The coming console war

[Tasty]

Yo I ain't even a big Sonic fan but 

[MMaRsu]

When ur a kid you dont even notice that shit let me tell you

Growing up with tekken 2 on a pal ps1 was still the shit

[Tasty]

Yes kids are dumb, this is well-known.

[MMaRsu]

Yes kids are dumb, this is well-known.

your dumb 

 

[Himu]

did they fix the music being tied to the lesser framerate in the ps1/n64 era cos I don't remember that any songs from Tony Hawk 1 or 2 sounded all wrong (it has been over 20 years tbf )

Thank God I'm American.

[Pissy F Benny]

Another problem of PAL games (at least some of them) was the black bars on top and bottom, squishing the image vertically. 

lazy devs couldn't be bothered to take advantage of the superior resolution

spoiler (click to show/hide)

which is still probably a higher res than a lot of switch games run handheld

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[benjipwns]

Most sprite games from that era were 60 fps.   

That's why I picked pinnacle genre games that all have slowdown in them. I should have included Mega Man X too!

"Zero of them run on the base silicon of the SNES"

Wat

Pretty sure Unreal Engine didn't exist back then benji, they were still coding ASM to the metal.

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Super_NES_Programming/Introduction_to_assembly

The games I picked, and most SNES games IIRC, run with extra chips inside the carts. The SNES CPU is slooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ... it's not fast ... ooooooowwwwwwwwwwww. Any game with SuperFX, for example, runs mostly on that rather than using the far slower SNES CPU. (You can't run them in parallel, the SNES bus isn't fast enough.) Most every game has a DSP of some type in the cartridge. It's like including a USB dongle with every game!

The Genesis by comparison never did any of this, except for Virtua Racing, every game runs on the CPU.

did they fix the music being tied to the lesser framerate in the ps1/n64 era cos I don't remember that any songs from Tony Hawk 1 or 2 sounded all wrong (it has been over 20 years tbf )

Yes, especially PS1 which plays that stuff off the CD tracks. PAL consoles in the earlier generations were clocked differently which affected the entire system's overall speeds and nobody would bother to adjust the music for playing at a different speed for whatever reason.

[Nintex]

Sony has reported their 'best year' in PlayStation history.
PS5 already at 8 million, outpacing even the PS4.

[Raist]

Guess those potential acquisition talks with MS didn't go so well

https://www.sie.com/en/blog/announcing-playstations-new-partnership-with-discord/

[MMaRsu]

Sony is charging devs for crossplay

For the payers

[Nintex]

Guess those potential acquisition talks with MS didn't go so well

https://www.sie.com/en/blog/announcing-playstations-new-partnership-with-discord/

Discord probably thinks they can still make more money on their own and they aren't wrong if they pursue partnerships like this.

[Raist]

(Image removed from quote.)

Sony is charging devs for crossplay

For the payers

lol no.

What this says is that if game X makes a lot less money via MTX on PSN despite the fact that it is by far the main platform in gameplay share, then they asking for a compensation.

[MMaRsu]

Also bad 🤷🏼‍♂️

[Lonewulfeus]

There is no angle to that chart that paints Sony in a positive light.  Arrogant Sony is absolutely back.

[naff]

Guess those potential acquisition talks with MS didn't go so well

https://www.sie.com/en/blog/announcing-playstations-new-partnership-with-discord/

 

[naff]

microsoft should bring TEAMS to xbox   

i dont understand why ms don't just lift the ideas other, better software has fixing their own shit instead of these constant acquisitions. what's the point of paying 7 billi for a company like skype when they barely make use of the tech and end up just dissolving shit anyway. teams could and should be great, but it's such a goddamn turd.

[Rahxephon91]

Pretty scummy of Sony. It was clear that the problems they had with cross play were always that they feared on losing out on money. Maybe they need to be humbled. I mean it’s working for MS despite no real first party yet.

[naff]

microsoft will swallow everything they can in their path. sony are right to be concerned abt it imo. that said, i really wish more games had cross play and it's annoying af. but i understand the fear. also, m$ controlling both windows and xbox isn't really cross play. they're trying to unify the platforms they control, xbox is basically a windows pc without task software at this point.

[Nintex]

microsoft should bring TEAMS to xbox   

i dont understand why ms don't just lift the ideas other, better software has fixing their own shit instead of these constant acquisitions. what's the point of paying 7 billi for a company like skype when they barely make use of the tech and end up just dissolving shit anyway. teams could and should be great, but it's such a goddamn turd.

