The PS4 thread

[ZellSF]

I don't care about Zelda and don't think it will be better than Horizon. But while I usually avoid day 1 purchases, there's quite a few games coming up (Torment: Tides of Numenera, Nier Automata, Kingdom Hearts HD Remix, Persona 5, Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition) that might end up expensive enough that I don't want to be spending money on games I'm not quite sure about. Horizon is one of those and I'll very likely wait for a price drop or two.

Writing that I realized that every game I'm looking forward to is available on the PS4. The PS4 will have a fantastic library by the end. I'm planning on playing three of those games on a PC, of course, just saying.

[BulletMagnet]

Have you played Witcher 3 yet? Could be a cheap alternative for you. Seems like the easiest comparison, and probably the nextmost-impressive open world.

I briefly tried Witcher 2 some time back and it didn't do a heckuva lot for me personally, but that's as far as I've gone with that series, though in terms of enduring fanbases Witcher 3 may well give Skyrim (Elder Scrolls being another series I've never tried) a run for its money. Guess I'll just see how Horizon does once it's actually in the wild.

[bigbadboaz]

Well, can't hurt. Pretty good chance it's a $20 title once the holidays roll around.

[Kaiser]

Have you played Witcher 3 yet? Could be a cheap alternative for you. Seems like the easiest comparison, and probably the nextmost-impressive open world.

I briefly tried Witcher 2 some time back and it didn't do a heckuva lot for me personally, but that's as far as I've gone with that series, though in terms of enduring fanbases Witcher 3 may well give Skyrim (Elder Scrolls being another series I've never tried) a run for its money. Guess I'll just see how Horizon does once it's actually in the wild.

Honestly, Witcher 2 was just a techdemo base for Witcher 3, which is one of the reasons it's not that great, but 3 on other hand is a really fine title , spent around 100 hours in it before I beat both the base game and the expansions. Last time the GOTY edition was on a promo on GOG it cost like $20.

[evil_ash_xero]

I was paying some attention to Horizon, but I doubt it would be my thing. Erik Kain did a vid that kind of summed up my concerns about it.

The graphics are astounding though.

[bigbadboaz]

At least the engine will be around for future games. Really too bad it's taken 3 1/2 years for the generation to get here though.

[cicada88]

Bought the Battle Garegga box from Japan, but I don't have a PS4 yet :/

Not sure whether to go with the Pro or not. What are the best US prices for the Pro? I know you can get a new slim for $200-220ish

[HydrogLox]

If you've lasted this long without a PS4 don't waste your money on a Slim now. People who own a non-Pro right now can and should wait for a deal before giving in to the compulsion to upgrade which I suspect won't become really urgent until 12-18 months from now - and for all we know by then another higher performance PS4 SKU could be around the corner.

PS4 - 3 Years Later - Predictions & Concerns - Adam Koralik
PS4 Pro Discussion & Unboxing - Adam Koralik

FYI: The Slim doesn't have a S/PDIF optical out if that is something that is important to you.

[tomwhite2004]

The slim is getting to the point where people wont care about the pro as relatively its so cheap. Although it is currently out of stock you could pick up a ps4 slim with an extra controller with either Nioh or Horizon for £200 earlier this week. Thats pretty much £120 for the console and i dont think many will see the pro being worth three times the price, I dont for one.

[HydrogLox]

I'm stating this from the perspective of how much (little) useful life may be left in the Slim if you are in the habit playing the latest games.

The way I see it the Slim was only thrown onto the market to compete with the Xbox One S in terms of price for the holiday shopping season (why anybody would spend any money on an Xbox One S after the announcement of Project Scorpio especially if they already owned an Xbox One is beyond me). As far as PlayStation/Sony is concerned the PS4 Pro is now the "current" console - basically:

• PS4 (Slim) - PSN Box Mk.I
• PS4 Pro - PSN Box Mk.II
• ??? - PSN Box Mk.III

PSN Box Mk.III may become necessary if Project Scorpio becomes too much of a threat to the PS4 Pro - it is just a possibility, ultimately Scorpio may not live up to the hype and in its current financial state Sony would not want to push forward at an accelerated pace. But there is the real "danger" that console generations have now become a phenomenon of the past.

