PlayStation 4 Console Thread

[mushashi]

That's likely how Sony are planning to not have to discontinue the Vita, get existing Sony home console owners to buy it and use it as a streaming device for PS4 or as a value add for PS3 PS+ subscribers. I suppose as long as the hardware is sold at a profit, the plan might work, if people then actually start to buy games on the Vita, bonus.

[Dandy_Sephy]

That's likely how Sony are planning to not have to discontinue the Vita

What an absurd comment.

[bradigor]

Indeed and as far as I am aware it actually has an excellent attach rate too. What is positive for the Vita is sales are picking up and a lot of positive word of mouth from owners is helping too.

Retro City Rampage sold better on the Vita than it did on PSN.

I must admit I was all but ready to give up on console gaming for the next gen, but Sony are making all the right noises so far to sell me their next console.

[mushashi]

What an absurd comment.

The console business relies on volume and scale, without it, why are you in that business again?

[Dandy_Sephy]

It also relies on having a product out there available to buy. If you are going to discontinue a product without fighting to keep it going you shouldn't be in any business. You certainly don't consider discontinuing it when you are making moves to make it more attractive, ps4 hookup or not. Especially after all that R+D and the increasing amount of people committing to developing for it.

It's a system that has suffered from market conditions and a high price, but it's also a system picking up momentum all the time. Much like the PS3 did, despite being labelled a complete failure at launch.

Suggesting Sony could have discontinued the system that quickly is as absurd as suggesting Nintendo should quit the hardware business.

[mushashi]

Without cross support from their home consoles, the PSV would be in even more critical condition than it currently already is. It can't stand on its own two feet unaided currently. Do you really think if the PSV was doing well on its own that Sony would have to come up with all these schemes to get people to buy one? its not as if they are releasing a load of exclusives for it or anything as an alternative viability strategy.

[Dandy_Sephy]

None of which address the issue of discontinuing it that you raised in the first place. It's not even like combining handheld and console gaming experiences is either a sign of desperation or a Sony thing, Nintendo were working on it 20 years ago with two well selling machines, and Sony themselves demonstrated hookups between their own machines before the PSP was even released.

Remote Play has been around a long time, but the technology has moved on a lot since those first attempts, hardly surprising they would increase their efforts now it's easier to do it in a universal manner now there are less bottlenecks. Exactly what makes you so sure they wouldn't have implemented the feature anyway? It's got nothing to do with preventing the discontinuation of a machine, they would have done it anyway.

You've just chosen to make a grand statement that has debatable merit.

[Vemsie]

High-quality Killzone vid. Image qualiy is better and the player is better.

http://www.mediafire.com/?1u7dhe6sn9hfv4n

[Nespresso]

High-quality Killzone vid. Image qualiy is better and the player is better.

http://www.mediafire.com/?1u7dhe6sn9hfv4n

Is there input lag or something? Even when he goes into slow-mo he can't seem to hit for shit.

[kerraig UK]

Is there input lag or something? Even when he goes into slow-mo he can't seem to hit for shit.

Playstation controller innit

[NecroMorrius]

Without cross support from their home consoles, the PSV would be in even more critical condition than it currently already is. It can't stand on its own two feet unaided currently. Do you really think if the PSV was doing well on its own that Sony would have to come up with all these schemes to get people to buy one? its not as if they are releasing a load of exclusives for it or anything as an alternative viability strategy.

Eh? It's selling well in the homeland now off the back of a price cut, PS+ and some exclusives. It's even outsold the 3DS for the first time since launch. Since the price drop sales have quadrupled and remained steady. Cross support hasn't got much to do with it, nothing changed in that regard recently. They've announced a new indie port for the US/EU pretty much every day the last month too, including stuff like Hotline Miami, Limbo, Spelunky, Thomas was alone and Binding of Isaac for example. it's a good time to have/buy a Vita. Sony are courting indies hard, and indies are responding positively.

All of the cross platform functionality simply serves as a way to get you to buy both of their devices. Got a PS4? Get a Vita instead of a 3DS and enjoy extra features. Got a Vita? Get a PS4 instead of a 720. Both stand up/will stand up just fine on their own, just as the PS3 did after months of "failure" talk and limping along.