There are always big glass soulless buildings that BLOCK everything except for software released by Microsoft Corp even if it is a shitty clone of something else.
Their world of bullshit certifications and systems administrators holding the keys to the castle is a thing in and by itself.

"Slack? Zoom? We can't use that here... s e c u r i t y"

"Hold up, let me sent you a Teams invite, sorry gotta login first. Where was the post-it with my password again?"

They also make the worst business decisions (see Nokia) and try to accumulate what they buy into the Microsoft Corp Corporate Culture(TM) and Performance Reviews(TM) see Rare.
If Google weren't a bunch of amateurs Drive, Wave, Docs, Google Business Suite, G Suite, Workspace could've pushed Microsoft out of the market ages ago.
It is why when something appears that doesn't completely suck (Zoom vs. Teamviewer  , Slack vs Lync/Skype Business  )  people flock to it.

Keep an eye on the note keeping space. Lots of innovation going on there, I'm sure they'll buy Notion now that it is almost as unusable as a Microsoft product.

[naff]

ive been a big fan of the changes m$ have been making the last few years, but for sure they still have a lot of software that is confusingly shitty. azure is a great platform though, and i love windows atm.

i would use the shit out of teams and be happy for our company to dump slack for the m$ package deal only if the comms functionality was even on par. atm, i run discord, slack and teams switching constantly for different groups and things (alongside messenger, whatsapp, etc for personal stuff). teams video chat is pretty dece but quite resource hungry, googles is fine too but a bit more of a bungle to use and limited. zoom is lol. way too insecure, but i sometimes install it because all the educational institutions around here use it

[Nintex]

I just don't discuss anything of note on ZOOM or any of those apps so I don't care on Zhyina or Russia listening in but security is certainly an issue.

Windows is something I genuinely like mostly because of how shitty it is. All these little hacks make it worth it, especially the Pro version.
Apple's OS just feels too restricted in that regard. Same problem here with all those different communication channels and apps. ZOOM is the most accessible for idiots so that's the sort of go-to chat thing with screen sharing.
Then there's Discord which is awesome (especially for larger groups) but you can't really have clients join your Discord channels. Finally there's a clusterfuck of WhatsApp, Facebook messenger and whatever else exists.

I've simply stopped responding on some but that also had the effect that I lost touch with some people. It used to be much simpler when everyone was just on MSN Messenger. 

[Lonewulfeus]

https://twitter.com/tomwarren/status/1389341010334003206

[MMaRsu]

Kinda like how Epic basically blackballed Sony into opening up crossplay because Fortnite was the no1 game on Playstation, Sony is now blackballing devs including Epic for including crossplay since they are the no1 console

[Raist]

Fortnite has cross-purchase stuff, hence why Sony wasn't too keen on not having some sort of compensation just in case. They left a bit of margin though, so it's noy 1:1 between money spent and time played.

[mormapope]

In good gaming news, Microsoft added more games to the FPS boost list 

[Nintex]

https://twitter.com/tomwarren/status/1389981295330136069

"Ok, Phil thanks for joining us. The shareholders are worried with these reports from the Apple / Epic lawsuit. Explain it to us again. The business model behind Xbox because Sony is apparently actually making money on their gaming business"

"So we're selling these boxes at a loss to deliver a great end to end user experience and yes Sony is making money technically"

"Yeah that's what Peter told us and then the money would be made on the games right?"

"These days it's more about the micro transactions and subscription services but first there's an investment window to bankroll exclusives, buy studios, host events and develop new content to make Xbox more appealing than our competitors"

"Exclusives like HALO right? But that got delayed?"

"Yes, HALO is still an on going journey but we've nearly settled on a roadmap that will have the fans very excited. In the mean time we have a team dedicated to improve the experience of games already out there and our new studios are hard at work to deliver new content by 2023"

"So in conclusion, you're subsidizing AMD by selling their products at a loss, then you buy a bunch of studios that won't deliver content until 2023/2024 and in the meantime you make old and new games available in a monthly subscription that is bleeding money and rebrand things for the fun of it"

"Well we're seeing great opportunities for Xbox but that's the gist of it yes"

"So tell us Phil, why should we continue with Xbox and more importantly why should you lead it?"

"It keeps Sony from taking over personal computing and also the cloud"

"That is true, but that doesn't answer our second question. Don was a douche but he made money on this thing"

"Well, with me Xbox is not profitable but it is cool"

"You've got a point there Phil..."

"Two words gentlemen, Xbox Teams"

[Pissy F Benny]

any news about molyneux taking over as director of the new fable?

