The Glorious PC Gaming Master Race

[carnege4]

There's a reason why the pc version of Skyrim was a 2GB RAM minimum requirement and it isn't just because of the ps3/360 holding it back as it certainly scaled up.

That is, 2 GB if you want to play skyrim with 0 mods.
If a PC gamer does that, they are doing it wrong.

Oh, oh, did i mention that there's a mod on the nexus that makes the 2 GB restriction go up to 4GB?
And that we got the HD textures AND the unnoficial patch AND the performace bosts AND ENBs ?

I always said this to my friends and will say again.
Playing any Bethesda game on consoles is and always will be a bad deal.

 

[Absimilliard]

Very well put indeed. I particularly liked the paragraph about "Bertha", as it mirrors my own concerns. Not giving consoles backwards-compatibility is great advertising for computers.

 

[deadish]

Sony has a decent excuse for lack of BC. A good number of developers didn't like the Cell processor they used In the PS3. They had no choice but to dump it.

As for PCs, well BC isn't guaranteed. The software environment changes. The hardware changes. Many old games need patching, or even outright emulation of its original runtime environment, to work right.

 

[Lightknight]

There's a reason why the pc version of Skyrim was a 2GB RAM minimum requirement and it isn't just because of the ps3/360 holding it back as it certainly scaled up.

That is, 2 GB if you want to play skyrim with 0 mods.
If a PC gamer does that, they are doing it wrong.

Oh, oh, did i mention that there's a mod on the nexus that makes the 2 GB restriction go up to 4GB?
And that we got the HD textures AND the unnoficial patch AND the performace bosts AND ENBs ?

I always said this to my friends and will say again.
Playing any Bethesda game on consoles is and always will be a bad deal.

I don't know which of my posts you quoted so I'm not 100% on my intention with it out of context, but I assume that my point was to include the large number of computer gamers that are still at 2GB RAM. The norm is not 8GB and won't be for some time because the normal purchase right now is still 4GB. Not only that, but if a game can be scaled back to 2GB without any problem then there's not as much motivation to arbitrarily force the 4GB mark if that weeds out qualified consumers.

Skyrim is actually the reason I built a pc. It's amazing and I very much prefer it to my ps3 experience of the game.

 

[bjj hero]

Lol if you have kids and a real life and you still want to mix it up with some CoD, I think that's about as "core" as it gets. Maybe when your son is a bit older you and him could play some multiplayer minecraft! If you do get a laptop, all you have to buy is two minecraft accounts for $26 each, it's one of the best games I've played and it runs pretty well on low-end machines.

That really is the best part about PC gaming, people are still making fun games that don't require super-expensive hardware to enjoy.

Not sure what you'll have to pay if you live in another country, and we switched back and forth between canadian dollars and pounds, so my prices may be off by quite a bit.

Cheers for the vote of confidence. He has the makings of a gamer. At 5 (this weekend) he can already do quarter circle fireball style special moves on streetfighterIV. Charge moves are still beyond him though.

I used to be a PC gamer, I used to play quake 2 team deathmatch mods over a 56k modem. You had to lead moving targets by about 2-3" on the monitor to allow for ping. When hes a bit older Ill get him a tower but 5 is a little early. My main worry (it must be on the same level as 3rd world debt) is that youngsters arent learning how to use a mouse. Everything is touch screen or controller. Cant help our FPS gamers of the future...

Ill stop while im waaaaaaaaaayyy off topic.

OT: I share Mr Croshaws indifference at the upcoming consoles. Ive seen nothing that makes me think I need one of those.

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

How many PC gamers actually continuously upgrade their machine? It's expensive and pointless. I'm a PC gamer and have friends who are also PC gamers and I never witnessed this phenomenon.

I agree. A good $1000 rig will last for years with, at most, a new video card and an extra hard drive.

The only upgrading I've done to my PC is replacing its original SSD with a larger, more reliable traditional hard drive (and yes, I will count this as an upgrade until the reliability and size of SSDs is much, much improved).

It's been a long, long time since I've owned a console. And honestly I don't think I'd buy one now, ever, for one simple reason: "console exclusives" of interesting titles are so common that you'd have to hitch yourself to one format and hope that, if you bought an X-Box, the game you wanted didn't come out on PS4. Or vice versa. I remember having this problem with the Sega Megadrive not playing Mario games... haven't we progressed at all since then?

