I actually hope that happens. That way I can take one day off work and set everything up to play that weekend.

I, too, think that would be awesome.
If MS is going to lose first day/week/month/year sales, they might as well do it by facing Sony head-on with the same release date. It won't matter in the long run anyway.

Honestly, I think it's in MS' best interests, especially if they can produce more consoles than they have pre-orders for. That way, if the PS4 is sold out, people going to the store to find one might choose an XO simply because it's available.

They will both sell out their preorders. The question is "can they produce more than Sony or at least enough to cover their own preorders?"

If the answer to either of those is "no", a launch on the same day would be a disaster.

I don't think MS is actually ready to launch yet and still has doubts on whether they can meet a November launch if they do announce it.

Finally getting to watch the MS event from earlier today, and I think I caught a bit of PS4 news.

@ 35:30:

If you haven't watched the video, I can't recommend it highly enough:

http://tech.uk.msn.com/features/the-...-gamescom-live

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare will sprout first on Xbox One and Xbox 360, as Microsoft was keen to point out at its Gamescom showcase this week. A PC version will arrive shortly after, and now we've learned from PopCap producer Brian Lindley that other platforms are also in the works. "We'll reveal more details about other platforms in the future," he tells Joystiq.

Of course, we can only guess at what those platforms might be. Given the prolific nature of the original Plants vs. Zombies, and the expected outgrowth of its recently released sequel, we're going with a low-ball estimate of "all of them." Sony platforms, at the very least, seem like a shoe-in."

Looks like a cool little game...look forward to some reviews.

Maybe it's the couple of beers I've had, but that video is the funniest damn thing!

Not into PvZ but was kinda surprised at all the hype for Peggle 2. I LOVED and was hooked on the first game just like everyone else, but on my mobile device/tablet. I have the 360 version, but it didn't do as much for me. Peggle is a better as a mobile game than one tied to a console.

That PvZ game looks cool. PvZ2 is a money-sucking abomination. Pop Cap should be ashamed with what EA is doing to their property. $2.99 for a single plant? The whole first game cost me 99 cents for the iPad. I hope this one doesn't nickle & dime to death, but I wouldn't be shocked if it did.

PvZ2: I waited a while to download it because I'm so cynical (and unhappy), but I'm actually enjoying it. I read somewhere (Polygon?) that if you can just ignore the paid parts, there's plenty of fun in there. Anyway, I'm collecting stars, and it's a pleasant surprise, as the stars are all earned with little challenges that force you to play in ways you normally wouldn't. I'm also still in the first "world", so I may hit a paywall later.

Based on the video, it does look like there's some kind of monetization for "zombie packs" going on in Garden Warfare...looks a little sketchy.

I know some folks found the Sony conference underwhelming, but to note, they announced 20+ games this week for PS4.

From SCE WWS publishing:

• Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture
• Resogun
• Shadow of the Beast
• Flower
• Rime
• Hell Divers

From third parties:

• Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
• Starbound
• Fez
• Velocity Ultra 2X
• Rogue Legacy
• N++
• Volume
• Guns of Icarus Online
• Wasteland Kings
• Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number
• Minecraft
• Assault Android Cactus
• Final Horizon
• Switch Galaxy Ultra
• Samurai Gunn

I'm one star away from the third world (heh) and I haven't paid a penny. You just have to keep playing and you can unlock everything. It's really fun so far.

This one looks fun...Assault Android Cactus:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/_5QYf7n4iOY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Will you get DriveClub for free? Or on Blu-ray?

http://www.destructoid.com/will-you-...--260574.phtml


I know it sounds like an easy choice. Free is the best price, right?

PS4 title DriveClub will be available on launch day for racing fans, but there's a choice to be made depending on what level of content you'd like. At a gamescom behind-closed-doors showing of the game, Evolution explained that the PlayStation Plus free version of DriveClub will have access to every mode and feature that you'd get in the full Blu-ray version of the game. The only thing missing are some of the cars and tracks.

The Blu-ray, though, has access to everything. All content. This gives you the complete experience with no further costs. Evolution calls this the best approach to DriveClub. They said that everything in the game is something you're going to want to see. Cheeky.

While they're not talking prices yet, we do know that there will be multiple entry points. Evolution said that they want players to have plenty of purchase options, and that they're not out to trick players into paying more money through the free version or anything like that.

And from what we've seen, DriveClub looks like one you'll want to grab on day one if you dig racing. I saw a demo of a battle between two players -- one using a PS4 and another playing via Remote Play on a Vita. What made things interesting was a companion phone app that allowed another player to send a challenge to these two friends. The challenge was instantly sent to their systems, popping up on their activity feed. The players worked to beat the top time in that challenge, with reports coming back to the app user post race. They've worked to make Driveclub as social as possible, and with free availability at launch for all PS4 owners, it's going to have a huge network of gamers to play against from the first day.


DriveClub is still in development, but it's looking pretty sharp already. Evolution claims to have packed in "ridiculous amounts of detail," covering everything from asphalt textures to star simulations for the nighttime sky. They used 18 microphones to record every aspect of the sound, and have processed that data for a head positioning simulation for the cars' interiors. There's a damage system that goes farther than just dents, including modeling for carbon fiber and metal damage, deformation in panels, and more.

Here at gamescom, DriveClub is showing at 30 frames per second. Evolution says that they're still aiming for 60 frames per second, though. They say that changing frame rates clauses irregularities in the physics system, so they want to nail it down one way or the other. There's still some time left for them to achieve this before DriveClub's PS4 launch day release.

I've got all the stars in Egypt and about half the remaining stars, finished the main campaign, and unlocked most of the doors.

I don't think I like it overall as much as I like PvZ1. Most of what they did is leagues better than before, sure, but there's something missing. The mini-games and puzzles and survival modes, most notably. There's only so many times playing through a standard level is satisfying.

Reading about DriveClub above, who looks great BTW, made me wonder. Have they announced if most games for both consoles are going to be 60 FPS? It doesn't matter for more cinematic/slow games, but for action/sports/shooters it's a big difference.

A few that I've noticed some kind of discussion/announcement about...most of these are dev "targets", so I don't know that they are locked.

Killzone: 60 FPS multiplayer/ 30 FPS single player
BF4: 60 FPS (but native 720p upscaled)
Driveclub: 60 FPS (but not there yet)
Dead Rising 3: 30 FPS (but not there yet...could be an actual problem here, but I'm sure they'll sort it out)
Forza 5: 60 FPS
Blacklight Retribution: 30-60 FPS variable (E3 build)
CoD Ghosts: 60 FPS/1080P both consoles

60 fps @ 1080p is a lot to ask of the relatively mid-level gpus.

I thought both GPUs were fairly forward looking with the CPUs being modest. Do I have that backwards?

Also, it kind of depends on the game...i.e. driving games and small scale shooters like CoD/Killzone fairly easy...open world and bigger games like BF4 and DR3 harder.

nope, you are not one-sided at all... nope....

The PS4 has the better of the two GPUs and it's roughly equivalent to a HD7850, which is decidedly mid-tier, though good enough to run something like Skyrim at 1080p@60 but wouldn't be able to pull off a maxed out GTA IV at 1080p/60.

What are you on about?

I think that was a thinly-veiled fanboy accusation.

Meh.

I just answered Raul's question.

Edit...guessing maybe it was Dead Rising 3's framerate...not sure how it's my fault when facts have a PS4 bias...and in this case it's not even about the hardware itself, but rather one piece of software.

Capcom working with Microsoft to improve Dead Rising 3 performance in time for launch

http://www.videogamer.com/xboxone/de...or_launch.html