h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've been buying consoles since the SNES.

In every generation, there was a dilemma: which to buy? And in every generation, it was a choice that was hard to make before the consoles came out, and became only slightly easier once they were established in the market. Opposite sides had pros and cons. You had to THINK.

SNES or Megadrive?
Playstation or Saturn?
PS2 or XBox?
PS3 or 360?

These were tricky decisions.

It's so much easier now. Microsoft have so disastrously badly misjudged the market that I - a loyal user of the 360 now for something like seven years, and I do love it - have already, six months before the next generation consoles even come out, have made my decision.

It was easy. It seems incredible that a huge company can screw up something this important, this badly.

There is literally nobody I know who is even *considering* buying the much, much more expensive, DRM-riddled, MUST-be-connected-to-the-internet-every-day-or-it-bricks-itself 360 in preference to the PS4. And bear in mind that by definition, since I play online on a 360, most of the people I'm asking that question to are people who have already paid a subscription to XBox Live - NONE of XBL's customers that I've spoken to will be upgrading to the XBOner.

Is anyone?

With you on that one - PS4 will be the next one, on the grounds of:
cost
the needing to connect to the Big Brother mothership at Redmond on a daily basis
I don't need all of the other gubbins to make it the one box to rule them all in my living room



(Consoles in my life - N64 (ahh, Lylat wars and Goldeneye how I miss thee), PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360)

The one thing that slightly annoys me is Sony's pricing...

UK: £429
EU: €499 = £425 (at current exchange rates)
US: $499 = £318

If those are the actual 'take-home' prices then it's a complete rip-off...

Can anyone in the states confirm whether you'll actually pay $499 or will there be all sorts of sales taxes on top?

D'Oh, wrong prices - the previous post is what the new microsoft console will cost...

The Sony prices are:

UK £349
EU €399 (£399)
US $399 (£254)

Just as bad - but at least it proves that both Sony & Microsoft like ripping off Europeans!

>Can anyone in the states confirm whether you'll actually pay $499 or will there be all sorts of sales taxes on top?

Depends where you live.

I live in Chicago, where we pay (city and county) sales tax of 9.25%, in addition to IL state sales tax of 6.25%. The electronics store nearest my home is offering the PS4 for $400, which would mean $62 in state and city sales taxes.

There are a few states and localities which do not collect sales or use taxes, but most do. The actual tax rates vary quite widely, though.

That's still a pretty significant price difference from the US to the UK. Does that £349 include VAT, or will there be taxes added?

The £349 includes VAT, currently at 17.5% (I think).

My friends are very annoying and vocal Sony nerds and even in spite of those the PS4 looks to be a clear winner. I really can't see why anyone would buy the XboxOne - the lack of backwards compatibility was the nail in the coffin.

I've been Xbox Live for a good number of years as well, Hoo.

There is *no* way I'll be getting an Xbox One.

What on earth do they think they're doing?

The backwards compatibility is not an issue for me because I keep all me old consoles (I've still got a working SNES, Playstation, Playstation 2, Game Cube and Xbox). It's the need to connect to the internet, the Kinect malarky (I didn't buy one for the 360 - if I wanted to wave me hands in front of the telly I'd use me Wii) and of course the pure cost of it.

My next gen console will also be a PS4 - goodbye Microsoft, we've had fun but now the end is near.

VAT has been 20% for a while hasn't it?

*wishes he had the time to play lots of console games these days *

I mostly more into PC gaming these days. Since being about to easily HDMI out to the TV it offers a little more flexibility for me.

But any lingering thoughts I may have had about getting an Xbox One are totally gone now. No way would I pay for that even if it was a hundred quid cheaper than the PS4.

I wonder if they will end up having to back track?

FB

I'm planning on making the leap to Pc gaming to for ESO (Elder Scrolls online - the MMORPG) and after reflecting that the console games I lpayed and liked (Skyrim, Tombraider, Assassin Creed(s) and Arkham City - were all available on PC as will all their sequels.

I've been thoroughly underwhelmed by the news of the PS4 and X-box 1 releases, and this has only settled my mind that I should start saving for a PC in time for the Spring release on ESO and start enjoying the better graphics and modding abilities.

Yeah modding is what really does it for me. Bethesda games start out from a position of being ludicrously good. But with modding they just become phenominal!

FB

I have never played anything with a games console. Oh I tell a lie, I was useless at Mario Kart on a Wii about 4 or 5 years ago (I think)

So, if I was going to get a console and start at this... is there a good entry-level way to get into it? (part of the reason I've been resistant up to now is the fact that I had a 28" CRT TV until a month or two ago, but I've got a monster one now so it's probably ok to play games on)

I play my Wii on an old 14" portable TV. Just occasionally lose a bit of picture at the corners, but I don't think it's any less enjoyable for not being widescreen HD.

