@Fapcop i can't quote you so I'll have to do it this way
I dunno man. It’s like watching two retards have a slapfight.
Amazon also tried to tie their servers into gaming (just kind of the other way around, starting with servers and then moving into gaming) and they’ve been hilariously incompetent ever since: Threw hundreds of millions of dollars into games, most of which got cancelled, and one even GOT RELEASED, and then cancelled.
Then they kinda went: Ok, Fuck Microsoft, we gotta take on Google too! And released their cloud gaming gizmo.
It’s sad to think how many competent games could have been made for the crazy amounts Amazon has spent.
Amazon, Google and now Microsoft have no idea what the gaming industry is. They've seen Ea and Activision make money from psychologically manipulating kids in to getting addicted to gambling, and thought "Hey! easy money!" and completely fucked it. The stadia is the biggest piece of shit in gaming since the Ouya. Just laughably bad and missing the mark of what gaming is, and about. The vast majority of gamers are single player, offline gamers. For the longest time gaming was only single-player, with local split-screen play being the only 'multiplayer' option. Nintendo and Sony cut their teeth during that era, it's their bread and butter and the foundation of gaming. Amazon and Google don't, or refuse to realise that because they think there's more money to be made in Online gaming. I guess they never check the Playstation financials that just raked in $25 billion in profit
One SaaS to rule them all! Every time I hear someone talk about Gamepass and what a good deal it is, I feel like slapping them and make them consider the bigger picture.
Gamepass has the possibility to ruin the industry like nothing else. I’m not a Microsoft hater and I’m not necessarily one of the “But you never really OWN IT” faggots, but... If games become a 20-30$ a month all you can eat buffet, what would that do to games? It’ll be an even shittier mass product than it already is.
If gamers don’t pay 40-70$ for a game, where’s the financial and emotional investment? Expectations will be shaped by “Meh, I paid 30$ for this and hundreds of other games” and not “Wow, I spent 60$ dis better be good!”
Why complete a game? Play a few levels and download another if it gets hard. Why replay an old game? They’re all “free” anyways.
Gamepass has the potential to do to gaming what a Burger King 40$ Eat what you want for a month-program would do to the restaurant industry and obesity.
I agree with all of this, and we're seeing the long term effects of gamepass, right now. The service has burned out, and instead of Microsoft filling it with old xbox games, even as is games without remastering, instead they've reverted to mobile games and indie shit. I laugh when i check the "new on gamepass" section on the dashboard. It's just pixel art crap and cutesy wankfests. Luckily, Sony and Nintendo stick to what works and what has worked for 4 decades; good, immersive, enjoyable single-player experiences.
Think of the best games on the 360 or OG Xbox. Very few were multiplayer, or were known for their multiplayer. Gears and Halo were kings for their story line and play style. Mass effect was a single player game. Dead space, Lost planet, alan wake, Kingdom under fire, Too Human, Advent rising and on and on, all single player games. They've thrown it away to chase the 'big money' mobile whales. Simply retarded business strategy.
It is a piece of impressive hardware for sure. Outperforming the Xbox despite on paper being weaker. And considering what they squeezed out of 8 anemic Jaguar cores, it’ll be impressive to see what they’ll get out of the PS5 for sure.
Xbox went for the top trumps this gen, because they got spanked on specs with the xbone. It backfired, massively because...
I just gotta add. Cerny might be smart, but realistically, the SSD and transferspeed were the only logical next step to take, considering it’s no longer a possibility to increase RAM, CPU or GPU five or tenfold.
...as you say, the playing field has changed. Just ramping up numbers is great, but without everything being balanced and tied together with software, it is a lumbering, slow, collosas. Great, it has the biggest and best specs, how does it tie together though? This failure is embarassing considering MS has been tied with PC space for decades. Everyone knows a well balanced mid-range PC can output more power than a slapped together PC full of high end specs.
And I still wish they had gone with an Nvidia GPU. Yes, RNDA2 isn’t bad, but Nvidia is still way ahead of AMD when it comes to graphics and especially raytracing. Guess it’s a question of cost though. $$ cost and die space.
Watch this space. Cerny worked closely with AMD to get AMD to the level of Nvidia and Nvidia have done little to innovate, relying on sitting on their arse charging nonsensical prices for their cards. But hey, that strategy worked well for intel didn't it? /sneed
Nvidia need a kick up the arse, and it's coming in the form of RDNA3, some features of which were designed by Cerny. IMO AMD are looking at building a full package of CPU/GPU with software, while nvidia fanny about.
Meh... I like their hardware but dislike the company. But you gotta admit that their M1 processors and GPUs are some of the most interesting things that have happened in that market for a loooong time.
Considering what the M1 can do in a laptop with less than 10W, imagine what something similar could do in a console with 80-200W. (And no, it’s not just ARM magic. Apple got an ARM license and use the ARM instruction language but are making their processors from scratch.
It's impressive tech, but it's another American company. I'm not ragging on the yanks here but they have shown to be utterly clueless in the gaming market, focusing on short-term profits over everything else. That isn't just the tech companeis of amazon et al, but the software companies of acti, ea and epic.
An apple console would cost north of £1000, be sub-par, and would have worse fans than Nintendo. I shudder to think what the pandering scumbags that are games journalists would do if Apple entered the market.
I dunno man. I hear they’re selling alright in the US. And the PS5 maybe a Veyron, but remember the “lifetime of (almost) free gas-card that MS gives away with every XBox.
This is where, IMO, Microsoft and Xbox have really mis-stepped, starting with the xbone and the bone headed quote from Mattrick of "We have a console for people who can't access the internet, it's called the xbox 360". Microsoft have become a purely American focused gaming company, but the wierd thing is, for all of the flag-waving American patriotism that is in every other industry, no 'real'/'old school' gamer (the foundation of the industry) wants american-centric games. It sounds crazy, but it's true. The best age of gaming was when the west emulated the design and ideas of Japan. Pure japanese gaming is a bit kooky sometimes, great other times. Pure American gaming is capitalism in vidya form and is purely money and profit focused. But when Western money meets Eastern philosophy, you get pure magic.
Selling xboxes in america to an american audience using american games is great, for short term profit. But to build a brand and a fan base it will never happen. The fickle american market will move to amazon, google, apple, or any other american company at the drop of a hat. In fact MS have been very, very lucky that the other companies have been so incompetent. If Apple followed the OG Xbox philosophy of gaming, Microsoft would be Sega'd inside 18 months from Apple's launch.
Thanks for reading my sperging.
