RobbEJay

@nathanuc1988 I doesn't need a very big dip to make a difference, just a small dint. After playing Mario Party 2 the other day it reminded me how nice the texture of the thumb stick was, so just a texture like it or the GameCube's thumb stick would be enough.

@Gemuarto What in the world would you need 3 thumb sticks for short of some crazy N64 style controller?

Concave sticks and with a better texture would be nice, the most annoying thing about the PSP's nub was how slippery it got despite having a coarser grip than a dualshock. None if those look very nice and most look like PC gamepad knock-off versions.

I think a $300-$400 price range is very doable for both sides, since you can easily build a budget PC that beats current consoles for that much, but they have a much easier time due to lack of OS license fees and better prices on parts. I'm really curious about the CPU since they're both supposedly using a 1.6GHz 8-core amd CPU, its possible they're using the same model (amd's "Jaguar" mobile chip is what some people theorize the Xbox's CPU to be).

Maybe they could use an "administrator" and "standard" account setting like PCs use for security settings. That way only "admin" accounts can access locked content. I'd be even better if you could even change an individual programs's block status, like certain games you deem appropriate despite the rating.

I think thats a big part of it. I really enjoyed RDR, and while I'm a big fan of westerns (a notoriously cheesy and poorly done genre) what sets it apart is Rockstar's signature pull no punches yet doesn't take itself too seriously attitude. I've yet so see anyone strike that balance between seriousness and tongue in cheek humor like they do.

R* is just a great studio in general though, with a really nice balance in game play despite the size of their games and a certain flare for storytelling. I would really like to see more original games like Bully and RDR from them, they're the ones that really stand out.

Backwards compatibility isn't the be all end all but its something that should be included when possible. It definitely makes your console look more appealing when you can say people can play all their old favorites and their new ones on the same machine. Its an attractive feature and helps cut clutter if your the type that keeps their old console.

I'm not so worried about PS1 & PS2 games since PCs can emulate those, so Sony shouldn't have much trouble with that. I prefer physical games but that doesn't exactly help with PSN only games.

I don't have a problem with it but good luck with this hare brained scheme, I mean they're only asking people to convince those around them to plunk down $250 for a handheld. No biggie, am I right?

The Vita is a nice little gadget but I think the price is just more than what most people think a handheld is worth. At that price their already competing with tablets and after the cost of memory they're sitting right between a budget model tablet and an ipad. As far as portable time wasters go most would probably pick a tablet.

@charlesnarles I forgot about those, might be interesting if its just a pair of buttons on the underside near your fingers. I don't know if they could get in the way if they use a flat shape like the Vita but maybe if they're in just the right spot to be in finger tip range they won't.

Its weird but while I like touch pads for aiming and menu navigation I hate them for everything else. They did say the entire touch pad would be "clickable" though so who knows, they might not even stick with it.

To me its fine in F2P games but it takes away part of the experience otherwise. Remember how part of the challenge of older games like Dragon Quest was that everything was a potential threat? Well not anymore if you can just buy your way out of a sticky situation.

People already complain about trophy pop-ups so how about a game of Fallout where you keep seeing things pop-ups asking if you want to buy something with real money?

@charlesnarles Ever tried playing anything outside simulations or strategy games with a multitouch trackpad? It sucks, not only does it make aiming and firing awkward and your hands get in the way of each other, but tapping to click (which I'm assuming the "clickable" pad does) makes it too easy to slip up.

I have to sheath my bow in Oblivion just to make sure I don't accidentally attack someone, thats how sensitive they are.

Was thinking the exact same thing as @get2sammyb and @rastamadeus myself as far as the survey is concerned.

I think the lack of game, especially with Japan's tastes in mind in this case, and the over-all start-up costs are a big part of it. The Vita's price isn't too bad but by the time you buy everything you need you could probably have bought a home console or a bunch of other stuff for the same price.

Easily one of my favorite controllers to date, and one of my favorite things about Sony consoles is the basic layout is roughly the same. Didn't mind the the L2/R2 triggers either except it was weird playing MGS with them.

If it ends up like a Vita with grips It might be ok, but I'd rather they stick with the DS3 design and just give it concave sticks and give the triggers a slight lip.

