HonestHick

@Pabpictu i agree with you and personally i want it to be that way. For those that want to wait for better performance they are fine to do so. But for gamers like me that have the money to spend for the latest upgrades i want them every 4-6 years. Consoles come out with outdated tech so if they go 7-8 years it’s just dragging a dead horse by then. That said i also don’t think when the newer hardware comes out that all games should be cross gen. Sure FIFA should and will be. Sure it makes sense for certain games. But let’s say the next Gears of war wanted to take advantage of the new tech but it on the newer console and PC only. It gives players an incentive to upgrade. Thats my dream cycle.

Now as to this generation. I think we will see the next Xbox before PS6 but thats about as far as i will go. Not going to take a guess as to what year it will be. We have heard a lot about 2026 but that could be the handheld for all we know. Or maybe it is the X-2.

@NEStalgia i have always said the hardcore market is 30 million or less. So for Sony to hit 100 plus million consoles they were selling mostly to casuals and i agree with that. Thats why i still think in a decade or so Cloud will be very very close to a console like experience enough so that the console market will drop huge numbers. Sure we all laugh off cloud now. Sure it might never get to a place we prefer to play. But for the 70-80 million non hardcore players it will be, leaving PS with around 30 million sales for the titles we all enjoy. But i still see that a good ways down the line. As console launches are still extremely popular even among causals. Just the marketing and hype around PS6 will be enough to get them strong numbers. But i fear software needs to trim the fat and by fat i mean cost. Also something i have been asking for for years and get flake about is. We don’t need 35-50 hour games with loads of filler content like worthless side quests, games after 20 hours are just recycling the core game play mechanics. Make games a little smaller in size. It reduces cost and stuff 90% of player base don’t even explore or care to do. Maybe cause i am getting older but i like a 20 -25 hour linear style game these days. It stays it welcome the perfect amount of time. Sure some games can be big, the elder scrolls and such. But not every game needs to be 50 hours. I do think the console is safe for a good while still. It might not be growing per say but it’s not like it’s a unprofitable business model completely at least not yet.

Side note i am out of work today due to the world wide outage of Windows. I have a blue screen saying windows didn’t load correctly and it ask’s to restart and then it just repeats the cycle. MS is back to being the worse software company ever and i am waiting for more business to understand the saying buy once cry once and go with Apple. HAHA i am a broken record with that. But i am getting paid but no work production and this laptop might even be fried i don’t know. Flights around Europe are stalled and can’t be rebook due to this world wide outage. Not a good day for MS. Time to let the upper leadership go and start over. They are lost.

@NEStalgia well the whole industry revolves around fortnight, Warzone and GTA well and Candy Crush. Back in our day games were built to be played and enjoyed and moved on to the next release. Now games are built to never end and keep you into that game and its ecosystem forever. So it’s not so much a console issue as it’s the games design. Take Warzone on mobile for an example. That is an insane player retention game. So while i do think GTA will boost numbers for any and all platforms it’s on i don’t think it’s the whole console business. Sony is sitting at 60 million units and GTA6 is still a year away or more. Take a look at what NCAA Football 25 is doing for console sales. Why? Cause it’s only on Gen 9 hardware and players can’t play the weaker PS4 and Xbox One versions. We lived in cross gen way to long to grow Gen 9 but now with NCAA and soonish GTA6, that is going to give a lot of people a reason to upgrade and they will choose a console to play those games on.

@kuu_nousee i think as long as Sony and Nintendo are selling 100 million units they will continue to be happy in the console space and continue to make exclusive games to drive it’s success. PC has been around for a long time. It has its ebbs and flows in popularity. It’s never going away, it never went away, but i don’t see console’s dying off any time soon. In fact i see MS allowing other companies to make console hardware and grow it even more in choices and pricing. Which could be kind of neat.

@Pabpictu i don’t disagree with you, but I would like to add a little game called GTA 6 hasn’t come out yet and when it does it is console exclusive for at least a year if not longer if they hit any delays and setbacks. The whole world will be on consoles during that time. Plus we still haven’t seen the best of Sony’s dev’s titles for PS5 yet. Those will be timed to PS5 before PC. But still those will take any from the PC is the new best place to play a little bit. Then once Switch 2 comes out and gives new life to the Platform as the 7.5 year old switch is running out of steam a little. That too will lift the console space. PC is great and all but i don’t see it take to much away from consoles once these consoles start to produce AAA titles that are on console first or in Nintendos case forever. Xbox well we know a lot of players will play their games on PC.

