PlayStation Meeting 2013 (PS4 unveiling - conference replay in first post) - Page 57

No, but it's not practical for most of us to keep all of our old consoles connected and ready to go. It's nice to be able to play some older games once in a while, especially past favorites or games we might have missed the first time around. But without BC support, that's not practical.

It's still possible, but it means digging through the closet/basement/attic, hooking the thing up, dusting off the old controllers, finding the old game disc, playing for an hour or two, then putting it all away again afterward. Totally possible. But not at all practical.

Too bad.

I would have ended it saying something like, "I'm sure you all have questions about what the console looks like, price, etc. We'll announce all of that at E3. Stay tuned!" That way you're setting it up like part one of a two-part presentation.

If anyone finds any high bitrate links to the game videos, share them.

I am the #1 person saying I don't care about BC. But, if it had BC, I'd repurpose one PS3 somewhere else. But I can see where going from a Cell processor to x86 would make it very hard to do BC. I'm not saying it's impossible, I've seen incredible emulation from one processor to another, for example Atari ST (68000 processor) on x86 machines, but it's not SIMPLE.

Sound kind of sucks, but this is straight from the dev so probably as good as it gets for now. Killzone:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=113171115535029

I need to find a good one for Watch Dogs.

Just keep it hooked up. Like I said my Atari 7800 is hooked up RIGHT NOW and ready to go. So is my PS2 for that matter.

So, this is going to be the first time Sony doesn't have a backwards, azz-rtarded memory architecture. Took them four systems, but they pulled out all the stops with 8GB unified memory!

I dunno about your setup, but there's finite space in mine. Not only for the console, but then I need to keep my PS3 controllers handy too. Im running out of HDMI ports too. And any time I fire up my PS3, Im disconnected from what will then be the current gen, and everything my friends are doing. I really wanted them to just integrate everything, given how much theyre talking about simplicity.

What has me kind of worried is that they did that one slide where they showed how games have come from cartridges, to CDs, to DVDs in the early days of gaming. They never, at any point in the presentation, mentioned whether or not this system will use an optical device or will be pure digital. The way they described how they are integrating the Gaikai stuff into the PS4 and how you can download games in the background and instantly play them, I have a really sick feeling that this will be DIGITAL DOWNLOADS ONLY. This way they can get rid of all the used game stuff, and also get rid of having to include an optical drive. Since they were super hyping the instantaneous functionality of it, having an optical drive would kind of go against that.

Also, a lot of what they were saying sounds like it will be "features" that are only available to a PS+ subscriber. Sure, you will have to download games to your hard drive in order to buy them, but for PS1-PS3 games, you'll need to have a PS+ subscription. That really turns me off if my interpretation of the presentation is correct.

Also not really a big fan of all the seemingly forced Facebook/Twitter type social media network stuff. I can see that being very dangerous for someone if they accidentally blurt out something "naughty" and it gets posted on Facebook with your name and information attached to it. The next day at work, you find a pink slip on your desk because you said something bad about your boss while online and now everybody knows exactly who said it. On the other hand, I like the removal of some of the anonymity which will hopefully prevent a lot of the dipshits out there from harassing everybody because their pot-altered mind thinks it's funny.

Watch Dog looked AWESOME and I would be looking forward to playing that. Still, this initial presentation doesn't make me scream "I NEED TO GET ONE NOW!". Yes, it piques my interest and the visuals were amazing looking, but the things that I have the most fear of (digital content only, required pay subscription to make use of the features, high price) were not answered.

All the talk of the full connectivity all the time is great if you live in an area with a great internet connection and no bandwidth limits, but most of the world is not like that. The PS4 could turn out to be an INCREDIBLY expensive system if you have to pay the upfront cost, the subscription cost to make use of the full features of the PSN, and either a higher per month internet bill or "you've exceeded your bandwidth cap this month so you are being served a hefty fine" from the cable company.

Still, the overall presentation was good as it piqued interest and still left them plenty more to say about the system later on.

I don't care about BC, but I get the gripe. Especially if you've bought games digitally. Then you have a pretty big bone to pick. Otherwise, it's a non-issue really.

+1

So there were a few things that showed up that weren't really rumored.

-The self publishing for indies....def want to hear more, but they're clearly big supporters.

-How nuts is it that you can not only watch other people play, but actually take the reins with your own controller, just like that?

-Not having the reboot the system or even games. Nice!

-You'll be able to start playing games before theyre fully downloaded. And once it gets to know you, it'll even preload some games for you.

-The UI looked fully customizable. And even if there might be promotional content there, they went out of their way to say that they only want to show you things you know youre interested. This is a HUGE middle finger to the xbox dashboard.

I'll take a picture sometime soon (if I remember, I'm old!)