 

[TheUnbeholden]

A few months a go, I bought a new video card. It'll run new games on full spec without a hiccup & only cost about $200

I'm really starting to question why exactly I should get any console, cuz it seem like the costs that once reserved PC gaming for the elite is actually cheaper than game consoles (granted, my PC is above average to start with)

Oh I dunno, I can get a pretty reasonable PC for $600 (that's slightly more than a new console). Assuming I already have a mouse & keyboard, headphones and a comfortable chair to sit in.

 

[eternal-chaplain]

Luckily, I have got the fat PS3 that plays PS2 and PSOne games, but I actually end up playing them on my PC because I like the Mouse & Keyboard controls better than the GamePad (not always, but sometimes). On that note, I play most of my GameCube games on the PC as well ... I actually went about transferring my PS3 library to PC over the last weekend ... Well, considering I don't like any of the new-gen consoles, maybe PC will be the way to go for most, to avoid backwards compatibility issues.

 

[5mj7R7yf4Dwr3gdZyyu9PeGNwYjlNrjzuh3iTXQG]

...I perceived at the time [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/10350-The-Glorious-PC-Gaming-Master-Race] to be an elitist attitude among a certain kind of PC gamer. People who invest in expensive gaming PCs and continually spend money to make sure the tech in their brightly-lit tower cases is up to date. Who actually prefer games that are temperamental to get running and that have complicated keyboard interfaces...

Key phrase here, I suppose, is certain kind of PC gamer. I've been a PC gamer since before Wing Commander (One!) and Day of the Tentacle. Most of my PC boxes were unlit except for a small power spot and a Hard-drive activity spot. They worked a lot like the Millennium Falcon in that they flew (for their time) but you had to pound on their side every once in a while to reseat all the expansion cards. (This was long before onboard peripherals like IDE ports or --hah!-- sound cards.)

And part of the problem I have with consoles is the lack of a general practice of allowing one to customize their control schemes (which is the case with almost every game on the PC). It's worse in that the controls are inconsistent between games, whereas on the PC I can make them consistent (and as a left-handed player, I have to customize them anyway).

Granted, a number of indie games don't have customizable controls, but these are often side-scrollers with very few controls anyway, and there's always keyboard binding software like AutoHotkey.

238U

 

[azriel2422]

I, too, want to wear the prettiest hats

 

[Dragonbums]

As much as I like glorious PC gaming mustard race, I've recently convinced myself to use the money I set aside for next-gen consoles to instead buy a 3ds and a bunch of games for it. I really don't see myself regretting the purchase anytime soon, especially as E3 comes closer and we prepare ourselves for the looming next-gen apocalypse.

Oh, you don't know why it's called the Mustard race? Because consoles can't Ketchup. I'll show myself out.

Worst(best) pun I've heard all day. I think I'm just going to abuse that in any forum I go that spews around the master race nonsense.

 

[Signa]

"A top-of-the-range desktop PC costs a lot more, but I wouldn't just be paying to buy into the new games club. I'd be paying for an entire history of games, safely filed away on GOG.com and the Steam listings."

No it's still not worth it Yahtzee. Not when it costs thousands of dollars for a man to accomplish. Shame on you and everyone who agrees with this. I'd like my games to be affordable without having to buy a bunch of random pieces that cost the price of an actual console.

Forget PC, it's the handheld market that's the true master race.

A good PC is about 700$ now. It blows consoles away.

A PC on the level of the next gen consoles is 500$ max.

Consoles are not the bargains they once were.

A WiiU costs $250. A PS3 costs $250. A 3DS costs $180. You're not convincing me. If anything, you've proven me right that gaming PCs are expensive. I'm not paying that.

So you got the systems cheap. Good for you. What are you going to do with it once you have it? Play games on it straight out of the box, right?

Wrong, you need to buy those too. When games on the 3DS go for a generous $35-$40 and the rest of the consoles $60, that's going to add up FAST over the $5 you could be spending on Steam sales. I'm not going to dig up the math again, but last I checked, it took something of an average of 11 games to make up the difference, depending on the system. That was without counting extra peripherals, or Xbox LIVE subscriptions.