[Tuckers Law]

I imagine some of the big players are pissed with Tim Sweeney and his lunacy bringing about all this spilled tea.  Could make for an interesting landscape of engine use in the coming years.

[Raist]

Whoever is leaking that shit might get in a world of trouble. Those are all from the lawsuit with Apple, so the list of suspects can't be that long.

[Nintex]

Whoever is leaking that shit might get in a world of trouble. Those are all from the lawsuit with Apple, so the list of suspects can't be that long.

I'm leaning towards Apple, these leaks hurt Epic the most.

[benjipwns]

I'm pretty sure these are from unsealed documents filed with the court, those are all public. Some gamer lawyer is just sharing them out by looking them up. Happens all the time in cases, it's not illegal or "leaking" other than you need access to the state/federal/local court database which every law firm would have.

[Don Rumata]

Having to read more then 3 lines of text is illegal.

[Joe Molotov]

Having to read more then 3 lines of text is illegal.

That's why you just wait for the funny parts to get highlighted, like "Tim Sweeney asked under oath if he can identify a PS5 for some reason (he could)".

[Quaker]

Having to read more then 3 lines of text is illegal.

That's why you just wait for the funny parts to get highlighted, like "Tim Sweeney asked under oath if he can identify a PS5 for some reason (he could)".

https://twitter.com/stephentotilo/status/1389281643798704132

[Trent Dole]

Pretty funny considering the type of cards Nintendo used to make.

[Nintex]

"Nintendo denies any involvement with the Yakuza. We only want to say we wish Mr. Sweeney many safe miles traveling the roads in Virginia especially when he has to switch lanes on the I-95"

[Nintex]

The Coalition has announced they're moving to Unreal Engine 5.

THE COALITION MOVING TO NEXT-GEN DEVELOPMENT, UNREAL ENGINE 5

At The Coalition, we pride ourselves on delivering the best possible Gears of War games and the best possible game performance using cutting-edge tools like Unreal Engine. We wanted to update our fans on both of those things.

Thank you to all the fans out there who have been on this journey with us. During a worldwide pandemic and working from home, the team launched a first strategy title, Gears Tactics; re-launched Gears 5 and Tactics on Xbox Series X|S hardware with performance upgrades and features; revamped Gears 5 multiplayer with a ton of content and updates; and capped the year with the first mainline campaign expansion – Gears 5: Hivebusters – in almost a decade. As we look to future games, we’re excited to start shifting our resources to next-gen development using Unreal Engine 5. Gears of War has always been at the front of Unreal Engine development – as a breakout 720p title for Xbox 360 through last year’s 120FPS multiplayer update for Xbox Series X|S – and we’re excited to continue that tradition by developing on UE5 for multiple new projects in the coming years.

What does this mean for our current titles? 

Gears 5 has content on the way, and we’ll continue to release new operations through Operations 7 and 8. Each Operation will have two drops including new characters, new maps, and special events. Through the end of the year, we will have store updates with exciting new content as well as featured playlists.

Shifting to a new engine is a big undertaking, so we want to be clear that we will not be announcing any new projects or titles for some time.

Last, our amazing team needs more exceptional professionals to help us continue to push the envelope, so, we’re hiring!

Thanks again to all of our fans. We’re eager to get to work and show you what we’re working on when the time is right.

The Coalition

I would say Gears 6 by 2025?

[Pissy F Benny]

i'd say who gives a shit, the last two gears have been ehhh at best

[Nintex]

I wonder when Retro Studios will announce they've bought pen and paper to starting writing the script for Metroid Prime 4rever 

[naff]

https://twitter.com/JeffGrubb/status/1391223951225876483

tbh, would be pretty comfortable betting MP4 becomes the best selling entry in the series. even if it isn't rated a top tier entry w nerds, it will smash 3 million units simply because it's on a popular console, will have a decent marketing budget and is guaranteed to be more focused on accessibility

[Rahxephon91]

Can't wait till Retro makes a modest-looking Samus and the ghouls at neogaf and co cry about sjw pandering female character designs.

[HardcoreRetro]

Which is great since Resetera'll still cry and whine about boobplates or whatever tiny thing and I get to sit on the sides laughing at the distinguished mentally-challenged on display.

[MMaRsu]

Metroid Prime 4 🤣

Yea right

[MMaRsu]

Can't wait till Retro makes a modest-looking Samus and the ghouls at neogaf and co cry about sjw pandering female character designs.

Modest compared to what?

[Don Rumata]

Can't wait till Retro makes a modest-looking Samus and the ghouls at neogaf and co cry about sjw pandering female character designs.

Modest compared to what?

