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Microsoft finally admits Xbox One sales were less than half of the PS4

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Re: Microsoft finally admits Xbox One sales were less than half of the PS4

#81

The generational gap is insane. In Finland a vast majority in the PS3/360 days were in the green team. The next generation? It was rare to see anyone with an Xbox One. The pendulum swang hard. As a 360 user those days I saw some of the writing on the wall. Xbox E3 events focused hard on American features which turned the Xbox to a smart TV box. Aside from games we gained nothing for most of Europe. With the upcoming…

I stuck to XB1 for backwards compatibility and Gears of War, but on the other hand I failed to see an obvious advantage to the PS4. What's the "killer app" of the PS4? Apart from exclusives, both seem similar. Both seem to be considerably worse as a media box compared to the good old 360 with it's magnificent built-in DLNA compatibility and CD-ripping.

> What's the "killer app" of the PS4?

At least for some gamers that I know: PlayStation VR

Re: Microsoft finally admits Xbox One sales were less than half of the PS4

#82

Consoles seem like a dumb idea to me. They were great when split screen was the main form of multiplayer. Now multiplayer has largely moved online. Finding local co-op / competitive games is kind of hard, and of the few that still come out, few of them are console specific. If you're colocated with your friends, playing together may not be possible unless you want to bring along another console and hook it up to anot…

PCs are still way more expensive. Especially lately. Compare what you can get for $500. You just can't get a PS5 or Xbox Series X level system for that much. It will barely cover a similar level GPU and then you still need to add all the other crap. And they are simpler and just straight up better to use on TVs. You're never forced back into an interface designed to be viewed 20" away to log into some launcher or ins…

> PCs are still way more expensive. Especially lately. Compare what you can get for $500. You just can't get a PS5 or Xbox Series X level system for that much.

On the other hand: currently, you can hardly get a PS5 or Xbox Series X for this price (because of chip shortages and scalpers). ;-)

Re: Microsoft finally admits Xbox One sales were less than half of the PS4

#83
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why can't you turn on your pc and play games?

Not sure why are getting dowvoted. Honestly every MS thread here on HN is a shit show. Maybe I live in a fairy land but I never ever had a problem. Cold boot Windows 10 + launching any game and I'm in the main menu in 50s (and I only have an i7-7700 + GTX 1070). Have a PS5 right next to me and I can't start games faster at all. The claims here in the comments are especially baffling when I assume HN is a very technic…

> The claims here in the comments are especially baffling when I assume HN is a very technically capable audience.

It seems like all the comments are from technically competent people. They seem to indicate that they know exactly what causes the issues and they know how to solve them.

Just because you're technically capable doesn't mean you want to deal with Windows BS everytime you want to game, and this is coming from a primarily MS centered developer.

I don't own any apple products and I only have Linux installed on a laptop I never use anymore. My desktop and work laptop are Windows. And windows still annoys me to no end when it sucks unnecessary resources, forces updates, makes connecting any Bluetooth devices a major PITA, can screw up your performance if you installed the wrong drivers, and everything else the other comments mentioned.

Re: Microsoft finally admits Xbox One sales were less than half of the PS4

#84

Consoles seem like a dumb idea to me. They were great when split screen was the main form of multiplayer. Now multiplayer has largely moved online. Finding local co-op / competitive games is kind of hard, and of the few that still come out, few of them are console specific. If you're colocated with your friends, playing together may not be possible unless you want to bring along another console and hook it up to anot…

PCs are still way more expensive. Especially lately. Compare what you can get for $500. You just can't get a PS5 or Xbox Series X level system for that much. It will barely cover a similar level GPU and then you still need to add all the other crap. And they are simpler and just straight up better to use on TVs. You're never forced back into an interface designed to be viewed 20" away to log into some launcher or ins…

A PS5 costs $500 for an offline unit. Play your PS5 online for a year and you've just racked up $60-$120 extra. Play it online for 5 years and you've paid $300-$600 extra.

