Console Discussion/E3/Tokyo Game Show Thread

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I'm in the same boat. I picked up a PSP once they were down to $100 and I picked up about 50 good games for the system and my total outlay was under $500 for system and games including some pricier stuff and games that retained their value (Tails in the Sky LE, the 3 Persona games, Valkyria Chronicles II, importing FM 2011, etc). But it was great to pick up games like Lumines, Patapon, Wipeout, etc for a couple bucks each, many at Gamestop B2G1 sales.

The system was not without its charms: Good little system, horrible battery life, and I still prefer Nintendo IPs. I expect and have seen more of the same this gen.

SI

A Vita/PS4 bundle makes sense. It's a natural match once they get a couple years away from launch.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

It's one thing to say it. It's another thing to actually see it works and is relatively seamless. Unlike many apparently, I expect to see a technology actually work in real time before saying it's actually a real option. It appears everyone else just assumed it would work because Sony said so.

You have seen it freakin' work, 16 months ago:

PlayStation Vita - Never Stop Playing - TV Commercial- Cross Platform Play - YouTube

[chadritt]

Did you post the wrong link? Thats not a demo, its faked.

[gstelmack]

So the uptick here is MBBF is excited that they finally delivered on commercially advertised features 16 months and one platform later?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

You have seen it freakin' work, 16 months ago:

PlayStation Vita - Never Stop Playing - TV Commercial- Cross Platform Play - YouTube

It was sporadically offered on the PS3, if at all. I found none that worked as advertised. On the PS4, it's basically mandatory for all games. That's a big difference. It better work on the new console. Given how the Vita was designed when comparing it to the new DualShock, it's pretty obvious that the main design was intended to emulate the new controller in every way and was created for this purpose.

Of course, mandatory could be interpreted in the way MS uses the word, which means the feature gets pulled entirely before release. We'll have to wait and see which form of 'mandatory' shows up on the PS4.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Of course, mandatory could be interpreted in the way MS uses the word, which means the feature gets pulled entirely before release. We'll have to wait and see which form of 'mandatory' shows up on the PS4.

Or mandatory for the PS4 might mean like it did for backwards compatibility or linux support on the PS3. Take it out after launch, after people have paid money for those features.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by cartman

Or mandatory for the PS4 might mean like it did for backwards compatibility or linux support on the PS3. Take it out after launch, after people have paid money for those features.

Amazing, isn't it? Sony did all those things wrong on the PS3 and paid for it by losing their lead position in the console race. Now the PS4 comes along and it's blatantly obvious to everyone that they've done quite a bit of learning from their mistakes while MS appears to have learned nothing from the last generation and, in some form, looks to be repeating Sony's mistakes in the last generation.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Amazing, isn't it? Sony did all those things wrong on the PS3 and paid for it by losing their lead position in the console race. Now the PS4 comes along and it's blatantly obvious to everyone that they've done quite a bit of learning from their mistakes while MS appears to have learned nothing from the last generation and, in some form, looks to be repeating Sony's mistakes in the last generation.

So Sony should be applauded for deciding to not try and innovate this generation, and just do a hardware rev? Ok.

Plus, on top of that not a single console has been shipped to a consumer yet. The backwards compatibility and linux removals happened after shipping. No way to relate those to anything Microsoft has done, or what either might do after release this generation.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by cartman

So Sony should be applauded for deciding to not try and innovate this generation, and just do a hardware rev? Ok.

If you honestly believe that's what happened, there's little to discuss.

Plus, on top of that not a single console has been shipped to a consumer yet. The backwards compatibility and linux removals happened after shipping. No way to relate those to anything Microsoft has done, or what either might do after release this generation.

Absolutely correct and it's a point most have been making. Sony has been very consistent in their message throughout the process. MS has been all over the place with their message and, at some level, it still hasn't settled out yet. If their making this many changes now, what happens after release and can they be trusted to make smart decisions moving forward? I've seen it posted and have heard those same questions on multiple podcasts. It's an excellent question and a great point for you to bring up. It ultimately comes down to who you trust (if anyone).

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

If you honestly believe that's what happened, there's little to discuss.