Zero Suit Samus? ZSS has always been fucking stupid.

[MMaRsu]

🤷🏼‍♂️ who cares about zero suit samus

[mormapope]

I dunno, a slim but curvy blonde that wrecks everything is pretty cool. Samus just needs more defined abs, biceps, and thighs.

[Himu]

Read that post in Paulie's voice and I'm fucking cackling

[naff]

what are ya some kinda finook? defined abs and biceps, oof madone. ever heard of an exoskeleton?

[MMaRsu]

(Image removed from quote.)

what are ya some kinda finook? defined abs and biceps, oof madone. ever heard of an exoskeleton?

Ridley

yes

Samus

I thought I was daed but I manuged to get the drip on him.

[paprikastaude]

https://twitter.com/JeffGrubb/status/1391223951225876483

tbh, would be pretty comfortable betting MP4 becomes the best selling entry in the series. even if it isn't rated a top tier entry w nerds, it will smash 3 million units simply because it's on a popular console, will have a decent marketing budget and is guaranteed to be more focused on accessibility

Just like Metroid Prime 3. Which came out during a phase when Wii still sold other core games like Resident Evil and Call of Duty too.

At this point, the biggest benefit would probably be all those gaming newcomers that became familiar with the term Metroidvania.

[Nintex]

I expect Metroid Prime 4 will either launch with new hardware or ends up getting canned.

Unlike many other Nintendo franchises in a world of Returnal and CONTROL it will look and feel dated the day it launches.
Unless they find some sort of angle I don't see a market for a first person shooter like this on the Switch.

With Metroid Prime they managed to continue and expand on the 'environmental storytelling' of Half Life and delivered great visuals at the time.
With Prime 2 they already had to resort to gimmicks and work HALO-like elements into their marketing and presentation.
Then with Prime 3 they went all in on the control gimmicks, which worked great but could not hide the fact that visually it was even less interesting than Metroid Prime 1.

They would either need a BOTW style gameplay overhaul, which is unlikely given the development history or find a way to at least match FPS games from even 5 years ago.
If they target the current Switch I expect it will look and play like a game they should've released at launch and not at the tail end of the generation.

[Svejk]

At this point, I'd almost rather they just remake the trilogy and not bother with MP4.  Even with updated hardware, I still wouldn't expect much.  Let another, smaller team do a solid 2.5D Metroid 5 and call it a day. 

[Tuckers Law]

They can take all the time they want with Metroid Prime 4 to make it right, just give us a new 2d Metroid in the meantime.  Reuse the Samus Returns engine if that’s what it takes.

[Don Rumata]

Why not have a proper AAA open world (as in MetroidVania open world, not GTA open world) 3rd person Metroid? 

When MP1 was announced, people were skeptical about the first person, but then it worked, no? They could go ahead and try something new again.

[Nintex]

Why not have a proper AAA open world (as in MetroidVania open world, not GTA open world) 3rd person Metroid? 

When MP1 was announced, people were skeptical about the first person, but then it worked, no? They could go ahead and try something new again.

I think it could work as a sort of Nier Automata type game, where Samus lands on a planet and has to figure out through logs and exploring the environment (much like Prime 1) what the hell happened.
But Retro Studios does not have the team to develop something like that. Not to mention that on Nintendo's side these are the same producers that did games like Metroid Prime: Federation Force and Luigi's Mansion 2.

I know that Retro hired some former Crytek, 343i artists etc. but I haven't seen a big hire in the form of a producer/director to take on such a big project.
One of the bigger names announced was Dylan Jobe in 2020 as director of development who worked on games like COD:MW and Warhawk.
Given what their team looks like they are most likely working on a first or perhaps a third person shooter.

[BIONIC]

Why not have a proper AAA open world (as in MetroidVania open world, not GTA open world) 3rd person Metroid? 

When MP1 was announced, people were skeptical about the first person, but then it worked, no? They could go ahead and try something new again.

Because manbabies endlessly bitched and moaned hysterically about every single aspect of Other M, and since Nintendo are conservative Giant Dads they just went back to the guaranteed crowd pleaser 

[Pissy F Benny]

I only played a little bit of it but other m seemed like a decent enough game and I've never fully understood the hate for it, although tbf  I'm not a metroid dude at all and largely ignore the franchise

[Tuckers Law]

It was not a great Metroid game but people did overreact.  Even with all the “weapon not authorized” and baby shit, it’s still a better game than Last of Us 2.

[Rahxephon91]

Fuck no.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I’ve only played Other M. I thought it was ok. Prime games don’t interest me

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