Sounds interesting to say the least, rumors like these are exciting and really makes you think about what these new consoles could be capable of.

Might mean bad news for the Wii U though since it only has 2GB of RAM, after a while it might run into memory problems like the PS3.

PS+ is definitely a good deal when you first buy a console, since normally you'd only have 1 or 2 games to play at first. You can't beat having 12+ games for only $5 a month.

It certainly looks nice, but not $299 on something I already have nice.

Breach of contract is one thing but they way they're handling it is rather excessive and possibly a bit controlling. Most people are used to seeing actors take different roles and the "Kevin Butler" commercials should be old enough by then to not cause confusion.

Hopefully Lambert takes the time to make sure future roles are properly defined, otherwise Sony could potentially say any future role is "Kevin Butler" based on appearances alone.

Yea, being Disney this will sell on the name alone. Disney is awesome and all but I don't like these big collectable games. Not only are they pricey but they just end up as more clutter. At least Disney isn't likely to screw around with characters the way activision did with Spyro.

@Stine Same here, the only collectors edition I bought was for the Last Story which just had a CD and art book that came in a box designed to look like a book with the game's cover art on it but that was a free upgrade for preordering.

Most of the collectors editions are more junk thats neat for maybe a day or so until you get bored. It might be worth it for something you could use (like the inFamous 2 sling pack @3Above mentioned) or something that might make an interesting show piece.

@rjejr Given the difference in in tech between then and now they could easily get a nice jump in power for the price. Not only do they get the parts cheaper than we can (wholesale and bulk prices) they don't have to pay licensing fees for the OS which normally adds $100 to the total price.

You can easily get a 4-core CPU, GPU, 4 gbs of ram and everything else for $400, what ends up in the PS4 ultimately depends on their business strategy. Its possible they are planning to break even on hardware and make most of the profits off software and PS+.

I don't think it really matters, as long as the console sells well, gets a lot of games, and keeps the company in business it should count as a success. Thats the nice thing about the industry being so balanced, third party games end up on just about any platform that'll run it so all you have to do is pick your platform of choice.

Unlike back in the day when each console had a good chunk of its library as exclusives so you pretty much had to either suck it up or buy both. Thats why I hope the next gen consoles are more even power-wise.

@rjejr I'm not trying to put it on the same level as book burning (probably should have worded that better), I was talking about how book burning is basically just destroying the offending material and expecting the problem to go away on its own. The issues at hand aren't gone you just buried them.

Your probably right about the way the situation was presented (not that I'm blaming anyone here).

@nathanuc1988 Not no mention fans can at least use console commands and patch things themselves when necessary, not ideal but better than being stuck waiting for Bethesda to fix them.

@charlesnarles Agreed, nothing record-breaking but still looks great (granted I care more about visual quality than resolution). Bethesda bugs seem kinda hit or miss and affect console player more from what I can tell anyway, with some people reporting very few (or minor) ones.

I assume the price difference is because SOA doesn't think the price drop isn't necessary yet or too soon, the Xbox 360 is still in the $200 range as well and the last price drop for the PS3 over here was after the PSN outage.

Its funny cause I bought mine about a week before while it was still $299 then after awhile the stores started having sales that brought the price down to the new price right before it actually dropped. Didn't make any difference in the end it was still worth it, and the console is still a great value compared to the competition despite this gen being long in the tooth.

I'm glad they reached their goal without having to case a big stink. Have to agree with CSM about the censorship, it would have been no better than a book buring or similar actions. It would be better to sit down and explain to your children why its inappropriate and/or harmful for them so they actually understand it, rather than pull the rug out from under them and expect them to be happy and obedient.

I was about to bring up hardware costs, but @Moomoo beat me too it. Beyond that convincing Joe average he needs a 4k HDTV might be a losing battle. It might be a boon to enthusiasts but thats still a rather small pond compared to the mass market, and for many 4k res is something that would make for a cool movie experience but probably not worth the cash to bring into their home.

Besides, I don't think pushing expensive high-end tech is the best idea when your balancing out your budget.