Diablo 4, Gears of War and Red Dead redemption. Thats about all i play now seeing as nothing is coming out that I care very much for.

@NEStalgia this is true. For my work PC i was a Surface Keyboard and Surface mouse and really like them. They are great. You know i love the Xbox Controller. But man the software is lacking.

@NEStalgia i have a choice and i have given my money to the fruit company. They don’t act like this. They have some of the best marketing teams and leadership in the world. I am not the biggest Gamepass person. But this goes beyond GP, this is Xbox and MS as a whole not delivering messaging and branding to products. Google used to do this, make new apps and stuff, throw it out to the public and then kill it 6-12 months later. Apple flat out does not operate that way. The CEO of MS and many others should be fired. This won’t cut it. VPN and Windows 11 issues. I mean they have no products right now hitting on all cylinders. Tho i was in a Best Buy 2 days ago and looked at the new Surface laptop and it was a nice built product. Since when did MS make better hardware than software? Plus who is leading the surface team? Whoever it is they need a shoutout as the only leader in MS doing something decent. I am stuck with Xbox. I still dislike the crap out of PS controllers. But man the future of Xbox sure seems more and more iffy if they can’t tell us what the plan and product even is. Should be called the Chameleon X/S cause it changes by the minute.

@OldGamer999 well i might not be the best American to answer that question because i don’t watch much TV outside of Sports. But whenever the TV is on and i do play some attention to it, i see some Xbox on there. They aren’t completely not advertising here like they are in other regions were they are selling poorly. I would say it could be better and i know it could be better where you are cause you have been making that point for a few years now. Mainstream consumers have to be told what to like and buy. That how dumb TV shows even exist. It’s not the quality of content for sure HAHA, same can be said for music and movies etc etc. MS is just not pedal to the floorboard aggressive with Xbox as they needed to be coming off the Xbox One. It’s like they threw in the towel but don’t want to tell us they are going to show us.

I just never seen a game like HellBlade being a massive title. It’s got it appeal and of course art style. But it’s not mainstream in the slightest. But Xbox has got to get some banger titles out that move some console units. They aren’t ever going to outsell PS worldwide. But they need to be competitive here in the U.S.

I couldn’t even throw a honest number out at how many hours I played this both online and with friends over. I was so mad when EA bought them out. Still am actually haha

I like closed ecosystems cause they work so well. Plus I’ve been using Mac’s for close to 20 years. I was there in their 1% market share years. Take Blutooth for an example it is garage compared to airplay by apple. I could not go back to fully using an open source product like android or windows. But those systems work for their users and the balance is we need more options to keep everyone honest as we can.

The PC market is primed for many to switch off console and go there. I still think about it once i see what PS6/next Xbox looks like. Intel is a company that seems to just exist and not lead to me. I could be wrong. Not to say they don’t have talent and couldn’t do something really special. It just hasn’t been something i have seen of late. Granted they are just getting started with their GPU’s so it might improve. I really just hope we get some good games soon. It’s been so dry. This generation is lagging bad for me. I have bought the least amount of games 4 years into a generation ever.

@NEStalgia i do wonder if intel will ever make good GPU’s? Cause another player in that space wouldn’t hurt. AMD isn’t trying to compete with power as much. Which probadly doesn’t change their bottom line any. Maybe Xbox moves to ARM in the future? I don’t know tech changes all the time. Looks like the GPU market is as well. At a time when more gamers are moving to PC.

Apple isn’t Nintendo cause Apple leads in power. M series Chips destroy the market and do it on half the power draw. Thats how far ahead they are. Pretty special actually i am still not sure how they do that with the M chips.

@NEStalgia they don’t give a rat’s you know what about gaming. They won’t stay on top forever in that space i wouldn’t imagine. If the past has shown us anything. It’s no one last on top forever as companies are gunning for the front runners and developing new ways to compete or surpass them.

I’d like to remind all tech companies, this is Apples world and we are all just living in it.

That comment will not go without push back from you haha!!

@NEStalgia Nvidia is about to be as rich as MS and Apple. It’s insane what they charge. They will lead in AI. Just crazy. Ole Jimbo isn’t even as greedy, whats that say? HAHA

I game almost the same as i used too. However I buy less games now. To many just don’t interest me and launch broken. I do have 900 hours into Diablo 4. Which is only a 1 year old game. Diablo is a top 3 all time IP for me tho so i might have that many hours into it even if i did buy more games. So i am more selective in what i play but the hours are mostly the same. Maybe down a bit.

