Archive: 26 posts

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This is BIG! I've been saying for quite some time (nearly four years to be exact) now that the PS4 will be Sony's last console. It will cater for the gamer who wants to download from PSN, the gamer that wants a hard copy and the gamer who wants to subscribe (probably with PS+) to new gaming experiences, including streaming. What this means for the future is that Sony will only have to upgrade server side and there will be no need for another console, just an improved build of PS4, rather like Sky Boxes do now. BC is assured and every Sony branded product will use the cloud in one way or another. People wonder why Sony aren't worried about the Vita... well here's why Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) today announced that it entered into a definitive agreement on June 30, 2012 (Japan Time) to acquire Gaikai Inc., the world’s leading interactive cloud-based gaming company, for approximately USD 380 million. Through the acquisition, SCE will establish a new cloud service, ensuring that it continues to provide users with truly innovative and immersive interactive entertainment experiences. “By combining Gaikai’s resources including its technological strength and engineering talent with SCE’s extensive game platform knowledge and experience, SCE will provide users with unparalleled cloud entertainment experiences,” said Andrew House, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. “SCE will deliver a world-class cloud-streaming service that allows users to instantly enjoy a broad array of content ranging from immersive core games with rich graphics to casual content anytime, anywhere on a variety of internet-connected devices.” “SCE has built an incredible brand with PlayStation and has earned the respect of countless millions of gamers worldwide,” said David Perry, CEO of Gaikai Inc., “We’re honored to be able to help SCE rapidly harness the power of the interactive cloud and to continue to grow their ecosystem, to empower developers with new capabilities, to dramatically improve the reach of exciting content and to bring breathtaking new experiences to users worldwide.” Established in 2008 and headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California, Gaikai has developed the highest quality, fastest interactive cloud-streaming platform in the world that enables the streaming of quality games to a wide variety of devices via the internet. With this acquisition, SCE will establish a cloud service and expand its network business by taking full advantage of Gaikai's revolutionary technology and infrastructure including data centers servicing dozens of countries and key partners around the world. The transaction is subject to certain regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. SCE will continue to aggressively expand a new world of entertainment through the introduction of innovative technologies and the delivery of amazing experiences. http://www.dualpixels.com/profiles/blogs/sony-computer-entertainment-to-acquire-gaikai[/QUOTE]

2012-07-02 08:36:00 Author: GribbleGrunger Posts: 3910

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I reckon we'll still get up to PS5 or 6 before streaming is the normal thing. We've got to wait for enough users to have the infrustructure to stream at an acceptable quality and for data caps to be at a level high enough to cover the bandwidth used while also being reasonably priced.

2012-07-02 09:51:00 Author: Rabid-Coot Posts: 6728

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I reckon we'll still get up to PS5 or 6 before streaming is the normal thing. We've got to wait for enough users to have the infrustructure to stream at an acceptable quality and for data caps to be at a level high enough to cover the bandwidth used while also being reasonably priced. I can't agree. You're thinking in absolutes. It's not a matter of ALL people being able to use this service out of the box, it's about growing the community just like PSN or PS+. you will still get your PSN games and your Blu-ray games so that anyone with a terrible connection or no connection at all will be able to carry on as normal, but for an ever growing audience, cloud gaming will become the norm. and you're not just looking at PS3 and PS4 here. You are looking at Vita, Bravia, Laptop, Pads, Phones and anything else that Sony can stream their content into. this is the biggest move Sony have made since first entering the console generation with the PS1. The Vita just got every darn game on every PS branded console or handheld and it also got a huge slice of PC games too here's a very interesting interview with David Perry, head of Gaikai: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-01-22-above-the-clouds

2012-07-02 10:34:00 Author: GribbleGrunger Posts: 3910

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I can't agree. You're thinking in absolutes. It's not a matter of ALL people being able to use this service out of the box, it's about growing the community just like PSN or PS+. you will still get your PSN games and your Blu-ray games so that anyone with a terrible connection or no connection at all will be able to carry on as normal, but for an ever growing audience, cloud gaming will become the norm. and you're not just looking at PS3 and PS4 here. You are looking at Vita, Bravia, Laptop, Pads, Phones and anything else that Sony can stream their content into. this is the biggest move Sony have made since first entering the console generation with the PS1. So in summary yes there is still potential for getting to the PS5/6 while the technology grows. The Vita just got every darn game on every PS branded console or handheld Most yes but I honestly don't think we'll be seeing every game thats ever been on a PS console due to licences expiring and other complications

2012-07-02 12:29:00 Author: Rabid-Coot Posts: 6728

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read this interview: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-01-22-above-the-clouds this is HUGE you guys do realise that this mean you'll be able to play LBP levels on ANY device.