Lots of options these days. What sort of games are you thinking of playing?

FB

Right now I'd say get an XBox 360. They'll be cheap, there's a huge abundance of awesome games available second hand, and it's generally agreed to be the current best console experience. Just don't get attached to the XBox brand, because as this thread demonstrates - NOBODY is staying with it through the next generation.

Games worth trying include Forza Motorsport 4 (you get to drive on the Top Gear test track), presumably any of the FIFA games (I don't like football), Skyrim if you like RPGs, Mass Effect if you don't mind the end of a huge, three game saga being a massive let-down, Bioshock for your FPS/adventure needs, and for the ultimate multiplayer FPS you simply have to have the latest Call of Duty and a Live Gold account. Solo play FPS has to start with Halo 3, or the original Halo uprated for HD - genre-defining stuff. For other fun you might like to try a Kinect or any of the Rock Band style games with guitar controllers.

The only thing lacking from the XBox lineup that I miss is Ico/Shadow of the Colossus. I nearly bought a PS3 just to play the HD version of SotC.

If you want to start with console gaming, I'd say to a certain extent that this is your last chance. The previous generation of consoles (PS2, XBox) started the trend towards consoles doing more than just playing games. PS2 functioned as a reasonably usable DVD player. The next generation stepped it up, to the point that I can watch BBC iPlayer, Sky and order movies on demand on my 360 as well as play games and such. It's still recognisably and primarily a console for playing games on, though.

The next generation will be taking the integration of entertainment to another level, I think. The thing will - at least the XBoner will - no longer be a machine focussed on games. They're trying (and, I think, failing) to come up with a single thing you put under your main telly... which I think betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of how most people use the things. The execs WANT us to put the XBox under our main telly and use it for everything.

Most of us, on the other hand, are fine with the boxes we already have under the telly, and if anything would prefer the console somewhere ELSE, so that people who want to watch telly can do so while games are being played elsewhere. And as for having to connect to the internet every day or it won't work, massive, MASSIVE fail.

blimey, thanks for that massive answer. I'm just confused and baffled by the whole thing. I know what RPG is but I have no idea how they work or if I'd like it.
Same with anything I suppose.

Maybe I need to borrow one and try it out. Oh and I don't want it to have to be connected to the internet all the time becuase my internet provider is rubbish, if it only works when connected it will just be a dust-gathering thing in my room.

The Gruesomes might have a view - they've probably had a go at other people's houses.

We have a Wii and it's really good for 'family' games (like Mario) and keep fit stuff but not so good for proper gaming - we kept the PS2 for that (and for Singstar). Osh now has a PS3 (bought second-hand) and I do love the fact that he ends up playing games with people from all over the world (even though I don't really like the cosh-the-zombies-over-the-head ones). At some point we will also use the PS3 for Singstar (I've only got as far as setting up a spreadsheet of songs). But at the moment Osh uses it for strategy games and shooters. He would like an X-box as well although I'm not clear on why.

The PS3 does seem to access the internet all the time it's on, even if it's not actually using it for the game in progress. So I had to get Osh off it yesterday because I kept losing my connection to the office.

Click on News 24 is currently talking about next generation consoles.

Mol

"I don't want it to have to be connected to the internet all the time becuase my internet provider is rubbish"

360 does not require it. There are plenty of good one-player games. I'd advise
-Bioshock
-Halo
-Tomb Raider
-Forza 4 (I think)
-Dishonored
-Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (i.e. CoD4 - it's dead as a multiplayer game but as a one-player it still rocks).

I'm sure others would have others to add to this - my bestest friend swears by Assassin's Creed, but I just couldn't get into it - but the best thing to do is just get the console and hit the second-hand shelves at Game.

The first Assassin's Creed is pretty awful, but the sequels are sensationally good. Plants vs Zombies is more addictive than crack and available for a couple of quid online. Skyrim is a huge thief of time - not come across anyone who didn't enjoy that.

All of that said, there's really not much to choose between the Xbox 360 and PS3, apart from the Xbox is cheaper. When I bought mine last autumn it was because I know more people with 360s I can borrow games off: if my friends all had PS3s, I'd have probably bought that.

Well spent a couple of hours reading up and watching about the Xbox One furore (also checking out the pretty funny way in which Sony have capitalised).

So in answer to the original post I cannot now for the life of me understand why any sane person would consider buying an Xbox One. You would have to *really* love Halo I guess.

For my money I bet Destiny (the PS exclusive from Bungie) is going to be better than Halo 18.

And how bloody creepy is the kinect "always on, always listening/watching" schtick?

FB