There has always been an inherent value to consoles but if that goes away then I can genuinely see them dying off. Personally I thinks the current gen is a huge disappointment anyway and this news just makes it even more ridiculous.
I’ve always been a console peasant for the convenience of having a dedicated gaming device hooked up to the TV that uses a controller as well as the ability to trade in games when I’m done with them, not to mention consoles are cheaper than comparable PCs. I do have a decent PC, but I find I rarely play through entire games when I have to sit at a desk to do so. With digital games looking like the only game in town in the future and consoles being walled gardens with no other places to buy games for them, that cost advantage will be gone and it will be cheaper in the long run to pay more up front for a PC and get games for less. I got a Steam Deck recently, and it’s been a great showcase for how a PC hooked up to the TV using only a controller can work. I had no idea Steam had such a robust system for remapping controllers and have been able to play games with them that would have been a huge hassle before.
If Sony does away with physical games like Nintendo is come the PS6, I’m definitely switching to PC gaming.
Considering consoles no longer go down in price and are even getting price hikes, not to mention mid-gen refreshes like the PS4 and PS5 Pro, I’d argue they’re no less susceptible to “extreme consumerism.” PCs do require more effort and research to get what you want at a price that makes sense, that’s true, but you don’t have to have the latest bleeding edge tech for everything, especially if you’re okay with running games at 1080p and 60fps like I am.
The lack of alternative places to buy games for consoles used to be mitigated by the second hand market. Without it, console games are just going to be too damn expensive for me, especially considering they’re nothing more than data. There is no reason they should cost this much other than pure greed.
if anyone was looking for a good time to switch to PC, it's now. some stuff will be harder but you'll have steam sales and control over your own device (more than a console anyway, if your running windows you'll still have to put up with Microsoft).
I mean, barring Nintendo, they still are and will continue to be as long as you don’t need to have games on day one. I very rarely spend more than $20 on Xbox games. Most AAA games go on sale within the first few months. $70 Ubisoft titles will literally be $15 a month after release, not that Ubisoft makes much worth buying these days but it was just an example. The digital storefronts (again, not Nintendo) have sales constantly, you just need a little impulse control.
Sorry I don’t fully understand your question. Forced/hooked on what exactly?
The Xbox eco system?
Switching between consoles is a costly switch which will likely not pay off the price hike. That is assuming the competitor you’re switching to also doesn’t do a price hike shortly after you decide to switch.
They can switch to games from other publishers or other platforms ( e.g.: Nvidia ) instead of gamepass. But that would depend if the game is on there to begin with ( which is also an argument against game pass ). If all your friends are playing cod or Minecraft there isn’t really an alternative to switch to either.
Switching from Windows to Linux is ‘harder’ because people think it’s all terminals and magic and difficult. It generally isn’t nowadays. But there isn’t an initial cost to that. You don’t need to buy new hardware, there’s just a learning curve which doesn’t have to be that steep. But I have a technical background so could be biassed on that.
People can still buy games second hand or through the various discount websites I suppose. But I suppose you’ll still feel the price hike there as well. 10% off on a 60 or 80€ game is still the difference between paying 54 and 72.
Note: I actually didn’t read the article, but only the headline. So I could be completely beside the point.
Thank you so fucking much Nintendo for upping the standard and the everyone else falling in line because consoomers didn’t scoff at all and sold out pre-orders
I think it was actually publishers like EA, Ubisoft, Blizzard, and Activision that started the price increase. For big titles they started raising them to $70 a year or two ago, then to 80. I think I remember Diablo 4 launching for $80, or so.
I only know this because I refuse to buy from these publishers.
From the creators of paying extra to play online now bring us a more expensive xbox and games that no one bought and a monthly subscription to a mediocre library with games being pulled off monthly.
One of the bigger issues about PC gaming these days is the shader compilation stutter. Valve is able to precompile and upload these for SteamDeck, so a fixed hardware “console” from them will solve this problem too.
