I used to call my PS3 the Progress Bar Simulator. I owned about three games for it, mostly 'cos of that exact problem - and it'd even do it when you were trying to watching something on Netflix or the like with mandatory system updates. The PS4 still does that, but at least the updates download and install a hell of a lot quicker!
That's the other thing I'm content in paying £3/month for, PS4 downloading and installing updates it's switched off and I'm in bed, especially with my 90's internet simulator. Pardon my ignorance, do cross platform games on the PC have the same "you must be on the latest version" requirement for online play?
I believe so. Dlc doesn't seem to be an issue as much, but definitely need the server mandated version to play online.
Doesn't matter how slow your internet is, the PS4 can't take advantage of fast internet connections anyway, not like it matters too much though since the prices on the PSN store are beyond outrageous and I'm sure most people do the same thing as me and just buy the physical game on amazon, so its just patches to download. These days they do yes, for the same reason multiplayer communities are horribly toxic. Its all down to private servers having died out in most games, so the version checks are based on the official servers from the company that made the game which will be running the latest version rather than the server your friends set up.
Generally yes. But there's always that one game that was on sale and purchased on the PS store, that you spend hours looking for before trying to figure out who you've loaned the disc to before realising it was that one game. For me that game was Witcher 3. I had assumed I had somehow lost the disc for months. I saw it was on sale on the PS store and was going to re-buy it to play the expansions, to realise that the reason I couldn't find the disc was that there never was a disc Or maybe I'm the only one that's done that
I just buy digital on PS4, can't be arsed with discs, I just buy discounted credit and wait for a game to come down to a level I find acceptable or I don't play it, simple really, it's only games, don't need it at launch, bar one or two exceptions where I am a fanboy , like GT for example, if you wait long enough other stuff comes in a sale or on PS+
...and then the realisation when you can't use any of those 'free games' if you ever stop paying for PS+. PC gaming has had free games for years. EA, UPLAY, Humble Bundle, GOG, even steam gives away free games. Difference is, i'm not paying to go online with things I already own and pay for, it's kind of silly. I have nothing against consoles, but paid online just really bugs me.
I would switch fully to playing games on consoles if Microsoft and the game devs actually allowed native keyboard, mouse and hotas support without stupid adaptors that don't work fully because of the limits implemented by the game developers. Sony allow keyboard, mouse and hotas support on any game as long as the devs support it, and it does work but it is limited because of the devs. I know there is the pay to play online but I get games each year from both Sony and Microsoft which I would have bought but all it cost's me is a membership fee basically so it cancels it out for me. Yes there are downsides to console gaming but, if it means I don't need to deal with cheaters, stupid forced voice chat that cannot be switched off, lack of support from devs and constant removal of staple features of pc gaming then I would happily switch to the console but as currently I cannot play Destiny 2, Call Of Duty, Battlefield, Elite Dangerous etc on the consoles using a keyboard and mouse or hotas, then I stick to the pc although I do play some on consoles. If it ever happens then my pc just becomes and rendering machine for videos. Yes the pc has the better graphics, frame rate and others but when you cannot play a game without having to deal with cheaters, bug's and many other issues then I can only see one solution for me and that is count down the days till consoles become what I want because I honestly feel it will happen at some point.
Just to quickly comment on the whole tinkering thing, I could agree that can be an issue, but it doesn't have to be. I really enjoy overclocking and have got back into it in a big way this year, but my daily/main PC isn't overclocked at all as it's not worth the faff haha. And I wasn't implying games don't matter type thing, if you enjoy them then great, merely that they're not worth losing hair over (unless they're earning you money)
Lose access to a service when you stop paying for it? Shocker! Would Netflix and Spotify still let you stream after you cancel your subscription? No, apparently just the idiots that use them. But they don't. They're a fun hobby, of course. I'm trying to think of an analogy but struggling... There are pros and cons to ether, but the outcome is the same regardless of which platform you're using. When we're talking about what essentially amounts to a fun thing you can do to kill time, as you say, not worth losing hair over at all.
