Zekhariah

@_mattallica: Blackflag seems to be the best Assassin's Creed. Graphically it looks nice (though the hair on characters is a bit of a life-less exception, needs TressFX). Gameplay wise, the quicklook probably gave the best overview of why this is oriented toward fun more than anything else.

On the Xbox side, I dislike the Dead Rising franchise and simulation racers enough that Xbox One is at a null level of appeal - though I realize the opposite applies to many people. It seems like both have a lot of the games people will want to play in the intermediate period though. "Just launch games" makes for a pithy headline, but the franchises that are available have sales figures that would imply that they are among the most appealing titles to be brought over. Anyway - for Wii U it might have been appropriate, but if someone happens to say.... care about graphics in their visual entertainment medium... there is a fair amount on offer.

My guess would be 1.5 to 2 years. At some point you have to wait until the price has been in the more trivial range for awhile (like $20) to not make purchasers feel ill will. The F2P multiplayer mention regarding killzone seems likely at a sooner date though.

My guess would be a handful of interesting indies added to PS+ in the inter min period, and another AAA type one added after drive club that goes straight to PS+ before any retail releases are added.

At the moment I think the PS Vita is holding out as the best video-game oriented device interface. Though the PS4 interface is at least efficient to use (if lacking options), so it will probably end up filled out more over time.

I picked up Killzone Shadowfall, Assassin's Creed Black Flag, and Call of Duty Ghosts. AC is probably the best of that group in terms of single player gaming (like it was made to be fun to play, as a rather dramatic series shake up). And ghosts has been good for the casual/social side (you get into matches quickly, and there is a fantastic clarity to the image quality that I prefer over games that have superior fidelity / more effects).

Killzone's first hour is among the worst game play I've experienced. Combat becomes more interesting though, so if you are really into FPS campaigns it eventually leads into some Crysis (2 rather than 1) type scenarios.

Somehow I've never substantially played a Call of Duty game before (kind of skipped online shooters after the Quake II time period), so that might be part of why it seems fresh an interesting to me.

@wjb: The more legitimate tech sites tend to go with recommended, and toss in a modifier depending on how many caveats exist. Anandtech is probably the best example of how to do a hardware review.

With PC hardware, you are rating an item for how well it performs a pre-defined job. For a launch console that is a silly question, but scoring it is even more meaningless (that would be like reviewing videocards on a 1-10 scale). You can note if it has merit, but there is not enough comparative basis to make that kind of scoring system work.

I just started into this. In the first 60 minutes it is more or less one of the worst games I've played (granted I avoid the really obvious stuff). Maybe on par with Duke Nukem Forever for fun factor.

Hopefully it gets better. So far the shooting seems kind of crap.

@wraxend: To be fair, if the customer does not know better it will not necessarily disappoint them if they end up with whatever the store has in stock on hand.

Though I don't personally go to pawnshops, so I've never purchased at a Gamestop (and have started avoiding Bestbuy - the local ones have gotten really trashy in the video game area).

They should both be good. Titanfall is an extension to the character move set, while still being in line with popular MP shooting practices. The extra movement might improve the games in terms of adding more strategic options and making it less oriented toward camping. Destiny could be the borderlands 1 sci-fi MMO; anytime wide multiplayer is added to a existing genre that is implemented with good mechanics there is potential.

Destiny seems to be ambitious, but how well it goes over might also depend on a lot on preferences for co-op type options vs. strictly deathmatch.

Since Rev3 seems to be video driven (like popular streamers and Giantbomb), I am kind of surprised that this sort of change would really impact Sessler. It could just be a de-emphasis on having games reviewed prior to release, and a greater focus on more in the moment content.

But it somewhat seems like a lot of people are finding that their position on the totem pole is a bit lower than they had previously envisioned. Or maybe it was reduced as other types of coverage become the more important part of marketing. I have wondered why publishers don't try to control the message more, especially as game reviews have been pushed toward being more opinion driven (which has generally been seen as a good thing). Once you embrace scoring purely on personal enjoyment, you do get to focus on the things that are important to you. But than as a publisher I would be upset that my major title launched with a prominent 0-20% of w/e scale if I thought the larger ("casual" I guess) audience would not really understand how reviews have changed (e.g my games is going to pull a 80+%ish metacritic after 50+ reviews, but I know certain number of review sources are going to put out some very negative one-liners that might catch on).

I sort of think OS issues should be expected; my main objection to xbox is still obnoxiously pay-walling functions that a 35 dollar dongle can perform (being 720p centric is also a little weird, considering how long mainstream PCs have been there).

But large software projects usually take some time to come together. And regardless of how it looks now, I would expect something to break when it goes live. It reminds me at all the shock (at least in congress) regarding the US gov's health exchange website having issues; since its pretty much like every major internet launch ever. At worst this should not be an issue to haunt MS for years like RROD.... so I don't really get the interest in it. Complaints regarding the Wii U requiring a day-1 patch for a lot of functions are kind of in this vein too.