• kingthrillgore@lemmy.ml
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    6 days ago

    Sony’s problems are twofold:

    • They are charging an absurd amount of money for a game console
    • They are selling a game console that has practically no first party games for it.

    If they had plenty of the latter, they could weather this. But there are still games releasing for the PS4, and they have had 1, maybe 2 PS5 releases that would qualify as first party this year (that don’t bubble down to PC).

    Jesus christ, Nintendo is gonna win it all aren’t they?

  • Mwa@lemm.ee
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    7 days ago

    for that value just get a pc honestly not a locked down freebsd based console

  • Snapz@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Physical media or full rejection. Fuck you business school zombies squeezing blood from rocks

    • kava@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      I understand if you don’t have the CD they can remove your access to it arbritarily like when they lose the license but

      Nobody ever complains about Steam and they have a similar policy of no physical media going back decades. I have hundreds of gamed accumulated on Steam and no game of mine has ever been removed.

      I bought the cheaper Xbox last year to play Overcooked with my girlfriend and it has no physical media. I just download and play games no problem. I actually find it more convenient not to have any physical games.

      So I guess the question is- what is the reason for the strong rejection of the digital version? It is the natural evolution of these things.

      • Zeoic@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        Valve has the reputation to back it up. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo’s reputations make all digital game libraries a guessing game for when they give up and shut it down.

      • tacosplease@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        It’s all good until they pull the content you thought you bought. I also prefer the convenience of downloaded games, but if it’s a game I really like, I buy the physical version.

        • kava@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          They could still remove it if they wanted to.

          For example push an update so your console can’t read certain games when they lose license. Or simply break backwards compatibility in specific ways.

          I guess the games I really like are all digital. Games like Slay the Spire, Rimworld, Balatro, etc. I know that the data is sitting there in my hard drive. I can copy it, move it, delete it, etc whenever I want.

          I honestly haven’t included a disc reader in my PC builds for over a decade. I guess on Xbox it’s different because Microsoft has more control. But again, if they wanted to take away the games they could do it either way.

          If that’s main reason, I don’t see the point of continuing disc use

      • Snapz@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        Steam didn’t start with physical hardware and then try to remove it. And stream doesn’t design, own and operate the hardware for the most part.

      • TBi@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        On steam people know they have an option to sail the high seas. But the same concern is there.

  • Don_alForno@feddit.org
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    7 days ago

    It would be so funny if the EU decided Sony was a gatekeeper on the consoles without disc drives and forced them to allow 3rd party app store on them.

    Hey, a guy can dream.

    • CleoTheWizard@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      What the EU actually needs to do is to spearhead and help find everyone a way to actually “own” digital things. I think I’d be fine with not having a disk drive if I could buy my game, not be reliant on servers to download it in the future, trade my games with friends, and choose to sell it when I felt like it.

      We need to find a way to get back (most of) the benefits of physical media without actually having to go back to it.

      • bufalo1973@lemmy.ml
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        7 days ago

        “If a game needs a server and the official servers shut down, the protocols have to be released to the public”. I think it would be a good starting point.

      • RecallMadness@lemmy.nz
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        7 days ago

        Imo, the term “buy” for all goods should pass some sort of litmus test. Eg:

        does the product being sold have the same properties as a brick?

        • can the product be resold privately?
        • can the product be lent to another user temporarily?
        • would the product still perform its function when the manufacturer stops supporting it?
        • would the product still perform its function if the manufacturer ceased to exist.

        if the product does not pass all these tests, the customer is not buying. Consider using terms such as ‘rent’ or ‘lease’ or ‘subscription’

    • kalleboo@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      The gatekeeper legislation sets minimums for revenue before you’re counted as a gatekeeper, and all the game consoles are too small a market to count.

  • beejboytyson@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    I stopped buying consoles after they wanted to charge me to use the internet. That’s not how this works.

  • Lucy :3@feddit.org
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    7 days ago

    Reminder that you can put in whatever you want in a PC. And that you can get a decent gaming machine for 1k (700+PS plus).
    CD Drive? No problem. DVD? Of course. Another SSD? Get some random 50$ thing and throw it in there. Floppy? Harvest some old PC and voila.

    • InvertedParallax@lemm.ee
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      7 days ago

      The real point is that you can upgrade it incrementally, you don’t have to throw it away, and upgrading will allow you to play all your old games from generation to generation without having to rebuy them for the latest Gen.

      • essell@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        Depends how old you get. After 30 years some games just don’t work like they used to!

        Thankfully we do have modern solutions for old fashioned problems now.

      • Saleh@feddit.org
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        7 days ago

        Within limits though. E.g. If your mainboard only supports old CPUs that is a huge limiting factor and we saw MS messing with older CPUs just not being supported at all by Win 11.

        Now i made the switch to Linux myself too and i am very happy, but for people who want to start somewhere, maybe starting with their own linux gaming PC is a bit much for the start.

        • InvertedParallax@lemm.ee
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          7 days ago

          I think that’s overkill, but a Steam Deck is on par with a PS5, but portable, and for a cheap dock and a ps5 controller you can play it like a console.

