Useless gaming news & chatter

[Rendakor]

I'm probably going to buy the bundle just for that game. Gotta support english eroge releases.

[Yegolev]

Apple has a huge marketing department, but they still lost jobs.

[Jeff Kelly]

New press Release from Sony.

As of March 2nd Sony has sold through 6 Million PS 4 Consoles including 380,000 from the Japanese Launch.

[Margalis]

Second week Japanese sales: 50k. Horrible attach rates in every region.

The highest profile number (console sales) looks good, but everything else looks bad IMO.

I predict that this gen is going to end up being a large contraction.

[Trippy]

There just aren't enough "Japanese" titles for it yet, which is to be expected given that it released outside of Japan first.

[Margalis]

There aren't enough any region titles for it yet, nor are there going to be for many months.

People are buying the hardware to own the hardware, not to play the software. Given "day 1" culture and how long it's been since new consoles came out that can still mean good sales for the first few months, but I expect they are going to decline pretty severely after that.

There aren't many titles coming out for PS4 that are the best version of that title (taking into account quality, release timing and price) and fewer exclusives. The same is true of XB1, though Titanfall is at least one high-profile title.

Basically if you didn't buy a PS4 already there's no reason to buy one this year barring a price drop.

Japan...it's true that there aren't many "Japanese" titles for it, but that isn't going to change any time soon. AFAIK there are very few Japanese games coming out for it any time in the near future.

[Paelos]

So it's been basically 14 years since the PS2, and I doubt the sales of the PS3 and PS4 combined will touch the PS2's total.

[Miasma]

So it's been basically 14 years since the PS2, and I doubt the sales of the PS3 and PS4 combined will touch the PS2's total.

If some guy from neogaf with too much time on his hands is to be trusted the ps4 alone is currently outselling the ps2.

[Margalis]

Buying behavior has changed a lot since the PS2 days, as have worldwide release schedules, etc.

The PS2 wasn't available outside of Japan for about 6 months.

[Ingmar]

The curves there are curving in the opposite direction too; PS4 is sort of flattening out, where the PS2 starts out slow and then sharply curves upward.

It's still too early for any kind of final say of course, but it's not a very promising trend right now.

[Morat20]

Said guy needs to adjust for population growth too.

And extrapolating from that little data is probably not going to end well for him

[apocrypha]

Said guy needs to adjust for population growth too.

Um. Population growth since 2000 in the developed world isn't large. Europe's population has actually got smaller AFAIK.

I think that far more important is the way that gaming has become so much more mainstream since 2000 so the potential market for consoles has increased. PS4 and XBone are also cheaper at launch, in real terms, than previous generations.

[Cyrrex]

If sales are down for this generation, it isn't really hard to understand.  New hardware is expensive.  The backwards compatibility is nil.  Once you have those two facts out of the way, it comes down simply looking at what significant things either of the new consoles offer that the former generation doesn't.  Here is a list of all those things:







(there is so far exactly nothing.  Fucking nothing at all)

This isn't going to change until there are several killer apps that are either exclusive to the new consoles, or are somehow just dramatically better than what you can get on other consoles.  Given the stupidly long production times we have these days for AAA games, it is going to take a while.

I cannot think of a new console generation that offered so little over the previous generation as this one.  Nothing comes remotely close in my mind.

Atari/Coleco/Intellivision ---> NES    - MASSIVE leap in every way. 
NES ---> SNES    - no comparison.  We started to believe that we could actually bring the arcade experience home with us.
SNES ---> Playstation   - big leap in graphical and audio fidelity, and shift to optical media
PS1  ---> PS2   - another big leap in graphical fidelity.  Digital Surround via optical output.  Played goddamn DvD discs!
PS2 ---> PS3   - HUGE leap from SD to HD.  Massively more powerful.  Total game changer.  Blu Ray!!  Downloadable games.  Real multiplayer!  Hard disk storage.  Media center functionality.  Netflix, for chrissakes.
PS3 ---> PS4   - eh, I guess it is faster, but the physical proof isn't terribly compelling so far.  Social media improvements?  I actually hate that part of it, but there you go.

