crispy4000

Ryzen. In a nutshell.

For another 2 years or so... That's always been the ironic part. For as much noise as the new consoles made, they'll still be short lived stop-gaps.

I picked up most of the free games they've given away over the years. Not a bad collection, but I never open up Origin. Ubisoft has had better giveaways over the years. Humble too.

Knowing Microsoft, they'll claim that it will be simple to optimize games for the streaming box. They'll try to streamline that as much as possible. But its still valid to question how much effort it'll take to get a game well optimized for it. Doubtful it'd take more work than the Wii, but I could see it being more than the old Xbox One model. Perhaps also the PS3 last gen, which had its own quirks. A streaming service would already come with its own negatives. If there's downsides on top of that on a game-by-game basis, it'd be a bad look. I'd also be concerned about how much priority developers will actually give it. If it was just lower spec hardware, they'd already be putting in some of that work anyways for a PC port. But this could add a wholly different layer of optimization issues and complexities. Not enough to make games unportable, but perhaps enough to make them essentially unplayable with a shoddy port job or subpar internet.

According to DF, there's parts of the game where the X1X's performance mode dips to the high 30's/low 40's. So it's kind of a give and take if you choose to play that way. The X1X's 30fps 4k mode is supposed to be slightly more stable than the PS4's checkerboarded 4k, which also has some LoD scalebacks. I've heard the most significant difference is actually Wolfenstein 2. ID didn't use checkerboarding on the Pro apparently.

Details and deals are probably being worked out now. Microsoft will probably use their cloud servers as a bargaining chip, especially for the low end console. Or they might straight up require their use, which could ruffle some feathers. We could see things like EA Access (Premier?) pop as independent channels, or be layered on top of GamesPass for an additional fee. Either way, publishers would be charging their own fees.

Actually, I think we've already seen publishers gearing up for future "all you can eat" packages. EA will inevitably be on that from the very start, especially when they just added a higher subscription tier to Origin Access on PC. I imagine we'll see Ubisoft follow suit next. It's a perfect fit for the GaaS model they adore.

The more significant leap will pretty much always be between them and the standard consoles. With that said, everything's still being designed around current gen limitations - almost no one is bumping the fidelity to a point of targeting 1080p with the newer machines. That tends to be the territory of poorly optimized games, like ARK. A lot more X1X games target 4k but can't stick it most of the time. And many of those half resolution Pro games are checkerboarded 4k. (as are some on the X1X) So the difference isn't quite to that level most often. Definitely wouldn't be the first. But if most other open world games are anything to go by, framerate won't be the biggest difference maker. Resolution will.

I also think a streaming box like this may require a GamesPass (+ XBL?) subscription, but going that far with releases is a pipe dream. It's much more likely we'd see a different additive or individual package for each major publisher. They won't want to let that money sit on the table.

Guacamelee is still the best indie Metroidvania. Toughest parts of the game were the bonus content bits that got added after launch. The main game isn't so hard.

The bandwidth thing is hardly my biggest concern. Microsoft needs to prove that a streaming box isn't garbage, by default. Even local network streaming solutions aren't perfect today. And there's inevitably going to be questions about the video quality (4k?) and consistency of the picture and/or input lag. I mostly wonder what they'd charge for the real deal console. I don't think $599 is out of the question, especially when the lower spec console could give them an excuse to aim higher.

Childhood friend introduced me to Combat on the Atari 2600 and Karate Champ on the Commodore 64.

That's pretty damn amazing. Let's see how Newegg responds.

I've heard from everyone who's played it than OnRush is fun. But a racing game without a finish line is a hard thing to grasp. Visually, it also kind of lacked an identity.

I'd take a spinoff over a bad mobile advanced wars with gacha drops

Exactly how I feel. Nintendo fucked up Animal Crossing on mobile, of all things. So let's see Advanced Wars on Switch instead.

pro non-gamer, pro-mobile, indifferent to gamersgate, games aren't art but have art in them, VR is the future, I always pay to skip a grind, pro-whale, anti-physical media, pro-gamestop, pro-region lock, motion controls > keyboard and mouse, 3d sonic is better

If only I had the cash for this right now, I'd be all over it.

... All characters can be now be tested in training mode. New unlocking methods announced later this week. That was fast.

They bungled the launch of this for free players. It takes a long time to level up, and the loot boxes you get as a result don't ever drop currency (to buy characters) due to the number of items and a duplicates=cash system. You're still guaranteed a new character every 30 levels, but that's going to take about as many hours, if not longer. In response, they're now giving enough currency at start to pick a 4th character. In the future, they're changing how currency drops work, adding some kind of milestone/achievement based unlock system, and are opening up training mode to characters you haven't unlocked. Until those changes make it in, I'd only recommend if you don't mind playing with 4 characters right now. Or if you look at it as a demo, and the $25 all-characters pack as the real game. The pack should have more value as the roster grows beyond the starting 7.

Yeah, it's supposed to be a good game with a great pricing model. I'm a fan of the developer before it, and hope to pick this up eventually. Casual business man looks amazing. The fish guy, not so much. I'm a bit turned off by hearing from others it's closer in feel to Smash 64 than Melee (although that's still fun), and don't care to re-learn L-cancel timings in a whole new game at this point. It was tolerable in PM where I knew half of that by feel already, but no modern platform fighter should have it.

Of course, this is the weekend I change ISPs. I probably won't get to play again until Monday.

They had a stage demo at E3:

PS4 has had a stellar year so far. God of War, Detroit, Yakuza 6 and Shadow of the Colossus was a strong line-up of exclusives for the first half. A few 'console exclusives' as well, for whatever that's worth.

I feel like Q1 next year is so stacked, they might as well delay to the Spring at earliest.