While currently PlayStation is scaling back PlayStation Now for a variety of reasons (streaming challenges for games, lack of net neutrality, etc.), Xbox is launching Xbox Game Pass which gives you subscription access to an entire library of downloadable games. This business model could become the (non-streaming) mainstream gaming equivalent of Netflix. If this is successful neither Xbox nor PlayStation will want deal with the disruptive nature of console launches anymore where they have to rebuild the game library from the ground up (conventional backward compatibility tends to make the hardware more expensive and/or require significant R&D into porting and emulation solutions) - so they will opt for successive performance enhancing hardware iterations of the same base architecture (basically a PC with a severely constrained range of components).

No, I don't like the way this is going - because I believe that in the long run once the majority of games are consumed via subscriptions, quality of new releases is going to suffer.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Do Pro patches offer anything more than resolution increases and some extra fancy effects? A lot I've heard still locks the framerate at 30 fps - so if you've only got a 1080 TV, literally what is the point in getting a Pro? Genuinely interested if there is one because I'll probably pick one up for its exclusives when my xbone backlog is done.

I would be surprised if either side ditched the bulk of their userbase by ceasing games for the original hardware revisions anytime soon.

[Xyga]

I thought the main selling point of the Pro is that games show smoother framerates? There's plenty of comparative videos showing it actually does, and well-enough on most games even if it definitely doesn't make all of them hit perfect smoothness.

It's a PC parts upgrade and it works as expected. This is why many people suspect there will be a PS4 Pro Turbo, maybe even a Super why not.

[HydrogLox]

We'll see what happens when PS4 Pro Boost Mode becomes publicly available.

[Udderdude]

I thought the main selling point of the Pro is that games show smoother framerates?

Sony marketed the PS4 Pro on 4k and VR. Smoother framerates in older games wasn't really a big selling point for them. Boost mode should be interesting, though.

[Xyga]

Yes well whatever they said I didn't hear it, to me it always was a parts upgrade with the expected obvious, logical immediate benefit of better framerates just like on PC.
Boost Mode is just a kind of unlocking option to make use of those fresh parts, and that's the first and only thing people are interested in on the interwebs.
I think its availability was delayed for foolproofing it, but also to quash the mob anger of v1 owners.

Actual native 4K seems to have been a lesser concern to their engineers otherwise they would have made something closer to the Scorpio and therefore a PS5.
Definitely the Pro is meant better framerates (needed both for the entire library including VR) + adjusting the specs for basic upscaling, it's a correction of the two most annoying weaknesses of the v1, nothing more.
Or if you want: the real PS4 as it should have been, and it's happening (slowly) only now, years after the initial release.

I agree it's the one to get once the price drops.

[HydrogLox]

I agree it's the one to get once the price drops.

In general that is a reasonable attitude - the only thing is that one can play the waiting game indefinitely and everybody has a different sense of value. The reality is that people who paid full price for the PS4 at launch already had use of it for 3 years (and will continue to get good value for a bit) before the PS4 Pro launched, people who purchased the Slim only had 2 months.

Paying full price for the Pro is more attractive than for the launch PS4 because the Pro launched into an existing library of games (as nothing can bring back those past 3 years).

Now the launch of Project Scorpio could trigger a price drop unless

• Project Scorpio is priced much higher than the PS4 Pro
• Project Scorpio isn't actually any more impressive that the PS4 Pro

That being said it's a good idea to keep an eye open for vendor sales - though it's really the wrong time of year for that.

[evil_ash_xero]

I thought the main selling point of the Pro is that games show smoother framerates?

Sony marketed the PS4 Pro on 4k and VR. Smoother framerates in older games wasn't really a big selling point for them. Boost mode should be interesting, though.

Everyone was wanting that though. At least, now, we're getting it.

[Xyga]

^ This.
Somehow the PS4 Pro is technically speaking the first console of the Digital-HD era to really tick - even though imperfectly - all of the biggest boxes of the futuristic expectations from the gamers of 10y ago and even long before that, since the 90's.
Too bad the enchantment with the games isn't exactly in sync with it, but the library should reach a consensus on quality and size by the time the hardware will have become obsolete (in not too long :p)

[Udderdude]

Consoles finally hit 1080p 60fps. This should send PC gamers scrambling towards 1440p 144hz monitors like crazy .. :p

[Xyga]

You remind me though, that at the time of the release of the original PS4 the trend on PC websites was to show off (and sell) $400 configs easily on par with Sony's machine if not better.