SteamDeck is pretty weak but games are still sort of optimised for it. Same would be true for such a console, making devs focus on a target platform directly.
Assembling PC yourself can have its own issues. You may not get all the ROPs, or a new Windows update may break your games, or you may occasionally update drivers to make a game more playable without black screens, or wouldn’t turn on with a controller when set up as a “console”. I’m not saying it isn’t doable, but there is an audience for consoles who would love whatever SteamDeck has done for handheld but in console form, and may not want to bother with setting everything up. Valve can disrupt that
It ain’t powerful enough for modern titles sadly. I’m trying to say that there’s a space where Valve made steam machine with niceties of SteamOS and power of say PS5 can really thrive.
I think it’ll happen soon. Tariffs threw a wrench in everyone’s plan but Strix Halo currently exists. Ryzen 395+ is in minipc’s now and should give a solid ~PS5 level experience that should come down in price over time as AMD releases successor generations. At least now could be cheaper with Valve putting somethings out with razor thin margins expecting to get return from software sales
The tariff situation makes it a bad idea to release or even announce new hardware right now. What they should do is finish Steam OS so they can officially release it for all platforms.
Said features are mostly gimmicks, and quite frankly the symmetrical stick placement is uncomfortable and outdated by nearly 20 years. Even my $40 8bitdo controller I use for my Switch feels more premium than a $80 PS5 controller. In every other case be it PC, android, or Xbox I am going with the Xbox controller.
I’m also not a fan of the symmetrical sticks, but it doesn’t bother me a ton, and having gyro aiming as an option is a big value add. I definitely don’t pay full price though, I’ll only pick it up on sale.
I prefer the symmetrical sticks, calling it outdated is just cult of inevitable progress vibes. Also the touchpad is hardly a gimmick when we’re talking about PC as a gaming platform. If anything a touchpad should become standard on all controllers.
My biggest complaints with the dualsense controller is that the shape of it starts to feel uncomfortable after long game sessions, the ds4 was better. Also the dpad sucks.
Wish I could agree, but the consistently broken bumpers really irritate me.
I have gone through probably 20ish Xbox controllers, the 360 controllers were the most durable (except the stick rubber bit) whereas the core and series controllers and even my elite 2 controllers have all had the bumpers break or otherwise stop functioning.
I replaces the bumpers several times manually, then with the elite 2 they changed the design but now it breaks at the actual button instead of the flimsy plastic piece like on the core/series controllers.
Luckily putting some ISO on the button and throughly cleaning it along with sticking a small piece of paper near the actuator seems to have fixed it for several months.
I would love a solid controller with Xbox style layout (particularly the thumbsticks) replaceable sticks and 4 back paddles. I think the Playstation TouchPad would also be a welcome addition for PC navigation or steam input mapping.
20 controllers bro you have a problem and it’s not the controllers. My original Xbox 360 controllers from 2006 still work. My original Xbox one controller still works. My series x launch controller from 2020 still works. And I play dark souls. You have some other issues to sort out.
You’ve probably tried this but in case you haven’t: try putting isopropyl alcohol in the gaps around the bumpers, it can clean the contacts and make the bumpers work again.
But yeah I’ve also has a ton of first party xbox controllers fail on me, although usually its the left stick or right trigger (I mostly play rocket league which abuses both) and was mostly the xbox one controllers so I’ve switched to more durable 3rd party controllers.
I still use my Xbox One to play some Battlefield games. But I’m never buying a new console ever again. Fuck Microsfot. Fuck Sony. And you know what Nintendo fuck you too. Price gouging, greedy fucks the lot of them. PC+emulators is now the way to go, fuck all these greedy companies.
Even though I stopped buying new games on Xbox for sometime now, numerous reasons to boycott Microsoft I’m sure you have yours too. There is still probably another Xbox console or two in my life due to the over 300 game digital library I have accumulated over three generations due to Xbox Live Gold and Microsoft Rewards.
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