While I understand where they're coming this is rather extreme. By this same logic they should be doing this with guns too, cause guns can kill people. Its not the kids' fault they're able to play those violent M rated games that they can't even purchase without an adult in the first place. There have already been studies showing theres no connection between violent media and behavior, but that doesn't mean certain types of people wouldn't be more drawn to them in the first place.

I'm not against violence but I don't think it should be glorified either. Something people often overlook with GTA and it's spin-offs is while there is a lot of mature content the game doesn't encourage you to run around guns ablaze'in, the wanted system actually gives that route consequences too and encourages you to be more discrete. Thats how violence should be handled but you don't need actual violence to make a point either, even Nintendo games have subtle hints that can be overlooked by kids but noticed by older players (particularly older ones).

@ThreadThreadShadow GameStop gets a big chunk of profits from used game sales, as large a company as it is there would be a problem if they decided to not stock anything PS4.

I agree with you about the rest. As far as I'm concerned if your having trouble making profits due to your budget size its your budget that needs to change, nothing else. Unfortunately its an industry wide problem thats unlikely to change but it shouldn't stop them from clearing out the bloat, I've even seen celebrities play small roles (I recall Woody Harrelson playing an uncredited role as a villager or something in skyrim, can't find it but I remember getting excited over it).

How disappointing, when I first heard rumors about it I was kinda excited. which is a shame since The walking Dead would make a great survival horror game if done right, emphasizing the human side of things and the dire situation.

I think the big factory is the game selection. Vita doesn't have very many eastern style games on it, especially compared to the PSP and even 3DS has quite a few. I recall the article from a while back about Sony trying to push western style games more in Japan.

The price doesn't help much either. Compare the $250 price of the Vita to the PSP's $99 and the much cheaper games, I don't know about you but as far as bang for buck goes I'd pick the PSP. Even 3DS is $80 cheaper with games the same price as Vita's.

@Sony_70 I know about that but thats all it is, a rumor. At first glance that would beat out any other offer, but assuming it comes with 2 years of live like most phone deals thats still $200-$300+the cost of games. If you actually want xbox+live thats a great deal but otherwise it'd be wise to shop around.

The good news is that it seems this time around console choice will be more about what works best for you.

I think the PS3's strength when compared to the competition is going to be it's strong library of budget friendly (i.e. old,cheap) games and the healthy amount of new upcoming ones.

With money being tight people are going to want a lot of bang for their buck, the next gen consoles will be a fair bit stronger but start-up costs ($300-$400+ console+$60 a pop games) will be a lot less attractive compared to the PS3 ($250 console+$10-$60 for games). Thats not even considering sales, and is one of the reasons I got mine.

That looks cool and all, but talk about your food staring back at you.

Not too keen on the F2P model but being PSO I'll have to keep an eye on it. I just wonder how having the Vita changes apply to cross-play will sit with PC gamers.

@Gemuarto I don't think the point of shortening session intervals for PSO2 is for portability, but rather not interfering with cross-play sessions if a Vita player decides to put his handheld into sleep mode.

I agree that its the variety thats a big draw for Sony consoles, both first and third party. I do think that they should tighten their belt a little bit but more along the lines of how Nintendo (I know boo, hiss) does it. They already have a series or two for most genres they just need to spread things out a bit so the new games aren't too jam packed together.

It also wouldn't hurt to have a primarily handheld exclusive series or two that people would have to buy their handhelds for, not necessarily a pokemon killer but something that won't have too many console counterparts.

Thats gonna be Sony's biggest problem. The PS3 is still doing really well both economically and game wise, a new console will only cause a shift among consumers. On the flip-side giving MS too much of a head start will hinder PS4 sales since once consumers buy one they likely aren't going to want the other, thats what happened this gen and the only people who switched were the ones who's console went RROD/YLOD.

Not really ready for PS4 myself either, only had mine for about a year and I didn't really buy it for first party games anyway so I won't be buying PS4 for them either.

My only problem with the game was how each attack was set to different buttons and each button had 2-3 different attacks, it just over complicated things in my opinion even compared to traditional fighting game combos.

Otherwise it was a pretty good game based on what I played of the beta, just not my cup of tea.

