First results between PS4 vs. Xbox One are in

Digital Foundry has made a world class article where they compare the quality of Battlefield 4 between PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. I strongly recommend you go and read this behemoth of an article as it’s the most qualitative I’ve seen. It gives you a very fair and objective analysis of each version and there’s no surprise which ones are the best ones.

PS4 takes the lead from X1 quite substantially.  Battlefield 4 runs at 900p on the PS4 and 720p on the X1. This was to be expected as X1 has weaker hardware and more complicated ESRAM to work with. Sad facts if you will be gaming primarily on an X1 next generation for sure.

Though the X1 version by no means looks horrible or bad, it falls short and is inferior to the PS4 one by quite some mileage. It is expected to be like this for at least the first two years of the console cycle, perhaps even always as the PS4 simply has more hardware to work with. And when Sony’s first-party exclusive start coming out, well then there will be no doubts as to where the most stunning games are.

Add on top of this the rumors that Call of Duty: Ghosts will be running at 720p on the Xbox One and Titanfall also, well, then it’s certainly not looking good for Microsoft.  There are also other rumors circulating that the Xbox One has strong issues with party drops and server allocations as they are separated now instead of unified as with Xbox 360. It is said to be “months away” before that will be resolved.

Judging by these comparisons, rumors, facts and pre-order numbers, the Xbox team at Microsoft must be in chaos and despair. I predict the PS4 out-selling the X1 by at least 20 million units this war because of this. And that’s me being generous I feel.

The PS4 has a bright future ahead with a superb start in both hardware, software and reputation. 

 

PlayStation App for smartphones coming…

… in November! November 13 for United States and November 22 for Europe.

This app will sync with your PS4 and allow you the use of smartglass which has tons of benefits and fun features.

Next generation will be longest ever

If you thought that this generation which now has spanned for roughly eight years depending on your console choice was long, I got some dire news for you. The next one will be even longer.

Developing a new console is very, very expensive. In fact, usually console just lose money the first years and start making money at the end. That’s why we saw a 7-8 year console cycle with this current generation and I predict that Xbox One and PlayStation 4 will be around for 10 years before PlayStation 5 and Xbox 3 comes out. If they come out. We could very well have switched to full streaming by then.

I myself am not that big of a fan of too long console cycles. I have noticed a pattern in my interests. Usually consoles for me remain relevant and interesting for about 4 years. After 4 years, my interest starts to rapidly decline. It was the case with Gamecube and Xbox and with Xbox 360 as well. Therefore having a 10 year cycle? Wow. I don’t know. Maybe the new hardware and games will age better. Maybe Sony will support the PS4 better than Nintendo and Microsoft did in the long run? It certainly seems so with the PS3.

What are your thoughts on potentially having a 10 year console cycle with PS4 and Xbox One?

Get used to these consoles, because it’s likely they’ll be around for a decade.

PS4 boot screen

I like it. A lot. Futuristic. Elegant. Beautiful color scheme. Looks great. Xbox One has a lot to counter now.

The other 5 games

You’ve seen my top 5 and now it’s time to see 6-10!

10. The Witcher 3
The Pride of Kraków looks to deliver yet another epic adventure with The Witcher 3 and brings along gorgeous visuals and an world that I want to fully discover and immerse myself in. Could be one of the best RPG:s ever.

9. GTA V (PC)
I still haven’t bought GTA V as I have no current gen console. But GTA V for the PC is something I will buy next year for sure. I want to support its greatness.

8. The Order 1886
Finally a game set in London. Sony’s Santa Monica studio delivers graphically stunning games and Game Informers preview of this game confirms that The Order is visually stunning and truly next gen. Very, very excited.

7. Dragon Age: Inquisition
I believe in this game. It will go back to its roots to Origins with Frostbite 3 Engine graphics and mechanics, along with sexual content, dragons, and classic RPG combat. I think this will do the series justice.

6. The Division
I’d put it higher if they released more trailers for it. But the one video I’ve seen from it and what I heard, sounds insanely promising. I can’t wait to tear up NYC with my friends. Online RPG shooter with INSANELY stunning graphics.