You're not wrong that console gaming can be cheap, but don't think you're getting away scott-free. It's the exact same scam that razor and printer companies pull: sell the base cheap, and then lock the customer into buying the overpriced accessories. Those schemes still work because there is enough value in it for the customer, but when you get down to the dollar-for-dollar matching of another option, you will find you aren't doing as well as you could or should. Hell, PC gaming very well could be more expensive overall, but as most people in this thread have expressed, the quality of the experience is higher as well. That 10% higher price becomes at least a 15% better expereince (pulling numbers from my ass).

The games on Steam only sell for that price because they're cheap indie games or some similar situation. That's good for small time developers and all but it still doesn't change the fact that those can only last so long.

And not everything good on consoles is also on Steam for cheaper either.

That answer is a cop-out and you know it. First off, games that are on consoles and Steam are that cheap. Alan Wake is just $3 this weekend, and DMC has dropped to $30 for the time being. Arguing that PC gaming is a poor choice based on exclusives is weak too, because that argument can be made for any other single system as well. I'm not telling you that you're wrong for wanting a WiiU, PS3 or 3DS (especially a 3DS as that fills a different market), but none of your reasons are actually reasons; they are excuses.

 

[Adon Cabre]

[HEADING=1]exclusives[/HEADING]

[http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2013/06/01/ps4-will-be-for-gamers-first-and-foremost-sony]​

Yathzee's vitriol toward backwards compatibility isn't unwarranted, but who cares about B.C when all that people ever complain about is the monotony of titles in distribution -- and how all of them mostly play the same.

Spoiler

The current number of titles is large and overwhelming, that the only old games that I ever considered replaying on the Playstation 2 in the last 5 years were Resident Evil 4, Shadow of the Colossus, Final Fantasy X & XII, which are SONY exclusives, and three of the four are HD Remastered on the Playstation 3 to look even more incredible. Think of it as the Xth edition of the Star Wars movies you've purchased since VHS, DVD and now Blueray has offered something more awesome that the others could never do.

[http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2009/08/uncharted-2-makes-ps3-shine-couldnt-happen-on-360/]​

If SONY smashes the competition with a plethora of interesting and epic Playstation 4 exclusives, then I will make a purchase in 2014.

[HEADING=2]Current Gen[/HEADING]

Exclusive titles often offer the complete package in terms of what a dynamic and ambitious studio that is flooded with $ can create. Uncharted has few rivals in not only environmental presentation -- very few other titles have more lush and diverse environments -- but in the story drafting, and level design. Uncharted 2 is so well developed that it has no interruptive loading screen! Load up your save and play it till the end!

[http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/news/a485922/naughty-dog-will-use-existing-uncharted-the-last-of-us-engine-for-ps4.html]​

Last of Us is the culmination of 7+ years of engine development by NaughtyDog Studios; and the critics have not only raved about it's gorgeous backgrounds, enemy types and characters, but also how tense and stunningly fearful the game-play is.

[http://www.nbcnews.com/id/51731106/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/t/beyond-two-souls-video-game-challenges-screen-actors/#.UaxcvkDVB8E]​

SONY also loves to spend $ on experimental projects like Fumito Ueda's beloved TRICO series, Quantum Dream's Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, and many other smaller indie projects. These games really push the envelope in stories can be told in this interactive medium.

[HEADING=3]PC = Jack of All Trades, but Master of Nothing... Recent[/HEADING]

(Except MMO's)

[http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130305/14551022206/launch-day-punishment-simcitys-online-only-drm-locking-purchasers-out-servers-purchases.shtml]​

They have an entire history of titles; but how often are you going to play all 400+ titles that are easy to download -- and how good do any of those older games look on a 45" TV screen? PC might have prettier RECENT titles that get a port, but how difficult are they to actually acquire i.e Windows Live Account, Amazon Account, Steam Account, Origin Account; and sometimes three of these are needed depending on the $5 sale you're trying to take advantage -- that's what turned me off.

What PC doesn't get are the big-budget experimental titles that are flagships for the next generation of titles. If you are a casual or core gamer, and want the most recent quality work, then it's going to be console, no argument.

[h4]Example you ask?[/h4]
PC gets an excellent Tomb Raider port, and which has its foundation in Uncharted cinematic style and play-mechanics.

[h4]-- Pictures Have Links --[/h4]​

 

[Mr Cwtchy]

Kind of interesting that the biggest turnoff to getting into PC gaming, in the form of self-righteous arseholes posting in this thread, are achieving the opposite of what you'd presume they want.

Regardless of whether the PC system is better or not, the smug attitudes often associated with it are evidently still alive and well.

