The PS4 was unveiled last night, in that people talked about it but didn’t show it, say when it would be available or how much it would cost. I’m not going to go down the list of promised features, as there were plenty of other sites on hand to cover the event and you’ve probably already read about the PS4 from those sites.
I will, instead, point you to John Teti’s excellent post at the AV Club’s Gameological Society. It hits on everything I think was wrong with this kind of event as well as the the fallacy that more power is the only thing artists need to make good art. Here’s a taste of John’s piece, but you really should go read the whole thing:
Expanding the technological capabilities of our game machines is not inherently bad, but treating new tech as a magic bullet is a self-destructive delusion (if a familiar one). The reason that so many games suck is not because the technology is too modest. The reason that so many games suck is because so many games suck. Making art is hard. No microchip changes that.
Dishonored in Review
XCOM: Enemy Unknown in Review
Borderlands 2 in Review
I’ll also mention Ben Kuchera’s excellent similarly-minded piece: http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/if-this-is-the-playstation-4-controller-sony-hasnt-learned-a-damn-thing
Sony’s solution is to throw more tech at the problem.
Also, my main point of interest with the PS4 “reveal” (or rather lack of reveal), was the confirmation that the hardware is basically standard PC stuff. Given that MS has been doing the same thing with the Xbox consoles so far, I think it’s a safe bet that Durango, Doritos, whatever they call the next Xbox, will also be basically a turnkey PC. This is really good news IMO, because it means it should be really easy to port third party games to all the next gen consoles and PC. This means I can comfortably sit back with my gaming rig and not care about the consoles. Except for (when it drops in price eventually) the Wii U, because Nintendo does their own thing and I do love those exclusives…eventually.
The thing about it for me is that the tech really didn’t dazzle me much from what was shown. What I saw were another FPS, a driving game, and a bunch of other rehashed ideas. Did they look great? Sure. But I wasn’t excited about one game that was shown last night save for one: The Witness. That’s the one from the designer of Braid. Ironically, that title looked at best like a Wii title graphically. But the idea seemed really cool.
And if the rumors are true about SKUs in the 500-700 dollar range this thing is really going to sink Sony. Not to mention the fact that games will no doubt remain at $60..who knows, they might even have the balls to raise the prices on those. And further roomers point to the next gen systems locking out used game sales.
The consoles seem to be in their death throes. Hopefully some execs from one of these companies will take their heads out of their ass soon.
Did I really just write “roomers” Oh well. I guess all this console stuff is dumbing me dodwn.
Absolutely agree, but to be fair on one point, Sony confirmed they aren’t going to lock out used game discs from working on their systems. There’s probably room in their quotes for them to be playing Fun With Words and maybe the discs will play, but will have access tied to accounts? I suspect, though, with all the streaming support that they’re just putting the call on the publishers – don’t want used games sales for your game? Use digital distribution only.
Also, “roomers.” Ha! That’s a typo I would make (and probably have).
The Witness is interesting (though also going show up on PC). The only other game that caught my eye was Watch Dogs. Now that’s probably because they finally had a game with a bit of hometown love (woo Chicago).
I am more excited for the ps4 than new Xbox but neither is setting me on fire yet.
Yay, same damn games.
Sadly I am most excited for the WiiU because it has an incredible shitpile of potential to offer something interesting (Fatal Frame using the controller as the camera, do that now please), and naturally nobody is currently buying it. Le sigh.
good lord, not the tech argument again.
consider the fact that most people love to say “it’s not the graphics mannn, it’s the game!”. in spite of all that we all clamor for HD graphics these days.
more tech does not naturally mean better games, but giving developers a better toolset to deal with gives them better opportunities to make games.
yes we might not be squeezing every last drop out of the xbox 360 or ps3, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look forward. consider the additional fact that the xbox 360 was conceived in 2003 and released in 2005. these guys have to plan out pretty far in advance. in fact, think about early xbox 360 games compared to late ps2 games and how they compare to games these days. things will and should get better. the better technology will do that.
i for one think it sounds interesting and will be curious to see what developers will do with it.
there will always be hypewords and “bleeding edge” tech cause that’s what gets us talking. but as long as they’re providing interesting hardware for the rest of us, why not just say “awesome, can’t wait”?
btw nobody is talking about “used games” and the ps4 announcement
what happened there?
