS's stance change has moved the Xbone from the 'boycott' column to the 'consider' column.

It's kinda the last thing I have to say on this (in this thread).

THANK YOU

people stuck in the past technologically.

I said exactly what I meant

?

Is the excitement just that it will save you an HDMI port on your TV or receiver?

damn, it's gotten so hot out there Major Nelson has started disguising himself.

you can plug in a Xbox 360 with the HDMi In port,that's something i guess

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-06-17-you-can-plug-an-xbox-360-into-the-xbox-one-says-major-nelson

Oh, so the XBone does have backwards compatibility!  You just need to buy a plug-in accessory, similar to adding a Sega 32X or a Game Genie.

I'm absolutely loving the characters, story, dialogue, setting, scavenging, crafting, and much more.  What I'm not enjoying are the insta-death zombie attacks.  It's just... NOPE.  YOU DIE.  LAST CHECKPOINT 5 MINUTES AGO.  It feels too much like the dark times of gaming when there were encounters you could only handle if you died horribly on try #1 so you could see how to proceed on try #2.

My other quibble is about the times when it's unclear where you're supposed to go next.  I seem to remember also being annoyed with this in the one Uncharted game I played.  I'm just in some large building or area and it's not until I happen to stumble across the exit that I see, "oh, I guess I've been trying to get (to the roof / to the basement / to this stairwell) this whole time."  I don't need to be on rails or anything, but if the character has some sense of where he is trying to get to, then I as the player should know that as well.

I feel like I bought an early-access beta instead of the full game.     Well, I had put this on hold in anticipation of this patch; I guess I can just keep holding for the next one. 

And we all agree that [REDACTED] never happened.

I'd go as far as saying [REDACTED]. Both of my kids loved it though, so I [REDACTED].

Hmm...

 

I kinda liked the bluetooth for the blu ray remote; I never had to worry about things blocking the signal.

It was fine with dedicated PS3 remotes, but the limited support for universal remotes was the annoying part. I have a little USB doohickey IR receiver plugged into mine for just that reason.

Well, I'm leaning towards busting my ass and raising the money to purchase both systems. 

It does simplify things. Last gen I waited for a price drop before getting system #2 to help lessen the impact to the bank account... but I make a lot more money now than I did 8 years ago. I think the PS4 will be the only one I instabuy on release day, and I'll just keep another $565 earmarked for an impulse buy when I see my first must-have XBone game.

But damn, now that I think about it, I really don't want to end up paying monthly fees for both consoles simultaneously. Grmblmrm.

(pique (sorry))

And we all agree that Super Mario Sunshine never happened.

Well it's about time Progress Quest got a graphics update.

Honestly, the game looked awful and not like anything I'd expect from a next-gen game.

Even if you take away the prolific quicktime events you're not impressed?  I was drooling over the game demo prolifically until I saw how the combat gameplay was.

One theory I heard was that the game was originally meant for Kinect, but that they changed it late in development. That would explain why the gameplay is so limited and basic.

That is actually a good theory. I heard that you can use the kinect with the game....or the gamepad. It could be that they just slapped on the gamepad at the end here when they could see a backlash coming against the kinect on the XB1.

The game LOOKS impressive...but the gameplay unfortunately looks horrible.

Should still at least be a fun rental and eye candy game.

Uhm...that's "Domo Arigato" 

quiet bot.

Interesting you should say that, CeeKay.  I've been wondering...

0100011100001110101101001101100000010010011 0100101011011010100111011111110110111 00101100001001100010001100101001101110011000110110111010100010011111000101110011 00000010111101011110100100100100000101001111000110001101010011000001110100000011 101000010010111001101001100100111001100011101001111111101111 01111000010100001110 11011001110001101111110111010111111110100110100000100001011100011100011001000101 0100111111101100110100 0010111010111010111100001101010001100001101011111010001111 00110010110101100010000101001111011111

Interesting....

Uhm...that's "Domo Arigato" 

quiet bot.

Interesting you should say that, CeeKay.  I've been wondering...

Yeah, I got fooled as well.



I don't know where we got the idea that Xbox Live Gold members would get two free games per month...

Recently joined, and first post is heavily recommending a very obscure game.  High chance this adds up to you being a spam bot.

But since you're an actual human being (or at least a new model very convincing bot), everything changes.  Welcome! And sorry for the Turing test!