Note: this list applies to 2014 games only. Titles such as Kingdom Hearts 3, Final Fantasy XV, Star Wars: Battlefront are not coming out in 2014 and therefore not listed on my top 10.

The Division just barely missed my top 5. One more trailer would probably have put it there.

Top 5 for 2014

Some of my readers have been asking me what my most anticipated games for 2014 are, so I thought I’d share it with y’all.

5. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Kiefer Sutherland. Next generation hardware. Solid Snake. Open world. Tactical espionage. I mean, come on. How can one not be excited for this? All the MGS have been masterful.

4. The Evil Within
Shinji Mikami, the father of horror returns for his next generation debut and it is looking beyond scary. I am certain I will get an heart attack from this game and that my hands will be dripping sweat.

3. Titanfall
Titanfall looks to be the best shooter in… forever? I can’t foresee any other shooters other than maybe Battlefront being anywhere close to rivaling Titanfall. Forget Call of Duty and Battlefield, a new king will emerge.

2. Thief
The new trailers look so amazing. The gameplay looks amazing. The slogan is amazing. Everything about Thief looks amazing and they just keep putting out these amazing trailers and my hype keeps rising.

1. Destiny
Destiny remains unrivaled at first place. It is looking like game changer and that’s a huge deal. I am certain I will easily invest 500-1000 hours depending on the support Bungie gives this game. I cannot wait.

What are your top 5 for 2014?

What’s yours is mine.

Changing some routines for next generation

For the upcoming generation I will shift around my gaming habits and routines dramatically. Why? Because I want to. I feel it’s time to do some adjustments and prioritizing and that’s always fun.

The first change, which perhaps is the biggest one, has multiple purposes, both environmental and convenience. I’ll be switching from disc based games to digital games. This has, like I said earlier, numerous reasons behind it. Though I do like to have a physical disc and box from time to time, I also don’t like it. Going fully digital is better for the environment. It saves me time and energy of going to the store or waiting for the mail to arrive. It removes disc swapping when I want to change games. It’s a natural evolution as I have been enjoying digital media such as movies and TV shows for over a decade now exclusively.

Second is that 99% of games that are out on the PC and next generation platforms will likely be purchased for the PC. PC gaming isn’t only cheaper, it’s more beautiful and smoother in performance. Some games I’ll still get for the console as they feel like console games, such as The Evil Within, that game is meant for the 46″ big screen instead of the 21″ computer screen. Of course there will be more of those types of games. But in general, I’ll prioritize games such as Destiny for my next generation machine to maximize the efficiency of it. It just feels more logical since I have a beast computer. Games like Thief look significantly better on the PC and that’s something I want to take advantage of, whilst Destiny won’t even be out on the PC, so this to me, makes complete sense.

Third and final is that I won’t be buying games that look “Okay” or “just good” anymore. I have had too many experiences that were mediocre or okay on my Xbox 360 that I don’t ever want again. Games like Ninja Gaiden 2, Crackdown 2, Ninja Blade, Tekken 6 and several others. These games scored around 7 or low 8 on average and I think they are even lower than that. During my play-trough of Ninja Gaiden 2 I just rushed the last three levels entirely without killing anyone because I was falling asleep of the repetitive grinding mechanics and shit story. I bought it because of the dismemberment and gore, but ultimately, it wasn’t worth it. If a game isn’t looking to fantastic with depth and an immersible enviornment, I am no longer interested. Take Destiny as an example, that game looks like a clear 10/10 with a world that I want to live in. These are the types of games that will be in my focus. Not 6-7:s. I don’t care if I miss out on a few “good” or “decent” games in the run, because I know I will get all the masterpieces and those are the ones that count.

The gore was the only good part about Ninja Gaiden 2. No more mediocre games for me.

PlayStation 5 to be a “service”

Sony has been dropping hints here and there about the future of the PlayStation brand. They have often said that it will likely become a service similar to Steam and come without a console box, but with a controller and subscription or membership.