 

[deadish]

Don't really see how consoles are "losing their strengths".

It's still buy console, plug into TV, put game in, play.

Occasionally you got to press a few buttons when prompted to update the OS. But that's it.

It not like PC games where you have to read the box, check the specs, update drivers, troubleshoot crap when the game for some reason doesn't agree with your system because the developers missed out on a bug that only affects certain hardware configs, the driver manufacturer messed up with the latest drivers or even just MS dropping the ball when it came to one of their updates and unintentionally broke something, by googling to see if other players have the same issue you do and if they have a fix.

 

[xdiesp]

What surprised me the most in Yahtzee's report, is there are indeed some exalted types which took the "master race" pun seriously. I mean, the joke's on them right? Ah, I miss the times when the C64 vs NES, and Genesis vs SNES console wars were supposed to be played exclusively by primary schoolers.

 

[Hyakunin Isshu]

Lord! I don't even know where to start with old Ben Croshaw! For One thing, he keeps boxing in Sony with Microsoft, as if Sony is going to ever block used games. Sony said they won't! Get your facts straight. Sony may or may not do something about used games in the future, but they didn't say anything yet, so stop attacking them, as if they did!

And secondly, he's wrong on every point. From games being more expensive to create, to "we always had backwards compatibility back in my day" He is mostly wrong.

In other words, we really, really, *really* need new consoles, for a fresh new start and for new ideas to be made. Period.

P.S. about that stupid Bertha, what if Bertha got Mass Effect 3 on the Wii U instead? If Bertha wanted to play Mass Effect 1 or 2, then.... well then you would need a PS3/360 to play them all, wouldn't you?

How does one platform change ruin his Assassin's Creed example?

Like... at all?

It's unfortunate that Mass Effect only has 3 on a Nintendo console, but's it's equally as unfortunate that Assassin's Creed DOES have the previous games on the previous console but they can't be played on the new one.

And of those two situations, guess which is easier to fix?

Also, about the new ideas that consoles would allow... so far, I hate all of them. That's a bad sign, don't you think?

1. My point is: Ben Croshaw is trying to make this into a black & white situation. Them vs us. Evil vs good. It's more gray then that. ("Only a Sith deals in absolutes" -Obi-Wan )

2. Nes, Snes, N64, Gamecube and many, many more consoles didn't have backwards compatibility. Heck, My brother sold the Nes before I could ever get to play Megaman 4, 5, or 6. So I got bigger problems then backwards compatibility. Like not able to play my old console at all. And you know what? Some of my old games won't play on the newer windows! Want to play X-COM? Well too bad! because now you have to re-buy them from a site all over again! 'Why should I re-buy? I payed for it once!'

3. When talking about Halo 4, Ben Croshaw seemed to have a problem with it being a '4'.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/10063-How-to-Title-Your-Stupid-Sequel
What the Heck?! But whatever his dumn point was, doesn't it go for the other games as well? Like playing Final Fantasy VII, Resident Evil 4, Megaman X4, Megaman 7, MGS4, or Dune 2 for the first time without playing the games before? If you really want to play the other games that came before, then won't you need a way to play the old games? Like getting the old consoles? I can't see why Ben Croshaw is acting like this is a new thing! If you started Assassin's Creed by playing Assassin's Creed IV, then it's your own fault for buying a game that has a *4* in it. Either buy the old consoles, or wait for Assassin's Creed 5.

4. About the 'new ideas', what I meant was now we may see new and old genres coming back. Like RTS, 4X, Simulation and more. There was some great games on this Gen that couldn't have *never* been made for the Last-Gen, like Red Faction: Guerrilla, Dead Rising, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, From Dust, Hydrophobia, Half-Life 2, Portal 2 and many more. Just think of all the crazy new gameplay ideas we can do in the Next-Gen!

1. You kind of utterly failed to get that point across in the first point. In fact, you berated him for being "wrong on every point". If you say he's wrong on every point, and ALSO that he's made it into a two-sided issue... then doesn't that mean that you're ALSO making it a two-sided issue, just from the other side?