Please explain what you see as innovation in the PS4. Both the PS4 and the Xbox One are using AMD Jaguar system-on-a-chip CPUs with AMD graphics. That is a step back from the more specialized architectures both used last generation. The announced PS Home features are not ground-breaking. And after Microsoft's initial announcements for the Xbox One, Sony went out of their way to make the point that playing games on the PS4 would be exactly like how you play them on a PS3.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

]Absolutely correct and it's a point most have been making. Sony has been very consistent in their message throughout the process. MS has been all over the place with their message and, at some level, it still hasn't settled out yet. If their making this many changes now, what happens after release and can they be trusted to make smart decisions moving forward? I've seen it posted and have heard those same questions on multiple podcasts. It's an excellent question and a great point for you to bring up. It ultimately comes down to who you trust (if anyone).

And the changes that Microsoft are making move things closer to how the 360 behaves today. They are policy and software based, not hardware. So Microsoft is back to making an iterative change this generation as well.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

No Kinect-less X1 console expected.....

http://kotaku.com/microsoft-says-the...ect-1184391586

Funny clip here featuring Shuhei Yoshida. His twitter account is very funny and he's a fantastic interview, but it appears jetlag got the best of him during this meeting.

Sony Exec Falls Asleep Listening To David Cage Talk

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

dola

Couple of interesting articles from the Guardian. First, Andrew House discusses the changes on the X1. One other tidbit of note is that the author insinuates that the chatter at GamesCon indicates that X1's changes on self-publishing titles may be too late.

PS4 boss Andrew House: Xbox One policies surprised us | Technology | theguardian.com

Phil Spencer addresses the problems that the X1 has faced and responds to Sony's thinly-veiled shot.

Xbox One's Phil Spencer: 'we're committed to the original vision' | Technology | theguardian.com

[PurdueBrad]

Release day games list for each system are out.

For the PS4

• Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag (Ubisoft)
• Battlefield 4 (Electronic Arts)
• Call of Duty: Ghosts (Activision)
• Driveclub (Sony)
• FIFA 14 (Electronic Arts)
• Just Dance 2014 (Ubisoft)
• Killzone: Shadow Fall (Sony)
• Knack (Sony)
• Lego Marvel Superheroes (Warner Bros. Interactive)
• Madden 25 (Electronic Arts)
• NBA 2K14 (2K)
• NBA Live 14 (Electronic Arts)
• Need for Speed: Rivals (Electronic Arts)
• Skylanders Swap Force (Activision)
• Watch Dogs (Ubisoft)

For the XBox 1


· Watch Dogs (Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft)
· Zoo Tycoon (Frontier Developments Ltd., Microsoft Studios)
· Zumba Fitness: World Party (Zoë Mode, Majesco)
· Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag (Ubisoft, Ubisoft)
· Battlefield 4 (DICE, Electronic Arts)
· Call of Duty: Ghosts (Infinity Ward, Activision)
· Crimson Dragon (Grounding/Land Ho!, Microsoft Studios)
· Dead Rising 3 (Capcom Vancouver, Microsoft)
· FIFA 14 (EA Sports, Electronic Arts)
· Fighter Within (AMA Ltd., Ubisoft)
· Forza Motorsport 5 (Turn 10 Studios, Microsoft Studios)
· Just Dance 2014 (Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft)
· Killer Instinct (Double Helix, Microsoft Studios)
· Lego Marvel Super Heroes (TT Games, Warner Bros. Interactive)
· Lococycle (Twisted Pixel, Microsoft Studios)
· Madden NFL 25 (EA Sports, Electronic Arts)
· NBA 2K14 (Visual Concepts, 2K Sports)
· NBA LIVE 14 (EA Sports, Electronic Arts)
· Need for Speed: Rivals (Ghost Games, Electronic Arts)
· Peggle 2 (Popcap, Electronic Arts)
· Powerstar Golf (Zoe Mode, Microsoft Studios)
· Ryse: Son of Rome (Crytek, Microsoft Studios)
· Skylanders: Swap Force (Vicarious Visions, Activision)




It's probably personal preference (I've owned the PS1, 2, and 3 as well as the Vita, and the Xbox and the 360) but I do prefer the XBox 1 list both for myself and for the family. The common games are fine but Ryse, Killer Instinct, Forza and Powerstar Golf likely are early pickups in my house in addition to the games that are on both systems like Madden, Watchdogs, and COD/Battlefield.

