Decline PS4 wins the console war against XboxONE, yet it is a hollow victory as Consolesdämmerung is upon us

[Curious_Tongue]

The Forest became the top-selling game on Steam despite only being in alpha form.

Pewdiepie has been playing it. That's why it's been such a success.

 

[Dexter]

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/pc-gaming-hardware-worth-21-5bn-twice-that-of-console-market/0135289

PC gaming hardware worth $21.5bn - twice that of console market

PC gaming hardware is now worth over $21.5 billion (£12.6bn) globally – over double the value of the console gaming market.

Analyst Jon Peddie Research (JPR) said in its PC Gaming Hardware Market report that personal computers, upgrades, and peripherals used for gaming were continuing to remain strong and healthy, despite an overall decline in the PC market.

Ted Pollak, senior gaming analyst at JPR, commented that while casual users were moving across to mobile devices, PC gamers were actually investing more in high-end machines.

“We continue to see a shift in casual console customers moving to mobile,” said Pollak. “While this is also occurring in the lower-end PC gaming world, more money is being directed to mid- and high-range builds and upgrades by gamers.

“Committed PC gamers are generally not interested in pure content consumption platforms. They are power users and pay thousands for the ability to play games at very high settings and then do business, video/photo editing, content creation and other tasks with maximum horsepower at their disposal in a desktop ergonomic environment.”

According to JPR, the current $21.5 billion PC gaming hardware market is set to reach a total value of $23.2 billion (£13.6bn) by 2017.

Jon Peddie, president of JPR, added that the continual increase in performance of gaming PC systems would keep the market alive, as consoles struggle to keep up.

“Nvidia, Intel and AMD have enthusiast CPU and GPUs that are so powerful that, when combined with SSDs and fast memory, they absolutely trounce the computing power and gaming capabilities of the newest console generation,” he explained.

“Being able to drive 3840×2160 (4K) is already a reality for the highest end configurations and the mass market is now able to push 2560×1440. PC gamers with good displays are able to enjoy millions and millions of pixels more than console gamers get on HDTVs. This translates into being able to see more and an overall better gaming experience.”

 

[racofer]

 

[Astral Rag]

Sony is considering an Early Access-type program

"It's something on the top of my mind every day."

Microsoft says developers have been requesting an Early Access option

"It's something our store and marketplace team think about all the time."


By Jeffrey Matulef Published Tuesday, 15 July 2014

Last week SCEA's head of developer relations Adam Boyes said that Sony is contemplating adding an Early Access-like program on PlayStation and it looks like Microsoft is in a similar boat with its eye on this potentially groundbreaking shift in the console release infrastructure.

When asked about Microsoft adding a pre-release service for still-in-development games, ID@Xbox boss Chris Charla told Develop, "It's something developers have been asking for, and we are listening really closely to developers, but I don't have anything to announce on that right now."

Charla continued to explain that it's something the Redmond-based company is researching thoroughly. "It's a really interesting issue with digital marketplaces, and it's something our store and marketplace team think about all the time," Charla said. "There's a lot of heavy deep thinkers, experts, PhDs working on these problems at Xbox every day - not just for the Xbox store, but for Windows Store and Windows Phone. Our goal is to have a rational marketplace, where good games are visible and sell well."

It's an interesting query and something the two most popular console manufacturers are keeping a close eye on. Could Microsoft beat Sony to the punch in doing this? Do you want it to? Did Early Access help or hurt your feelings towards Steam? Let us know your thoughts on the matter of this potentially huge paradigm shift in how we consume commercial releases on consoles.


http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...s-have-been-requesting-an-early-access-option

What could possibly go wrong..

 

[Avellion]

I guess this is what happens when you treat your consumers like shit,

https://movies.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-shut-down-xbox-entertainment-studios-174911463.html

 

[TheGreatOne]

The Forest became the top-selling game on Steam despite only being in alpha form.

Pewdiepie has been playing it. That's why it's been such a success.

It's mind boggling that an unfunny, no talent tard like him has so much influence on things. If a game gets exposure by guys like Pew and TotalBiscuit, its chances of financial success go up the roof. Imagine if we had people like that working on our side. Spoony has a quite refined taste but he's too minor and secluded in his own little bubble of unproductivity and incredibly loyal fans to have any large scale influence on things (he was a lot bigger some years ago before the meltdown from what I understand). All of those youtube and gaming personalities started from scratch and are now at the point where it bribing them is becoming a good investment for game developers.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

The Forest became the top-selling game on Steam despite only being in alpha form.

