Topic: Official Sales Thread

[broodwars]

Personally, I don't see a point in having two similar systems on the market, much less three if Nintendo joined in on that. The only reason that still exists is because Sony, MS, and Nintendo all want control, but having one unified platform would be best for consumers and developers alike.

For many years I didn't like the concept of one console standard because I was afraid whoever's design would get used would be flawed in some serious way.  Like the hardware wouldn't be sufficient for certain types of games or the load times would be bad or the controller would suck.  I guess I was afraid Nintendo wouldn't be the guys to design it but now I actually would want them in control LEAST of all the big three.  The idea still kind of scares me because I see bullshit like completely unworkable touchscreen controls in phone games and I'm scared that the standard design would be set by a non-gaming company that makes a standard that is horrible for core games but is good enough for the mainstream so it gets accepted.  If someone was to make one platform they would have to REALLY know videogames.

So if that's the argument, you obviôusly don't want Sony or Microsoft designing it either, since they don't know jack **** about video games.

I see you haven't played anything Sony's put out 1st party in about...8 years. Their software's improved dramatically since the PS2 days thanks to studios like Sucker Punch; Naughty Dog; and Media Molecule. As for Microsoft...well...people like Halo, and Microsoft's picked up studios that know what they're doing (like Remedy, maker of Alan Wake & the upcoming Quantum Break).

From a hardware standpoint, the PS4's a damn nice gaming system, and the Xbone's...improving. Still, I'll take either's UI over the load time-ladden clusterfuck that is the Wii U's UI.

[Evan_B]

I've played enough to know the three studios you are referencing, which honestly haven't made much improvement at all, Naughty Dog in particular stripping a lot of interactivity from their titles for a more visually engaging experience. That's an argument for another time, but I will say this: they know how to market presentable video games, but they still don't know much about the value of satisfying gameplay.

I will agree that, technically, Sony's console is the most impressive. But the games developed by their teams lack so much and do little with that hardware aside from visuals. I will admit it's the most appealing console to develop on, but that's because it's designed and performs like a little PC. There's nothing wron with that, but it is telling in regards to where the "console business" is headed, AKA nowhere fast.

[Ceric]

Ironically enough MS had a really good set of Game Studios BEFORE the XBOX.

[Luigi Dude]

Having one unified console is stupid no matter who is in charge.  Competition is needed in order to prevent companies from getting away with stupid bullshit which you know they'll do.  Sony tried to get away with a $600 console back in 2006 and that was when they had competition.  How much do you think Sony would have charged for the PS3 if it was the only videogame console on the market?  Same with the crap Microsoft tried to pull with the One back in 2013 which they only backtracked on once it was revealed the PS4 didn't have the same stupid features.  If Microsoft was the only company releasing a console, do you think they would have backtracked on the no used games, always online and mandatory Kinect bullshit?

Even Nintendo is very guilty as well.  Just look at the GBA when Nintendo didn't have any competition in the handheld market.  They were pulling crap like the Mario Advance series and charing $20 for individual NES ports for fucks sake.  Notice how as soon as Sony releases a handheld, then Nintendo finally decided to release a new 2D Mario again, where as before they couldn't be bothered since there was no point since people were buying Nintendo handhelds since that was the only handheld on the market.

End point, competition is needed because without it, any company will become lazy and greedy.  A one console future is the worst thing that can possibly happen to the industry no matter who is in charge.

[Mop it up]

I'm not talking about one of the current three companies taking over and ruling everything, I'm talking about something more in line with like, say, how DVD is a standard for movies. There would still be systems made by different companies that might have different features like there are with DVD/Blu-ray players, but they would all play the same media so every game would be compatible.

I think it was important to have different systems from different companies for the first few decades that games existed, since it was uncertain what the standards of the future would be and companies were trying different things and seeing what stuck. But as systems now get more and more homogenous, it makes less and less sense to have different systems.

As far as controllers go, there already exist third-party controllers for current systems that sport different designs for people who want alternatives, so I'm sure there'd be different styles of controllers available for a unified system. There would probably also still exist specialty controllers made for certain games, similar to how we've had things like light guns, balance boards, etc over the years.