[PurdueBrad]

Dola- the wife is also telling me that apparently Just Dance and Zumba World Party are going to be purchases in my household. Hmm, who knew?

[MizzouRah]

Very interesting release day games list.. 8 more on the XB1.

Wonder how that will sway sales?

[PurdueBrad]

I was surprised to see only 3 exclusives on the PS4, particularly Killzone as an FPS coming out the same day as the other two big FPS (BF4, COD).

On the flip side I was a little surprised by the genre range that MS is putting out for the Xbox 1. There are a number of those that I'm not familiar with and will have to look into to eve see if they're worth it.

The four biggest exclusives there though seem to be: Dead Rising, Forza, Ryse and Killzone. 3 of them are XBox 1 and the others is PS4.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

dola

Couple of interesting articles from the Guardian. First, Andrew House discusses the changes on the X1. One other tidbit of note is that the author insinuates that the chatter at GamesCon indicates that X1's changes on self-publishing titles may be too late.

That's an absurd suggestion. If indie devs can retain control over their game and there's money to be made on the XBox One they're not going to hold back because of what Microsoft's policies used to be. I've read several indie devs have said they don't have plans to release on the XBox One but would be interested if they were able to self publish.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Very interesting release day games list.. 8 more on the XB1.

Wonder how that will sway sales?

Well, the list seems to include download only titles for XBox One but not for the PS4.

Though either way, games available on day one aren't a good indication of the strength of a consoles lineup when the lifespan is around a decade long. It will probably take me at least 2 years into this generation before I pick up one of the consoles. The lineup of PS3 games was awful for the first year of the console though in my opinion it still ended up being much stronger than the 360's.

[PurdueBrad]

Thanks mckerney, I wondered if there were any downloads there for the PS4.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by mckerney

That's an absurd suggestion. If indie devs can retain control over their game and there's money to be made on the XBox One they're not going to hold back because of what Microsoft's policies used to be. I've read several indie devs have said they don't have plans to release on the XBox One but would be interested if they were able to self publish.

Self-publishing isn't the issue from what I've seen. The indie developers are more worried about hidden costs down the line. They're too small to shoulder some of the additional costs.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by mckerney

Though either way, games available on day one aren't a good indication of the strength of a consoles lineup when the lifespan is around a decade long.

Quoted for 'hope so.' The practical life of a console is usually much shorter; the only games that get released much past years 5-7 end up being sports games, generally.

Xbox 360 and PS3 are an anomaly in this regard.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by PurdueBrad

Release day games list for each system are out.

For the PS4

• Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag (Ubisoft)
• Battlefield 4 (Electronic Arts)
• Call of Duty: Ghosts (Activision)
• Driveclub (Sony)
• FIFA 14 (Electronic Arts)
• Just Dance 2014 (Ubisoft)
• Killzone: Shadow Fall (Sony)
• Knack (Sony)
• Lego Marvel Superheroes (Warner Bros. Interactive)
• Madden 25 (Electronic Arts)
• NBA 2K14 (2K)
• NBA Live 14 (Electronic Arts)
• Need for Speed: Rivals (Electronic Arts)
• Skylanders Swap Force (Activision)
• Watch Dogs (Ubisoft)

For the XBox 1


· Watch Dogs (Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft)
· Zoo Tycoon (Frontier Developments Ltd., Microsoft Studios)
· Zumba Fitness: World Party (Zoë Mode, Majesco)
· Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag (Ubisoft, Ubisoft)
· Battlefield 4 (DICE, Electronic Arts)
· Call of Duty: Ghosts (Infinity Ward, Activision)
· Crimson Dragon (Grounding/Land Ho!, Microsoft Studios)
· Dead Rising 3 (Capcom Vancouver, Microsoft)
· FIFA 14 (EA Sports, Electronic Arts)
· Fighter Within (AMA Ltd., Ubisoft)
· Forza Motorsport 5 (Turn 10 Studios, Microsoft Studios)
· Just Dance 2014 (Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft)
· Killer Instinct (Double Helix, Microsoft Studios)
· Lego Marvel Super Heroes (TT Games, Warner Bros. Interactive)
· Lococycle (Twisted Pixel, Microsoft Studios)
· Madden NFL 25 (EA Sports, Electronic Arts)
· NBA 2K14 (Visual Concepts, 2K Sports)
· NBA LIVE 14 (EA Sports, Electronic Arts)
· Need for Speed: Rivals (Ghost Games, Electronic Arts)
· Peggle 2 (Popcap, Electronic Arts)
· Powerstar Golf (Zoe Mode, Microsoft Studios)
· Ryse: Son of Rome (Crytek, Microsoft Studios)
· Skylanders: Swap Force (Vicarious Visions, Activision)