2012-07-02 12:44:00 Author: GribbleGrunger Posts: 3910

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So, to stop piracy and the second hand market they're simply going to take away the games from everyone? No thanks, I want my data stored locally. I don't want it held ransom by some third party. I refuse to play Diablo III for the same reason.

2012-07-02 14:28:00 Author: Ayneh Posts: 2454

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So, to stop piracy and the second hand market they're simply going to take away the games from everyone? No thanks, I want my data stored locally. I don't want it held ransom by some third party. I refuse to play Diablo III for the same reason. why is it that everywhere I see this subject people talk in absolutes. This is just an alternative. You can carry on gaming and buying second hand games as always

2012-07-02 14:41:00 Author: GribbleGrunger Posts: 3910

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Maybe at first, but If the service takes off (psgo indicates maybe not...) then it is unlikely they'll continue to produce disk based games. what about those of us with poor internet connection, who must wait for hours to download games such as these? plus the fact that currently, ps download titles (specificly big release games available both for download or for retail purchase) have a tendancy to be massivley overpriced (often costing similar amounts to the retail version, despite the fact that no shipping, boxing or disk material and printing cost will apply to them.) In short, NO thanks

2012-07-02 16:01:00 Author: Smudge228 Posts: 533

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the very fact that you mention the internet connections is the answer to this. only when everyone on the planet has a perfect connection will disc based games disappear. why are people not seeing this? it's an 'option', not a replacement. I've just been playing Alan Wake and The Witcher on Facebook to check out Gaikais servers and both ran lovely. Imagine just being able to jump into any game you want for half an hour before you decide to buy the disc... and 'if you want', why not subscribe to PS+ and play the whole thing over the internet.

2012-07-02 17:07:00 Author: GribbleGrunger Posts: 3910

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The day cloud replaces disc based gaming is the day gaming dies.

2012-07-03 01:14:00 Author: Bremnen Posts: 1800

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..Would like to tell us why? Or should we assume your guess is prophecy?

2012-07-03 01:35:00 Author: Littlebigdude805 Posts: 1924

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The gaming world isn't prepared to accept digital distribution and cloud gaming as the main option for buying games. There's still many people out there that don't have an appropriate internet connection to be constantly downloading and streaming stuff. Of course, these formats can coexist. Digital distribution has many advantages, especially on PC. But physical distribution won't disappear, at least not for a loooong time.

2012-07-03 01:41:00 Author: SnipySev Posts: 2452

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After skimming, I see it saying that everything will be downloadable and stored online? *******ing finally! I hate hard copies of stuff. As long as there is a way to retrieve lost content, I want it all to be online.

2012-07-03 02:11:00 Author: Speedynutty68 Posts: 1614

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After skimming, I see it saying that everything will be downloadable and stored online? *******ing finally! I hate hard copies of stuff. As long as there is a way to retrieve lost content, I want it all to be online. I hate to be rude here, but I'm hoping that's not the direction things will be fully heading. Imo, Snipy's right, I believe both ways of distributing games share their part. Digital games can be great, because you've got it all there on the device, and it's good for those who don't need all the physical copies lying around. Plus, this makes it easier to throw out cheaper, bite sized games on any platform, along with free, temporary promotions with PS+, or downloadable content. But, I just really like having hard copies for certain games, I can't really explain it as well as some might be able to here. It's great how trading and selling can work, it's nice to pop in a disc, and it's always great to get a good peer at a cover, and a nice whiff of the old strategy guide, even if most games lack them nowadays. I just can't bear to think of a future where it's all digital. TL;DR How I feel about all future physical copies going obsolete: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5igrh4DVc1rr6xcro1_400.gif

2012-07-03 03:14:00 Author: Dragonvarsity Posts: 5208

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I hate to be rude here, but I really hope you're wrong with this. I hate to be rude here, but please point me to the spot where I made a prediction and not an opinion.

2012-07-03 07:17:00 Author: Speedynutty68 Posts: 1614

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You guys/gals are only seeing the negatives. Want Home on the Vita? Got it! Want LBP2 on your laptop? Got it! Want PC games on your PS3? Got it!