The new generation simply isn't differentiating itself in any important way, and that is a Marketing 101 failure.  We are buying them out of habit at this point. 

[Yegolev]

Since you mentioned it, if the PS4 could play PS3 games OR EVEN PS2 GAMES, I'd have one already.

Checking Ebay, I can get a PS3 60GB for less than $200.

[Paelos]

Said guy needs to adjust for population growth too.

Um. Population growth since 2000 in the developed world isn't large. Europe's population has actually got smaller AFAIK.

I think that far more important is the way that gaming has become so much more mainstream since 2000 so the potential market for consoles has increased. PS4 and XBone are also cheaper at launch, in real terms, than previous generations.

I think it's that consumers, despite what we like to say about them on this site, have developed more savvy on their purchasing decisions over the last 20 years of gaming. I think they realize this generation of consoles isn't really offering them anything more than upgraded shine.

[Morat20]

Said guy needs to adjust for population growth too.

Um. Population growth since 2000 in the developed world isn't large. Europe's population has actually got smaller AFAIK.

I think that far more important is the way that gaming has become so much more mainstream since 2000 so the potential market for consoles has increased. PS4 and XBone are also cheaper at launch, in real terms, than previous generations.

Enough so in terms of 'people who can afford it' since 2000, at least.

Not that it matters, as I tend to agree with Paelos and Cyrexx here. I know exactly one person who got the PS4. Everyone else I know (a group with PS3s or Xboxs or both) basically said "Why? What would be the point? Maybe next year, if some really great games come out and they figure out how to let me play my old stuff".

Nobody wants to pay 500 bucks to lose their entire games library in return for...um, two or three games and some shiny accessories nobody wanted.

Heck, I bought my son a PS3 for Christmas. The PS4 didn't cross either of our minds.

[Sky]

If I could tap the PS3 catalog, I'd consider it. I haven't played the Unsharted stuff, and goddamned RDR that never made it to the PC. And I do like the occasional driving game and the annual football fix.

But it's almost impossible to make the argument for the high price for something that I'd only use for a handful of exclusives and then would be an expensive paperweight vs the PC which can do all of everything but the handful.

And the XBone: my fiancee flat out told me she will not have a camera pointed at us on the sofa and I agree with her. You creepy, MS.

[Cyrrex]

Since you mentioned it, if the PS4 could play PS3 games OR EVEN PS2 GAMES, I'd have one already.

I would too.  I think it is unconscionable, and beyond stupid, that they don't make backwards compatibility a priority.  I don't care two shits that the architecture is different.  Have a bit of foresight, fuckwits.  And when you don't have the foresight, build an emulator or put the old chips in the new machine.

And as far as it goes, same with the controllers.  The old controllers are not compatible with this generation for no good reason at all.

Ironically, Nintendo is actually getting a lot of this right.  Problem for them (among other things) is that their more recent back catalog from the Wii is worthless.

[Sky]

I don't care for the Sony controller layout vs the MS one (I like the symmetric sticks), but that big honkin' gimmick pad in the center? Ugh.

[Phildo]

I'm right there with you guys re: backwards compatibility.  My PS3 was stolen about 4 months ago, and instead of upgrading to a PS4, I bought a new PS3 as well as a PS2(I accidentally bought a non-backwards compatible PS3 and didn't want to be hassled with returning/replacing it).  Sony didn't make a cent off of me.

Unsharted

Perhaps unintentional, but I laughed.

[Sky]

Perhaps.

[Falconeer]

1990's Jones in the Fast Lane. More addictive than any Facebook/mobile game I've ever played.

[Lucas]

1990's Jones in the Fast Lane. More addictive than any Facebook/mobile game I've ever played.

