IMO improving graphics technology is a case of diminishing returns. Sure you can always make a better looking game by throwing more processing power at it, but that has (at best) a minor effect on things like gameplay and story. Like seriously, if Squenix had decided to make FF7: Rebirth in the PS3 era, other then some uglier graphics how much would the game have have been different?
And (to actually tie this in to the thread) that’s the reason PS5 sales have been so sluggish. What do you really need those PS5 graphics for? I mean my PC is still running hardware from 5-10 years ago, because there isn’t anything I really need to upgrade for. Most of what I’ve been playing is indy titles and for the few graphic intensive games I want to play they’ll usually run if I lower some graphics settings.
And Nintendo proved this right by making successful games on underpowered systems. The switch it’s basically an Android tablet from last decade sold with crazy markup but talented game designers make compelling games
Sure, in the store they have 3rd party do lazy shitty ports like this https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/jello-run-switch/ but I feel it has more interesting games than the photorealistic ones on PS5, except the masterpieces by insomniac studio, but those can also be played on PS4 or PC
Exactly this. I’ll always maintain a game will be and will remain prettier is an artistic style than an ultra realistic style. It just takes up resources that could be used elsewhere for the sake of looking pretty for the next 3-5 years before the “Uhh muh Guuhhhhd, it looks so realistic” ages like milk. Games like Wind Waker and Okami still look gorgeous today.
If they would make them backwards compatible I would be more likely to upgrade it still bugs me that they stopped doing that. I miss my old PS3. That thing was awesome I even installed Linux on it and had emulators working… the good old days.
It is backwards compatible, though?
I have appreciated the backwards compatibility of my Xbox. The studio closures and dearth of games, less so
Get a PS5 and become less than appreciative about bad backwards compatibility AND studio closures.
You can (and I have) play PS4 games on PS5.
First thing I did when I got the PS5 was buy a bunch of cheap used PS4 games for it.
I didn’t realize I was assuming that was over. Well good on them. Long live the used game market!
It’s like all we heard about the PS5 was that it was super hard to get when it came out and then it kind of disappeared from our collective consciousness
And it’s still out selling the Xbox…
XBox has always been a weird console. It never really competes with Nintendo because NIntendo always does its own general thing and also slides neatly into the kids and family market. So it competes with Playstation by default. Except Playstation actually has contracts with good studios to make exclusive games. What’s a non-Halo exclusive for the XBox? Back in the day, you’d play games like Gears of War, Halo (obviously), Fallout 3, Psychonauts, KOTOR, COD, etc. I can’t think of a single meaningful game on the most recent generation for the XBox.
One of my favorites was Project Gotham, but they shuttered that studio in favor of Forza which just isn’t as good.
Fuck exclusives.
It did? Who’s collective consciousness are you attached to? It’s a huge fucking hit.
Well, the numbers show otherwise.
It is still super hard to get
I’ve seen them stocked in my local stores for the past year. The Xbox series X/S as well. I kinda thought it was like that everywhere now? Are they really still sold out and being scalped for crazy mark up prices where you live?
You are right, I haven’t checked for a while, I thought it was still unavailable. I ordered one yesterday.
Yeah that and it’s still super expensive and does not have system sellers for me. Eg. Uncharted.
Also I don’t need another PC, thank you.
Sometimes I forget it is a thing.
PS5 owner here. Me too.
“meaning the other 59 million must still be using the PlayStation 4.”
That’s not what that means.
As of last December there were still 2 million active PS3 users.
https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2023/12/26/ps3-monthly-active-users-report/
I’d imagine there’s still a limited number of PS Vita and PSTV accounts too.
I still use my PS3, enough great and cheap games and can play my PS1 and 2 games on the big screen with wireless controllers.
Newer games I play on PC anyways.
I stopped at the PS2…
I don’t think PSN applied to the PS2, started with the PS3.
PS2 didn’t have networking apart from the odd firewire port and a very expensive devkit.
PS2 definitely had online play. I never played online but my friend did.
Pretty sure all the slims had a built in Ethernet port and I think there was an adapter to add them to the original fat ones too
I had the original with the expansion, I used to play Tony hawk online
There was no psn back then though, you just plugged in and were good to go
Still the best console of all time so that’s a pretty solid stopping point
The best console is still foot with bash.
Forgive me while I groan
Hacked Vita is still great.
Hacked Vita with RetroArch is so so so much fun!!
Hacked vita is goated
I love my vita !
I had a lot of fun with my Vita even without hacking it. It had a longer lifetime than people realize, in part through digital sales and indie games that were planning to do PS3/PS4 releases anyway.
One of these years my children will discover the PS3 hidden unused in the entertainment center since they were born, and there’ll be 2mil+1. Muhaha.
When a new generation starts, I hook it up in the living room, move the previous gen to the bedroom, and mothball the oldest gen.
So when I kick off, my kid, or grand kids, are going to discover organized boxes of gaming gear. I’m sure it will be all over whatever passes for social media then. :)
Currently:
Living Room - PS5, Xbox Series X, Steam Deck Dock.
Bedroom - PS4, Xbox One X, Switch.
Was gonna say, I never bought a PS4. My PS3 is still kicking.
I just got a second one because it was peanuts and came with two good controllers while mine are all kind of subtly broken.
I do actually have a PS4 with 5 controllers because once bit. I don’t know if I’ll find the time, but if I feel like playing something stuck on the three like infamous or demons souls, I can.
Maybe I’ll get the 5 one day. And maybe I’ll find that emulation can solve the old title problem.