2012-07-03 13:01:00 Author: GribbleGrunger Posts: 3910

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I hate to be rude here, but please point me to the spot where I made a prediction and not an opinion. My mistake, I worded that pretty badly. What I meant to say was that I hope your opinion on the matter doesn't come to fruition, that's all. You guys/gals are only seeing the negatives. Want Home on the Vita? Got it! Want LBP2 on your laptop? Got it! Want PC games on your PS3? Got it! I haven't been reading most of these posts except for a tidbit of the O.P. and what Speedy and Snipy said, so I'm afraid I can't exactly comment on most of what's been said, all I'm trying to say though is that I hope we keep a balance between physical and digital distribution. EDIT: Edited first post to clarify, thanks for pointing that out for me Speedy.

2012-07-03 13:08:00 Author: Dragonvarsity Posts: 5208

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we will see hard copies as well as downloads even when this is in full force. What this means though is that there will NOT be a PS5. The PS4 will be Sony's last console because all they will have to do is offer better games server side that are running on the highest end PCs available. But that won't happen for a very long time... probably another 8 to 10 years before we see any major change. And you'd still be able to buy most games on a physical medium even then

2012-07-03 13:33:00 Author: GribbleGrunger Posts: 3910

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GribbleGrunger, we need more people with your high optimistic views on everything but in reality we will not see hard copies as well. The same thing could be said to "flip phones" or phones that had no touch-screen capabilities. But if you look closely, those types of phones are slowly becoming obsolete. If digital distribution flourishes well why would Sony waste their time and money on continuing to support hard copies of games? It's a waste of money. They'll thin out the herd much like the only types of phones you see nowadays are touch screen phones. As for PS4 being the last console for Sony? I also feel that is incorrect and would be foolish for Sony. You argue that we are speaking in absolutes but you are too, in a way. I work in a large chain clothing company and we've recently undergone a huge store policy world-wide. We no longer have those sales you see in other stores; "50% off for 4th of July weekend" "Buy one get one free", etc,. Instead, we have one month-long sale every month, and everyday prices that are the SAME price they were when we had those big sales. What am I trying to get at here? People still complain that we don't have coupons, or sales, people complain about the high prices (when in reality, the prices are the prices of those sales we used to have.) People are used to the idea that they are only getting a good bargain when it's on sale, they don't realize that the price is the "sale" price. What does this have to do with this topic? Ten years from now, Microsoft and Nintendo release their new generation console. Sony, on the other hand releases an "update" to their already existing console, the PS4. It may be just as good as the new generation consoles offered by Microsoft and Nintendo but that is not what people will see. They will see an old console, worn out and outdated. They will see the new consoles reigning far more superior to Sony's new "update". Do you see what I'm trying to get at here? I just don't think the world is ready for these types of innovative ideas, it would just be a bad financial move from Sony. This is all my opinion of course.

2012-07-03 19:39:00 Author: Whalio Cappuccino Posts: 5250

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As much as old phones are getting obsolete, you can't directly compare it to what is happening to games. While digital distribution is becoming more popular, you need to remember that you still need to download these games, and that's where the problems appear: What if the servers go down? What if your connection is too slow? What if you don't even have internet connection, at least not to the console? And with the evolution of hardware, comes the evolution of software. Better graphics and physics, and all the extra content will add up gigabytes to the game data. Downloading a 50GB file doesn't sound as appealing as just buying the disc and installing it directly. Plus, there's countries that limit downloaded data per month. While digital distribution may become stronger to indie games or expansion packs, I can't see a future where hardcore games are only distributed digitally.

2012-07-03 21:02:00 Author: gdn001 Posts: 5891

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As much as old phones are getting obsolete, you can't directly compare it to what is happening to games. While digital distribution is becoming more popular, you need to remember that you still need to download these games, and that's where the problems appear: What if the servers go down? What if your connection is too slow? What if you don't even have internet connection, at least not to the console? And with the evolution of hardware, comes the evolution of software. Better graphics and physics, and all the extra content will add up gigabytes to the game data. Downloading a 50GB file doesn't sound as appealing as just buying the disc and installing it directly. Plus, there's countries that limit downloaded data per month. While digital distribution may become stronger to indie games or expansion packs, I can't see a future where hardcore games are only distributed digitally. What I was trying to argue with my example was the fact that Gribble believes that hard disk copies will always be available. Let's just pretend that the digital distribution from the PS4 is a huge success. 95% of their customers like it and they're fine with downloading all their games. Why would Sony spend their time and money on the small 5% of their customers that don't have a strong internet connection (or an internet connection at all)? From a financial standpoint, it would not make sense at all. Like the saying goes, you either evolve or you die. It's sort of the same in this aspect, Sony would move on and those that can't obtain the necessities needed for the PS4 would have to move to another console. Hard disk copies would become obsolete, at least for Sony.