[Cthulhu Steev]

Playstation controller innit

"The pressure sensitive buttons in the DualShock 3 are being tossed out, and will be replaced by more straightforward digital inputs. According to the platform holder, few developers actually used the analogue buttons, so the company has decided to reap the benefits of reduced latency at the expense of the feature. With smaller data packets being transferred between the system and the controller, the next generation device will apparently feel much more responsive than its predecessor."

So, you never know.

[Liquid Myth]

Without cross support from their home consoles, the PSV would be in even more critical condition than it currently already is. It can't stand on its own two feet unaided currently. Do you really think if the PSV was doing well on its own that Sony would have to come up with all these schemes to get people to buy one? its not as if they are releasing a load of exclusives for it or anything as an alternative viability strategy.

"Schemes"? You mean like other games machines have had for ages and ages?

[Cthulhu Steev]

"Schemes"? You mean like other games machines have had for ages and ages?

You know, adverts and games and stuff. Those schemes.

[mushashi]

Well I always thought it was just people who had invested in Nintendo hardware who were a bit sensitive about viability, seems not. If people can't see what is different about the PSV and the PSP and PS3 situations, eh.

[squirtle]

Eh? It's selling well in the homeland now off the back of a price cut, PS+ and some exclusives. It's even outsold the 3DS for the first time since launch. Since the price drop sales have quadrupled and remained steady. Cross support hasn't got much to do with it, nothing changed in that regard recently. They've announced a new indie port for the US/EU pretty much every day the last month too, including stuff like Hotline Miami, Limbo, Spelunky, Thomas was alone and Binding of Isaac for example. it's a good time to have/buy a Vita. Sony are courting indies hard, and indies are responding positively.

All of the cross platform functionality simply serves as a way to get you to buy both of their devices. Got a PS4? Get a Vita instead of a 3DS and enjoy extra features. Got a Vita? Get a PS4 instead of a 720. Both stand up/will stand up just fine on their own, just as the PS3 did after months of "failure" talk and limping along.

Is it? A good time to buy a Vita, I mean? I thought this forum was harsh on age old ports being trotted out as a reason to buy a console?

[NecroMorrius]

They're contemporary indie games that aren't available on any other handhelds yet. Hotline Miami on the bog?!

It's more the sheer numbers though. They've announced a new tasty indie port every couple of days for months now, it seems.

There's a general perception that the Vita is selling terribly and HAS NO GAMES, but neither are particularly true any more. It's just taken a very long time to get any traction. They need a pricecut in the US and UK really, really badly. If they can replicate the boost in sales they saw in Japan they'll be fine.

[SeanR]

So, it's overpriced and has no games?

[Liquid Myth]

Well I always thought it was just people who had invested in Nintendo hardware who were a bit sensitive about viability, seems not. If people can't see what is different about the PSV and the PSP and PS3 situations, eh.

t's mostly this sort of thing that comes off a bit weird/bitter:

Without cross support from their home consoles, the PSV would be in even more critical condition than it currently already is.

"If Sony didn't promote the Vita, it wouldn't be selling." But they are promoting it, and it is selling, which I think Sony would prefer to it than not selling, so long as the (assumed) eventual return is greater than that which is spent on the promotion. Instead, it's some sort of trick, achieved with witchcraft and sorcery, to ensnare the hapless masses!

[Dandy_Sephy]

Well I always thought it was just people who had invested in Nintendo hardware who were a bit sensitive about viability, seems not. If people can't see what is different about the PSV and the PSP and PS3 situations, eh.

I'm not sure what's worse, that you made such a stupid comment to start the whole debate or that you are now trying to criticise people for daring to challenge it.

The Vita IS under performing for several reasons but it's also on the rise for several other reasons. To argue otherwise on either count is to be ignorant and dismissive. The high price in the west seems to be the major factor holding it back. Given by the number of people on this forum who have bought one recently but almost all of whom have bought second hand due to the low prices for used ones it's a pretty clear sign, even if it is a small sample group in the grand scheme of things. More and more people want one all the time but a £200+ entry fee is proving to be the main problem as are the memory card prices. It's a pretty legitimate reason to hold off so you can't blame anyone for that.

The PSP sold 60+ million despite it's well known trouble in the west, so forgive me for not seeing a reason to shitcan the Vita because of a slow start when it's not even 18months old and there are various social economic factors affecting all machines launched in the last 3 years. Vita is hardly alone in having difficulty. If that weren't enough, we can also look at the ps3 for another good example of how a system can recover from various issues to become a very stable and popular machine. Most people had written it off after that launch, now look at it.