[If you want to kick the puppy, put earplugs in and stop watching the screen for 25 minutes.If you want to feed the puppy, put earplugs in and stop watching the screen for 43 minutes.If you want to hug the puppy, leave the theater, buy tickets to another showing, and start watching 14 minutes after it begins.]

I smell Clue the Movie level lameness.  And what, you sit down for a bit of movie then get up and move to another screen in the multiplex for the next bit?

Don't be silly.  It's not like the paper-based ones span multiple book copies.

It'll be something like:

If you want to kick the puppy, put earplugs in and stop watching the screen for 25 minutes.

If you want to feed the puppy, put earplugs in and stop watching the screen for 43 minutes.

If you want to hug the puppy, leave the theater, buy tickets to another showing, and start watching 14 minutes after it begins.

It is confirmed that the new proprietary hard drive is powered entirely by anti-Microsoft rage.

Just found this in my mailbox two days ahead of the official release.

where did you order from?

He buys all his games from Snarfenlaagen.  They specialize in pickled fish and electronics.  Or is it fish and pickled electronics?   

Ever since the Børkemürker came out, the Snarfenlaagen's just aren't in demand!

I follow Kato.

Woot!

Kato if you make the crew go XBone, I swear there will be spider pictures everywhere in the forums from that day on.  Or in your home mailbox.

what if my Net is down for a few days?

Allow me fellas.   /clears throat

They have a console for that.    Xbox 360

Yeah, already have that, a PS3, a Wii(that's packed away some where), and a good gaming rig... so, yeah, I'm not down and out if my Net goes, unless I happen to want to play one of the XB1 games.. still sucks.. same as Ubi's always on DRM and Simcity's... Plus, forget my Net, I also have to rely on MS's Net and servers....

I think msd is referencing how Microsoft's brilliant PR department made that exact declaration.  "Don't have the internet connection needed for the XBone?  Get a 360!"

Also worth considering is getting a PS3 and/or a 360 now to catch up on all the best games of the last 8 years on the cheap.

so.. PS4 _won't_ have 'paid online play'?

Pretty sure it's $5/month if you want to play online multiplayer on the PS4.

that was in reference to the gif, which was implying the PS4 would not have paid online multiplayer

Yup, understood.  You put a question mark so it made it look like you were asking a question.

Concerning preordering from Amazon:

I have my orders set up as Second Day shipping.    Does this mean I get it the day after release day, or it ships the day after release day and I get it a few days later?

I really hate having to wait a few days after launch for something like this, but I can't swallow the Gamestop usual tricks of bundling the hell out of these machines.    So my first instinct was to preorder both of them from Amazon.

At least for games, 2-day shipping can still mean release day arrival.  For example, my Last of Us preorder is showing as being prepped to ship out today to get at my doorstep on release day.

At the very least, if Amazon ends up providing a different release day shipping option, you'll still be able to change your shipping option after placing the preorder.

[Spoiler]

I don't know why people want giant phones. The Galaxy Note looks comical.

I don't know about everyone else but I'd clearly be compensating for something.

Oh I get where you're going with that.   

Spoiler for Hiden:

bad eyesight?

I don't know why people want giant phones. The Galaxy Note looks comical.

There's clearly a market for them though.  If Apple does come out with a gigantor iPhone, I sure hope they also keep one that's no bigger than the current ones.  I like how my phone fits in my pocket and how I can reach everything with my thumb.

I'm curious to see what it would be like handling a controller with both analog sticks at the top. 

Nintendo did that didn't they?with the right stick,as i said in one of those threads,it means you would have to move your thumb away from the stick to press the buttons that are underneath(therefore extending the web of skin inbetween Thumb and forefinger),it's much more comfortable moving your thumb towards your other fingers to press the buttons(ie:stick below the buttons)

Wow, shows how much I've been paying attention to the Wii U.  Yeah, that design makes so much more sense now that almost every game utilizes both sticks.

The biggest problem with the PS controllers is NO OFFSET STICKS.  They are just not as comfortable as the 360 controller.  It blows my mind that this wasn't revamped.

I'm curious to see what it would be like handling a controller with both analog sticks at the top. 

Wow, thanks for the size comparison pic.  From all the standalone pics I've seen so far I just assumed all these consoles were about the same size.