2012-07-03 21:17:00 Author: Whalio Cappuccino Posts: 5250

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My mistake, I worded that pretty badly. What I meant to say was that I hope your opinion on the matter doesn't come to fruition, that's all. EDIT: Edited first post to clarify, thanks for pointing that out for me Speedy. Much better. And @Gribble- I'm not seeing the negatives. I want this to happen...

2012-07-04 01:09:00 Author: Speedynutty68 Posts: 1614

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I don't think that only 5% of the consumers wouldn't be willing to buy digital copies. I think that there's a fair amount of people who find the idea of having to download entire games that you bought unappealing. Hell, there's even people that complain about having to download 100MB updates! Unless internet technology improves significantly in both quality and accessibility, I don't see how physical copies are going to become extinct.

2012-07-04 02:00:00 Author: gdn001 Posts: 5891

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What I was trying to argue with my example was the fact that Gribble believes that hard disk copies will always be available. Let's just pretend that the digital distribution from the PS4 is a huge success. 95% of their customers like it and they're fine with downloading all their games. Why would Sony spend their time and money on the small 5% of their customers that don't have a strong internet connection (or an internet connection at all)? From a financial standpoint, it would not make sense at all. Like the saying goes, you either evolve or you die. It's sort of the same in this aspect, Sony would move on and those that can't obtain the necessities needed for the PS4 would have to move to another console. Hard disk copies would become obsolete, at least for Sony. We can pretend that scenario becomes a reality but the truth is that it won't, at least not for a long time. Even if Sony did their best to "convert" their clients to digital, they'd never get the majority of their audience in such a short time. The amount of people that prefer digital distribution over hard copies is very low at the moment, especially among the console folk. The group of gamers who don't have an appropriate internet connection for this kind of gaming is much bigger than you think. Some people take this kind of thing for granted, but it really isn't. It's a commodity. I don't remember which game it was, but EA once said that more than 20% of players who bought it didn't ever connect with the servers. Not one single time. People just aren't ready to consider digital distribution the default format.

2012-07-04 02:05:00 Author: SnipySev Posts: 2452

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We can pretend that scenario becomes a reality but the truth is that it won't, at least not for a long time. Even if Sony did their best to "convert" their clients to digital, they'd never get the majority of their audience in such a short time. The amount of people that prefer digital distribution over hard copies is very low at the moment, especially among the console folk. The group of gamers who don't have an appropriate internet connection for this kind of gaming is much bigger than you think. Some people take this kind of thing for granted, but it really isn't. It's a commodity. I don't remember which game it was, but EA once said that more than 20% of players who bought it didn't ever connect with the servers. Not one single time. People just aren't ready to consider digital distribution the default format. I feel like you and gdn are misreading my posts. You do realize I'm arguing for hard copies right?

2012-07-04 06:20:00 Author: Whalio Cappuccino Posts: 5250

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It's of little value for a gamer to argue that this isn't good for them, because when an industry decides to do something and all parties are in agreement, it gets done regardless of the end users needs. remember that MS and Nintendo will also go down this route at some point. It always made me chuckle when people thought HD-DVD would beat out Blu-ray... it didn't stand a chance because the 80% of the industry wanted Blu-ray. And then you had people comparing DVD sales to Blu-ray and again I chuckled. they seem to forget that the same companies selling you DVD are the same companies selling you Blu-ray. of course they wanted DVD to carry on. how else were they going to get you to buy two copies of the same film? This will happen because the industry wants it. it's so much cheaper for them and it stops piracy in its tracks. As for the argument that perception will not favour the PS4+ future, I believe that's wrong. It's not advisable to view it from today, you have to imagine what the view will be in 10 to 15 years, and trust me it will be a lot different. be honest, if Sony offered you next gen games, running at 1080p and 60fps, with specs as high as top end PCs, and then told you can have that without having to purchase another console, wouldn't you be just a little interested? I know I would. The potential is incredible with this tech. you could theoretically test out a PS4 game on your PS3! I know that immediately people will think: 'in that case, why even bother with a PS4?' It's simple. it's connected with the arguments so far in this very thread. Not enough people are online and broadband isn't consistent enough. This is why there will be a PS4. of course Sony will also want cutting edge tech in the PS4 to make sure that it is powerful enough to last for 15 to 20 years and get by on firsmware updates alone. it was called Playstation Network for a reason. The future is gaming channels. devs will no longer have to worry about squeezing the last drop out of current tech and the consumer will no longer have to worry about buying the latest tech.

2012-07-04 13:45:00 Author: GribbleGrunger Posts: 3910

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