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Topic: PC vs X1X Cost Effectiveness

Posts 181 to 192 of 192

NEStalgia

@ThanosReXXX Yeah they list the Hot Wheels one as discontinued, and it can be had for $230 or so now. No additional free game though.

Oh, it IS a couch gaming option! See, it's only a 23" screen (anything bigger is too heavy for the mount, which is why those bigger HDR/4K screens won't work....It's at the absolute limit of weight already.) But I rigged a DIY custom mount together using some pro audio mic boom stand hardware, VESA mount plates, etc. So I can drop down the monitor in front of the couch like Cipher in the Matrix to play, and then swivel it back to the wall (or really audio rack) when done. It's a slick setup and lets me sit a foot or two from the screen. I do miss my big 26" desktop screens but they're a touch heavy and they're meant for print work so they're 1st gen IPS and throw heat like a blowtorch and weigh a ton (and probably cost as much as that 40+" plasma back then. )

Sniper Elite V2: Actually WiiU was a mixed bag. No online (at all) majorly gimped it. And no DLC availability gimped it. And people whined and whined because that's what Nintendo fans do with third party ports. OTOH the core solo game was actually smoother on WiiU, and the map & inventory on the gamepad was actually useful. So the game was incomplete, but if you weren't going to play online anyway and didn't care about the DLC to shoot Hitler in an inappropriate location (does this count as Godwins law? ) , it could potentially be the better version. PS3 played it like trash.....

I think PS4 has that same interface for viewing pics videos, DLC etc all on one page (with a spiffy music-filled animated backdrop for the game....love it or hate it. )

I actually came VERY close to buying an X1......S yesterday! I went to sign up for PS Vue....and yes, they do require a CC on file as a payment method. I have my PayPal payment method on there, but they won't accept that for Vue apparently (I'm betting the same goes for Now.) Now, I'm careful with my card. I don't put it anywhere. But for a service like that I might have taken the risk and assumed it would be fine. However, it's Playstation. They're the ones that compromised my card the last time I gave it to them and caused months of nightmare. Maybe they fixed their store. Maybe not. Considering the ongoing intermittent problems with it (last week it kept declining PayPal saying an error occurred, and trying $0.00 charges that failed (and one successful charge that then refunded...while believing it an error.) I'm going with "they still don't know what they're doing." And so I decided those potentially confused service operators may retain security vulnerabilities and therefore I'm not confident in putting my card on file with them still. Though in my head the determination sounded more like "There's not a chance I'm giving those rock shucking, incompetent muddy trucking sunny beaches my card until bells freeze over." But basically the same thing.

So with View (and presumably Now) an impossibility, I headed over to Youtube TV where they happily took my PayPal on file. Misses a few channels I cared about, gains a few channels I didn't care about. It's $5 cheaper.......AAAND my spare PS3 for streaming has no app for it (probably more Google's fault than Sony's not getting an app together.....they still don't support Firefox, Safari, or IE either, requiring only Chrome with a statement they're "working" on support for other browsers.......you can always count on Google to launch a service, tell no one, then fail to properly support it until they don't understand why it dies. Only Google could make the Youtube brand noncompetitive.) So I needed either a Roku Ultra or an X1 (I wanted an ethernet jack...not point having quality wiring everywhere if I go wireless and clog the RF for laptops...) Came close to getting the 1S for a mere $100 more....but then I'd just want the X, and it's less well suited for pure video than the little Roku. The 360 player would be neat, and access to the sales would be neat....but as I load up my PS4 Pro with great sale games and my backlog grows that seems less relevant without the X.....so I just went for the Roku for now. But I came THIIIS close to saying I bought an X1......S

@shadow-wolf Well, I mean SNES games are really a lot more taxing than NES games. I mean it's understandable they can easily offer free limited time rentals of NES games, I mean they're 30 years old! But SNES games, they're only from 1994, so that could really hurt the bottom line giving away perfectly viable current games like that.

In reality I think the big crisis they're facing is A: Do we want to be able to sell games for $5 each on an eShop ever again? and B: How will this hurt indies putting the real classics on the store that their pale immitations of sell for 2x more? The first one is just greed. The second is valid. Look at the effect Mario Bros. VS. had on the eShop? It started dominating over indies. So if they start giving out lots of free SNES games, indies might start to hurt and withdraw. I imagine that's the real thing they're struggling with at least until indies get over their "let's pretend it's still the SNES era" obsession. Good grief, at least move on to PSX. I mean, really:

Gaming in 1995:
Untitled

Gaming in 2018:
Untitled

I can see their fear. But I would love to see SNES, N64. Though N64 hasn't aged well. I'd rather see remasters of those.

NEStalgia

ThanosReXXX

@NEStalgia Good thing you didn't cave for the S, seeing as considering your wishes, it just isn't for you, and if you go for the One at all (Neo pun intended), then you should indeed only consider the X.