Pewdiepie has been playing it. That's why it's been such a success.

It's mind boggling that an unfunny, no talent tard like him has so much influence on things. If a game gets exposure by guys like Pew and TotalBiscuit, its chances of financial success go up the roof. Imagine if we had people like that working on our side. Spoony has a quite refined taste but he's too minor and secluded in his own little bubble of unproductivity and incredibly loyal fans to have any large scale influence on things (he was a lot bigger some years ago before the meltdown from what I understand). All of those youtube and gaming personalities started from scratch and are now at the point where it bribing them is becoming a good investment for game developers.

TotalBiscuit, to be honest, is kinda "on our side", in the sense that he often features niche PC games, and openly criticizes console-retardation. His video supposedly helped a lot during the D:OS kickstarter, and he has since featured it at least once more (Infinitron, how many videos about D:OS has TB made?). We just don't like him because he's obnoxious and terrible at games.

Pewdiepie, on the other hand, is basically a phenomenon unto himself, and I'm pretty sure the risk of doing any kind of sponsored video isn't worth it for him, given how much he makes just from ads.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

The Forest became the top-selling game on Steam despite only being in alpha form.

Pewdiepie has been playing it. That's why it's been such a success.

It's mind boggling that an unfunny, no talent tard like him has so much influence on things. If a game gets exposure by guys like Pew and TotalBiscuit, its chances of financial success go up the roof. Imagine if we had people like that working on our side. Spoony has a quite refined taste but he's too minor and secluded in his own little bubble of unproductivity and incredibly loyal fans to have any large scale influence on things (he was a lot bigger some years ago before the meltdown from what I understand). All of those youtube and gaming personalities started from scratch and are now at the point where it bribing them is becoming a good investment for game developers.

Pewdiepie plays fun games and shares his enjoyment with his mainly young and female fans. My 12yo brother watches him everyday and I end up watching as well.

I don't see him as any real threat to the games I love, and I've even been introduced to a few horror games and JRPGs that I might want to get around to playing one day. What's the big deal?

 

[Curious_Tongue]

Was this ever posted?

 

[Average Manatee]

The joke is that its 2019 and this guy will still be living with his mom.

 

[Night Goat]

I know it's a joke, but forcing the user to say an ad slogan to turn on the console is so stupid, shameless and greedy that I'll be amazed if Microsoft doesn't do it next generation.

 

[tuluse]

Actually the real joke was that the guy puts up with all of it to play his xbox.

Spoiler

desperation and sadness make the best jokes

 

[Night Goat]

God dammit, melonheads.

 

[deuxhero]

The good this is they patented it, so no one else can do it for 2 decades.

 

[Average Manatee]

There's already some sites that use that for a captcha.

 

[Gozma]

I know it's a joke, but forcing the user to say an ad slogan to turn on the console is so stupid, shameless and greedy that I'll be amazed if Microsoft doesn't do it next generation.

http://www.google.com/patents/US824...a=X&ei=XSwlUbmkE8PO2wXmkIDgDw&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA

Publication numberUS8246454 B2
Publication typeGrant
Application numberUS 12/604,887
Publication dateAug 21, 2012
Filing dateOct 23, 2009
Priority dateJun 2, 2009
Also published asEP2438758A1, Gary M. Zalewski
Original AssigneeSony Computer Entertainment America Llc
Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan

I'm glad there was a reason to post these again because they're just fantastic

 

[Scowlie]

It's mind boggling that an unfunny, no talent tard like him has so much influence on things. If a game gets exposure by guys like Pew and TotalBiscuit, its chances of financial success go up the roof. Imagine if we had people like that working on our side. Spoony has a quite refined taste but he's too minor and secluded in his own little bubble of unproductivity and incredibly loyal fans to have any large scale influence on things (he was a lot bigger some years ago before the meltdown from what I understand). All of those youtube and gaming personalities started from scratch and are now at the point where it bribing them is becoming a good investment for game developers.

TotalBiscuit, to be honest, is kinda "on our side", in the sense that he often features niche PC games, and openly criticizes console-retardation. His video supposedly helped a lot during the D:OS kickstarter, and he has since featured it at least once more (Infinitron, how many videos about D:OS has TB made?). We just don't like him because he's obnoxious and terrible at games.