I've decided that you all should go with the PS4 for Gaming Trend multiplayer.

If I did I wouldn't let you on my friends list; I've got standards.

Well you're not invited to my birthday party then.

I hate the dual shock controller though and cannot comprehend why they didn't scrap it and make a new design all together.

I'm also not a big fan of the dual shock design, but the PS4 controller is changed.  It just looks really similar (and they stuck with the analog sticks both being in the low position).

The changes you can see just from pictures are that the triggers are now concave so your fingers won't be inclined to slip off upon use like with the PS3, and the analog sticks are further apart so your thumbs should no longer hit each other when the sticks both tilt inward.

What you can't see, according to this article, "analogue sticks and triggers are vastly improved over its PS3 counterpart... the sticks are very tight - possibly tighter than an Xbox controller... curved triggers feel tactile and comfortable."  Sounds like the dangly bits your fingers wrap around also have a much different feel.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/06/microsoft-defends-the-xbox-ones-licensing-used-game-policies/

They need a new PR department.  It's like they worked hard to phrase every line in a way to maximize how much it made me hate them more.

Quotes from "Microsoft Xbox Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer Yusuf Mehdi"

"This is a big change, consumers don't always love change, and there's a lot of education we have to provide to make sure that people understand."

Yeah... I just don't understand.  That's it.  Once you explain it more I'll love it.

"We're trying to do something pretty big in terms of moving the industry forward for console gaming into the digital world. We believe the digital world is the future, and we believe digital is better."

Yeah... this isn't about the transition to digital.  Steam manages to do DRM without an every-24-hour phone home.  Steam manages to succeed with unsellable digital games without any restrictions being forced upon consumers should they choose to buy disc games.

"a diversity of business models" for publishers to take advantage of, from free-to-play titles to $60 AAA games to Xbox Live Arcade games somewhere in between. "As you go into a digital world, what's happening is publishers are choosing to have different business models and consumers are saying 'hey, if I can't resell the title, provide for me a different way to get value to get into your game.' And we think the market will be efficient in finding good models that work for consumers."

Yeah, provide me a different way to get value.  How about regular huge sales like on Steam?  

Mehdi noted that purely digital game marketplaces like the iOS App Store have thrived despite having absolutely no physical media.

Yeah... you realize my iOS games usually cost $1 or $2, right?  Maybe $12 for a really expensive one?

While the Internet is decidedly up in arms about the way the Xbox One handles game ownership and online check ins, Mehdi said it was "hard to say" what the larger reaction from the less attentive mainstream consumers would be. "I think it's fair to say there's a segment of consumers at this show in particular who really pay attention, who are very passionate about all aspects of gaming, and that we listen to closely. In a broader set of community, people don't pay attention to a lot of the details."

Oh, you think your userbase is too ignorant to realize what you're doing to them.  Awesome.

While the Xbox One will sell for $100 more than the PlayStation 4, Mehdi suggested that the extra money spent would be worthwhile to consumers looking for the "best value" in their next gaming system

Say the higher cost will teach me discipline.  Saaay it.

so.. PS4 _won't_ have 'paid online play'?

Pretty sure it's $5/month if you want to play online multiplayer on the PS4.

I've decided that you all should go with the PS4 for Gaming Trend multiplayer.

It's anyone's guess, but the last generation has lasted 8 years, so that duration is as good a guess as any for this new gen.

Nintendo stands apart a bit from Sony and Microsoft.  The Wii U will have some of the same titles as the other two, but Nintendo is more known for its first party titles (Mario, Zelda, etc.) and 3rd party titles that do something outside the box.  The way you interact with the system is very different than the other two.

Microsoft and Sony are going to have almost entirely the same library offerings, but each has its own exclusives.  There are awesome exclusives on both sides, so it's really a matter of taste which ones are more alluring to you.

If you really haven't heard, there's much hubbub about how the XB1 will cost $100 more, will require internet connectivity every 24 hours for copyright protection checks, and will have some Microsoft-imposed restrictions on buying/selling used games.  I guess some people are also paranoid that the XB1 will secretly film your every move and sound and report your secrets to the Russians.

Other personal preference things: which controller feels better to you, which nontraditional controller toy you prefer (Kinect or Move), which interface you like, and which non-game functions you like better (bluray, tv, etc.).

I think we can find ways to peer pressure Hark into going with Sony for multiplayer...