Well that is how subscriptions work. What annoys me far more is the risk of effectively getting nothing in the first place because the one or two games worth playing are ones you already own. Say what you want about the scumbags at EA, but never having to buy an EA game again and instead just paying them £20 a year for Origin Access is a much better deal than paying for PSN+. Talking of which, something to be aware of with consoles, Sony don't allow Origin Access on the PS4. (Admittedly the risk of duplicates will be lower for pure console gamers who don't have more games on Steam than they know what to do with.)
I'd argue the chances of someone getting multiple copies of the same game increases the larger the console gamer's library, yes, but equally the more games owned, the more likely it is that the gamer will gain satisfaction via online play - How many hours are logged on the latest CoD or BF to hit a console? Chances are, when you reach the point of getting 'no free stuff' from XBL or PS+, you're already making so much use of the online service that your perceived ROI is much the same as someone like me whodoesn't mind paying ~£30 a year for XBL because that translates to ~£0.10 an hour in free games, on top of the online aspect of other games (Destiny/D2 for example). Plus, there's the inherent "This game will work on this console", where as with PC you may find yourself needing to buy new parts to get the same experience. I don't upgrade my PC often, nor do I go for top end bleeding edge parts, but I often have to sacrifice pretty for performance. I'd argue I spend more on PC gaming than I do on console gaming.
Just to comment on that from my perspective: I did the math on this for me personally (as someone in Africa, where toys cost more, and as someone who spends maybe 2 hours a week playing games), and the cost of a new mid-level gaming PC here, I could have financed 3 years of console gaming. The "it works on the console" argument is valid, albeit somewhat weakening. I think we'll see more and more games that will differ a good bit between XBONEX and XBONE or PS4 and PS4Pro, for example. As an anecdotal story to this, I played X360 for years (from launch until earlier this year, actually). I never bother with a harddrive, until the last few games (Destiny, MGS Phantom Pain, some others) insisted they need them. I mean - i GET that they do need them, but when I was forced to buy one, I did wince at the price tag.
Yeah... I'm on the fence when it comes to the upgraded consoles. I'm all for there being a clear difference in between a game running on either console when it comes to graphics performance, but if it's a case of game A being effectively broken on a vanilla edition and running fine on a Pro/X, that's another matter. Case in point: Just Cause 3. Physics heavy scenes are nearly unplayable on account of performance on the PS4 Vanilla, and run just fine on a Pro. That was released before the Pro, just imagine if they knew they would have the crutch of a more powerful version of the console to lean on. That said, I did buy a Pro a couple of weeks ago, partly because I'm a sucker for shiny things and partly because I savour game-time, so if there's a prettier/smoother version of a game I could be playing then I'd rather be playing it. I'm just hoping as time goes on, devs continue to develop for the vanilla consoles and view the Pro/X as a stretch target as opposed to viewing it as a crutch for lazy development.
Depends what you mean by 'matter' I guess. If you care about them they matter? Just need to care an appropriate amount based on the rest of your life etc.
It's not an entirely different story here - I picked up my Xbox One Elite for ~£180 on fleabay. I've picked up games for 10-15 a piece, because what I wanted is old hat now. I really wish the prospect of upgrading/replacing harddrives wasn't such a scary thing for MS (Or Sony? Not sure if that's still a feature), because 1tb doesn't really cut it in this day and age of 50-60gb installs. Yeah, that does concern me. The only slight off-set to it is, by the time I get to wanting to buy those games that do rely on One X performance, I'll be able to find one one fleabay for less than the £400 they want right now.
No clue about the Xbox, but with the PS4 the phyisical part of replacing the harddisk is trivial, while data migration is tedious.
I guess what I mean is, if you're playing games professionally, competitively or otherwise, these little things could be very important. If you're playing for fun, just have fun and try not to worry about it. Like... Hi-Fi. There's the endless debate about whether digital or Vinyl is better. If you're all about the tinkering and the hardware then tinker and upgrade away, but if you just want to listen to and enjoy music, you can do it equally well with either. We all need hobbies and down-time and that's important, but it "doesn't matter" from a point of view that if your console or gaming PC blew up tomorrow and was going to take weeks to replace, the worst that's going to happen as a result of that is being a bit more bored for a few weeks, and something good might even come of it. /nihilitst And frankly, nothing else really matters, we're all going to die and be eaten by worms anyway
Ah, I couldn't remember whether they did away with that after the PS3. On Xbox it's a ballache to the nth degree, I'm not even sure it's possible.
