Forbes contributor, don't place too much stock in it.

... Huh, I forgot this existed. I since checked out most of his Ultima reviews though and it was great to really learn more about that series.

That's based on outdated rumors when the PS4 was set to have 4 GB of GDDR5 and the X1 8 GB of DDR3. Then Sony announced 8 GDDR5 and really went all out.

We're going to have reasons to criticize anyway because for me taking forever on vsXIII (to the point of morphing into a next-gen FFXV!) and KHIII were just jokes, not my REAL problems. My real problems are how they're focusing more and more on a few tentpole series, sporadically released ones at that, while doing relatively little outside of that like they used to in the SNES/PS1 days or even PS2 and DS. With XIV more or less wrapped up maybe this will start to shift especially with the 3DS taking off and to a lesser extent an intent to deliver meatier experiences to mobile.

And anyways specifically on continuing FFXV and the combat system: they said they'd still go with turn based (or "command based") in the future, and for all we know FFXV would've been had vsXIII not taken that number for itself, and if FFXV has a compelling, big enough world to continue developing with new games then they can bring it on, hell I make jokes about "XIII spawn" but XIII-2 was fun and Lightning Returns looks to be enjoyable so I don't REALLY care so long as the product's compelling and that's not ALL they make (... huh, that was something of an issue with XIII actually, but that's more XIV's fault.)

We have seen decent PSN sales though, I got Rayman Origin for about $10 last year and RE6 was just $15 a few weeks ago. Granted for pre-orders the PSN's kind of hosed usually, but they've had may solid or outright fantastic sales unlike Games of Demand, which seems to be full on pandering to retailers by NEVER allowing a same day digital release and almost always being absurdly expensive, one freak incident a few months back aside that was mostly involving very old games anyway.


Bet the PS4 extends further back due to building in the power block. It's kind of amazing how much smaller it is, I wonder though if either Microsoft went overkill with cooling, or if Sony faltered there? Though I guess it's possible Sony went with a pretty good, efficient cooling setup, whereas Microsoft is deathly afraid of RROD v2 and so wants the system to be ice cold and durable.

Yeah, it's kind of the same as built for consoles then ported to PCs versus built for PCs period. Either you get a smoother running version (pending BS Microsoft policies anyway, though at worst I'd see the PS4 running at 30/60 FPS locked whereas the X1 version TRIES to but falters to some degree) or you get a version with a few more bells and whistles even if it's not completely different looking. Still, I imagine for anyone more tech obsessed it's another reason to want to see the X1 do poorly, in which case fewer publishers will see it as worthwhile to accommodate, or will get it running there but won't care about it being notably inferior.

Both the systems have similar enough hardware that it's probably trivial to keep both in mind (and given the framerate in that XV trailer accommodating X1 then smoothing out on PS4 is probably ideal), and VersusXIII was either going to be built specifically around the PS3's architecture or at least the storage capacity of blu-ray, neither of which are concerns here.

It's pretty much "why not?" given presumed ease of porting. An exclusive would be more valuable a little later anyway, and for all we know maybe Microsoft will screw it up enough that the X1 simply isn't worth keeping in mind.

Yeah, you could argue maybe that Sony's complicit by not FORBIDDING it, but you get too heavy handed and you get problems, look at how there was no MMO for 360 after FFXI, it's taking until the X1 for that. Anyways, if we still get DRM hell I'd blame Microsoft, but I suspect without Sony providing a reliable backbone for constant online verification if anything happens on PS4 it'll probably just be activation keys with the disc being a glorified install disc, in which case PS4 STILL comes out ahead as I could at least play those offline post-download.

Though someone probably should ask about game downloads and how long I can play those offline, just to be safe. I don't think they'd demand dialing home, but it's just good to try avoiding assumptions.

Oh yeah, my bigger problem is just the idea of going pure digital, but having both options tends to work best period especially for books.

In the case of games (and even movies) though, I do wonder. Optical media always has the edge for sheer storage space, and should it be possible to make use of something like HVD for games ever we'd have another leap frog ahead that isn't practical over DD as it currently is, connections aren't fast enough to pull terabytes down, and hard drives don't have the storage space anyway. But we do seem to be reaching a point where it's only so practical to be so big, so I'm guessing the bigger obstacle now is proliferation of fast, stable internet, and with how bad THAT'S been it's probably going to be a long generation to necessitate the PS5 doing pure digital.

I do hope that whenever Sony or even Nintendo bothers though it's a lot cleaner than that mess Microsoft left at our feet.

I'm actually most against it for books when we talk of going all digital. For movies/TV my main issue is being relatively feature barren compared to DVD/blu-ray despite the fact it shouldn't be a problem to throw in voice tracks/subtitles/whatever else, and music most can't tell the difference in sound anyway. Games especially, I have to admit they're essentially just programs and where they run from is arbitrary, there's freedoms to storing that program on a disc or cart that you don't get pure digitally, but the actual experience will be the same.

Books? They're the only one of those that only requires functioning hands/eyes and literacy, I can't deny the value of eReaders but just the same I think it'd be a tragedy if we went pure digital there and would need a dedicated device and electrical power to enjoy them.

Anyways, for all of these I do value being able to find the product years and years later, and to not worry about delisting making it inaccessible. Games are especially problematic as generational shifts could necessitate shutting down access to PS3, 360, maybe Wii in the future, it's why PC's a bit more preferable when done right (when done wrong we get D2D/Gamefly or Digital River.)

It's what many of us expected (well, online passes is kind of a dick move when both require subscriptions now), it's basically what was said when they were asked about this before. And it's not inherently something that has to be avoided at all costs, it's a dick move for games that are single player focused, but for MMOs it's just standard operating procedure. And hopefully that's where we see the online activation or whatever keys, for games that have to be mainly played online anyway and are subscription dependent.

To be fair no one else knows how to count as high as they do. And in correct sequence UNLIKE MICROSOFT.

What I was hearing was that they were considering offline DRM, probably that RFID thing that was patented. I wonder if complications arose, they were going to scrap it regardless, or if they saw a golden opportunity to go all out on Microsoft, but regardless it's a win for us.

Getting Halo or some other exclusive you want, sticking with where all your friends are going, being ignorant, or just being thick/mindlessly loyal to Microsoft.

For the record this seems to just be Gaikai streaming, which isn't true BC though it's a consolation prize at least. And the lack of mention of PS1 or PS2 implies they'll just straight up emulate those on PS4, like I expected.