@NEStalgia I think the Pro is still coming and gets shown at the September show and then launches in November. But price will be interesting, i am not sure how this will be priced. The fact i do not love their controllers makes price an issue for me with the PS5 Pro cause i only play exclusives on it. Now if MS wanted to build some crazy PC/console tower of power thing and price it at $799.99 i would pre order it. I think Sony is going to live and die by moving as many console units as they can, make the 30% cut on their store and live with the results, all the while being way behind MS in games on all screens and which ever one see’s the most play time doesn’t matter cause they are there vs Sony would have to pivot to there. It’s dicey to see if Sony’s console old school plan continues to work or if this be in all places is what becomes more normal in years to come. One thing is for sure the PC isn’t seeing a decline at the moment, so anyone not there is losing out on cash. I don’t care what any console keyboard warrior tells me.

Still off, i tried to play my daily evening Diablo 4 loot runs. Man wonder what happened? They are normally not down for long. Nice not to see the ad’s haha

@Tecinthehead it’s not that black and white. It’s not the most power by leaps and bounds. Lead designers in the beginning especially had the dev kits of PS5 before the Xbox, cause MS changed them near the end. So take a few games like Assassins Creed Valhalla and Control. They launched in better condition on PS5, but later got patched on Series X to be a better version. But the story was already told for those games. COD runs at 119-120 fps on Series X, only 114 on PS5 yet it’s not a story. Cause well as you said the stronger box won. But that comes down to the game engine, time spent working on it and if it’s more of a PC engine friendly built or different. There’s a lot of grey area to this as both machines are near the same as was stated here. However to your PS5 Pro comment no that will not be a story cause that should be shoulders above these two units and not splitting hairs as we have done for the 3 years we’ve had these boxes. I just want more articles saying Xbox games run better when they do. Last note i want to leave you with is, i have high end equipment i game on and i have both consoles. Some (few) games i have on both consoles. The difference to me is Dolby Vision looks far better on my setup than HDR 10 from PS, Dolby Atmos is also a winner.

So how about all the games that do run better on series X over PS5. Seems like that is rarely mentioned online. Only when it’s the PS5 doing slightly better. I have both consoles and play on the one that i want. Mostly controller is the decision.

I’ll catch flak for it… not that thats ever bothered me before, but……
IN PHIL I TRUST!!

I remain a fan of hi, that ain’t saying everything all the time from him i have championed. But i like his body of work and am glad to see him present whenever i can at his acceptance.

@rustyduck @NEStalgia so to say on topic i will answer the question first, highs were Diablo 4 (800 hours) i am a Diablo fanatic. Other highs were the SSD’s and quite reliable hardware. Lows were going all of 2022 without any big games and Redfall being so poorly executed. I liked what that game could have been.

Ok so Xbox and the future, 3rd parties etc etc. the biggest player in all of gaming is Windows. Windows and X86 which is all MS. Lots of the core design of game development is windows or MS toolsets. However windows is Xbox and Xbox is windows with just a little bit of work. The PC guys pay MS their windows license fees. Play the games on what store they want with more open builds and controllers options. Xbox hardware goes windows underneath a controller Ui and i think going digital does them a favor, follow me here. In EU what are we seeing with IOS they are forcing apple to have more stores on its OS. If MS went digital EU could say they need more stores for competitive reasons and MS does this with epic or steam or someone. All the games are coming to windows PC, that is not going to stop. So Xbox will always have 3rd parties. Throw in the handheld and now they have that PC model but in a non mouse and keyboard open source build for the non PC players. That alone is money out the backside. Throw in the rumor MS might let others build PC Xbox hardware devices and it’s really a win and like NES also taught me and reminded me. Xbox was started to get windows into our homes more, make sure games stuck to MS tool set’s and to sell more windows licenses. This goes back to that and the timing couldn’t be better with PC being the lead again. I see this vision working out and i am seeing how it looks more and more as NES has been on this blue print for months now helping me see how it looks and truth told it’s a smart move and benefits the devs and players.

Can’t wait. I have around 800 hours into D4 and this mode will easily get more. Diablo is a top 3 all time IP for me tho. Season 4 is great but 5 is looking even better.

