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William Hughes: It’s not really news, but the past week has been extremely entertaining for pretty much the entire planet. The US national elections have engulfed amount of ungodly attention, cognitive load and “Oh my God, are we screwed?” Are they fucked? Who is fucked? the energy of anyone whose life might end up being affected, that is, most lives. This is what makes it extremely strange that not only one but of them of the biggest names in video games have chosen these crazy days to launch the promotional campaign for the devices that will make or break them over the next few years, as Microsoft and Sony both lifted embargoes on the former Xbox Series X and Playstation 5 just days after the election (started). Now it’s a week later, and both consoles have officially arrived for the masses. Which brings me to the question that’s been bouncing around in my head for the past seven days (and, really, ever since my PS5 test kit arrived the week before): what was the fuck rush?
Because while the X-Series and the PS5 are both unmistakably tall and beautiful babies, with a slew of new quality-of-life features and pretty blinding speed, what they aren’t, right now, are especially good machines for playing the next generation. video games. This is mainly because “new generation” is an extremely nebulous term at this point; apart from a few PS5 titles (the Souls of the demon Remake, Counterplay Games’ extremely brilliant hack-and-slasher Godfall) there’s almost nothing you can play on your new boxes right now that wouldn’t work as well on the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One that was probably already in your house. Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, new Destiny 2 expansion, Watch Dogs: Legion– and reliance on third-party software seems telling – are all great new games, but they’re just as great and new to the old hardware.
There’s an argument to be made here in favor of egalitarianism: adding more exclusive next-gen titles would only be self-destructive, at the same time enraging consumers and cutting businesses off one of the gaming installation bases. the most robust in recent memory. But this strategy also leaves both consoles struggling with a critical lack of identity; Miles Morales is perfectly fine Spider Man game, but it’s a hard sell for a new $ 500 box, especially if you can just play it on the PS4 instead. The lack of a guaranteed system vendor on either console looks like a symptom of something my colleague Sam Barsanti (who runs all of our X Series coverage) and I have been wondering for some time. Now: Did these companies get themselves to launch before the software was ready to support them? What’s going on with this “next-gen” console launch?
Sam Barsanti: I would be very interested to know whether or not Sony and Microsoft have had clandestine and unofficial meetings to agree on delaying their consoles, because like you said, William, it really looks like they are dropping all of them. of them. now just because they don’t want to catch up. Unnecessary competitiveness is, for better or for worse (for worse), baked in the video game industry at this point. So yes, they absolutely encouraged themselves to get started before they were “ready”.
Not to say “I made a very good point in my opinion”, but in My opinion I’ve come to the idea that the world itself isn’t necessarily ready for the Xbox Series X, as a lot of games aren’t yet updated to take advantage of its features (especially in the environment of pre-release in which we reviewed it), and a lot of people won’t have TVs or monitors that can capture Brute force. With no must-have exclusives or drastically new capabilities beyond fast resuming (which can run multiple games in the background) and super-fast load times, that raw power is all the X-Series really has for. she. So if you don’t have anything that can deliver 4K graphics at 120Hz or the like, it’s honestly hard to recommend the X series.
Unless of course, you like new shit and you’re already invested in the Xbox family of systems, which I really am, after years and years of buying cheap digital copies of Xbox games and Xbox controllers and Xbox TV remotes (which all worked on the new system without me having to do whatever). That’s what I wanted to ask you: if we’re okay with these consoles being here, even with very few exclusive games and a general lack of high-end TVs, do you think there’s a compelling reason why one to go with the PlayStation 5 on the X series beyond personal preference? Does the potential for future exclusives seem more enticing than having access to Microsoft’s impressive Game Pass library?
WH: Sam, you’ve made it clear how slight the differences between these two consoles are, to the point that it could literally boil down to the predecessor of the device you’ve used most often, and thus have more backup files from. of those you like to transfer to the new machine. There is some freedom in the fact that there is no wrong answer here – although the reason is a little depressing, in terms of the few differences between these two devices. At least for now – and bearing in mind that I have yet to play the highly anticipated Souls of the demon, which wasn’t made available to critics prior to the console’s launch – I think Game Pass could be the triumphant boost that gives Series X the win for the truly undecided gamer. But, at least until either of the companies really declines their exclusive game – why are you, Halo: Infinite? —The differences between these two new novelty toys are going to be academic and aesthetic, the best. (And for god’s sake, please don’t buy both.)
In fact, it’s a ripple effect of this launch that I hadn’t really considered before: both companies are clearly trying to turn these new consoles into legacy purchases, where the main reason to buy a PlayStation 5 is that you already have a bunch of games for the PlayStation 4. This is something I touched on in my own PS5 review, as the major console versions are starting to look more like a new iPhone version instead. than a bold leap forward in technology, with the same old software running on that fancy new hardware. It’s an absolute triumph for PlayStation and Xbox as brands, as they come closer to the idea that games sell consoles, not the other way around. It’s more disappointing, however, for people who hope to point their finger at something revolutionary and say, “That’s why I have to own this thing.”
Do you have one final thought on this latest Console Wars battle, Sam? Something in particular motivated you for the future of next-gen gaming? (As she is?)
SB: You are right that this is definitely a triumph for the brands. If they both succeed and manage to turn “Xbox or PlayStation” into a largely meaningless distinction that simply boils down to personal preferences like “iPhone or Android”, then they will both be set up with lifetime users. who don’t really get the incentive to jump from platform to platform. There’s really nothing compelling about my iPhone, but at this point I’d rather have nothing than an Android – and I’ve spent a lot less money on apps than on Xbox games. It’s just the thing I already have, so I might as well stick with it. I doubt anyone will love an Xbox Series X or a PlayStation 5 like they might like a Nintendo Switch, but neither need it as long as they keep people in their ecosystem.
It’s a bit of a dark way to think of a medium that I really love, so I’m going to change gears and answer your question: if I’m excited about anything with these new consoles, it’s the idea that game developers are going One day spend time and effort doing things that could only be possible with the technology they offer. Instant loading into a huge Assassin’s Creed and then admire how beautiful the water is or what is beautiful, but I’m curious to see what happens when someone comes up with a concrete goal to load things up really quickly rather than just being able to say, “Look. how fast is. ”I imagine, like, a great Bethesda role-playing game like a Fall or one Old scrolls, something with a big outside world and lots of small indoor spaces, all loading seamlessly. I stopped playing Fallout: New Vegas on my Xbox 360 because having a loading screen every time I opened a door was really boring, so a big open world that loads quickly and doesn’t have to stop every time I go into a new place would be a dream.
Or imagine something like a Grand Theft Auto with interiors modeled for each building. Video games have been doing “look at this mountain, you can go” for years, so do it faster is not really that impactful. I want to “look at this reasonably photorealistic city, you can explore every square inch of it without hitting a false door, a painted window, or a big empty cube pretending to be a skyscraper.” I already have an X series, and I think it’s cool and I’m in awe of what it can do, but that’s what I would expect. You know something New.
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