Re: Microsoft finally admits Xbox One sales were less than half of the PS4

#85
post #83
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why are getting dowvoted. Honestly every MS thread here on HN is a shit show. Maybe I live in a fairy land but I never ever had a problem. Cold boot Windows 10 + launching any game and I'm in the main menu in 50s (and I only have an i7-7700 + GTX 1070). Have a PS5 right next to me and I can't start games faster at all. The claims here in the comments are especially baffling when I assume HN is a very technic…

> The claims here in the comments are especially baffling when I assume HN is a very technically capable audience. It seems like all the comments are from technically competent people. They seem to indicate that they know exactly what causes the issues and they know how to solve them. Just because you're technically capable doesn't mean you want to deal with Windows BS everytime you want to game, and this is coming f…

>doesn't mean you want to deal with Windows BS everytime you want to game

See this is what I don't get maybe that's where I'm an exception and in the extreme minority. But everytime? Maybe you need 30-40 mins to setup a Windows 10 PC "properly" to your taste but after that you barely need to touch anything and it will just work.

If anything I do agree that Windows has _too many options_ and some of them are overlapping with each other + confusing the user. See the Windows 10 System Settings window when the classic (Win 7) Control Panel also exist AND on top of that you can override all of them with the Group Policy Editor (which imo the best way to handle the system)

Re: Microsoft finally admits Xbox One sales were less than half of the PS4

#86

Consoles seem like a dumb idea to me. They were great when split screen was the main form of multiplayer. Now multiplayer has largely moved online. Finding local co-op / competitive games is kind of hard, and of the few that still come out, few of them are console specific. If you're colocated with your friends, playing together may not be possible unless you want to bring along another console and hook it up to anot…

A PS5 or XSX costs noticeably less than a mid-high GPU and offers effectively the same performance for most people. And is almost literally plug and play - whereas troubleshooting driver versions and weird developer implementation details (e.g. shader recompilation stutters in dx12 games) is still a problem these days!

The flexibility and customizability and open nature of PCs is a double edged sword.

Re: Microsoft finally admits Xbox One sales were less than half of the PS4

#87
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why can't you turn on your pc and play games?

Driver updates. OS updates. Driver update broke HDMI. OS update broke my controller config. Steam update broke my controller config. Bluetooth controller randomly unpairs every other week. Game picks the wrong sound device so now it's coming out of the TV instead of my wireless headphones. Some game doesn't work with gamepad so I guess I need a wireless kb/m now, too. Oop game lost focus because of a Chrome update di…

Consoles need updates too. Never had a driver update break HDMI, and I can't see how that is a thing in current year. Steam fixed controllers with their controller API. Changing the sound device is two button clicks.

Consoles have system updates that remove features. Consoles add advertisements to the home screen. They can only play games approved by the hardware manufacturer, from their store, and pay their 30% "subsidize our hardware" tax. You have to pay $60/yr to use your own internet. You have to use their online chat system. You can't host private servers. You can't easily share your screen or have a second display for social features. You have to use a controller for all games, and if a game doesn't support controllers it just never gets ported. You also can't install mods, do any serious creative work, or emulate games from competitor's systems.

Console gaming sucks

Re: Microsoft finally admits Xbox One sales were less than half of the PS4

#89
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was true pre this current generation of consoles. It was damned hard to get a PC comparable to a PS5 or Xbox SX for the past 2-3 years, because the hardware in those consoles is very capable and graphics cards were unobtainium at MSRP. Even now, I think getting PC hardware for the same retail costs as the consoles would be tough.

I don't buy it. These things have been way more accessible than people thought. Building your own PC has been stupidly expensive due the crypto crunch. Buying a midrange prebuilt has been fine. Play a console for several years and you'll also see several hundred dollars disappear to online subscriptions and controllers and what not.

I don't believe you can get a "mid-range" prebuilt for $500 that compares to one of the consoles in raw horse power. I don't think you could do it now, let alone over the past 2 years.

Certainly at launch of those consoles, there was no chance.

Re: Microsoft finally admits Xbox One sales were less than half of the PS4

#90
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Driver updates. OS updates. Driver update broke HDMI. OS update broke my controller config. Steam update broke my controller config. Bluetooth controller randomly unpairs every other week. Game picks the wrong sound device so now it's coming out of the TV instead of my wireless headphones. Some game doesn't work with gamepad so I guess I need a wireless kb/m now, too. Oop game lost focus because of a Chrome update di…

Consoles need updates too. Never had a driver update break HDMI, and I can't see how that is a thing in current year. Steam fixed controllers with their controller API. Changing the sound device is two button clicks. Consoles have system updates that remove features. Consoles add advertisements to the home screen. They can only play games approved by the hardware manufacturer, from their store, and pay their 30% "sub…

None of that matters to me. I just want to turn the thing on and play some Halo.
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