          Linux has made such leaps though, have a container with lutris and vulkan and it can handle most basic gaming that doesn’t deal with modern AAA titles.

          • barsquid@lemmy.world
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            6 days ago

            I got a Steam Deck because it’s a little computer. I can put my own OS on it, that’s awesome. The marketing page was talking about DIY repairs and offering spare parts, too.

          • Saleh@feddit.org
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            6 days ago

            I mean i am fully in support of PC gaming and in particular Linux gaming. It is just not as easy to keep upgrading PCs component by component. Eventually there is limits, mostly from the mainboards limits.

              • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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                6 days ago

                I was using the same board and CPU I started with back in 2016 up until last year. My bottleneck wasnt even the CPU it was the fucken RAM.

    • polle@feddit.org
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      7 days ago

      While this is true, consoles still manage to have a way more convenient experience. Its the only reason why they exist (today)

      • vxx@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        I think that’s mainly a relic from the past. I didn’t have compability or driver issues for a long time.

        Once the PC is set up, it’s as comfortable as a console. Setting the PC up to console standards is reduced to installing steam.

        • polle@feddit.org
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          7 days ago

          Looks like you never played on a computer on a TV screen. The experience is plaged by pad connection problems (Bluetooth), windows popups, random no full screen issues, sound suddenly on the wrong channel, microphone not working, mouse cursor in the middle of the screen (often reset to the middle after launching the game, even when you are playing with a pad) and so on. You still need a keyboard and a mouse near your couch and there is always something. For sure iam still not paying the markup for a console, but i get why there is a big market.

          • vxx@lemmy.world
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            7 days ago

            What are you on about? I use my PC on my TV all the times and I don’t have a single issue you describe. I just have it connected with Hdmi. The TV even turns on and off automatic if function activate.

            • Katana314@lemmy.world
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              6 days ago

              I’ve definitely had some of those issues. I won’t count an old issue where my GPU needed a special connection to attach audio to its DVI output (rare oddity). Some others:

              • Most computers would need to swap default audio device between whatever you use at a desk, and the TV registered as an HDMI audio device.
              • Bluetooth connections to arbitrary controllers have gotten better, but they had often needed manual enablement each time through mouse-based menus or a number of firmware updates to work with Windows/SteamOS.
              • My Steam Deck, even in its current iteration, takes some time to recognize the connected TV and swap resolution.
              • The mouse cursor issue can come up if you had to do any mouse-based option swapping, like that thing with audio devices.

              I’ve definitely gotten it working and had a blast, but the number of button presses to get to starting the game can sometimes be hard to predict. Even when I had a computer dedicated to the TV (a long time ago when SteamOS was fledgling) it was pretty unreliable about having all the right updates and not needing a mouse.

          • TachyonTele@lemm.ee
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            6 days ago

            You’re doing something wrong. I’ve been playing PC games on my couch for a decade and haven’t had any of those issues.

    • SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee
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      7 days ago

      They make pull out cup holders to put in the CD rom rive slot. There are so many goofy fun things a computer can have in it.

        • LordGimp@lemm.ee
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          6 days ago

          I can use it as long as I like. Ps plus just gives you 3 “free” games a month and let’s you play online with games that require ps plus. Imo the three games a month for six bucks and change is already worth it. And you keep those games for as long as you have your account, even if you don’t renew your subscription. You can also just get games that don’t require an online component, though those are becoming harder to find.

          • TachyonTele@lemm.ee
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            6 days ago

            Eh, on PC you can keep your games forever as long as you don’t lose the drive they’re stored on. And you don’t need to pay extra to access online features.

            And you can play any generation of games going back to pong.

          • Saik0@lemmy.saik0.com
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            6 days ago

            If we’re talking raw capabilities… Piracy is subscriptionless and grants you access to virtually 99% of all games from all time and across all consoles. I’m going to say that PC is the clear winner here…

            • LordGimp@lemm.ee
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              6 days ago

              I’m not justifying console vs PC. I’m just pointing out that the $300 on the original comment I replied to for ps plus is insane. $80 a year for a positively moderated, optimized gaming experience the vast majority of the time is worth the money imo.

              • Saik0@lemmy.saik0.com
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                6 days ago

                I’m just pointing out that the $300 on the original comment I replied to for ps plus is insane.

                And you justify the value of it based on the 3 “free” games a month. To which I’m arguing against. $80 a year for the life of the console will almost certainly be more than $300. With console generations lasting nearly 5 years on average each that’s actually $400 in subscriptions, keep in mind that generations have been getting longer, and seventh and eighth gen consoles lasted for 8 and 7 years respectively… So closer to $600 in cost.

                I’m not justifying console vs PC.

                But that’s the context of the whole thread…

                positively moderated, optimized gaming experience

                bwuahahahah. Sure. Cause console lobbies aren’t filled with kids screaming racial slurs. And it’s so positively moderated that all your data including credit cards leak (https://firewalltimes.com/sony-data-breach-timeline/).