It's probably personal preference (I've owned the PS1, 2, and 3 as well as the Vita, and the Xbox and the 360) but I do prefer the XBox 1 list both for myself and for the family. The common games are fine but Ryse, Killer Instinct, Forza and Powerstar Golf likely are early pickups in my house in addition to the games that are on both systems like Madden, Watchdogs, and COD/Battlefield.

I'm guessing the author meant that list was retail box releases through end of 2013. Sony's got a lot of PSN releases that aren't in retail and MS has a few as well. Granted, some may not care about indie/free play games, but in the interest of full disclosure.....

PSN releases through end of 2013:
Pool Nation FX
Minecraft
War Thunder
Oddworld: New and Tasty
Carmageddon: Reincarnation
The Pinball Arcade
Res0gun
Secret Ponchos
DC Universe Online
Blacklight: Retribution
Doki-Doki Universe
Contrast
Warframe
Mercenary Kings

MS Store releases through end of 2013:
D4
Rabbids Invasion
Carmageddon: Reincarnation
The Crew

[INDalltheway]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

I'm guessing the author meant that list was retail box releases through end of 2013. Sony's got a lot of PSN releases that aren't in retail and MS has a few as well. Granted, some may not care about indie/free play games, but in the interest of full disclosure.....

PSN releases through end of 2013:
Pool Nation FX
Minecraft
War Thunder
Oddworld: New and Tasty
Carmageddon: Reincarnation
The Pinball Arcade
Res0gun
Secret Ponchos
DC Universe Online
Blacklight: Retribution
Doki-Doki Universe
Contrast
Warframe
Mercenary Kings

MS Store releases through end of 2013:
D4
Rabbids Invasion
Carmageddon: Reincarnation
The Crew

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by mckerney

Well, the list seems to include download only titles for XBox One but not for the PS4.

Though either way, games available on day one aren't a good indication of the strength of a consoles lineup when the lifespan is around a decade long. It will probably take me at least 2 years into this generation before I pick up one of the consoles. The lineup of PS3 games was awful for the first year of the console though in my opinion it still ended up being much stronger than the 360's.

Please elaborate... what games?

[MizzouRah]

According to IGN.. Titanfall is a system seller for the XB1.

I Played Titanfall, and... - IGN

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Please elaborate... what games?

Are you seriously asking for a list of Playstation exclusives? Sony killed Microsoft as the generation went on with exclusives. At the start it was the other way around.

You want Uncharted, Ratchet + Clank, InFamous, Heavy Rain, MLB the Show, Sly Cooper, God of War, or The Last of Us? Microsoft started off strong, and then they seriously let me down.

[dubb93]

I even left one of my personal favorites from the entire generation off that list b/c it wasn't considered an AAA title. Valkyria Chronicles was exclusive as well, and it was amazing. I really became sad when Microsoft shut down and/or shelved their RPG studios and began to focus on just Halo, Gears, and Kinect. Halo was passed by CoD as the top shooter, and Gears was never my personal choice for 3rd person shooter.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Please elaborate... what games?

The first year was pretty weak. The launch library:

Mobile Suit Gundam
NHL 2k7
Ridge Racer 7
Resistance: Fall of Man
CoD 3
Genji: Days of the Blade
Madden 07
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
NBA 07
NBA 2k7
Need for Speed: Carbon
Tiger Woods 07
Tony Hawk's Project 8
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom
Fight Night Round 3 (released December '06)
Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII (Dec 06)
Full Auto 2: Battlelines (Dec 06)

Resistance was solid, though (IMO) not great. Marvel was excellent, but basically a port of the PS2 game (and you can see that in the visuals). Untold Legends was a decent isometric RPG, but not nearly worth $60.