[Nile Boogie Returns]

I'm not talking about one of the current three companies taking over and ruling everything, I'm talking about something more in line with like, say, how DVD is a standard for movies. There would still be systems made by different companies that might have different features like there are with DVD/Blu-ray players, but they would all play the same media so every game would be compatible.

I think it was important to have different systems from different companies for the first few decades that games existed, since it was uncertain what the standards of the future would be and companies were trying different things and seeing what stuck. But as systems now get more and more homogenous, it makes less and less sense to have different systems.

As far as controllers go, there already exist third-party controllers for current systems that sport different designs for people who want alternatives, so I'm sure there'd be different styles of controllers available for a unified system. There would probably also still exist specialty controllers made for certain games, similar to how we've had things like light guns, balance boards, etc over the years.

This blows my mind that anyone would want this. I mean I guess it could...nevermind this is madness!

[Mop it up]

I really don't see what's so crazy about it, and I'm far from the only one with the idea.

Now, do I think it could actually work in this ideal way? Realistically, no, I don't. These companies don't want to collaborate with each other even if it could benefit them in the long run.

[marvel_moviefan_2012]

Except DVD is not a unified standard, not even at all. For the first few years it had to compete with VHS, LaserDisc and that defunct DIVX. Then by the time Blu Ray came along which also had to compete with DVD, and HD-DVD for a brief period, there was also Netflix, and then Roku, Itunes, and then Vudu, Ultra Violet, and the list goes on. Even when VHS was still fairly new it was not in the market all alone it had a whole decade where Beta Max, LaserDisc, CED, and Video8 all made attempts to enter the market. YES VHS was the dominant format for a few years and same with DVD but they were never even close to a single standard everyone bought. Those are just the most popular and semi-successful companies there were dozens more.

[Mop it up]

With very few exceptions, there weren't movies exclusive to one format. Certainly nothing compared to the amount of exclusives there have been on game systems.

[marvel_moviefan_2012]

With very few exceptions, there weren't movies exclusive to one format. Certainly nothing compared to the amount of exclusives there have been on game systems.

Really? So Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, they don't have their own exclusive library of films they publish? There have been countless direct to video movies that were released on VHS and never ported to DVD, there were dozens of different concerts, documentaries, low budget films, even adult films that were released on LaserDisc that have yet to be ported to DVD or Blu Ray. I am a regular member of the Blu Ray forum and at last count there were close to 6000 titles exclusive to Laser Disc, not everything released to home video is Hollywood releases, I would actually argue there are probably far fewer video game exclusives than home video content, especially when you take into account locally produced content. I am pretty sure there aren't very many web only series released on any home video format and I am pretty sure concerts and music videos are all over the place.

[Mop it up]

Well of course not every VHS movie was released on DVD, but that's because it was a replacement format. Every GameCube game didn't get re-released on Wii for example. I'm more talking about formats that competed directly with each other, things didn't carry labels like "Only on DVD!" like the labels games had.

This is missing the point anyway. I didn't state that DVD was the only place where movies are released, just that DVD itself is a unified format in the sense that a bunch of different companies make DVD players with different feature sets, but they all still play DVDs. And so I think that's how game consoles could work too. There would obviously still be other devices that played games too like PC and phones for example.

[BranDonk Kong]

DVD is about as "unified standard" as it gets.  Saying otherwise and mentioning Netflix, or anything that is not a DVD player is ridiculous.

[NWR_insanolord]

Trying to make a game console standard that different companies can use has been tried before, I'm pretty sure multiple times, and has been a complete bomb. Remember the Nuon? No, of course you don't, nobody does.

[BranDonk Kong]

Pepperidge Farm remembers.

[marvel_moviefan_2012]

There was also the 3DO, that was supposed to be a standard, also as "universal" as DVD is, which I call bull **** but that's because I don't just watch Hollywood ****, gaming has an equivalent anyways its called Windows PC.

[NWR_insanolord]

It was brought up in a different thread, but the whole Steambox thing is basically trying to do what we're talking about here, and if anyone can make it work it's Valve.

[Mop it up]

Trying to make a game console standard that different companies can use has been tried before, I'm pretty sure multiple times, and has been a complete bomb. Remember the Nuon? No, of course you don't, nobody does.

It was from some no-name company and had no major support. Lots of ideas have failed initially that were tried again many years later to success.