2. It's understandable if a console iteration changes absolutely EVERYTHING, so it can't be backward-compatible. (Where do you jam the Mario 64 cartridge in a Gamecube?) However, when the Gamecube gave way to the Wii, even though the controller, hardware, software and much else changed, it still took the same input (tiny disc) and lo and behold, it was backwards compatible. However, the Xbox 360 -> Xbox 1 and PS3 -> PS4 changes only hardware and software. There's no bloody reason they can't have a simple architecture emulator on it to run the old media (I have several emulators OPEN right now, they're common and not excessively hard to make). NONE.

As for X-COM, lrn2DosBox. Seriously. If you buy X-COM from gog.com, all they give you is an exact copy of the original physical copy wrapped up with a DosBox emulator.

Here, it's right here: http://www.dosbox.com/

It requires a bit of experimentation, but that's the one downside to it being free (and if you're of a certain disposition, getting the game working is fun and rewarding in and of itself).

3. It's not a new thing, but it still sucks, especially because there's no bloody reason for it. I understand if I play FFVII, and find out that I have to play the first one on an NES (you don't anymore, by the way, you can get it on your phone). However, imagine if you bought a sequel on a PC that ran Windows 7, and found out that the first game would ONLY run on Windows XP, despite not actually relying on XP-specific features. This would be annoying enough. What makes it worse is that 64 bit Windows 7 -> 32 bit Windows XP emulators exist (I have one), but they won't do an Xbox One -> Xbox 360 emulator.

This leaves the question hanging: WHY NOT?

4. Just to show you how utterly lost you are, Half Life 2 WAS last-gen.

Furthermore, what's so special about games like Portal? Portal used the idea of "set two locations, touch one, teleport to the other". This was based off a pretty crappy student project. Furthermore, there's a flash game based on Portal, which is the technological equivalent of an early PS1. They didn't need the Xbox hardware they used, and they most certainly didn't need the Xbox 360/PS3 hardware they used to add the various gels and extra character they added to Portal 2.

Also, there's nothing inherently excellent about your other examples that are exclusive to this gen. Red Faction's first game, for instance, was released in 2001 on early PS2 hardware. The idea of "alter the landscape" was already in effect. Dead Rising just uses lots of NPCs and creative weaponizing that isn't inherent to the hardware. Every cool weapon combo or use was programmed in individually, which is how it's been done since video game characters began picking up items. And while newer hardware was needed to allow for higher-res models in large groups, it's hardly a new idea.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is NOT a new idea. You damn well know this, seeing how you were saying that you can't play the first X-COM mere paragraphs ago.

Etc, etc.

You wanna know what kind of cool new ideas the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft CAN achieve? They can do better graphics and AI. That's... more or less all. And the AI isn't even all that useful outside of 4X, RTS and simulation games, which the consoles aren't going to have, because they haven't changed the controller that was stopping those genres in the first place.

Look, I'm all for new consoles that do cool things, but currently, what Xbox One is offering me is a platter of social networking integrated features, a cable box, and a permanent spy camera with none of the good stuff that you seem to think it will manage. There's currently NO reason to buy one any more than I would buy a new cable box with the words "CONTAINS UNCONTROLLABLE CAMERA FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE" plastered on it. Sony doesn't seem to have any cool new things up the chute either.

At least the Wii U is backwards compatible with the Wii and is actually trying a REAL attempt at innovation, but at this point, Yahtzee's pretty damn justified in thinking that PC gaming is an avenue he should try out again.

(sigh) Oy vey!

Look, You haven't changed my mind, even a bit.

What I said wasn't clear enough, but it still stands. Like for one (just one) example, Half-life 2 can in some way run on the "Last-Gen", but *only* on the first xbox. It can NOT run on the Gamecube, and it can NOT run on the PS2. And the graphics was A *lot* less better, and it even had frame-rate problems.

Now I can go over everything else, but I don't want to. Maybe I'll come back after a few days, but I think it's pointless now. Question is, are you still willing to talk then? Because if not,then this will end now, and I have to say good bye.

No, I'm willing to talk later.

But before you come back, make sure you're not mixing up "cool new ideas" with "prettier graphics".

(sigh) Sorry, but I don't have the will right now to give you a full reply. Maybe I'll come back in a week, or maybe a month, or never - I don't know.

But I think you need to see this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G_f8YBy39M

It is about Used Games, and how very, very bad it is for all console Game-Makers. In fact, it makes Ben Croshaw look like a stupid baka for thinking Used Games aren't hurting developers, or thinking: 'it's not that bad of a thing'.

