Live data from Hacker News

Playstation 5 Pro

blog.playstation.com

61–70 of 183 posts

Re: Playstation 5 Pro

#61
post #17
post #5

$700 and it doesn't even come with an optical drive, oof. The optical upgrade kit for the digital-only PS5 Slim is $80, so the Pro is probably going to be closer to $800 in practice unless you're already all-in on digital.

Asking this as a PC gamer who went fully digital ~15 years ago: why are optical drives such a big deal, is that because of buying/selling used games?

In 40 years none of your digital only assets are going to work, if still accessible to you at all.

I played Excitebike [0] on a friend's childhood NES and CRT TV while visiting over Thanksgiving. All we had to do was blow the dust off the cartridge, and we were living in 1984 again. Having physical copies makes this scenario far more likely to succeed.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excitebike

Re: Playstation 5 Pro

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I refuse to have any business with digital only purchases; for a few reasons: 1. Just like movies, you don't own anything. Revocation can occur at any time. 2. More likely than movies, you might find your game patched to add or remove content you do not want. 3. You can't give your games to the next generation. Which matters a lot when your exposure to gaming started from NES and Atari hand-me-downs. 4. Every game yo…

I don't own a modern console other than the switch. Can you play a ps5 game from optical media without having ever connected your ps5 to the internet or will some refuse to run?

Yes. I recently did this with Armored Core 6.

Re: Playstation 5 Pro

#63
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

0 PT compatibility, either. Guess there's still a reason to keep the PS4 around a little while longer, eh? Honestly speaking though, I don't "get" Sony like I "get" Microsoft and Nintendo's business strategy. This feels like the PS3 launch all over again, a big console with a never-before-seen price tag, with few headline features besides "graphics". It appeals to the core fanbase, and absolutely nobody else. It's li…

I’m actually amazed that it’s now Nintendo that is the only console manufacturer with a sane strategy. Their strategy is simple: affordable portable console for the whole family with exclusive access to a wide library of acclaimed first-party titles. They essentially have zero competitors besides relatively obscure retro handhelds from China that are too difficult to use for the average person. But Sony’s strategy is…

I think Microsoft's strategy is sane, albeit kinda stupid. They're the "Windows" people - they know that better options exist. A timeline for depreciating Xbox hardware in lieu of Xbox services makes sense, doubly so when you realize most console players already subscribe to Xbox Live/Game Pass. It's not genius, but it does involve a level of foresight that could save them from a "hardware crunch" that ushers in $700 console hardware.

Sony seems to be entrenched in a weird hole of Nintendo envy that does them absolutely no good, as an outsider looking in. Nintendo has publishing power, actual franchises people will buy a console for. The PS5 has... Bloodborne. A few years ago there was Persona 5 too but now that's on most modern platforms so moot point. The biggest selling point for the PS5 is still last-gen exclusives, and I think that demonstrates Sony's deficiencies quite well.

Re: Playstation 5 Pro

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I refuse to have any business with digital only purchases; for a few reasons: 1. Just like movies, you don't own anything. Revocation can occur at any time. 2. More likely than movies, you might find your game patched to add or remove content you do not want. 3. You can't give your games to the next generation. Which matters a lot when your exposure to gaming started from NES and Atari hand-me-downs. 4. Every game yo…

> If you have a large NES collection, there will be someone interested in paying for it. If you have a large Switch collection, there will be someone interested in paying for it. Well, yes for the NES. There's a limited number of cartridges made, there is no digital substitute, and the official cartridges are not being manufactured anymore. The demand for NES games is a product of their scarcity. But have you tried a…

Nobody said you'd get all your money back. Used games historically were generally cheaper and unless we're talking retro games, used games are always cheaper. That's the point. You get games cheaper when you buy. You get some money back when you sell. The idea that you need to get everything you spent back is nuts.

Re: Playstation 5 Pro

#66
still no games unfortunately. :(

i had such a wonderful time with Demon's Souls - but the rest I just play on my pc with my rtx 4090. we need more console exclusives but the calculus does not make sense anymore i'm afraid. budgets has ballooned so much that games takes years to release, and release compromised. i wonder what the solution is. shorter more linear games? not everything has to be open world!

look at ghost runner 2, one of my favorite games of all time, linear, sharp, exciting!

Re: Playstation 5 Pro

#68
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I refuse to have any business with digital only purchases; for a few reasons: 1. Just like movies, you don't own anything. Revocation can occur at any time. 2. More likely than movies, you might find your game patched to add or remove content you do not want. 3. You can't give your games to the next generation. Which matters a lot when your exposure to gaming started from NES and Atari hand-me-downs. 4. Every game yo…

> More likely than movies, you might find your game patched to add or remove content you do not want. Well this is a complicated point. A lot of games these days rely on digital distribution for day-one patches, a practice which allows developers to continue working on and polishing the game even after it goes gold. Physical only really gives you the option of "no updates at all" (including no day-one patch) or "ever…

> Physical only really gives you the option of "no updates at all" (including no day-one patch) or "every update so far to date" (including updates you don't want).

For Switch games, you can always refuse to upgrade the game (the cartridges are read-only, the updates are stored as overlays on the microSD card or internal storage). Switch game cartridges are just fancy flash cards with a long-since reverse engineered communications protocol [1], and there's multiple card dumpers and reflashable cards on the market.

[1] https://switchbrew.org/wiki/Gamecard

Re: Playstation 5 Pro

#69
This upgrade seems a bit one-sided.

Some badly optimized games are usually CPU limited, and this upgrade apparently will not improve on that.

I wouldn't be surprised if games like GTA 6 run at 30 fps on both PS5 and PS5 Pro, with some added effects and resolution for the Pro model.

Re: Playstation 5 Pro

#70
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asking this as a PC gamer who went fully digital ~15 years ago: why are optical drives such a big deal, is that because of buying/selling used games?

I don't know about optical drives but I bought ~75% of my switch games as used cartridge. I think a lot of people would stop buying consoles if they couldn't sell the games they have finished or do not like anymore to fund the purchase of other games.

Did you do it for nostalgic purposes? I buy the cartridges for nostalgic purposes. Most of the time the used games I want are only $10-$15 dollars less than a good Amazon or Target price.

I don’t think the younger generations care as much, they just play free games anyway.

Post reply on HN