navster15

@senorsucks2suck: There is literally a single Blockbuster left open in the world and it’s in Oregon:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/06/business/last-blockbuster-store.html

Solved your problem for you. Guess your town’s Blockbuster closed, which I’m sure comes as a shock to you because this is totally a good faith argument you’re making.

@senorsucks2suck: I hardly think that matters. Even last gen when Sony outsold Xbox 2:1, availability of Xbox games on North American store shelves was abundant. Heck, even when the PS2 outsold Xbox 5:1 I had no issue getting Xbox games in stores.

And where do you live that Blockbuster and Hollywood Video exist and have consoles for rent?

Obviously we don’t know for sure, but it seems like industry analysts estimate that there was about 1 million fewer Xbox Series X|S consoles sold than PS5s.

https://mspoweruser.com/xbox-series-xs-consoles-2020-sales-numbers/

Makes sense when considering news last year indicating that Microsoft started production later than Sony to wait for some AMD chip revision that they are banking on putting them ahead power-wise, specifically with respect to DLSS:

https://m.gsmarena.com/microsoft_delayed_production_of_the_xbox_series_x_and_s_consoles_to_get_the_full_rdna_2_feature_set-news-46450.php

At this current stage it’s all about production bottlenecks, and sales right now don’t really indicate who is doing “better”. I’d imagine we’ll have a better idea this time next year.

Cyberpunk ran ok on the pro consoles and current gen, even from the jump. But the base last-gen performance was truly abysmal. I tried it briefly on a launch Xbox One and it truly is unplayable at times. At least in December, the glitches were many, the framerate sunk into the single digits, and texture pop-in made everything look like a janky PS1 game. Hopefully the patches brought it up to snuff, but my experience was really bad.

And to be clear, I’m not saying that as a “60 FPS or it’s unplayable” PC jerk. I’ve been playing a ton of PS3 and Wii games this year with 720p or less resolutions and shaky 30 FPS targets, and those have been fine. I can deal with low spec gaming normally, but Cyberpunk goes below my admittedly low standards.

@djredbat: As someone who played Demon’s Souls this year for the first time on PS3, honestly a framerate and resolution spit polish would have done that game just fine (aside from online being down, but that’s an artificial problem IMO). Heck, even Bluepoint tacitly admits this by leaving everything but the visuals and sound untouched.

I subsequently playing Dark Souls 1 & 2 on Series X, and I was really impressed by the baked in hardware improvements on their own. No reason that Sony, given the proper prioritization of resources, couldn’t have done the same on PS5. But that’s less sexy than a new $90 CAD product to sell with the new console.

@ll_exile_ll: You do know you also have the option to buy games on the Xbox store or via discs? That option did not go away. There is no reason that Sony can't compete with Microsoft in this regard, and it isn't whiny for PlayStation owners to advocate for something that other platforms are doing better. Xbox owners did that with paying to play free-to-play games online, PlayStation owners did that about cross-play. This is just another chapter in companies competing for our attention and dollars. I don't see much issue with that.

Observing the industry is no excuse for lack of imagination. A few days ago most people would have thought it out of the realm of possibility that MLB The Show would debut on Gamepass, now we see that happening. Sony is now demonstrably giving baseball fans a worse deal by not giving them the option to "rent" the game instead of buying it outright. I have no idea how you can spin that as equal but different strategies.

@ll_exile_ll: I mean, I kinda get their frustration, provided it's channeled in the right direction? Like, if someone is angry at Sony for not responding in kind by putting the game on PS Now, I think that's pretty reasonable. So long as we're in this capitalist dystopia, we might as well enjoy the free market competition that comes with it. Just like Sony puts pressure on Microsoft, this should hopefully put pressure on Sony to improve their service.

@aiomon: Right? The British government agent conducting extrajudicial killings so frequently he gets a license for it is totally non-political.

@sweep: Ugh, the “Waypoint are a bunch of joyless scolds” argument is so damn tired. I listen to them week in and week out and Waypoint Radio is one of the funniest and enthusiastic gaming podcasts out there. Of course they take a political bent to their discussions, they’re a bunch of academics from marginalized backgrounds. Just because they’re not always cheerleading doesn’t mean they are looking for things to get angry about. But when you’re Black and queer, it’s very easy to get painted as angry troublemakers in white, straight spaces.