They did make a statement saying that Sony will not be blocking the use of used games on the system. So there’s that. Publishers will obviously find ways to block it by making people pay $10 or whatever if the game is used, but what are you going to do about that.
Personally, if they give me the ability to download games to an external HDD with a USB 3.0 connection, I may say whatever to disc based games anyways and go all digital. I never sell games back anyways, and not having to lug around all those games every time I move would be a blessing.
It’s all well and good to give developers a more powerful platform to work with, but the climate of the gaming industry today just doesn’t encourage innovation as far as the major companies go. The budgets are so high for games and they need to make so much to turn a profit that nobody is taking risks. They play it safe and rely on existing IPs. So what will developers really do with the better toolset? My fear is they will just churn out prettier looking versions of Call of Duty and well….Killzone.
The small developers are where it’s at. Just look at some of the best games from the last couple years.
I was going to write a bunch about this, but between Brandon’s observations and that great article he linked to, I’m pretty much scooped.
The lowest point of the entire affair was David Cage shitting all over one of the most important and influential movies ever made. But that kind of was the tone of the whole thing- “Old stuff sucks, we can’t show EMOTION! That old PS3 is trash!” Fuck. You.
Sony offered absolutely no compelling reason for the PS4 to _exist_, let alone for the consumer to buy one of these unseen miracle boxes at an unknown price. A new Killzone game? A Gran Turismo clone? Whatever the fuck that Kranky or whatever it was thing is? Then there’s the fact that most of the big games are going to be available on either Wii U or current-gen systems…so why do I want your product again?
Ohh….because it has Netflix and a bunch of social media crap that no one over the age of 20 gives a flying shit about it…I see. Oh, it plays PS1/2/3 games? But they stream…which means my discs are useless, and I’ll be expected to repurchase games I bought _this year_ for the PS3. GREAT. Why is my rectum so raw?
As far as I’m concerned, the PS4 at this point looks about as relevant as Sony announcing a new VHS machine. And you better bet that the $60 price point isn’t going away, and I would not be surprised at all if PS4 games are $64.99 or $69.99. Because NEW and all that.
Given Sony’s recent financial results, those bastards really needed to get on stage with their god damned hats in their hands and something NEW that they’re bringing to the table other than pie-in-the-sky crap and buzzwords about “gamers” and whatnot.
When the Wii U was announced, I was actually impressed…it was new, fresh, and offered _potential_. It still does, even though it’s faltering and is dire need of something to actually play on it. With this, all I’m seeing is a PS3.5. All these developers and game makers complaining about their limitations, all of this stuff that they can’t do…and what do they offer? A new fucking Killzone game.
The next console generation needs to have a Mario 64 moment. Something where we say “hey, now that’s something NEW that we can’t do right now with what we have”. If that doesn’t happen, I think we’re going to see a major downturn in the console market. People will play what they have if all that’s different is slightly better graphics and bullshit Twitter features or whatever. I mean hell, people still buy PS2s. I think we’ll see the 360 and PS3 stick around for a while.
And I think I’m going to start looking into a PC.
Waitaminute, I got more to say.
Johnathan Blow. WTF. Seriously, Mr. Indie? You need a PS4 to make your sure-to-be-devastatingly-brilliant game? Talk about a sell-out!
As far as the graphics thing goes, it really shows how out-of-touch the corporate game business is. Minecraft. 20 million copies. Graphics that would have passed muster in 1995. Any number of successful IOS games- not exactly graphics powerhouses. People just do not care about graphics like they used to, particularly since real innovation and progress has kind of plateaued.
Also, middle finger. Left that out.
You should just go full PC. I’m not going to go full hipster and say that the indie/ non mainstream is where customer service, creativity and passion are… except yeah I’ll say EXACTLY that.
This is the equivalent to the decadent Romans ignoring the threat of the Gauls, Huns, Visigoths, etc. because of their obvious superiority in technology.
Rome has been sacked twice now, though no permanent damage has been done yet. Their hubris will be their undoing, for Attila waits.
Except Indy games can have horrific customer service as well, see War Z for example.
Yeah, I know. Rules, exceptions and all that. But at least with indie developers you have a chance of dealing with a person who is interested in helping.