That's quite a story, though. And it's not quite the same, but it kind of made me think of Chrome still blocking certain Microsoft apps/addons, such as Silverlight.

Don't know much about the media functions of consoles vs a Roku, but even without knowing, I'd obviously be able to understand that a dedicated media box is better suited for its purpose than a console that also has media functions, so that's more or less a given.

As for the whole free games on Switch thing, that @shadow-wolf started us on: NES and SNES games are fine by me, but they shouldn't make up the major part of the VC games on offer. It's time for Nintendo to give newer generation games a chance as well. I do agree with you that they should probably move on to remasters of N64 games, and with that in mind, they could start with the remasters that were also released on the 3DS.

But besides that, they REALLY need to start making an effort to release GameCube remasters, or just GameCube VC, and not just a title or two, like they did on the Wii U, which probably didn't even have anything to do with the GameCube itself, but more with the Wii U gearing up for Zelda BotW, and filling the gap for the wait until that was finally released, especially since they delayed it so it could also be released on the Switch.

They can't keep rehashing their 8 and 16 bit titles, when the competition is giving us games that are all less than a decade old, and has already been doing so for multiple years...

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

shadow-wolf

@NEStalgia you made a good point, Indies could be a major reason why Nintendo is hesitant to make a virtual console for Switch. And @ThanosReXXX let's not get too carried away here, if GC games ever do come to Switch it's extremely likely they won't be part of the free games per month - they may either be sold a la carte or as part of a premium subscription service. Asking for N64 games as free ones each month is already pushing it, considering Nintendo is still deciding whether even SNES games should be included as some of the free games.

shadow-wolf

ThanosReXXX

@shadow-wolf I never get carried away...

But seriously, maybe I should have made it a bit more clear, but I did separate the text, to signify that it's a different point I was making, so what I was saying about GameCube VC has nothing to do with the free games per month, but only with GameCube titles on Switch.

That simply needs to happen, at the very least in this console generation. They can't keep re-releasing all these WAY older titles. At some point, people won't want to buy a NES or SNES game for the 4th of 5th time...

But as far as "already pushing it" goes, I don't agree at ALL, certainly not if you look at what the competition is doing. They're basically handing out games that are around 2 to 5 years old, are HD, and that is a VERY stark contrast compared to NES and SNES titles. I'd even argue that coming out with N64 titles is Nintendo pushing it, not us...

Edited on by ThanosReXXX

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

shadow-wolf

@ThanosReXXX Oh that's what you meant. In that case I agree, Nintendo will likely release GC games as Virtual Console on Switch at some point.

And yes I agree with you 100% about the free games per month, but you know Nintendo. They're generally no where as generous as MS or Sony, but hopefully we at least get up to N64 as free monthly games, cause I really want to replay Ocarina of Time on the Switch.

shadow-wolf

ThanosReXXX

@shadow-wolf Yeah, so true. They're a bit stingy (or overprotective) with their games catalog. Well, here's hoping that if they do, that they will at the very least go with the 3DS remasters of N64 games. Leave the originals to the N64 Classic Mini...

Edited on by ThanosReXXX

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

NEStalgia

@ThanosReXXX " At some point, people won't want to buy a NES or SNES game for the 4th of 5th time..."
Logic and reason would say you are correct. SNES Mini sales figures say something else. So much for logic and reason. I'm going to go windsurf on a cloud on Jupiter now because why not?

I can see Nintendo's desire to be overprotective. It still makes money, and once they open the vault they can't put it back in ever again. In a way they're a reaction of defiance against an industry that just piddles away all brand value and treats old games as used candy wrappers instead of products that still have value. So they go the opposite extreme. If Fifa 17 has no value at all when 18 comes out. Then SMB2 will be $60 FOREVER.

NEStalgia

ThanosReXXX

@NEStalgia Yeah... in general, you do have a point. Maybe I should have added a nuance: "At some point, a considerable amount of people... "

If the rumblings on this site are anything to go by, there's a lot of unhappy campers, and it doesn't limit itself to this site: it's all over the place. Some of them will moan and complain, and STILL buy a NES or SNES game for the umpteenth time, but an equal amount of people will be well and truly done with it.

I know I sure am, even though I did buy the SNES Mini, but for me personally, that was because I never owned a SNES (started my Nintendo days with an N64 and a Game Boy Color) and for most other people it's just a collector's item, and for the games in the second place. More than likely also because of Star Fox 2, and for the more liberal people also for the option of being able to hack it.

Interesting view on the "opposite extreme". Might have to give that some thought...

Meanwhile, to get things slightly more back on topic, I replaced some of the already installed Xbox One and Xbox 360 games with a few others, after fiddling back and forth between the two consoles, their respective download histories and activating cloud saves to be able to share game progress across the two.