Pewdiepie, on the other hand, is basically a phenomenon unto himself, and I'm pretty sure the risk of doing any kind of sponsored video isn't worth it for him, given how much he makes just from ads.

It is true that the influence of YouTube on game sales has rapidly burgeoned beyond anything short of 1) the power of yearly sequels or 2) a good old-fashioned media controversy, and perhaps YouTube has eclipsed the latter. This is even more true in the indie/smaller/(arguably also niche) market(s) simply due to scale.

BUT I would like to strengthen the CM's already-stated distinction. TotalBiscuit, allegedly YouTube's #1 PC game critic, has 1.7 million subscribers. PewDiePie, as of this moment, has 28.8 million. (Ha, 28.8, a number we old folks remember well.) Let me put it like this:

Reviewer-type channels
Noah Antwiler (Spoony): 86k
Lazy Game Reviews (LGR): 191k
Extra Credits (so earnest!): 290k
Escapist: 470K
(Yahtzee: 120K)
Cinemassacre (AVGN): 1.5M
Angry Joe Show: 1.5M
TotalBiscuit: 1.7M

IGN (news w/perky blonde): 4.7M

Whatever-type channels
GameGrumps (2 years old!): 1.6M
TobyGames (who?): 6.7M
VanossGaming (who?): 7.9M
YOGSCAST Lewis & Simon: 7.0M
(FIVE (5) other YOGSCAST chans: >1M EACH)
PewDiePie: 28.8M (Twenty-Eight point Eight Fucking Million)

Point here is two-fold. First, don't for a second think that any reviewers, disdained or beloved of the hivemind, have more than a tiny fraction of PewD's influence (IGN is more of a news channel).

TotalBiscuit is A-OK in my book; he's a PC gamer, he's a consumer advocate, his reviews present plenty of gameplay footage, and you can tell his opinions are his own. He has integrity, whatever else you might think of him.

Which leads to my second point, being these YouTube kids... they're not of the same world. They're don't have a background in journalism, or anything else, which means they don't even have a framework for integrity. Understand, I do not complain they are morally deficient. Instead I mean, by way of example, that the idea that accepting swag or cash in exchange for featuring a particular game on their channels could be seen as a violation of trust might not even occur to them. Hell, it might not even BE a violation of trust. I don't fucking know. Their audience doesn't have the same expectations as a reviewer's audience.

Traditional games journalism, print and older websites, was/is notoriously far too cozy with the games industry to be reliably unbiased. But at least they have the concept of integrity; they might attend parties and accept swag and exclusive access, but none would want to be seen actually accepting cash bribes, and they wouldn't want to be giving TOO many 10s to games that are pure shit. Also they contribute their SOME watchdogs, advocates, and firebrands. Jim Sterling ffs.

But as traditional journalism wanes in influence and YouTube and Twitch rise, the ethical landscape changes. Or really, fades away. Like remember when rock bands wouldn't want to be caught "selling out"? (Ehhh, maybe you don't. But trust me, that was a thing in the olden days.) And then at some point that phrase just stopped meaning anything at all? That's the kind of transition we have with gaming coverage, thanks to the rise of online gamer fame.

So to respond to Cowboy Moment, while the PewD's $4M/y in ad revenue is surely impressive, I don't think he's risking a penny of it if he's accepting gifts or even cash. Did he ever swear the reviewers' oath? Did he ever promise to be unbiased? (I don't fucking know, but I bet no.) And more to the point, would his audience even give the faintest of fucks if anything of the sort were uncovered?

I mean if they wanted honest and intelligent insight into games, would they even be watching in the first place?

 

[Cowboy Moment]

Scowlie, it's all speculation, but I think a lot of pewdiepie's appeal comes from his perception as just your regular guy, having fun with video games. Kids perceiving him as a kind of cool older brother figure, and so forth. He could very well stand to lose his "authenticity" if he were to get caught in some kind of advertising deal. It's not about journalistic integrity of any kind, as he's not a journalist, and his content doesn't even particularly feature any kind of value judgement on the games he covers. However, he still needs to maintain his image, and as such, has a different kind of integrity to uphold.

And my point was, that with the kind of revenue he pulls, I just don't think the risk would be worth it for him. It would be very stupid and greedy to even try, and despite the image he's built for himself, I don't think Pewdiepie is stupid. Far from it.