First-gen sports games are always tough to hang your hat on; they don't usually have a compelling feature set to differentiate from the previous gen.

Quality (again, IMO) releases between the end of '06 and November '07:

MotorStorm
Oblivion
Enchanted Arms (solid game, but I hated the story)
Ninja Gaiden Sigma
Heavenly Sword (underrated, IMO)
Folklore
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction
CoD 4: Modern Warfare
Lego Star Wars: the Complete Saga
Assassin's Creed
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Rock Band

Couple of these are borderline, I guess. I've included Rock Band despite it also being on PS2 because the next-gen versions added online play, as an example.

Uncharted was legitimately great, and I'm a huge R&C nerd, but the rest of those were either niche titles or big-money multiplatform games.

I've bolded the exclusives. There are quite a few other releases in that window (Here you go) but those are the high notes.

Now, that said? It's not at all unusual for the first year of releases to be pretty lackluster. If you want to compare PS3's first year to Xbox 360's first year, it's close enough to argue. If you want to compare PS3's library to Xbox 360 in November 07, that's harder to do.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by dubb93

Are you seriously asking for a list of Playstation exclusives? Sony killed Microsoft as the generation went on with exclusives. At the start it was the other way around.

You want Uncharted, Ratchet + Clank, InFamous, Heavy Rain, MLB the Show, Sly Cooper, God of War, or The Last of Us? Microsoft started off strong, and then they seriously let me down.

And, yeah, Sony killed it from 2007 on. Microsoft didn't do much with 3rd parties after that, choosing to rely on Call of Duty, Gears of War and Halo to be their tentpoles.

PS3 library at this point in time is unquestionably stronger.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Please elaborate... what games?

For the PS3 there's been some amazing titles in the last two years with Journey winning numerous game of the year awards last year plus 6 of 11 awards at Game Developers Conference and The Last of Us which has received the highest review scores so far this year. To go along with those the PS3 exclusive lineup includes Uncharted, God of War, Heavy Rain, Metal Gear Solid 4, MLB: The Show, Little Big Planet, Valkyria Chronicles, inFamous, Ni No Kuni, Demon's Souls, HD rereleases of games like the Shadow of the Collusus/Ico bundle, a strong collection of JRPGs.

For the 360 it was definitely the stronger console for shooters with Halo, Gears of War, and an earlier launch date on CoD DLC, and with the Kinect it was much better for motion games like Dance Central as the PS Move never had much to offer. For other system exclusives there has been Saints Row, Crackdown, Lost Odyssey, Shadow Complex and Fable 2, but don't think it's enough to stand up to the depth of the PS3 library. Though for the console only gamer there are also some excellent console exclusives like Mark of the Ninja, The Witcher 2, Bastion and Dust: An Elysian Tail that didn't come out on the PS3 or Wii, but they are also available on PC.

[SackAttack]

To be fair I don't consider the HD collection releases part of either console's library. They were cash-ins. They might have been well-done, for the most part, but they were cash-ins after backwards compatibility had been stripped from PS3, and most of the third-party collections were of multiplatform titles from the previous gen, so it made sense to release them on Xbox 360 also. Broaden the market.

But yeah, PS3 was far the stronger console for RPGs and first/second-party titles. The 360 library was more of a mass-market library, I think. The bulk of it was nothing you couldn't get elsewhere, but it was kind of like Hometown Buffet - it was all right there, so why go three different places to get burgers, pizza and chicken?

PS3 had many of those games also, but between the early high price and the one-year lag on availability, Sony needed that strong first-/second-party library to get back in the game. They had a vested interest in investing in those games and those exclusive relationships because of their place in the market.

I think Microsoft was always planning to increase their market share from 20% domestically in this generation, but I don't think they expected to go from 20% to 38% overall and 62% of the HD market. I think the rapidity with which Xbox 360 found traction convinced them that exclusive games weren't that big a deal. Timed exclusives on games/DLC, sure, but because they had the stronger position, I don't think they were as worried about building a library of exclusives.