    • iopq@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Floppy drives connect to the PC via ATA. I don’t have that connector in my computer

  • RatzChatsubo@lemm.ee
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    6 days ago

    Nah I’m good with my 2017 jailbroken switch with free games lol

    What games are even worth it? Sony has like 5 'must play" exclusive games on their console

    • stupidcasey@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Sony has exactly one must play game you can’t play on a computer and I still own a ps4 for that one game, and believe me when emulation gets slightly better I will have a new Linux computer shaped suspiciously like a ps4

    • realcaseyrollins@thelemmy.clubOP
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      6 days ago

      For me it’s literally just EA Sports College Football 25. I’ll be playing it for years (my brothers and dad have a family tradition of playing a college football dynasty mode together every year) so that makes a console worth it for me…probably not the PS5 Pro though.

        • realcaseyrollins@thelemmy.clubOP
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          5 days ago

          Well…most EA games you quite even before the support ends. But not this one lol

          I’d have lobbied for us to do an offline dynasty if I wasn’t going to be moving out in a year or two.

  • Broken@lemmy.ml
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    5 days ago

    They talked about doing it this way at launch, which they should have. The drive is available as a peripheral, at the cost difference (actually cheaper) of the digital vs disc console. It simplifies manufacturing and distribution, which helps get more consoles on shelves. Now when it doesn’t matter as much, they implement it. Go figure.

    As far as killing off physical media, yes it pushes further that way, but honestly the game industry has been not favorable to retail stores for some time. This is the least of the offenses.

    • Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee
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      5 days ago

      “least of the offenses”

      I don’t think you’re zoomed out far enough. The constraint of physical media will be a deathstroke for consumers.

      • Broken@lemmy.ml
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        5 days ago

        I don’t disagree. In fact I agree fully. But when the industry promotes early access games (digital only) and digital day 1 with physical to follow 3 or 6 months later, it is pushing consumers to digital. So its irrelevant if they do or do not have an optical drive on the console.

    • Todd Bonzalez@lemm.ee
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      5 days ago

      Yeah, but the disc drive is the first thing to break, and replacement parts don’t sell more consoles.

      Now that the Console is overpriced to the extreme, modular parts are an added luxury.

  • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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    6 days ago

    Why can’t you just plug in a random-ass USB 4KBR-disc drive?

    Or sell one that we can use to bring in games from PS1, 2, 3, 4 and 5? And state that the drive will be able to be used going forward, into the next gen and beyond.

    They’ve got a rich gaming history at this point and they don’t care because they’d rather sell you an $80 digital copy that they can take away at any time and you can’t trade it in or really own it. And it’s the same with PC games as well, courtesy of Valve and then everyone else.

    If the future is digital, we need laws that allow us to transfer ownership of digital content. It would have to be secure, obviously. Not just “steal somebody’s console and trade all their games in”.

    • Katana314@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      On the idea of random drives: Many of them might not be able to read the encryption on Playstation discs. I could be wrong, but I think the way they operate involves more than just software encryption. Sony is best off making their own. Hence why pirates burn special copies.

      On reading prior generations: I think they’d be capable of reading those if they wanted, but running old Playstation games is more a matter of correct CPU architecture. Most of us have played old games on the new consoles, but often there’s a bit of manual porting/emulation logic going on to get it working - so the package delivered from PSN isn’t exactly would come from an old PS2 disc.

      • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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        6 days ago

        IIRC the Xbox 360 used to do a thing where you’d put your old OG Xbox disc in, and it would download any extra code it needed to run. Most of these older games would be under a few MB of actual code.

        Pretty sure the PS5 is powerful enough to run PS1 and PS2 emulated, and probably have a good crack at running PS3 games as well, although a lot of the good PS3 games got a remaster for the PS4 gen anyway.

        I think the only thing stopping really us doing it now is the PS5 drive can’t actually read CDs. Plus I think they want to test each game before release and sell us them on PSPlus tiers.

        • Katana314@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          Yup, the Xbox does that; but it’s at least good to acknowledge that was not an insignificant effort on their part. They had a lot of people slowly putting out compatibility packages for old Xbox games based on popularity.

          I’m guessing Sony doesn’t feel like doing that when they can also provide that hardware via more expensive cloud systems.

    • realcaseyrollins@thelemmy.clubOP
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      6 days ago

      I’m pretty sure that would run you about the same as the external component, so there’s no benefit to going with a third-party accessory

      • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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        6 days ago

        Yeah, looking at the prices, it’s about right for what it is.

        Suppose the upshot of using a generic component is you could also attach it to a PC.

        Looks like the long term goal of them is to stop selling discs altogether. I couldn’t even get BG3 on a disc when it came out, and I think Alan Wake 2 was the same (only physical copy I can see is the deluxe version with both AW1&2 on it).

        I see the mythical digital savings never made it to us, to the surprise of absolutely fucking nobody. I wouldn’t mind if they actually put games on a discounted price after a year or so, but you can still see several year old games at the full original retail price.