 

[Luzur]

"I have stood knee deep in DRM and Quest Markers, and filled my mouth with

Mtn Dew. I have seen Sony Servers bluescreen. I have lain with Xbox One

and copulated with the Playstation 4. I have dug trenches for the Old

School refugees; I have murdered Kickstart Projects where the ground never

thaws, and starved the PC masses into faith. A Gamer's shadow burnt into

the Computer Screen. A house of Graphic cards in the trashbin. The PC

Crowd, the PC Crowd, Codex! trod and bled and denied GTA and starved and

beaten and murdered and enslaved. This is your coming century! They will

eat them Codex! they will make console casuals of you all and they will

bury their gamepads into your ribs and they will eat your steamcodes!"

 

[Black]

http://www.webhallen.com/se-sv/spel/kampanjer/playstation_4-gaystation_edition/

tl;dr if you own a sony product you are a gayfaggot.

 

[Konjad]

 

[racofer]

 

[Jaesun]

What in the fuck?

 

[Melcar]

 

[Astral Rag]

Sony is being sued for $5 million in a class action lawsuit filed by someone who was very, very unhappy that Killzone Shadow Fall's multiplayer didn't run in "native 1080p."


As reported by Polygon, the plaintiff, Douglas Ladore, is accusing Sony of "deceptive marketing" with its latest Killzone title, which was allegedly supposed to run its multiplayer modes in a higher resolution.

"Sony claimed that the PS4 was so powerful that its featured Killzone video game could display '1080p' multiplayer graphics, a crowning achievement in the video game industry," the suit claimed. "However, after the game's release, gamers quickly noticed and complained that Killzone's multiplayer graphics were blurry to the point of distraction. The cause of this blurriness went unknown until a well-respected video game website reported that Killzone's multiplayer did not actually provide '1080p' graphics as advertised."

Of course by "well-respected video game site" they mean Eurogamer, of course, whose tech experts at Digital Foundry noted that "Killzone Shadow Fall's multiplayer runs at 960x1080 with a high quality temporal upscale." Our Richard Leadbetter described such as process as using "information from previously rendered frames is used to plug the gaps."

"The fact that few have actually noticed that any upscale at all is in place speaks to its quality, and we can almost certainly assume that this effect is not cheap from a computational perspective," he added. Though he also noted that Shadow Fall still didn't quite hit 60 fps all the time.

Killzone developer Guerrilla Games addressed this matter at the time with the following distinction:

"In both SP and MP, Killzone Shadow Fall outputs a full, unscaled 1080p image at up to 60 fps. Native is often used to indicate images that are not scaled; it is native by that definition.

"In Multiplayer mode, however, we use a technique called 'temporal reprojection,' which combines pixels and motion vectors from multiple lower-resolution frames to reconstruct a full 1080p image. If native means that every part of the pipeline is 1080p then this technique is not native.

"Games often employ different resolutions in different parts of their rendering pipeline. Most games render particles and ambient occlusion at a lower resolution, while some games even do all lighting at a lower resolution. This is generally still called native 1080p. The technique used in Killzone Shadow Fall goes further and reconstructs half of the pixels from past frames."

At any rate, Ladore was still outraged by this. "Sony ensured that the packaging for every retail copy of Killzone represented - among the game's other consumer-facing technical specifications - that Killzone's resolution was an unqualified '1080p,'" the suit claimed.

"After opening Killzone's packaging (thus rendering the game un-returnable) and playing the game, Plaintiff realised that the game's multiplayer graphics were not the '1080p' graphics that Sony advertised. Instead, Plaintiff noticed that Killzone's multiplayer graphics were blurry and did not appear to be rendering at a native 1080p resolution," it added.

"Had Plaintiff known that Killzone's multiplayer mode was not running at a graphics resolution of 1080p, he would have not have purchased Killzone at all, or would have paid substantially less for it."

The suit is being handed by lawfirm Edelson, who previously took action against EA for failing to provide free digital copies of Battlefield 1943 with every purchase of Battlefield 3, as it was advertised, and it handled the class-action lawsuit against Sega and Gearbox for Aliens: Colonial Marines' less than stellar quality.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...-for-killzone-failing-to-deliver-native-1080p


Only in America

 

[Bubbles]

I'm sure a company that loses $1.3 billion a year is very worried about a $5 million lawsuit.