I’ve never skipped a console gen starting from Super NES, PS1 through 4 plus the Switch Oled 5 years after launch of the OG Switch
It seems like exclusives are rarer now with Sony and Xbox pushing games to PC and Nintendo spending resources on remasters. COVID made it incredibly difficult to own a PS5 and they have some disappointing exclusives as well
What do you think? Any reason to own a PS5 or PS5 pro?
Really comes down to what you’re looking for.
As someone who skipped the last generation… I think this one is way better… Because it’s fully backwards compatible. Since I got a PS5 I’ve gone back and played many games I missed. Meanwhile the only game for the PS5 I play is GT7. And since I’ve loved every GT game, it was worth it for me. I expect that GTA 6 will be the next PS5 game I actually get.
The PS5 is just a PS4 with new design and a bit better performance. No Exclusives because the developers know, that on pc they can just plug in a controller and have the same feeling ( And even on a handheld, aka Steamdeck… ). My recommendation:
A handheld PC ( SteamDeck ( my favourite ) or the ROG Ally )
Differences:
Steamdeck: 2 Trackpads are really great! You can easily work with games that are mouse heavy. ( I use it for shooter games ) Fully customizable buttons ( literally everything, with even sub menus, alternative modes, community layouts etc… ) Joysticks are on the same height. Linux, less overhead and longer gaming sessions. ( You can tinker more on linux than on windows, but valve did a great job on not locking you in so you can easily install any OS that runs steam ;D ) Repairability is the best! ( Valve has a cooperation with IFixit with replacement parts ) Upgradeability is easy ( For example bigger storage, better thumbsticks ) They hear to the community of gamers and repairers. Pausing games is so easy ( Just press the power button and it saves the game where it is and saves power ) Its back again in under 5 seconds.
( Just to note those “Gamepass” Games can be easily installed if you just install windows on the steam deck if you want it )
ROG Ally: No trackpad ( so only controller optimized games ) Windows ( A lot of overhead but best compatibility with games. ) ROGs software is sometimes a bit clunky but usable. Joysticks are not on the same height. You can plug a external GPU with a proprietary plug. ( Literally a GPU in a box with some extra costs, but it improves performance on some gpu intensive games )
The best thing about this gen so far is the rise of handheld PCs, like the Steam Deck and ROG Ally. I mostly play on the Deck nowadays, while the PS5 gathers dust.
Yeah, the Steam Deck (and clones) will be the cover story in this chapter of gaming history.
The best thing about this gen so far is the rise of handheld PCs
I’d like to think this is due the Chinese handhelds picking up where Nintendo left… (In its own way ofc 🏴☠️) and I’m glad I was a participant of this…
But I think it is mostly because of cloud gaming and Nintendo Switch inspiration.
The OLED Steam Deck has reinvigorated my love for videogames. I’m playing Dave The Diver and DBZ: Kakarot now.
Nice! I have it too! Its so easy to use and to play
Yep :D Really like the steamdeck too!
PS4 and Xbone was the first generation I skipped. I always waited to see what console I was going to get first but then that whole gen just came and went before I knew it. I kind of wanted a switch this gen but I could never justify it to myself.
My steamdeck makes me feel like I’ve gone 3rd party. It’s affordable and can run about 90 percent of releases. Plus indies and it’s not locked down by anything.
The steam deck is my favourite console of this generation by far, and it’s not even 100% a console.
I play my steam deck WAYYYYYY more than my ps5. And quite a bit more than my switch.
I abandoned consoles in after the 7th gen (360/PS3 era). Like you said, with exclusives being few and far between, I see no reason to own anything other than a PC. Every game I want to play eventually comes to the platform; even Switch exclusives run at full speed, and upscale to 4K rather nicely.
I think if console is your way of gaming then upgrading to a PS4 or XBSX is alright.
Personally I only bought an XSS because it was relatively cheap last year (plus Gamepass with the £1 upgrade offer) but I’m done with future consoles now. PC gaming doesn’t have to expensive so that’s the way forward for myself.
It’s worth it just for my PS4 library not punishing me with a ten minute wait every time I die. The loading entirely changes the experience and enables punishing gameplay to be far less frustrating, in the same way Celeste can have harder sequences and be less annoying than something like Mario at the same time.