@tho_mi And they only needed to purchase two publishers for that.

Cash is king and to make money you have to spend money. Ever heard of that? Cause during the PS1-PS2 Sony didn’t have first party either. They bought it. They were and are a hardware team. They had no internal studios. MS on the other hand i can’t figure out how and why it took a software company to slow to understand 4 studios wasn’t enough. Happy to see they woke up.

@OldGamer999 yeah buddy, it’s going to be awesome. The graphics are going to be insane. I can’t wait to see the city. Of course the story and multiplayer. So excited for it. Can’t wait to see what other titles Xbox has coming, they seem to be clicking now.

@OldGamer999 Rumors floating around it might. We all know to take those with a grain of salt. But if so that would be huge. I’d take days off work to play it at this point i think.

@OldGamer999 you and me both. I need that and Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred and i am set.

I am all for it being in 1st person. I prefer that but to watch his own. I think this game will be really good. It looked good at the showcase and it has a little more time to polish it up before release. Xbox has games!!!

@BrilliantBill yeah great points. I am happy to see it return to what fans have been asking for. But i was shocked to not see it be gears 6. As long as it’s great i am excited.

@Fiendish-Beaver yeah i understand what you mean there. Thats not the same as i heard it. Thinking my sources were wrong and being a little to optimistic about what was really said. Rumors get annoying sometimes cause while many of them are right and come true, some are just way wrong and even do damage to something that turns out not even being true. You know your Gears and when you speak i listen. 😊

@Fiendish-Beaver you ain’t leaving me for another 25 years. 😀

Well dang i hope i didn’t misspeak on that. I seen it on a few channels i follow and it said it as if coalition has said Gears 6 is still in the works and it’s coming. Hmm.. i may need to follow up on that. Yeah the MF collection is now 3 years old and i think you maybe right that E Day is what they thought it to be alongside work of Gears 6. Yeah there is certainly some questions on whats coming when cause i agree with you it’s a little muddy at the moment. I know you and i will love E day and i am excited for it but maybe 6 should have came out and wrapped up that story line. Good points as always my Gears Brother.

I have the launch Series X and PS5 digital plus Switch Oled in my media room, i will get the White Series X digital for downstairs. Might even hook it up to a monitor. Not sure yet.

@Sol4ris yeah i agree, we need a Gears 6. Happy they said it is in the works and look forward to it story wise. Overall i think Gears of War is in good hands. We have some killer titles to look forward to. 😀

@Sol4ris Gears 6 has been confirmed to be worked on and will release. My guess is with the show coming out they want to start from the beginning and i am sure the show will overlap with the games story some. Then hopefully someone else is working on the Marcus Fenix collection and then Coalition finish’s gear 6. Thats a good roadmap for new players coming in and others watching the show and of course us loyal fans that seen it all.

@themightyant i agree i to think gaming looks bright and the big 3 are all doing good. The 50% PS title thing is going to happen when they showed games like Metal gear, assassin’s creed and Doom and COD. However i still think Sony needs to have a more exciting show next year. I am excited to see what they have planned.

@themightyant yeah i agree i just think unless they have it dialed into a for sure window we might not see dates or seasons, Starfield launch date was jumping around all over the place for what like over a year or so? Yeah we will see some of these with more gameplay or gameplay and they will have some new titles to announce and that alone should be a great show. I mean look on Push Square right now they are begging for Sony just to have a show not even asking for release dates but just whats to look forward too. We got that at least. 😊

@PsBoxSwitchOwner i don’t disagree, i am just saying this is likely the new normal unless they really have it dialed in to when it will finish. Starfield taught us telling us something and getting it in our hands is two different things.

@themightyant I’ve been seeing people say no release dates. But honestly i don’t think it’s smart to even say a date anymore and just a window until it’s for sure. Game development is hard, things happen both good and bad. In today’s world the internet will throw a fit and not buy the game cause it missed the target release date. I think the days of coming on stage and announcing more than a couple release dates is the norm and safer for the teams. Now the scary part is MS’s show this year isn’t a fluke, next year and many years after it should look like this. With that many teams and IP’s every June showcase should have content to show a plenty!

@OldGamer999 going to be insane. Plus the graphics are going to be next level. Story should be awesome. Man… this game can’t get here soon enough. Still wish the collection would drop around the time off the Netflix series. That would give 0-3 to all the new viewers and younger players. Then they can work on Gears 6 like they said they are going to do. Now that would be an awesome lineup.

