Running video games (and consoles) thread

I told my sister what my wife said and she basically made the pandemic comment right off the bat!

 

I got on the PlayStation.com queue as well, but I was long asleep before it got in. I also tried GameStop, Amazon and Target at Midnight and struck out. Tried Best Buy at 9 am and got it into the cart, but it sold out before I could complete the purchase. I also tried Wal-Mart at noon and 3 pm and got it into the cart, but couldn’t check out.

We were eating dinner when they went back on sale at Wal-Mart and I wasn’t planning to try, but my son begged me. I tried and wasn’t having any luck, so I randomly checked Amazon and it allowed me to add it to the cart. Checked out as fast as I could and, bam, there it was ... order confirmation.

It was more effort than I really would have ever bothered with, but it was because I wanted to be the hero for my kids. As others have mentioned, the pandemic plays a big part. We chose to do distance learning with our kids, and we’re one of only like six families in the elementary school to do so, so my kids are stuck home with us 90 percent of the time. Felt like I wanted to do something big for them this year.

Might be the first time I’ve understood, at least a little, why people get so crazy about getting their kids a particular toy.

 

I'm going to get one at some point. Have a bunch of cash back rewards from my credit card and I wanted to use those funds on something fun. I'll wait until everything settles down, probably get it after Christmas. Will be curious to hear reviews. It's really too bad that they couldn't figure out a way for backwards compatibility to the PS3, if only so I could play NCAA 14 and the Tiger Woods Masters game again. Alas, at least it can play PS4 games. And we should have a next-gen NCAA football game in the near future, hopefully.

 

So far I really like it. The load times are as advertised and you can definitely tell the uptick in graphics, etc. The controller is really great too. I haven't really jumped into any launch titles yet but have a couple. I was really late starting Spider-Man and want to finish it before I do Miles Morales and I take forever playing games because of life. I am not usually an early adapter (I didn't get a PS3 until the PS4 came out and I have only had the PS4 for two years) but I just felt like if I could get it I would, maybe as a reward for the year or something, and I was really excited that you could get all your PS4 stuff on there seamlessly. It was super easy to do it too. My only complaint is the lack of storage. You'd think it would have more and I don't even have tons of stuff and I have almost filled it up. I guess I get it with cloud storage and other means, but still. I just bought an external drive to put most my PS4 stuff on it to free up space.

 

Never been much of a console gamer, not since the first Nintendo and Zelda anyhow. I've always been a PC guy.

They've gotten so good that I ought to break down and get a PS5... but I think about it and about the video card upgrade I need and somehow I never get there.

 

Has the price of a PS4 dropped yet?

 

Depends on what kind you want, but on the secondary markets, it was down to the $120 range... before the pandemic. Then it spiked up past $200 again, and it's in the $160 to $180 range again, used. If you'd prefer new, which is understandable, big box stores are probably going to start discounting it, if they haven't already. It's unlikely to ever get to the Wii U level of deep discount, though. (Like, under $100 new, just to clear shelf space.)

 

If you're a PC guy the XBox Series X may be better aligned with your experience. It's got the PS5 beat in terms of storage and raw power, but the differences in the latter may be more mathematical than practically discernable. It's getting close to being like Apple v Android or Toyota v Honda at this point, i.e., you like what you like but "better" is really subjective.

Sony always has to have some proprietary element of theirs and, in this case, it's the SSD. It's supposed to give the PS5 faster load times but that hasn't been demonstrated yet. I think the benefit won't be seen until companies start optimizing games for the console, likely starting with Sony-only titles. Keep in mind that "slower" in this case is, once again, more mathematical than noticeable.

Tech specs aside, XBox has the advantage in the number of available games via GamePass and gaming anywhere with XCloud (Xbox, Android phone, or tablet). Sony's advantage is the games they have that Microsoft doesn't. Their proprietary games are almost always terrific (Spiderman, Uncharted, God of War, Ghost of Tsushima). Microsoft really hopes you like Halo, Forza and...uh, Sea of Thieves?

I've always been XBox primarily because I have very large hands (not to brag) and the PS controls never felt good to me. The DualSense seems much beefier so I think I can make that work.

Cannot wait for Cyberpunk 2077...

 

Yeah, I'm all in for 2077 as well. And while the games may not be optimized for them, SSD's are just plain faster loading than conventional HDD's. One of the things I like about the PC is that I'm not faced with "That's an X-Box game, it's not available for your PlayStation".

 

Did anyone take the plunge and get Cyberpunk 2077 on release day? Curious to hear people's thoughts. I've watched a few Twitch streams -- seems very slick and flashy, but I'm not sure it's for me. My rickety laptop starts wheezing when I try to play Cities: Skylines, of course, so it's not like there was much risk of my getting 2077 anyway.

 

General consensus seems to be that it's a fun, open world game in the vein of the modern Fallout games. Criticism is from the fact that while the developers made noise about the inclusivity options at time, it doesn't have any effect on the gameplay, and the world itself is mostly populated by fairly normal video game tropes. (You can play as a trans character, but you still have to pick a male or female voice - there isn't really a non-gendered tone.)

 

And if you did, did you have to deal with this?