Vita still has a lot to do before it can put it's launch problems behind it, that's undeniable. In many ways it's fighting many of the same problems that the Wii U is and that the 3DS had in the past once you take away their branding issues. It's also a warning to Sony for when they release the PS4, pricing is crucial.

Going back to the recent 'muk surge of interested people as well as anyone else, so what if marketing and scheming has done it? That seems like pretty good business to me, it's the one advantage Sony have now that they didn't have 5 years ago when the Ps3 was struggling.

You were the one who suggested Sony are only implementing remote play so they don't have to discontinue the Vita even though the tech has been around since the last generation. Then you tried to suggest that marketing and cross promotion was a bad thing. Then you have the audacity to criticise people as being sensitive for daring to challenge you with level headed responses. It's the sort of nonsense I would expect to see in the comments thread of a games blog. You always carry yourself as having this great insight into things but this is a time you've got it all wrong.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

I'm sure mushashi will be back with a devastating NeoGAF copy paste post to prove you're wrong.

[Dudley]

The Vita just needs two things to happen.

1 - The sales rise to continue

2 - People to buy Vita games. The problem they may have is that if PS Plus is too successful and people (including me) largely buy the machine for it then games won't sell and if the only revenue is "Being on PS Plus" they won't get the software support no matter how many they sell.

[SMD]

I'm sure mushashi will be back with a devastating NeoGAF copy paste post to prove you're wrong.

You kidding me, they love the Vita on GAF. They're even getting EU PS+ because it's better than the US one.

Honestly, price cut and I'm there. The cost of a machine plus memory card negates the benefit of PS+ for me, it's stupid, you can get a 64Gb class 10 micro SD card for less than a 32gb Vita memory card.

[Vemsie]

Mark Rein seems a fan:

An Epic Games exec has compared the PlayStation 4 to "a really perfect gaming PC," citing the console's combination of "phenomenal" hardware and convenient user experience.

Speaking to CVG in a recent interview, VP Mark Rein called Sony's decision to incorporate off-the-shelf PC components in PS4 "very smart," because in his opinion it will allow many developers to hit the ground running with their next-gen game development.

He also pointed to the memory limitations of the 32-bit versions of Windows as an example of how PS4 titles could even surpass what "most PCs" can do.

"I think it's a very smart move on Sony's behalf to build this sort of enhanced PC architecture and then put so much in it," he said.

"Let's not forget it has 16 times the memory we had in PlayStation 3 - that's not insignificant. Knowing that every machine has that... we can do crazy, ridiculous stuff with that."The other exciting thing is that... when you think about Windows, even Windows for most people is tied to about 2GB of addressable memory space. This really opens up beyond what most PCs can do, because most PCs are running a 32-bit version of Windows.

"It's like giving you the world's best PC," he added, pointing to Sony's introduction of "super convenient" features such as the ability to play games while they're downloading and perform background updates.

"The kind of stuff that they announced that they're doing, the level of convenience and things like that... they're making a really perfect gaming PC," he added.

"I've always said that the things in the next-generation that aren't just brute force hardware are all about the service and simplicity of the experience - the things that make it as fun and easy to get a PS4 game as it is to get a game on your iPad."

Commenting on Microsoft's next-gen console plans, Rein said he was confident the Xbox firm will also be doing something 'along the lines' of PS4.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/398813/ps4-is-like-a-really-perfect-gaming-pc-says-epic-vp/

[b00dles]

Aren't MS and epic bosom buddies? Wouldn't Mark Rein know exactly what they're ding?

[DocG]

"Most" PCs are running x86 versions of Windows? Still? In 2013? I find that hard to believe. Valve shows 55% of Steam clients running Windows 7 x64 and another 10% running Windows 8 x64.

[JohnC]

Perhaps most may have 32-bit if you are including notoriously lagging office PCs, which aren't really relevant.

[DocG]

Well, quite. I'd say the Steam platform survey is a very statistically accurate cross-section of gaming PCs.

[Spacehost]

"Most" PCs are running x86 versions of Windows? Still? In 2013? I find that hard to believe. Valve shows 55% of Steam clients running Windows 7 x64 and another 10% running Windows 8 x64.

I'm surprised it's as low as 65%, but I guess a lot of people with Steam accounts also have laptops and elderly machines that play older games fine too.

[SMD]

Some of us are Mac users!