In fact, It changed my mind on the topic. Please see the whole thing before replying.
And it the link doesn't work, then look for "The Devil's Halibut - Used Games" on youtube, It's by TotalHalibut.

 

[lacktheknack]

Lord! I don't even know where to start with old Ben Croshaw! For One thing, he keeps boxing in Sony with Microsoft, as if Sony is going to ever block used games. Sony said they won't! Get your facts straight. Sony may or may not do something about used games in the future, but they didn't say anything yet, so stop attacking them, as if they did!

And secondly, he's wrong on every point. From games being more expensive to create, to "we always had backwards compatibility back in my day" He is mostly wrong.

In other words, we really, really, *really* need new consoles, for a fresh new start and for new ideas to be made. Period.

P.S. about that stupid Bertha, what if Bertha got Mass Effect 3 on the Wii U instead? If Bertha wanted to play Mass Effect 1 or 2, then.... well then you would need a PS3/360 to play them all, wouldn't you?

How does one platform change ruin his Assassin's Creed example?

Like... at all?

It's unfortunate that Mass Effect only has 3 on a Nintendo console, but's it's equally as unfortunate that Assassin's Creed DOES have the previous games on the previous console but they can't be played on the new one.

And of those two situations, guess which is easier to fix?

Also, about the new ideas that consoles would allow... so far, I hate all of them. That's a bad sign, don't you think?

1. My point is: Ben Croshaw is trying to make this into a black & white situation. Them vs us. Evil vs good. It's more gray then that. ("Only a Sith deals in absolutes" -Obi-Wan )

2. Nes, Snes, N64, Gamecube and many, many more consoles didn't have backwards compatibility. Heck, My brother sold the Nes before I could ever get to play Megaman 4, 5, or 6. So I got bigger problems then backwards compatibility. Like not able to play my old console at all. And you know what? Some of my old games won't play on the newer windows! Want to play X-COM? Well too bad! because now you have to re-buy them from a site all over again! 'Why should I re-buy? I payed for it once!'

3. When talking about Halo 4, Ben Croshaw seemed to have a problem with it being a '4'.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/10063-How-to-Title-Your-Stupid-Sequel
What the Heck?! But whatever his dumn point was, doesn't it go for the other games as well? Like playing Final Fantasy VII, Resident Evil 4, Megaman X4, Megaman 7, MGS4, or Dune 2 for the first time without playing the games before? If you really want to play the other games that came before, then won't you need a way to play the old games? Like getting the old consoles? I can't see why Ben Croshaw is acting like this is a new thing! If you started Assassin's Creed by playing Assassin's Creed IV, then it's your own fault for buying a game that has a *4* in it. Either buy the old consoles, or wait for Assassin's Creed 5.

4. About the 'new ideas', what I meant was now we may see new and old genres coming back. Like RTS, 4X, Simulation and more. There was some great games on this Gen that couldn't have *never* been made for the Last-Gen, like Red Faction: Guerrilla, Dead Rising, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, From Dust, Hydrophobia, Half-Life 2, Portal 2 and many more. Just think of all the crazy new gameplay ideas we can do in the Next-Gen!

1. You kind of utterly failed to get that point across in the first point. In fact, you berated him for being "wrong on every point". If you say he's wrong on every point, and ALSO that he's made it into a two-sided issue... then doesn't that mean that you're ALSO making it a two-sided issue, just from the other side?

2. It's understandable if a console iteration changes absolutely EVERYTHING, so it can't be backward-compatible. (Where do you jam the Mario 64 cartridge in a Gamecube?) However, when the Gamecube gave way to the Wii, even though the controller, hardware, software and much else changed, it still took the same input (tiny disc) and lo and behold, it was backwards compatible. However, the Xbox 360 -> Xbox 1 and PS3 -> PS4 changes only hardware and software. There's no bloody reason they can't have a simple architecture emulator on it to run the old media (I have several emulators OPEN right now, they're common and not excessively hard to make). NONE.

As for X-COM, lrn2DosBox. Seriously. If you buy X-COM from gog.com, all they give you is an exact copy of the original physical copy wrapped up with a DosBox emulator.

Here, it's right here: http://www.dosbox.com/

It requires a bit of experimentation, but that's the one downside to it being free (and if you're of a certain disposition, getting the game working is fun and rewarding in and of itself).