And after all that was done, and sadly wrongly over-writing my Sniper Elite V2 save game (so I have to do all that all over again) I found myself playing multiple levels of the old RTS Supreme Commander 2. It looked SO clean and crisp on the Xbox One, and the gameplay was still very addictive. So, instead of trying out some of the other Xbox One titles that I still haven't played yet, I got sucked into an old Xbox 360 game, but on the new shiny console, so it still felt more or less like a new experience...

Don't know if you're into the whole RTS genre, but if you are, then perhaps it's worth taking a look at it for yourself. I certainly enjoyed it. It's available for Xbox 360 as well as for Windows & Mac. Here's a video:

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

NEStalgia

@ThanosReXXX Wow, Supreme Commander 2 was on X360?! How did I never know this?!?! I actually played on PC (the only REAL way to play ), and is one of the only games in my Steam library (physical version with mandatory Steam unlock....that era.)

I was a huge Chris Taylor fan back in my PC days. From Cavedog Entertainment with the original Total Annihilation (and TA: Kingdoms) through Supreme Commander (the ONLY PC game to ever get 2-screen gaming right, sadly), and SC2. SC2 was indeed the weakest of the bunch and the original TA the best. But I never knew I could have played that on console! RTS without a mouse is kind of......ick....but Halo Wars worked well.

That's the one thing I miss of PC and being desk bound. I was a big RTS buff in the day

NEStalgia

ThanosReXXX

@NEStalgia Yeah, it's different than on PC, and I also still have quite a few RTS games installed on that, mostly classics, but they've really made a more than decent console conversion, and there's also wireless keyboards for Xbox One, and so-called chat pads for controllers, that have a full, functional keyboard, so there are several ways to make the experience similar.

On the 360, I probably have all the Command & Conquers, Halo Wars, Warhammer 4K, Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth 2, and a couple of others. And all of them look and work perfectly fine on console, so I never really had that feeling myself of them being far better on PC, other than being able to up the visuals.

Then again: I've never found keyboard and mouse gaming to be comfortable. It's more that I got used to it because I wanted to play these games, and I've had PC's for much longer than I've had HD consoles.

But my love for the genre started back in the day on the good old Amiga 500 home computer, with Dune 2.

Ah... those were great times.

Edited on by ThanosReXXX

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

NEStalgia

@ThanosReXXX Somehow I missed that explosion of RTS on 360. I knew only Halo Wars. And was grateful for that!

Starcraft (and 2), TA, SC (the spiritual successor of TA btw), Warcraft2 (let's not discuss 3....), C&C (all of them), remember Dark Reign , Activisions C&C clone? Earth 2150.....(let's not discuss 2160... ), man there were a few others I can't remember clearly.....that was a great era for the RTS.

To me, RTS, really....I mean it was designed around the mouse...pointing clicking and dragging is the whole design of the genre, so it's hard to play it without it. Functional, yeah, but much like most WRPGs with big inventory grids...the genre was built for the inputs and it gets hollowed out without them. FPS as well though that's adapted fairly ok. Similarly 3rd person games flat suck with a mouse...it was designed for relative analogue controls. But I'd still play the heck out of them on console to not be strapped to a desk again (I gave up my free copy of Heart of the Swarm last month Forgot about it and missed the expiry...)

Dune 2 was great.....it got sort of a facelift with just "Dune" (2000) based on the Sci Fi Channel miniseries at the time. Still a good game. Still Westwood of old. One of the last things they did.

NEStalgia

ThanosReXXX

@NEStalgia Well, guess it's a personal thing, then. I play them both on PC and on console, and I don't really miss anything, other than indeed the ability to select entire groups by dragging the mouse.

The console version of Supreme Commander 2 solves that by assigning double-tapping A to select all vehicles/troops of the same kind, and some other shortcut with the left bumper button to select ALL of your troops at once. Build and upgrade menu manipulation is also pretty fluid and easy, so I have no such qualms personally.

The latest games that I played on PC, and remember: I only play classic RTS's on PC, are The Settlers IV and Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War.

And I also have Dune 2000 installed on it, still...

Another pretty entertaining one for PC is S.W.I.N.E., which was released to the public as freeware years ago. As a fellow RTS fan, I can definitely recommend it to you, and on modern PC's, it runs smooth as silk.

Here's a link:
http://www.gamershell.com/download_11942.shtml

That's a great site for all kinds of PC freeware, patches, mods and other add-ons, by the way, so have fun browsing...
And here's another example of a freeware classic:
https://digiex.net/threads/command-and-conquer-gold-released-...

And there's also EndWar, which is (in my opinion) an interesting alternative, or variation on the genre (it is labeled Real Time Tactics instead of Strategy), with bits and bobs from other genres as well, that came out years ago for all platforms, including PC and even handhelds (PSP and DS).

On the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 you could also choose to command your troops with your voice, which was actually more fun than it might sound like.

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

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