I'm of two minds on that. The first thinks that might have been the implicit surrender in Japan, where what we consider "niche" titles would have been more important to the console's survival. They saw that exclusives would goose sales for a week or two, but it was never a lasting bump. They couldn't sustain the momentum, and so they said "well, we've got a market in the US we can feed with FPS and beer. That's easier."

The rest of me thinks it might have been a matter of marginal ROI. Even in the US, those exclusives would have padded the library and provided more software sales they could rake off the top in royalties...but would they have provided any kind of noticeable impact to their hardware sales? Any noticeable impact on Sony's? I think they might have hit a certain critical mass quickly enough that they felt momentum and appropriately timed price cuts would do the rest.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by dubb93

Are you seriously asking for a list of Playstation exclusives? Sony killed Microsoft as the generation went on with exclusives. At the start it was the other way around.

You want Uncharted, Ratchet + Clank, InFamous, Heavy Rain, MLB the Show, Sly Cooper, God of War, or The Last of Us? Microsoft started off strong, and then they seriously let me down.

I remembered Uncharted, R&C and Heavy Rain.. The Show too.. didn't realize there were many more.

I have a PS3 too..

Uncharted didn't do much for me, but I will get The Last of Us when I find it on sale.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

And, yeah, Sony killed it from 2007 on. Microsoft didn't do much with 3rd parties after that, choosing to rely on Call of Duty, Gears of War and Halo to be their tentpoles.

PS3 library at this point in time is unquestionably stronger.

Stronger as in, quality "exclusive" titles you can't get on X360? I may have to revisit the PS3 scene if I'm missing out.

The Show, Uncharted, R&C, etc.. do nothing for me. The Last of Us is definitely something I want to play though.. and would be open to some others if you have them in mind?

The PS3 is highly underused in our household (except for BR movies), but do tell if there are some top notch exclusive titles out there. I don't plan on getting a "next gen" console for some time I don't think.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Stronger as in, quality "exclusive" titles you can't get on X360? I may have to revisit the PS3 scene if I'm missing out.

The Show, Uncharted, R&C, etc.. do nothing for me. The Last of Us is definitely something I want to play though.. and would be open to some others if you have them in mind?

The PS3 is highly underused in our household (except for BR movies), but do tell if there are some top notch exclusive titles out there. I don't plan on getting a "next gen" console for some time I don't think.

Yep.

Now, granted - those quality exclusives may not be up your alley. You've already disdained Uncharted and R&C and I'm frankly a little stunned you have no interest in The Show.

Other of the exclusives may be genres you've no interest in, that sort of thing.

That said, I would still include all three of those franchises in a list of quality PlayStation 3 exclusives. Others:

Folklore
Gran Turismo 5
Disgaea (3, 4 and upcoming Disgaea D2)
Valkryia Chronicles
inFamous
Heavy Rain
God of War III
3D Dot Game Heroes
Little Big Planet
ModNation Racers
Sly Cooper 4: Thieves in Time
Hyperdimension Neptunia (three games in this franchise so far)
Tales of Graces f
The Last of Us

That's off the top of my head. Little RPG heavy, but that's a reflection of my personal tastes. That list would be a solid collection for any PS3 owner, even leaving off the three franchises you turned your nose up at.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Yep.

Now, granted - those quality exclusives may not be up your alley. You've already disdained Uncharted and R&C and I'm frankly a little stunned you have no interest in The Show.

Other of the exclusives may be genres you've no interest in, that sort of thing.

That said, I would still include all three of those franchises in a list of quality PlayStation 3 exclusives. Others:

Folklore
Gran Turismo 5
Disgaea (3, 4 and upcoming Disgaea D2)
Valkryia Chronicles
inFamous
Heavy Rain
God of War III
3D Dot Game Heroes
Little Big Planet
ModNation Racers
Sly Cooper 4: Thieves in Time
Hyperdimension Neptunia (three games in this franchise so far)
Tales of Graces f
The Last of Us

That's off the top of my head. Little RPG heavy, but that's a reflection of my personal tastes. That list would be a solid collection for any PS3 owner, even leaving off the three franchises you turned your nose up at.

