Decker

I didn't know that. Thanks. That does look cool to at least mess around with if you had a Kinect hooked up.

chuckd21

My Project Spark games are going to be the bomb since I'm going to have everyone's discarded Kinects.

chess

First, I don't believe this to be a true statement.

Ryse has been hyped well beyond what it's actual quality appears to be, as evidenced by its preorder status. I could also probably dig up a dozen posts using Ryse as evidence that X1 has better launch games than PS4.

Second, why wouldn't it be fair game for discussion?

Michael Corvin

Ooh, slam! You got me!

Yeah yeah, they're technically categorized as something different. Doesn't change the point though. More of something doesn't always make it better. How long before they give out achievements/challenges in Happy Meals or in Pepsi bottle caps?

chess

Spark is also on Windows 8, and you can sign up now for the beta. FYI.

chuckd21

Weird personal speculation is an odd thing to hold against a video game system.

Decker

I'd much rather have a Kinect hooked up with wires hanging all over the room like Osama bin Laden than have Windows 8 on my PC.

chess

For me, the lack of backwards compatibility on PS4 and the addition of Blu-Ray on X1 opened the door for a switch. I still leaned Sony for their first party exclusives over Microsoft's, but I was at least listening. And then that stretch between May 20 and June 20 happened, and it was just one thing after another...crazy DRM ideas, insulting PR, focus on live TV, mandatory always-on Kinect, etc. Whether it's fair or not, I still hold a lot of that against them, as I believe it to be a part of their corporate culture.

But beyond that, even if I simply view it on current practical terms, the PS4 in an obvious choice FOR ME for the following reasons:

1: Games: The combination of the best first party development network in the industry (or at worst tied with Nintendo) along with their savvy indie and F2P policies has Sony positioned to have absurd numbers of exclusive titles this generation. I also trust Sony much more to support the PS4 at the end of it's life given the final years of the PS2 and PS3. God of War II was released in 2007 for PS2, as an example, and 2013 is arguably PS3's strongest year with Last of Us as the centerpiece. Xbox and 360, by contrast, were utterly abandoned.

2: More for Less: Start with $100 less up front for a better piece of hardware. Add F2P games and absurd numbers of free games on PS Plus. Add cheaper annual service. Add nothing but online multiplayer tied to that service. Add compatibility for SATA hard drives, Move controllers, existing headsets and PS3 wheels and arcade sticks. It's possible that I game for the rest of this year having spent nothing more than the initial $400 for my PS4, and that is unprecedented.

3: Hardware Design: PS4 is simply a more powerful and more elegant machine. It is faster with better memory and despite being significantly smaller, it somehow manages to not have a power brick. I can also easily and cheaply upgrade the hard drive. It also has built-in bluetooth, and I think it looks sleek and high tech, while the X1 looks a little bit like my first DVD player. Edit to add: Touchpad on the controller is innovative.

4: Focus on Developers and Gamers: I don't feel like this one requires explanation.

The X1 will do just fine. They still have a committed fanbase that is tied to their ecosystem (achievements discussion as an example), and they have a couple of exclusive titles that I hope to play at some point.

chess

Fair enough.

mattysemo247

Same here

Michael Corvin

???

Not at all what was being discussed, but umm, okay. I was debating that achievements somehow trump trophies as Music proclaimed.

dsa_shea

I don't see how achievements and trophies are different from one another other than one being called achievements and the other being called trophies.

Draven

I am amazed people still care about achievements. I've been ignoring my gamerscore for years. I mean, who actually looks at that and cares?

discostu1337

Millions of people, myself included. It completely changed gaming last generation.

Decker

I agree. It is a big deal to a lot of people and did change the last generation of gaming. Still I wonder if the novelty has worn off, at least to some degree, for a lot of people by now.
stu said that the 0 GS Day 1 Achievement didn't dilute their appeal and he may be right, but what about the folks who rack them up just because they've doomed themselves to two years of gaming on a Windows Phone? That's got to lessen their appeal to some degree, right?

Well, at first I thought Achievements were better because at least they were there from the beginning. Seriously what do the Trophies mean in Uncharted or MGS4 when those games were originally released without them? In the past few years, I've kind of come around the other way. Achievements are just a cumulative number, but Trophies tell a better picture. If you look and see a Gamerscore of 35,000 that might be an avid gamer who rents a lot and gets a few hundred points per game, or it might be someone who plays just a few games a year, but totally rocks them. On the other hand, if you look at his Trophy collection and see a bunch of Gold and Platinums, then you know that he's a solid gamer; if you look at someone like me with a bunch of bronzes and not that much on the higher tiers, that tells you something else. The gamer level thing I still don't understand besides the fact that it gets harder and harder to "Level Up" as you advance up. That's sort of a meta-game in and of itself, I suppose. Either way, it doesn't matter to me.
I should also note that Achievements will be more detailed in certain ways with the XO that I'm not familiar with yet. That could easily make them much better than Trophies.

Decker

I'm curious as to why you're now leaning to canceling your PS4 preorder, as nothing's changed since E3. As someone with dual next gen controllers as your avatar, it seemed you were on board with both.

bippitty

bippitty

I'm still getting the PS4. I refuse to pay the Kinect tax that Microsoft is demanding. If they drop the Kinect or drop the price, then I'd pick up One shortly after the PS4.

I like the layout for the achievements pages better than the trophies pages. The gamerscore makes it easier to see what you've got than the trophy level. As the levels go up individual trophies add negligibly to the level.

Trophies aren't added for DLC. I don't lose a Platinum because the publisher added some DLC that I'll never download.

I never look at anyone else's score. I only look at my own. Which is why I prefer the easier shorthand.

Supermallet

I'm seriously considering closing this thread.

I mean, no Twikoff option? We're not savages.

TheKing

There are DLC trophies all the time. You are correct in the fact that they aren't needed to earn the platinum, but they do take away from getting 100% in the game. For example, I platted Borderlands 2 just once, but I've had to 100% the game 3 times.

sven

Did they? I hadn't noticed.

chess

Agree with this.

Credit to MS for the innovation on the 360, along with several others, but there is absolute parity here provided you aren't emotionally invested in your score on one or the other. I enjoy tracking down trophies for games that lend themselves to that sort of thing, but I hardly ever look at my collection, and I never look at anybody else's unless I'm using them to see if they have played a particular game.

dsa_shea

Well, some of us trophy/achievement collectors do like to look at our own collection as well as others. About 20 or so of my friends have gamer levels of more than 20.

Adam Tyner

Not to speak for someone else, but I think there are a fair number of people who preordered both consoles but only ever planned on getting one. Given the very limited availability of these consoles at launch, that would let them make their choice later but still be guaranteed the system they want on day one.

chess

This is the first photo I've seen of the two controllers side by side.



I didn't realize that the DS4 was actually bigger than the X1 controller. This bodes well.