The Atari doesn't take up any HDMI ports, surprisingly. It's connected to the TV using RF, I'm not willing to go through the trouble to build in a composite output on it, even though I have 2 spares in the event I killed the console (7800s, I have 6 2800s). PS2 is hooked up through component with a Monoprice cable. I even still have a LaserDisc player in that room, it's connected through composite. I have an older stereo in there, so it doesn't upscale everything through one HDMI cable, a bit of a pain to get everything switched over, but since it's just the game room it's ok. In the room we use for watching movies and in the bedroom, we have Harmony One remotes which make everything easy. And in the living room we have a receiver that upscales it all to one HDMI cable.

I have a pretty good feeling that the migration to PS4 is going to be slow. The PS3 is just so da*n good at what it does, I don't think there's going to be a mass move to PS4 unless the price is ridiculously low.

Other thoughts I had during this show:

Nothing about being released in Japan first, like every Japanese system in history up til now.

Also, was the system designed by the first guy, the Knack creator? I don't remember his name. Another first, if so. Non Japanese designer.

And it sounds like you will be able to take control from your Vita too! That's really super cool.

Did you notice at the beginning they said "we didn't design a box"?

Im also surprised by the focus on people using their full names for their profile, instead of wacky gamertags. Could this actually get people to act civilized?

Valid opinion, but many of us are still only going to have one console hooked up at a time. There is no way the wife would allow multiple gaming systems and controllers stacked around our tv. Is is make or break? no, But BC would basically make my decision for me. Without BC, I'll be comparing it to the MS console more closely before making my decision.

IF they include an optical drive. No optical drive, and they don't have to include the hardware needed for reading discs and playing discs, etc. With all of the information they were going nuts over regarding the digital downloading of games, background downloading, etc., plus the complete lack of showing any sense of whether the system will run discs or not, and not showing the console itself, it makes me think that Sony is going to be able to go ahead and avoid the costs of including an optical drive thereby keeping the overall system cost low.

It just seems like that will be the next main announcement based upon the presentation this evening.

Also, with regards to the ability to instantly play a game while the rest of the game downloads in the background, that is only great if you have an awesome internet connection. Otherwise, I can see moving far along in a game while the Sony servers hiccup, or your local connection gets backed up, and as a result your game suddenly stops. That would be a huge killer for me. I see the PS4 being VERY expensive in terms of bandwidth/internet costs.

Mark Rein is absolutely gushing about the 8GB of ram on gametrailers right now. If the UE4 guys are pleased, I am too.

Of course its going to have a blu ray drive.

I keep the games and controllers in dedicated baskets (for lack of a better term) on shelving units. They don't stay out. It is a hassle, but it works. Think about this, the Atari had a lot of controllers, and you have no choice but to use the proper tool for the job. Kaboom requires paddle controllers, Night Driver requires driving controllers, there are some specific controllers for some games, then there is the joysticks, I use Epyx 500 XJs - wonderful controllers. Then there are the 7800 games which use controllers that require two triggers. And if we hook up the 5200 for a game of Centipede, I have to pull out the tracball controller... you get the idea.

But, here's the thing. I've seen many a "flashback" system or game for multiple consoles or as a stand alone unit. You can't recreate most of these games without the proper controller. There's no way you get the correct effect of Kaboom with a joystick. So, I keep my old systems so I can play them as intended.

Has to.

I used to think the same thing, but after the presentation tonight, I'm not so certain. They focused big time on the "instant" ability of the system to power on and load up games, and with an optical drive, that's not possible. Discs always have to be booted up and they are slower than games you have downloaded to your hard drive. Removal of it would also allow Sony to take maybe 50 or 60 bucks off of the final price of the system, as well as ensuring that all game sales/transactions are done directly through them.

While I would assume that they will include a blu-ray drive in the system, the information that has come out (in addition to the information that did not come out), just makes that glowing ember of a possibility glow a little bit more. I hope Sony quickly pours water on that.

I don't think it will have a drive. That will allow us to keep the PS3 hooked up as our Blu-Ray player, and then we don't worry about backwards compatibility.
Perhaps there will be 2 versions, one with Blu-Ray built in, and a cheaper one with out.
I just want to know if it has a large hard drive for the games I play, or if I need to re-download each time I play.

$50 to $60 retail, but no way at their volume. I bought a whole new mech for one of my PS3s for $30 shipped. And if they do that, they are going against their comittment to have a full entertainment center in one console.

I was thinking the same thing too, but didn't you notice how they heavily talked about streaming movies through the services on the PS4 and all the talk about going instant?

Maybe I am just being paranoid here and it is more likely that they are going to have a Blu-Ray drive, but instead of me being absolutely certain of it, now I'm only about 70% sure as there was enough said/not-said to make me wonder...

I agree, we still don't know much.

I wonder if my friend buys a game if he can somehow access it from my house, as if there are no physical discs its will be hard to bring a game over to a friends house to play.
Sony seems to be promoting ease of access from Vita and playing anywhere, so I wonder if I can play my game at my friends house on their PS4, or would I really have to bring my PS4 over...