It's all a plot. :p

[Shelcoof]

Consoles finally hit 1080p 60fps. This should send PC gamers scrambling towards 1440p 144hz monitors like crazy .. :p

You need to find me a list of those games lol

[Strikers1945guy]

I had been ignoring Horizon as I don't usually enjoy massive open world games and I read that the Killzone development team was behind the game but after watching some reviews it looks pretty damn good to me. Anyone playing/ played it?

[HydrogLox]

Macquarie Capital Securities analyst Damian Thong predicts Sony will launch the PlayStation 5 in 2018.

So lots of outlets are "discussing" whether or not this rumour could actually be true - many say its a bad idea even if it is basically just a countermove to Project Scorpio.

Nobody I've come across seems to consider the possibility that "PS5" isn't necessarily a "Next Generation" product but rather a platform the can run all PS4/PS4 Pro software while at the same time serving as the target platform for the most demanding games - i.e. "PS5"(-only) games. This is in contrast to the PS4 Pro - there were never any plans for "PS4 Pro-only" games; which makes sense because the next "refresh" would happen in only two more years.

Essentially, I believe there is a very good chance that whatever Playstation releases end of 2018 is simply an iteration on the PS4 Pro - with the big distinction that Sony will allow/encourage developers to specifically develop games for it - i.e. there won't be a requirement that the same game(disc) has to work on PS4/PS4 Pro.

So we could be looking at biennial hardware refreshes where each second refresh becomes the target platform for the most demanding, but "incompatible" releases (while still being able to run software targeted for former hardware refreshes). Less demanding games can still target older platforms while reaching the largest possible install base. (Yes, I know - sounds like PCs; and it's not helping that "consoles" have been becoming less and less "convenient" with time.)

[FinalBaton]

Nobody I've come across seems to consider the possibility that "PS5" isn't necessarily a "Next Generation" product but rather a platform the can run all PS4/PS4 Pro software while at the same time serving as the target platform for the most demanding games - i.e. "PS5"(-only) games.

I agree with you Hydro. You can't call the next iteration of the Playstation the "PS4 something" because by then the games won't run on a base PS4. That's why, even if this new machine uses the same architecture as the PS4, you gotta give it a different name, like PS5. To avoid confusion.

[evil_ash_xero]

Anyone getting that white Destiny 2 Pro Bundle?
I have one coming in on Wednesday. I'm not going to fucking touch Destiny 2. lol



Also, anyone been playing Sonic Mania? I've played about 5 stages of it, and thought it was quite good. It's an oddball. Old remixed stage..some new stages...It's cool though. I wonder how a sequel with all new stages would turn out? I'd be interested. I've played 2 of the new stages that they have added. The Press Garden was "fine", but the Studiopolis stage was a real stand out. I haven't gotten to the Mirage Saloon, or what the other new stage is (I'm not sure what it is actually).

Opinions?

[bigbadboaz]

Don't care for white consoles personally (and don't want a Pro either). I want that damn silver Slim they only gave to Europe this year.

Actually, the regular black might pair well with a couple of those Crystal Blue controllers they announced the other day.

[evil_ash_xero]

I like white systems. They look very Japanese to me.

[FinalBaton]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing evil_ash_xero

I might just go with that one when I'll be picking up a pro in a few months

[evil_ash_xero]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing evil_ash_xero

I might just go with that one when I'll be picking up a pro in a few months

Yeah, I prefer the white. The Pro is kind of bland looking system, in black.
The comparisons to big macs is stupid, really. But it could look a bit slicker. The white helps a lot.

[cave hermit]

I actually upgraded to a Pro very recently; my launch unit was having issues with the disc eject touch sensor misfiring, which made it keep spontaneously turning on and ejecting whatever disc was inside.

Also Sonic Mania is excellent, it really does feel like what a Sonic game would have been like had Sonic team kept making 2D sonic games during the Saturn era. I don't mind the rehashed zones too much, although some of the zones near the end kinda dragged on.