@InterceptorAlpha i too wanted the new controller. My guess is either that plan got scraped or they are just going to hang onto it and launch it with the next console in 2026. So it makes that console feel more new and updated. I really wanted to see it tho.

@Banjo- pleased and sad. I love the E day move. That is perfect with the Netflix show coming out. It will allow many new fans of the show to start from the beginning and for us older fans we get the darker more gears of war style game that 4-5 just wasn’t. Sad cause i really wanted the Marcus Fenix collection. Now it makes even more sense to have it. But maybe i see why it’s not there. Wait a year and drop it so all 4 are ready for the new show? Or maybe the collection just simply isn’t real and i need to forget about it. Neither way man is E day going to be great.

@NEStalgia agreed Sony’s success was CD and Nintendo making the wrong moves. 360 had Sony on the ropes for what looked to be a market of them being spilt 50/50 and then TV TV TV (Xbox One) and gave it all back to Sony. I find most of Sony’s games boring. Pretty, polished even, but not all that fun. PS4 bored me to death at times for years. If MS wanted to be more aggressive and keep their games they would take a huge amount of money away from Sony. I don’t need to list all the games but you know them and that would be a 30% cut for all of them. Sony wouldn’t do well without it. In a year Sony has no big games , MS is like here Sony let us float you some games and money. Like what? Why in the world would you do that? But yes the console industry is fragile more so than average gamer think. Now PC and Mobile is printing money and doing just fine. Mobile should only get better as iPhones and androids can run even bigger titles and of course as you mentioned Candy crush .

@NEStalgia I’ve only played a couple VR games. They are fun but i do have to play them in shorter durations and it gives me a slight headache and eye strain after. So i just dabble into it at other friends houses that have it. Sony hasn’t been successful in much outside of the console. Even handhelds they shown not to be a major player and just quit. I look for VR to be the same. It’s not a huge success we will just quit and go back to our 4% margin machine the PS5. More spider-man and Horizon, horizon then spider-man all with a controller that stinks, and somehow thats the market leader. This is a strange hobby at times.

@NEStalgia PSVR owners deserve better from Sony. It feels like Sony made it just to say they have it or that they could make one. Cause i just don’t see the attention from them to grow it and take it more seriously. Now i could be wrong as i don’t follow that info much. I see what i see and don’t look to get more information. I know it’s a big deal to you and many others and mostly i see customers speaking to its potential and not actual delivery from Sony.

@smoreon you make great points. Something i rarely see anyone say is the difference from convex and concave. Concave my thumbs rest in it and stay to it. Convex i just slip off every few seconds. PS1 controller was the best Sony controller for a long time, Dual sense would be if it was smaller and didn’t have squared off sharp edges. Why it’s not rounded like every other controller is beyond my understanding. Yet everyone and their cat loves the thing. Good for them, i much much prefer my Xbox controllers. Switch Pro controller is really good too. The battery life on that thing is insanely long.

@NEStalgia i forgot about Haze… how did i do that? 🙄

I mean the PS3 struggled for a while. MGS4 was amazing. But again that dang controller made playing those exclusives so much less exciting for me. PS4 the controller was doable for me. Not my everyday but passable. Then they said let’s make a fat tall controller but add motion motors and feedback every where, oh and we have to keep the often used touch pad 🙄

I blame Jimbo!

@Banjo- they spend all the money on the hardware and cheap out on the controller it seems, but thats just a guess. But honestly think about it, most Switches, PS5’s and Series are working with low break downs this gen. Not to much fan noise. So thats a win, but the controller are made so bad it’s laughable compared to generations past like you said. Again i am just guessing as i don’t truly know.

@smoreon from the very little that has leaked that I’ve read it will be in Unreal engine 5 and look stunning. Gameplay is rumored to play a little different. Details are fairly light on it from what I’ve seen and i was surprised it leaked on here.

@smoreon not as much as some would have you think you should haha, whenever i mention bad Sony controller on Push i get heck for it all the time. I mean i have owned every PS, and i like their consoles and games. But i have never thought Sony ever had the best controller of any generation.

@Banjo- the layout and battery life is for sure trash to me. But as far as the build.. I’ve been lucky and not had any issues on any of my controllers. Which is saying something for how many hours i got in on some of them. I will however trade or sell my Xbox controllers and get 2 new Sebile ones if they launch it.