I Am a gamer. Let me get that out of the way first. I love playing video games, I love making maps and models for them, and I love to play multiplayer. I pre-ordered the XBox 360 and Quake 4, I purchased a PS3, I have numerous games on my computer right now, I still own a Dreamcast, PS2, and Xbox, which is sitting under my TV right now. I have dozens of titles for these various consoles. I even have a Sega Saturn and a dozen or so titles for that!
I have played split-screen multiplayer for hours on the Dreamcast with my friends, I have played various James Bond split-screen multiplayer games drunk and high, I have played a handful of titles including Halo co-op, I spent countless nights playing Everquest (AKA Evercrack) and the first two Quake games. I have been playing video games for over a decade. So when I say I am a gamer, I mean it.
But I will not buy a PS4!
Here's why:
1. You can only play multiplayer online, and you have to pay for that privilege. Since as of the PS3 split-screen multiplayer games were declining rapidly, I'll bet its a safe assumption that there are no, and will be no, split-screen multiplayer games on the PS4.
UPDATE
I have been informed by the commenter below that there are split-screen multiplayer games. I do not know if the console has to be hooked up to the internet or not in order to play split-screen. In other words, is it split screen online or offline? If the split-screen is online only, do you still have to use the pay-for service?
Also I should mention that I gathered the information about Sony's pay-for online multiplayer service from another article. If this is incorrect someone let me know and I will change my statement accordingly.
2. You can't play your PS3 games on the PS4. This sucks because like Hollywood the video game industry suffers from sequalidus, so you will end up having to play most of your games in the middle of the storyline if you never played the earlier PS3 or PS2 titles in the series.
This bugs me, because I don't pick up a book and read it from the middle. I want to go from beginning to end. But not only does the game industry insist on making sequels, it refuses to re-release older titles on newer systems, especially titles released only in Japan. I can make another safe assumption here that there will be no "updated for the console" re-release of any titles released on older systems, and that most of the titles released on the PS4 will continue some storyline or be sequels of titles released on older systems.
UPDATE
I am thinking mostly here of the few role-playing games that made it to the US on the PS2 and the PS3. I forgot to mention that some games were updated and re-released, mostly as online downloads as I recall, for the PS3. But these were mostly major titles.
I guess I should clarify here using an example... The original Time Splitters, Red Faction, Extreme G, Myst/Riven, etc. games were never remade for the PS3, updated to utilize all the features of the PS3 including HD. Instead what we saw was a new Wipeout and new Red Faction games. In other words in the majority of cases the old games were not remade in complete 3D with next-gen technology and using HD graphics. Instead we either recieved sequels or reimagining of old releases.
Case in point... Did you ever find Gothic 1-3 on the PS3? How about Extreme G 1-3? Quake 1-3? Morrowind? Don't you think it would have been nice to see a fully 3D, HD version of Quake, completely remade using new technology while staying fundamentally the same game? Released in a package with Quake 2 and Quake 3, featuring offline split-screen multiplayer and online multiplayer? I would buy that, without hesitation. But what did you get? Quake 4 and Quake Wars.
Now story doesn't really matter in FPS and Racing games. But we saw a number of RPGs come over from Japan that were sequels to games released for older systems like the PS2 or for Japan-only audiences on the same system. In these cases it would have been nice to have all of these older titles either remade for the new systems and re-released to US audiences or translated into English, packaged up and released to US audiences.
Another issue here is that Sony is setting a precedent that the other game console companies most likely will follow. Why should Microsoft make the XBox One backwards compatible of Sony didn't? Microcrap will figure that if Sony got away with it they can too, and vice-versa..
I will always be a gamer at heart. I may never make it into the video game industry or make my own console system as a big FU to Sony and Microsoft, but there will probably always be at least one game on my computer until my last day in this physical body.
But there will no longer be any new console system under my TV. In fact, if someone gave me a PS4 I would sell it and buy Christmas presents for my family. I'm tired of broken promises (which, to be honest, were more of a Microsoft specialty) and I am tired of companies taking away the things I love and enjoy. But over all of that I am tired of everyone trying to stuff their hands down my pockets by giving some basic version of this or that which does not have the features I or anyone else would want, and if I want those features I have to pay for them.
The game industry has gotten too big, and gamers seem to be driven solely by loyalty and pretty graphics. Few take a stand, few put the game industry in its place, and few care. Most of the gamers out there take whatever the game industries or console companies dish out.
Well I am done, and I am not going to invest any more energy or money into this
What a load of crap.
ReplyDeletePS4 already has spli screen multi player on some games and its only been out 2 days!
Even the biggest 3rd party games like COD and FIFA you can play 2 player on the same screen!
Sony was also the only company to remake older games for PS3 in HD like MGS series, God of War series etc etc...
Its "Sonys fault that Microcrap won't do these things"
Are you for real?
How the hell do you pull that out of your ass?
Sony control MS now?
Just wow, you have written a steaming pile of unresarched crap that you clearly know nothing about!
I was assuming that Sony would continue the trend it started with the PS3 and phase out offline, split-screen multiplayer. If you would like to provide a list of PS4 games which allow you to play without an internet connection, split-screen multiplayer, I will publicly apologize and retract my statement.
ReplyDeleteI know for a fact that Microsoft was going this way with the Xbox 360 when they launched the system with Quake 4, and for the first time in as long as I can remember Quake was no longer a split-screen multiplayer game. This is where my seeds of discontent were sown. I pre-orded the Xbox 360 and Quake 4 only to get slammed by two big FUs from ID and Microsoft. In the 360's case, limited backwards compatibility, in IDs case, no more split-screen deathmatch.
As far as saying either, "It's Sony's fault that Mircrosoft won't do this..." or " It's Microsoft's fault that Sony won't do that..." This is, I admit, an assumption. I can't prove it on other words. But it seems to me that each company will be looking at what the other does, what the gamers for that system buy, speak out about, etc, and adjust their own console based on that. I mean why would Sony provide free, offline split-screen multiplayer if they saw that Microsoft was getting away with making multiplayer online only, and a service that had to be paid for? If nobody objected to what Microsoft was doing, then it's a good bet nobody will object if Sony does it.
I've been around the game industry and consoles in general since the Sega Saturn. Long enough to see how these companies think and how gamers in general act. I was speaking on my experience here. But again I admit its all conjecture and assumption based on past experience. I have no proof. I guess time will tell.
I do publicly apologize here for my attitude in this and the other related post. I was very angry and disappointed when I wrote them. Not feeling very mature or spiritual at all. I am of course entitled to my feelings and opinions. But I don't have to vomit them out on the web. I don't know if I will edit these posts or not. I will think about it.