Not sure about the ps move part I like that the controller comes apart. I've always wanted a one handed controller for RPGs and other slow-paced games, in fact one of my favorite things about the GBC was it was small enough to play one-handed.

I have a snakebyte controller (the FFXIV one) and its pretty comfortable, so I would say an extended dualshock would work well.

@MrNiceGuy Really, cause mine held up like a tank. It fell out of the front pouch of my hoodie (so, about 3ft) 3 times landing on asphalt twice (my boot broke the fall once), and only chipped the finish.

Saw thins the other day, been wanting to get a replacement for my current one. The replacement screen I got is a dud, the power switch keeps coming loose, the finish is chipped and I managed to break a few of the cable clips.

The only thing stopping me is I'm not sure if I should just put the $99 towards a Vita instead.

@rjejr
Thats what I was thinking too. The only thing I can see is people like you that don't have one of them and are looking for a more affordable alternative for whatever reason. Funny I was actually looking at the Xbox 360 for the same reason as you.

That would actually be a great way to advertise the Vita since many people might get some hands on experience and really like it. Sure theres demo stations in store but I rarely see adults playing them.

A price drop isn't a big deal right now anyway with Black Friday/Cyber Monday coming up, I have a gut feeling we'll see some sales for the vita going on. Then theres used ones like @KingGhidorah said, I've seen quite a few "like new" ones including some with memory cards, screen protectors, and other goodies cheaper than a brand new stand-alone system myself.

Even if I did buy mostly digital I don't buy games often enough to take advantage of this sorta deal. It is a good deal for anyone planning to buy a bunch of games off PSN anyway.

I don't think theres much of a point complaining about one clone out of 20 characters when Smash Bros. has had far more, as long as they play differently it should be fine. Besides its a lose-lose situation since people would either complain they put both in or left one out. Also one thing to consider about the first Smash Bros. is the limited space on the cart, which is tiny even compared to vita game cards.

Wouldn't be surprise to see dlc characters, especially ones like Spyro or Cloud cause you know those would sell. I have no problems with dlc but I hope they don't make you pay for it twice being a cross-buy game and all.

Probably just the typical stranded and looking for a way out type story. The bus might just be a hub of sorts.

I'm usually more interested in the side modes than the main game so its good to hear there are more this time around, unfortunately I haven't heard anything about the Smash TV inspired one.

Only problem with games like this one is if you've seen the show you already know what happens. Still looks good but I would rather have Redigitized.

They're certainly between a rock an a hard place here, they need to find a way to encourage people to migrate over the the Vita rather than pull the rug out from under them. I don't know which is sadder, seeing a great old system phaze out or a brand new one full of potential struggle.

@rjejr It was the first half of the tanker mission up to the shootout with Olga. Nevr played ZoE but if I'm not going to buy a game just for a demo, let alone one of a game I'll just end up buying anyway.

Like the title, too bad its the other way around.

The Ps3 is a great value I'll give you that after all I bought one for those same reasons a few years ago, but I wouldn't count Nintendo out just yet. For starters just look at Mario platformer launches, the Wii U launching with NSMBU guarantees tons of sales. The launch line up is pretty strong but its still rather unfair to compare it to that of a console that is over 5 years old.

Granted I still would wait longer to get one than I'm planning to if it wasn't for MH3U, if I put a good 500+ hours into it like I did MH3 the Wii U will still be worth while.

I'm getting tired of seeing content being held back on a game we all pay $60 for just because another company starts waving their money around. Timed DLC is one thing but this is content that is on disk and should be available day to everybody from the start.

Why exactly does the jacket need to be $500+? For most people $200 for a jacket is pushing it let alone that much. Its nice and all but I can think of over a dozen things I could spend $900+ on that I could use a lot more.

I've always just chalked it up to tech progressing much faster in the MGS unverse. We certainly didn't have cloaking devices back when MGS 1 takes place, or now for that matter.

I have no problem with the occasional port as long as its a game that is suited to handhelds. I would still much rather have a spin-off or original entry in a series though.

Cross-buy to me is a great idea since it eliminates the need to re-buy the same game for your handheld. But it should be a perk rather than a selling point.