I'd add Journey, fl0w, and flower to that list, I think they're all available together in the Journey Collecters Edition disc. Of those the ones I'd give the strongest recommendations for are Valkyria Chronicles (turn based strategy game with a bit of a different gameplay twist since you control your soliders in real time on each move), inFamous (Open world super hero game, also has a Blood Dragon/Undead Nightmare-like expandalone called Festival of Blood), and Heavy Rain (QTE heavy detective mystery with good amount of player choice and consequence). There's also Beyond: Two Souls from the creator of Heavy Rain coming out later this year. I think the God of War games are OK, but there are much better games in the genre. There's Metal Gear Solid 4 if you have any interest in that series. 3D Game Dot Heroes and Heavenly Sword are on my list to get to.

If you're interested in JRPGs there's Ni No Kuni, Eternal Sonata, Tales of Xillia/Symphonia, and the Atelier series.

[SackAttack]

Eternal Sonata isn't exclusive, Symphonia isn't out yet, and the Atelier releases have gotten mixed reviews.

But I can't believe I forgot Journey and Ni no Kuni.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

To be fair I don't consider the HD collection releases part of either console's library. They were cash-ins. They might have been well-done, for the most part, but they were cash-ins after backwards compatibility had been stripped from PS3, and most of the third-party collections were of multiplatform titles from the previous gen, so it made sense to release them on Xbox 360 also. Broaden the market.

Yeah, was a bit hesitant to list that over some other titles, but being I never owned a PS2 it was one of the more interesting titles to me.


PS3 had many of those games also, but between the early high price and the one-year lag on availability, Sony needed that strong first-/second-party library to get back in the game. They had a vested interest in investing in those games and those exclusive relationships because of their place in the market.

I think Microsoft was always planning to increase their market share from 20% domestically in this generation, but I don't think they expected to go from 20% to 38% overall and 62% of the HD market. I think the rapidity with which Xbox 360 found traction convinced them that exclusive games weren't that big a deal. Timed exclusives on games/DLC, sure, but because they had the stronger position, I don't think they were as worried about building a library of exclusives.

I'm of two minds on that. The first thinks that might have been the implicit surrender in Japan, where what we consider "niche" titles would have been more important to the console's survival. They saw that exclusives would goose sales for a week or two, but it was never a lasting bump. They couldn't sustain the momentum, and so they said "well, we've got a market in the US we can feed with FPS and beer. That's easier."

I think they made an attempt at a push in Japan early on, locking up Lost Odyssey as an exclusive title, but even that didn't help them much. I don't think there's much a console from a foreign company is going to be able to do in Japan no matter how hard they try.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Eternal Sonata isn't exclusive, Symphonia isn't out yet, and the Atelier releases have gotten mixed reviews.

But I can't believe I forgot Journey and Ni no Kuni.

Ah, right. Was going off memory and lumped that in with other JRPGs I'm looking to get to. Atelier sort of seems like a niche inside a niche genre, but I thought it was work mentioning with the others.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by mckerney

I think they made an attempt at a push in Japan early on, locking up Lost Odyssey as an exclusive title, but even that didn't help them much. I don't think there's much a console from a foreign company is going to be able to do in Japan no matter how hard they try.

The issue isn't "foreign." It's "buy-in." For every one game Xbox 360 gets from a Japanese developer in Japan, PS3 will probably see 5. With that kind of support and buy-in, I'd guess that the Japanese market looks at an Xbox 360 exclusive and goes "Yeah, that'll be coming to PS3 eventually, and in the meantime I have all these other games to play that aren't on 360."

Look at Nintendo. Japan was their unbreachable fortress until they lost a bunch of developers in the N64 generation, and it was a similar situation prior to that. Other Japanese companies - Sega and NEC come primarily to mind - struggled in Japan because whatever games they got, Nintendo got more. It wasn't until Sony poached a bunch of the third parties in '93 that Nintendo had to deal with anything remotely resembling "competition" over there.

That's what Microsoft is dealing with. They've been unable to get that level of buy-in from the third parties, which means they don't occupy an "essential" position in the market. Add to that the more contemporary concerns about what's happening to the Japanese console market in the face of the mobile revolution, and it's just a sticky spot to be in.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Yep.

Now, granted - those quality exclusives may not be up your alley. You've already disdained Uncharted and R&C and I'm frankly a little stunned you have no interest in The Show.

Other of the exclusives may be genres you've no interest in, that sort of thing.