Tekken producers have spoken on their thoughts and believe it’ll already happen with PS5.

“I think in the future things will be played on the service, rather than on the hardware. The Cloud is often mentioned, and if cloud services progress, the time when only the name of the service will remain will come some day.”

What are your thoughts on this? I’d be a bit sad as I love hardware but it’d be nice if we get performance increase, price reduction and more room in the living room on one hand. I’m sort of split on this.

This could very well be the last console we see from Sony. 

Xbox One Dashboard Fall 2014

Oh, the Kinect 2 and NSA spycam rumors never come to rest. And now with Microsoft talking about options to opt-in to specialized targeted ads based on Kinect data and whatnot, things aren’t getting any easier for poor Microsoft.

Here’s a fun prediction of how the Xbox One dashboard might look like in the future.

Battlefield 4 beta impressions

I have now spent several hours with the open beta of Battlefield 4 and after going through some horrible errors to play it thanks to DICE’s choice of ancient anti-cheat technology, I can finally deliver some impressions.

If you want to play Battlefield 4, expect DICE to enforce three things you might not necessarily want on your computer:

1. Battlelog
2. Punkbuster
3. Origin

Without these three things you can’t play BF4. Whilst I like Origin, I hate the other two. Punkbuster is an ancient anti-cheat software from the 90:s that doesn’t do shit other than make your unable to join servers and give you no indication that it’s the problem. It complicates things and requires you to update it and it’s full of hassle. I thought they would get rid of it after Battlefield 3, but I was wrong. Insanely disappointed. Battlelog also sucks as you can’t change your settings outside the game and you have to do that in-game and the menus are slow, imperfect and the design isn’t as smooth as it should be to navigate. Just like Battlefield 3.

The graphics are gorgeous, they really are. Although I expected a bigger leap from Battlefield 3, but there’s no contest here. Call of Duty: Ghost can go hide itself back in 2007 where it belongs from a visual perspective. DICE are showing that they know graphics and sound effects, but unfortunately, that’s where my praise will end for Battlefield 4.

I understand the heart of Battlefield. It’s meant to be a war. It’s meant to be huge and immerse you. And it does that. It totally feels as if I am in a war and fighting for my life as a soldier. But that’s not necessarily a good thing. It takes a long time to find enemies sometimes. It’s insanely frustrating when two tanks roll up to you and you aren’t the Engineer class because you can’t do shit against that. It’s annoying that the respawn time is between 7-10 seconds after death. It’s annoying that you run for five minutes without action sometimes only to get shot from the other side of the world by a sniper or gunned down by a chopper. I guess Battlefield’s style of gameplay simply isn’t for me, simple as that.

Not everything is bad though. They finally improved the party joining system and squad system. It feels more polished, although it should’ve been like that in BF3 already, so this is more than two years delayed stuff. Nothing impressive, nothing worthy of praise as every other shooter did this years ago.  It just seems that DICE are not knowledgeable at several basic core things that I have come to expect from a shooter and that’s sad to see as I want to support the Swedish gaming industry but it’s simply not to my satisfaction.

The thing that impressed me the most with Battlefield 4 was without a doubt the jet-ski and water physics. They were incredible. It feel authentic just as if I was on a jet-ski. But should that really be the most impressive feature in a shooter? I don’t think so.

I am thankful for the open beta because it allowed me to save money and cancel my pre-order. I wouldn’t enjoy this game at all. The hours I played it weren’t that fun. I mean, it had its moments that were exciting with my friends and what not, but not nearly enough. I prefer a faster pace that’s more tight and intesive. and I think that Titanfall will simply crush BF4 and CoD: Ghost. So that’s where I am putting my money and time. Bottom line is that Battlefield 4 is looking to be what Battlefield 3 should have been, but it’s two years late and it’s still sub-par on many things even though it’s the industry leader in many other areas such as the graphics, physics, sound and unlimited sprinting. Such a shame. Maybe Battlefield 5 will be more to my liking. But until then, I am waiting for Titanfall.

Gorgeous graphics and great physics cannot save the game from cancer like Battlelog/Punkbuster.