Topic: The PlayStation Fan Thread

@BruceCM Ew. Suddenly my interest in a PS5 just sank through the basement floor. Not because I was buying a lot of game codes specifically but this indicates that Sony's strategy going forward is to assault all competition and consumer power and engage in hardcore price fixing and monopoly practices. I love R&C and was super hyped to see that, but I think Sony just sold me on an XSeX first.....

I'm surprised you hadn't seen any of that between then & now .... I guess they've still had stocks of games done that way from before? Can anyone here confirm if there really haven't been any new ones for awhile?

@BruceCM I just checked the Amazon listing for something recent, Death Stranding, and sure enough no digital purchase option, just physical. Ew, ew, ew, and more eww. Sony really has gone full Mattrick. When you've gone more anti-consumer than Nintendo you're in a whole new level. Any environment with a single store with one set of prices and zero competition is going to bite you back eventually.

My interest in PS5 is evaporating very very quickly. Eventually I'll get one for a handful of exclusives. R&C alone sold me on the "at some point" factor, but I'm becoming very very glad I mostly have migrated to XB+Ninty. That really sets the stage for strong price fixing, and it'll be interesting to see if retailers start helping XB and Ninty succeed over Sony since they have a lot more profit opportunity with that than PS5. Sony's starting to play by the Disney playbook. Retail vs. Sony isn't a good look.

With the tiny storage and high prices, I can't say I'm finding much exciting about diving into the next gen in general...a lot of what made this gen fun seems to erode with the next gen, but....if Sony's really setting itself up to be a monopoly with fixed prices and really expensive proprietary storage, it seems more like a cage than a platform.

Well, there's still going to be physical releases for awhile, @NEStalgia .... Not sure about the options for expanding storage but hopefully enough people get on to them to make sure there's reasonable ones

@BruceCM Yeah. I used to be all about physical at the start of the gen, but have largely migrated digital in the second half. I was even interested in the digital-only console version. But a display that there won't be reseller competition is an issue. Physical still provides some competition (unless you buy a digital console), but IMO it's a show of the dealt hand that they're now the only console company not permitting resellers to sell games digitally while even Nintendo does so. I do use that feature for my Switch (moreso than XBox due to game sharing on PS/XB), since I use CC/PayPal on my own account, but not for other household members where I buy digitally usually from Amazon or GameStop. Under no circumstance, ever, will I enter a CC into Sony's websites again after the last time. And while I do use my PayPal with the PSN store, they won't let me use it on 2 accounts (while MS does), it won't let me use it when buying from the phone app (while MS does), and I spent most of a year unable to buy using it at all as it would immediately reject sales with some kind of PayPal error....while MS and Ninty have worked.

So all in all they're saying I can't buy games on account #2, I can only intermittently buy games on account #1 when their servers feel like working, and there's no option to look for any pricing other the pricing HQ says you will pay.

Yeah....there's nothing appealing about that. I'll buy hardware at some point. I'll buy Ratchet and whatever other exclusives are out (and discounted) then....but it's not really sounding inviting as an overall ecosystem. Shame...they had some appealing aspects going on but the business practice going on is uugly. It's 2006 Sony again.

Storage, though, I'm not optimistic for either MS or PS yet. I think they're banking on prices dropping a few years into the cycle. But early on it sounds expensive and frustrating more than anything else. Especially while they flog digital.

@NEStalgia But what about these amazingly fast download speeds they are bragging on about? Haha. I’m sure my ISP will make sure I’m waiting a long time for games to download, even with Sony’s super servers and SSD or whatever.

I’m adjusting my expectations now and if it’s slightly faster than the PS4, then that is a sign of progress.

Well, for storage, you'll still have to instal games from discs, @NEStalgia ... So, that isn't going to help? As long as physical releases are provided, there's that competition but I share the concern that those will be eased out eventually I haven't had any PS since the Vita, so I don't know about issues with CCs or PayPal, etc.
So, they're saying that it's their end that's slowing all the downloads, @NotTelevision ? I didn't know they could fix WW internet! I hadn't heard anything about that side from them, although the SSD should help with installing &, thus, that part of downloading

@NotTelevision Well, Sony's severs DO suck currently.... . I can download on two xboxes simultaneously and be done in 1/8 the time as a smaller download on my Pro.

Switch ends up slower, but that's constrained by the micro sd write speed and tiny buffer.

So the new blazing speed servers probably means "now can saturate ISDN!"

I'm sure their server performance is one of the main reasons they made that deal with Microsoft. Even with gigabit internet and living in an area with probably 100 data centers within a 10 mile radius, downloads definitely do chug at times on our ps4s.

I wonder if LRG, SRG, eastsoftasia, etc are willing to provide digital to physical copies for PS5.
Would like to see more physical release of video games.

@BruceCM Yeah they are hyping up super fast download speeds, no loading times, and gameplay at high framerates.

There are already people complaining that certain games like Demon’s Souls are going include a “performance mode”. But these aren’t miracle machines and if I get one, will be happy with any improvement, especially since I don’t want invest in a 4K TV at least for the next couple of years. I’ll go on in blissful ignorance for the time being.

@NEStalgia In order to download something on the Switch, I pretty much need to be 5 feet away from the router. At least in my experience.

Like you said, the PS4 isn’t quite as bad, but putting the thing in sleep mode before bed on PS+ day is a must. Certainly nothing to be all too upset about, but I don’t have the problem on Steam.

Just got the new PS5 ahead of release date! They did not send me any games but the console looks really good and it is not noisy when on the dashboard!

Well, I'm sure the almost instant SSD will be a BIG upgrade on the current HDD, @NotTelevision .... That should speed up the installing part quite a bit but obviously the Series X will have a similar upgrade in that area

@NotTelevision Switch downloads are weird over wifi. They can go on their own just fine. Or stall every 3 minutes. No explanation and it's not a wifi range issue. I have the LAN adapters in the dock and it has the same problem. I suspect the low power state of the CPU interrupts either the card reader or lan traffic and it never recovers.

@Zuljaras LOL, that's just beautiful! Digital only edition I see. Nice!

@NEStalgia Yes can you believe that I THE physical collector will opt in for the digital PS5?!

This is the power of the PS5!

& the console is at least twice as big as an actual router .... Is it just here that most people now seem to have the ones that go sideways, instead?

@Zuljaras The console so powerful that nobody actually makes hard drives that will work with it, eh, @Octane?

I still have my old PSP go that I haven't played in a long while, mostly because the screen is looking completely glitched (and because I have a Vita also).
I think it might be the screen flat cable that got worn out over the years. Is it hard to take it apart and replace it?

@NEStalgia It's not about processing power, it's about SSD bandwidth. I believe that the compatible SSDs are only starting to come out this year; you're looking at a gen 4 SSD like the NVMe 4.0. However, they are still testing compatibility. So you can't just hook up any old SSD you have laying around, it won't work.

@Octane This bleeding edge "so advanced the stuff that's needed doesn't actually exist yet and when it does the component will cost 3x the rest of the system but be obsolete in 8 months" garbage is why I left the "PC master race" to begin with. The more this goes on the more I feel like just building a power rig again is the "cheap and easy" option again. First time that's seemed true in over a decade. Only catch is I'd want to operate it 100% without a keyb/mouse once it's set up.