That said, I would still include all three of those franchises in a list of quality PlayStation 3 exclusives. Others:

Folklore
Gran Turismo 5
Disgaea (3, 4 and upcoming Disgaea D2)
Valkryia Chronicles
inFamous
Heavy Rain
God of War III
3D Dot Game Heroes
Little Big Planet
ModNation Racers
Sly Cooper 4: Thieves in Time
Hyperdimension Neptunia (three games in this franchise so far)
Tales of Graces f
The Last of Us

That's off the top of my head. Little RPG heavy, but that's a reflection of my personal tastes. That list would be a solid collection for any PS3 owner, even leaving off the three franchises you turned your nose up at.

Console baseball games just don't hold my interest for very long.

Thanks for the list.. I'll pick a few of these up and give them a go!

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Eternal Sonata isn't exclusive, Symphonia isn't out yet, and the Atelier releases have gotten mixed reviews.

But I can't believe I forgot Journey and Ni no Kuni.

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Yep.

Now, granted - those quality exclusives may not be up your alley. You've already disdained Uncharted and R&C and I'm frankly a little stunned you have no interest in The Show.

Other of the exclusives may be genres you've no interest in, that sort of thing.

That said, I would still include all three of those franchises in a list of quality PlayStation 3 exclusives. Others:

Folklore
Gran Turismo 5
Disgaea (3, 4 and upcoming Disgaea D2)
Valkyria Chronicles
inFamous
Heavy Rain
God of War III
3D Dot Game Heroes
Little Big Planet
ModNation Racers
Sly Cooper 4: Thieves in Time
Hyperdimension Neptunia (three games in this franchise so far)
Tales of Graces f
The Last of Us

That's off the top of my head. Little RPG heavy, but that's a reflection of my personal tastes. That list would be a solid collection for any PS3 owner, even leaving off the three franchises you turned your nose up at.

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Console baseball games just don't hold my interest for very long.

Thanks for the list.. I'll pick a few of these up and give them a go!

Good luck. The Disgaea games are tactical turn-based RPGs; they're pretty easy to pick up IMO and I've had a blast with them, but they are pretty different from basically anything else on the list, with the possible exception of Valkyria Chronicles. 3D Dot Game Heroes is basically a love letter to the Legend of Zelda and the first Hyperdimension Neptunia is closer to a visual novel than a traditional RPG, although its two sequels are closer to what you'd expect.

Bonus fun there, though, the Hyperdimension Neptunia games use the console wars as the driving force between what's going on.

All of them are, IMO, pretty excellent games, but those particular franchises are different enough from 'mainstream' tastes that I feel like a heads-up is warranted.

[sterlingice]

Disgaea requires certain tastes and a crapload of patience. I totally loved the first one, don't really mind grinding and completism, and it was still over the top even for me. The mechanics are rock solid and I think the story was kindof fun in a silly way.

SI

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

New PlayStation, Xbox One Are Coming, and GameStop Wins - Businessweek

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

A few hours after Sony announced that all Gamestop managers would be receiving a free PS4 and seven games at launch, MS came out and said they too would be giving a console to all Gamestop managers. 6,500 zit-faced 25 year olds just jumped up and down in their living rooms.

GameStop managers to receive Xbox One, Microsoft employees rumored to receive white units | Joystiq

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

dola

Updated release lists put out by both Sony and MS yesterday. Sony with 33 games (15 physical, 18 digital) and 23 for Microsoft.

http://bgr.com/2013/08/26/playstatio...list-xbox-one/

I'm not sure about the rest of the PS Plus users, but I see 18 downloadable games on release and that means I'm getting 18 free games next summer.

[spleen1015]

Are you sure they're going to be free?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Are you sure they're going to be free?

I'm guessing you're not a PS Plus subscriber. Most of the online games go free sooner or later. The launch titles are a prime candidate.

[SackAttack]

It's also unlikely that they'll all be part of PS+ next summer. I'd wager 3 years out, launch games will still be trickling onto PS+.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

I'm guessing you're not a PS Plus subscriber. Most of the online games go free sooner or later. The launch titles are a prime candidate.

PS Plus wasn't around for the PS3 launch, correct? I don't see there being 18 free games at launch.