3. It's not a new thing, but it still sucks, especially because there's no bloody reason for it. I understand if I play FFVII, and find out that I have to play the first one on an NES (you don't anymore, by the way, you can get it on your phone). However, imagine if you bought a sequel on a PC that ran Windows 7, and found out that the first game would ONLY run on Windows XP, despite not actually relying on XP-specific features. This would be annoying enough. What makes it worse is that 64 bit Windows 7 -> 32 bit Windows XP emulators exist (I have one), but they won't do an Xbox One -> Xbox 360 emulator.

This leaves the question hanging: WHY NOT?

4. Just to show you how utterly lost you are, Half Life 2 WAS last-gen.

Furthermore, what's so special about games like Portal? Portal used the idea of "set two locations, touch one, teleport to the other". This was based off a pretty crappy student project. Furthermore, there's a flash game based on Portal, which is the technological equivalent of an early PS1. They didn't need the Xbox hardware they used, and they most certainly didn't need the Xbox 360/PS3 hardware they used to add the various gels and extra character they added to Portal 2.

Also, there's nothing inherently excellent about your other examples that are exclusive to this gen. Red Faction's first game, for instance, was released in 2001 on early PS2 hardware. The idea of "alter the landscape" was already in effect. Dead Rising just uses lots of NPCs and creative weaponizing that isn't inherent to the hardware. Every cool weapon combo or use was programmed in individually, which is how it's been done since video game characters began picking up items. And while newer hardware was needed to allow for higher-res models in large groups, it's hardly a new idea.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is NOT a new idea. You damn well know this, seeing how you were saying that you can't play the first X-COM mere paragraphs ago.

Etc, etc.

You wanna know what kind of cool new ideas the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft CAN achieve? They can do better graphics and AI. That's... more or less all. And the AI isn't even all that useful outside of 4X, RTS and simulation games, which the consoles aren't going to have, because they haven't changed the controller that was stopping those genres in the first place.

Look, I'm all for new consoles that do cool things, but currently, what Xbox One is offering me is a platter of social networking integrated features, a cable box, and a permanent spy camera with none of the good stuff that you seem to think it will manage. There's currently NO reason to buy one any more than I would buy a new cable box with the words "CONTAINS UNCONTROLLABLE CAMERA FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE" plastered on it. Sony doesn't seem to have any cool new things up the chute either.

At least the Wii U is backwards compatible with the Wii and is actually trying a REAL attempt at innovation, but at this point, Yahtzee's pretty damn justified in thinking that PC gaming is an avenue he should try out again.

(sigh) Oy vey!

Look, You haven't changed my mind, even a bit.

What I said wasn't clear enough, but it still stands. Like for one (just one) example, Half-life 2 can in some way run on the "Last-Gen", but *only* on the first xbox. It can NOT run on the Gamecube, and it can NOT run on the PS2. And the graphics was A *lot* less better, and it even had frame-rate problems.

Now I can go over everything else, but I don't want to. Maybe I'll come back after a few days, but I think it's pointless now. Question is, are you still willing to talk then? Because if not,then this will end now, and I have to say good bye.

No, I'm willing to talk later.

But before you come back, make sure you're not mixing up "cool new ideas" with "prettier graphics".

(sigh) Sorry, but I don't have the will right now to give you a full reply. Maybe I'll come back in a week, or maybe a month, or never - I don't know.

But I think you need to see this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G_f8YBy39M

It is about Used Games, and how very, very bad it is for all console Game-Makers. In fact, it makes Ben Croshaw look like a stupid baka for thinking Used Games aren't hurting developers, or thinking: 'it's not that bad of a thing'.

In fact, It changed my mind on the topic. Please see the whole thing before replying.
And it the link doesn't work, then look for "The Devil's Halibut - Used Games" on youtube, It's by TotalHalibut.

I shall not.

1. I have better things to do with half an hour.

2. If you track our conversation backwards, you'll notice I've said NOTHING about used games.

I'm a PC gamer, man. I don't have a horse in that race.

If you want to argue me, stick with the topics that we were actually talking about, namely "For what reason would they not implement backwards compatibility?" and "What will a mediocre upgrade to hardware do to revolutionize console game innovation?"

Furthermore, if the thing you're taking issue to right now is "used games are actually bad", then, uh, why are you opposed to Yahtzee going to PCs, the ultimate in "no used games allowed", which is the entire bloody point of the entire bloody article?

Before you come back to answer, make sure your head is on straight.