I still have a PS2…
I have a ps1, 2, 3 and 4, a psp, a vita, I also have a NA snes, OG xbox, xbox360 and xbox one. I pretty much don’t play with any of them, I work too much…
Surely they’re all just waiting for the PS5 pro? That will solve it! /s
Or, seriously, a PS5 slim. (Actually slim, not the slight redesign they did.)
All the greatest recent games run super well on the Steam Deck, so there’s no need for a giant console cosplaying as a router.
Right? I’ve had the Xbox since the beginning, didn’t get the last upgrade and finally sold the One to get a steam deck.
All the greatest recent games run super well on the Steam Deck
I get what you are telling here, but it’s not 100% accurate, generally speaking. It might be true for you personally. I own a first gen Steam Deck myself and its just a complementary hardware to my PC (and wonderful at that). It does not run all greatest games at all or in some cases limited and problematic. So “super well” is a little bit exaggerated, but that does not take away how fantastic the device is.
Well, I can only speak from my own experience.
When the PS5 launched I wanted to upgrade but you literally couldn’t get it because it wasn’t in stock anywhere. You could only find it on eBay of some private seller that started at almost double the price, no, thank you. Then Sony introduced this “Register and on the next event you get a slot to buy one from the official Website” which was great. I got invited the first time and literally couldn’t buy it because the website was broken. Whenever I wanted to select my payment method the checkout got blank and there was nothing you could do. Even worse was that you couldn’t hard refresh the shop because this would have killed the session that the website needed to allow you to buy it. So, even switching browsers with the same “invitation link” didn’t work. I reported this to the support, but they didn’t really care. half a year later, I got my second invitation link and the same happened then as well. I reported it again to the support, but they still didn’t know what to do with that information or wanted to troubleshoot this.
And now, there isn’t really a need for it anyway. The Games that I would have wanted to buy on the PS5 released on the PC.
Rise of the Ronin and demon souls are the only things I’m missing. I tried to find one without botting for awhile before I gave up. Rather thankful I did lol.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:PlayStation_5-only_games
Gee, wonder why.
That’s a good thing - as the consumer.
The less exclusives, the better. We don’t need lock-ins, we need open platforms and open systems. If I want a plug&play gaming experience I can buy a console, if I want maximum performance and quality in a more maintenance and setup intensive package I can build my own PC.
For real - it’s so nice nowadays being able to play nearly any hot new game I want to on my desktop. Never been a huge fan of consoles - keyboard+mouse was always far more natural for me, but then again I was big into C&C and SC when I was a kid. The only console I’ve really loved since the N64 is the switch, and that’s largely because I can bring it on a long flight and fuck around in ZELDA: BOTW or TOTK for hours on end, which is awesome (I tend to avoid putting games on my personal dev laptop, and it also only has an iGPU).
C & C ?
C N’ C ?
My guy
One vision! One purpose! Peace through power!
Oh
Command & Conquer
its almost like it needed the exclusives to be worth it
Here are the trends with previous consoles:
PS1 : 455 -> PS2 : 512 -> PS3 : 180 -> PS4 : 58 -> PS5 : 15
Xbox : 106 -> Xbox 360 : 214 -> Xbox One : 12
Nintendo 64 : 129 -> Nintendo Wii : 328 -> Nintendo Wii U : 38 -> Nintendo Switch : 174
where is the GameCube or xbox series?
I don’t think Xbox Series has exclusives. All of their stuff is on PC afaik.
That’s super interesting. Do you have a source you could link for this data?
I just referenced the data in the wikipedia container article here for some select consoles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category%3ASingle-platform_video_games?wprov=sfla1
They’re a gamer what other credentials do you need?
Now do the same for PC
And that’s why the newest console I own is a Switch, and everything else I play is on PC.
I’ve even moved all my Switch playing to PC hahaha
So the Xbox one series (aka Xbox one 2) has zero dedicated games?
Its a good time to be a PC player. I mean, it was before. But it is now, too.
Jesus, only 4 games in that otherwise short short list ring a bell for me.
I only bought a ps4 well after the 5 dropped, and only because my pal had got a new xbox and wasn’t playing with his ps4 anymore. Long story short I got the ps4, 3 controllers, and 5 hardcopy games for £50 and a joint. Until I can get a ps5 for that…I ain’t upgrading
I upgraded to PC running Linux instead
Most people don’t need the newest and expensive tech. From the last 30 days of active games on Playstation brand, here a split
PS3/PS4/PS5
(I just show a ratio that is set in relation to the numbers of players for the game), meaning left side is older console:https://ps-timetracker.com/statistic/last-30-days
- / 42 / 14
Fortnite (3 times)- / 3 / 2
Roblox (1.5 times)0 / 33 / 9
Minecraft** (3.7 times)- / 14 / 9
Cod:MW2 (1.6 times)- / 38 / 12
GTA V (3.2 times)- / 23 / 8
Rainbow Siege (2.9 times)- / 26 / 8
Apex Legends (3.3 times)- / 17 / 7
Overwatch 2 (2.4 times)- / 1 / 1
EA Sports FC 24 (1 time)
Edit: I have added simple math result in how many times the PS4 player base is big as the PS5 player base. Just out of curiosity and to provide a quicker way of scanning through the list.
(**ps3 players almost at 0 level for this game)
As you can see, all games are available for PS4 and they run decent enough, are multiplayer games and the new consoles do not offer anything substantial for these kind of players.
My ps5 is basically a really big PS4 lately.
Yeah, but at the same time it makes the PS4 games a much better experience. I dunno if that justifies the spend for a lot of people, but I don’t regret getting one.
All the games are in both consoles. If amything, it’s dragging down PS5 ppl.