Yep, played it when it came out, tons of fun 

[Falconeer]

Damn you! When it came out I looked for it everywhere, but in pre-internet Italy that meant pretty much... nowhere. There were a few mail order stores that you could contact through videogames magazines, and then there was the few videogames store that always had absolutely random stuff. Sometimes that led to incredible rare finds, but usually if they didn't have something there was no way for them to order it. Piracy helped, but didn't have any MS-DOS pusher at the time. I know you know all of this, mostly typing cause it feels good to remember all that. I'm curious though, where did you get your uncommon/unusual games back then?

[Tebonas]

Were the Graphics really that bad it in the original game? Wow, how time makes everything look better!  

Anyway, here goes my afternoon!

[Lucas]

Damn you! When it came out I looked for it everywhere, but in pre-internet Italy that meant pretty much... nowhere. There were a few mail order stores that you could contact through videogames magazines, and then there was the few videogames store that always had absolutely random stuff. Sometimes that led to incredible rare finds, but usually if they didn't have something there was no way for them to order it. Piracy helped, but didn't have any MS-DOS pusher at the time. I know you know all of this, mostly typing cause it feels good to remember all that. I'm curious though, where did you get your uncommon/unusual games back then?

Here where I live (Modena), there was an amazing, indipendent (meaning, pre-Gamestop etc. era) videogame store, called "Orsa Maggiore", managed by two VERY passionate guys, which imported a lot of games for basically every platform, from the early Atari (260, 800xl) days 'til the end of the nineties, then unfortunately it shut down. It also had a section entirely devoted to boardgames, AD&D, "librogame"  and other stuff.

Yeah, basically the closest thing to heaven on earth, for me 

[Falconeer]

Roma was shitty. The craziest find for me was a copy of the cassette UK version of M.U.L.E. in 1987 in a toy/book store that had barely any idea of what videogames were. And when I finally put my nerdy fingers on the flatbox of Bard's Tale it was in a tiny computer (not games) store of a supersmall town in the mountains of Piemonte. They had less than ten random games, they never thought they could "get rid" of that stuff. It totally felt like finding the Holy Grail.

The store that is closer to my heart though was this one literally by the Vatican Wall, it sits on a side of it. They were official, had lots of original games and systems, but in the back they had a few Amigas and C64 with some crazy hardware dangling out of the open cases that they pumped out copies of a huge amount of popular and unpopular games by the minute. There was a huge line every day since you were supposed to choose the games from a list, handwritten scribbled in a costantly updated notebook, and they made you disk copies on the fly. Since they were pretty cheap it wasn't rare for someone to get ten games, maybe on multidisk, and for the line to get very long. There went so many of my Saturday afternoons.

The best part? The store is still there, 30 years later. They don't sell games anymore, only cell phones and small appliances, but made a point of not changing the sign. I took this photo myself a month ago 

[satael]

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Game - 30th Anniversary Edition.

My first try ended just like the first time I played it (the original version) all those years ago (almost made it out before the house fell down) 

[Rasix]

So, Costume Quest II announced.  People actually liked Costume Quest enough to warrant this?  

edit: As an aside, I need to stop reading the /games subreddit.  It's like the reverse of every games forum I've ever been on. Everyone loves every game by default and it was the most fun they had ever had when it was released.  Shit, they're actually praising Mad World.  It's a bit unsettling.

[Yegolev]

I accidentally bought it on two consoles and maybe Steam.

[schild]

http://www.polygon.com/2014/3/11/5495854/texas-gov-rick-perry-esa-award-game-industry-growth

Stole this from Facebook. Pretty sure both the rise and collapse happened under him.

Maybe the award will melt within 8 years.

[HaemishM]

He'll probably just forget where he put it after 2 months. 

[Falconeer]

Hotline Miami LA meets the Beastie Boys?

LA Cops.



P.S: Same team who made this jewel.

[Lucas]

I'm sure my fiancée will enjoy playing Candy Crush Saga in full virtual reality mode.

/sigh

http://www.oculusvr.com/blog/oculus-joins-facebook/
https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10101319050523971
http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-to-buy-oculus-rift-for-2-billion-2014-3

[K9]

Two Billion