In order for it to work well, Sony, Nintendo, and MS would all have to be on board. And as I said earlier, there's just no way that would ever realistically happen.

[marvel_moviefan_2012]

Trying to make a game console standard that different companies can use has been tried before, I'm pretty sure multiple times, and has been a complete bomb. Remember the Nuon? No, of course you don't, nobody does.

It was from some no-name company and had no major support. Lots of ideas have failed initially that were tried again many years later to success.

In order for it to work well, Sony, Nintendo, and MS would all have to be on board. And as I said earlier, there's just no way that would ever realistically happen.

Um no it wasn't, it was the ashes of the 3DO M2 project that was hyped for six fucking years in every gaming magazine right until it morphed into what it was and then faded into obscurity. It was a legit effort to make a true standard by LG, AT&T, JVC, Panasonic, and Electronic Arts, you can't get more video game insider than that. It failed for too many reasons to count but it was an honest attempt at a unified standard. If you want to get technical the Playstation band is as close to a standard as we have, based on sales numbers and 3rd party support alone.

[Mop it up]

No-names in the world of videogames. It didn't have support from the likes of Nintendo and Sony and such, and so it didn't fly.

[BranDonk Kong]

You make no sense. The Nuon was hyped by no one. This is the first I've ever heard of it. Ever. And yes, when people think "video game insider" they immediately think of LG, AT&T, JVC, and Panasonic.

Every game console (real consoles, made by Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sega, Atari, etc) is 100% "A STANDARD." They are just different standards. This argument is stupid and is only getting worse.

[Mop it up]

Yeah, I vaguely remember hearing about the Nuon, the name sounds familiar and that's about it. I certainly don't remember any hype for it. I think it may have been at an E3 once and that's where I heard about it. Or maybe I'm confusing it with the Phantom. All these failed systems are difficult to keep track of.

[marvel_moviefan_2012]

 Also 3DO was intended to be a unified standard that was the whole purpose. It was released BEFORE Sony got into video games and remember Mattel used to make video games too there was a time where they weren't just Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. Anyways it doesn't matter the point is there was an attempt at a standard before and there is a movement to make the Windows PC that standard going on 20+ years now, its been a total failure. Steam Machine won't be any more successful.

[Ian Sane]

We got standard formats for movies and music because of how easy it is to make something to works for everything.  Does the movie play with the correct picture and sound?  Yes?  Okay well then that could be a decent standard.  With those mediums it either plays or it doesn't.  How could you have an audio format for example that just couldn't play certain types of music?  It's all just a recording playing back.  You would have to try to mess that up.

But videogames are software and are much more complex.  It would be very hard to make a standard where all existing games could be ported accurately.  Even now with emulation you get weird issues.  Windows is supposed to be backwards compatible but all sorts of old software becomes incompatible with new Windows versions.  We effectively have a standard in computing and yet it has tons of problems.  With a standard videogame console we would get the same types of problems.

Besides converting a movie from one format to another is relatively easy.  Converting a videogame is a huge challenge.  A port is like the equivalent of a band re-recording their hit song and hoping it sounds the same.  You're not really converting the game but recreating it to be a similar as possible.  Emulation is more accurate but they never seem to get it perfect and then you also get weird stuff like on-screen instructions to push certain buttons that may or may not match up with a button on the standard controller.  You emulate a PlayStation game and it will say to press 'square' while a Nintendo game will say press 'A'.  That's minor stuff to us but for mainstream users it would seem strange.  So does your controller then label each button to have multiple names?  Do you alter the code to standard the button names?  Keep in mind that button position is what really matters but Nintendo, Sega and Microsoft controllers have all had the 'A' button in a different position.  A shitty standard would just match all 'A's to 'A' but that would end up flipping the controls of some games.

[Mop it up]

But videogames are software and are much more complex. It would be very hard to make a standard where all existing games could be ported accurately.

Yeah, I never said it would be easy, and this is one thing that would be challenging about it. But, as we get closer to reaching the limits of technology, we're seeing diminishing returns with each new system that comes out, and less differences between the systems available, and generations become longer. So I think there will be a point in the future where the idea is much more feasible, and it wasn't in the past since technology was still evolving rapidly and in different directions.

[Nile Boogie Returns]

Hyrule Warriors: 1 million Units shipped WW!


http://www.gamer.ne.jp/news/201501270048/