I guess I should clarify, in my mind customer service is directly linked with things like Dead Space 3 microtransactions. To me it’s all part of their desire to treat customers like cash registers. Indies can rarely pull that kind of stunt (and don’t bring up Zynga and their ilk, not who I’m talking about)
Makes sense. Also, I think that sometimes Indy developers can get a little too attached to their games, and don’t take criticism particularly well. This, and the fact that many customers are assholes, makes for a particularly volatile combination.
OK, maybe I should have just wrote an article.
Reading the press today, I feel like someone is saying to me “hey, that’s pretty cool, isn’t? I mean…you know…Diablo 3 is coming!”
It’s like folks are trying to convince each other that this wasn’t a complete fucking DUD.
As a bit of a Sony fanboy, I was completely underwhelmed by it. I love my PS3. It’s my all in one entertainment device. Movies, games, streaming content, Singstar, not a day goes by when it’s not used by someone in my household.
No backwards compatibility? Eh. I get it, but I don’t like it. Oh, it can stream PS1,2 and 3 games? Oh, cool, so at least I have all the games I bought on PSN. Oh, wait, I don’t? Yeah. Fuck that.
I can’t wait to buy a $600 machine to play PS1 games! Go Sony!
You know, the other day we were all egging Sony and Microsoft on to shut out used games on their new consoles, as if that were the thing that was going to be their death knell.
Guess what? Having seen the coverage of the PS4, I just realized that they have plenty of other ways they could fuck this up, and it seems that they have.
There does not seem to be a single compelling reason to upgrade based on what I’ve seen. Not a single reason.
Things just keep getting better…according to a report from IGN neither discs nor downloaded content will be backward compatible on PS4. So all those games you may have downloaded: Walking Dead, Journey, etc…will not be playable on your PS4. They will of course be available for repurchase on the PS Store. Better save those PS3s if you want to keep playing that stuff.
And it’s really not clear whether DLC- all of those map packs, DLC bundles, season passes, costumes, and so forth- will be compatible with your Gaikai-streamed, repurchased copy of the game you’ve already paid for.
I think we are seeing the end of the console era.
Psft! There was really only one point at the PS4 Announcement show … and that was to show nothing. “It’s a trap!”
It was an excellent smoke & mirrors show. Not perfect, but compared to previous “RIDGE RACER!” PR events, this one was high gloss manure. I’ve got 10x as many questions now than I did before the event, sneaky fuckers.
As for the trap thing, Sony purposely said almost nothing to bait MSFT into tipping it’s hand before E3. There is plenty of chatter on the tubes about how this event gave Microsoft time to respond as a good thing. But if MSFT jumps the gun & goes “oh look we got polygonz too!” without redefining it’s software (looking at you shitty XBL Gold) it could be blood bath at E3 for the X720. Kazuo Hirai is either an evil genius in this console cold war or he’s just a complete asshole (backwards compatibility for PS4 ? Pay per stream legacy support!).
I don’t believe consoles are dead, but the hardware cycle might be. I read about the launch, the specs and was largely uninterested. I certainly won’t be an “early adopter”, put it that way.
But then again I spend most of my time playing indie PC games off Steam nowadays. And I am genuinely excited at the possibility of a Steam box so I can play my favourite games on a big TV screen.
So it’s about connecting with the right audience. And really, since when did console launch games really look exciting to an audience of jaded games journalists? The key titles and technology that drive the latest generation won’t be spotted until well *after* all the consoles have launched. The big scare this time is that they might end up being things that MS and Sony forgot to include in their machines.
Agreed about the SteamBox. If Valve does that right, making a good gaming PC that can integrate itself into my home theater and also give me access to most popular streaming video services -Netflix, Amazon, MLB- they could very easily get my money instead of MS or Sony.
I am totally on board with the concept of the SteamBox at this point. If they can disrupt the current market with a low cost alternative to traditional PC gaming AND come forward with an integrated piece of hardware, I think they could be come a major player and pretty much bury both Microsoft and Sony. The upshot of it too is that Valve is, for better or worse, a company much closer to the audience than giant corporations are.
If they did partner with Apple on something, that could be the REAL next generation.
Whoever gets the Steambox running wins the next generation. If that’s Valve, Sony, or MS I don’t care but it needs to happen. They will get all of my money.