But the controller features are insane as well.
That was also my experience playing XCOM on a PS3 and then on a PC. It was almost like a whole new game.
An SSD on PC is definitely a step up from anything before this gen.
This gen (at least PS5, which leans hard into the tech with hardware decompression on top of the silly raw speed of the drives) is better than PC, though (for now). The hardware you’re buying now can do pretty much everything the PS5 hardware can, but because the software stack to use it isn’t the same and universal, there’s definitely more loads. It’s similar to how PS4 games load fast (especially compared to on the actual PS4), but get blown out of the water by PS5 games. I die in Horizon: Zero Dawn, it’s 5-10 seconds. Which is fine. But I die in Forbidden West, which is prettier and has more complexity (mechanically and the environment) and it’s maybe a second.
PC has always been better anyway
Your comment remind me how many games just wouldn’t run on my PC or how install would break my OS. Maybe I had no idea what I was doing. But PC gaming back in the days was very tricky. It got better in recent years.
I really mostly play on PC. But PC master race people are very snobish. Console gaming is a very important part of the market for very good reason.
What PC game broke your OS? That’s mad.
It’s easy to be snobbish when you’re right ¯\(ツ)/¯
PC gaming isn’t that expensive right now anyway, depending on the level of performance that you want. I have a computer presumably without a dedicated graphics processor that runs Fallout 4 well. It will run Fallout 3 at consistent 60 fps at 720p.
Depending on how new the game is and whether or not you turn down the graphics, it’s not that expensive to get a gaming PC.
Eh, depends imo.
Civilization? PC all the way. Ratchet & Clank? God of War? I had a lot of fun playing them on consoles. IDK whether they would have worked as well on PC.
Knights of the Old Republic? I played on PC in spite of the awful UI port from console mode.
95% of the games I play are on pc. With mods. Faster load screens. Better debugging by the community.
The 5% of games I don’t get to play “new” will inevitably be developed for pc - by the companies themselves or some smart fan.
I figure consoles have another 25 years max before they are totally obsolete tech.
Consoles are basically just pre built PCs with an OS dedicated to games. There will always be a huge audience that wants an easier to use purpose built device for games. The situation might change though with steam os getting better and allowing for PC games to compete with consoles on the same footing.
I’ve been on the internet for a long time. Pc fans like yourself have been making this claim forever. And yet the market keels growing.
As a console gamer who loves tinkering with my pc, I can’t agree. As much as I love tinkering on PC, when I want to game I don’t want to setup anything or wonder if my computer can run a game.
As long as PC gaming isn’t giving you that for every game, they’ll be some kind of console market.
And as long as consoles remain cheaper than gaming systems. Sure, you can technically build a gaming computer for less than the cost of a PS5 or Series X, but the consoles will massively out-perform it.
Yeah I’m already annoyed because you have to choose between Fps and graphic fidelity on that generation, so I’d have a stroke in front of all the parameters you have on a pc😅
And yeah the price is a big plus on a console, especially if you only buy a few new games and buy second hand a lot.
I gotta be honest I am waiting for the inevitable PS5 Pro because nothing is out this gen that interests me and the AAAs are mostly duds at this point, something we saw a lot of last gen. Industry is due a large adjustment.
I mostly game on consoles, but we’re multiple years into this generation and there still isn’t anything I’m interested in that isn’t on PS4 too.
However, I’ll get the next Nintendo console. The switch was more than worth it. A steam deck could work too, I guess, but I liked quite a lot of Nintendos exclusives.
I don’t think I’ve played anything exclusive to the PS5. Not worth buying in my opinion.
I have played stuff exclusive to the switch, I mostly dislike it though. I’m not sure why, I think it’s that they don’t compete because they have us with their catalogue and I dislike their business practices, selling gimmicks and vaulting content. Especially given most of the switch games are port of Wiiu games then it probably is skippable.
I’d agree, should have skipped.
For what it’s worth I love the ps5. The ps5 controller absolutely reinvigorated my love of gaming. I know some pc games are getting the adaptive triggers but I do not think it compares.