Playstation 5: Thread 01

[Neon Ignition]

Thanks to physical I can trade TLOU2 in by sending it via the post at work when I'm in and the return will mean the game cost me £14. Yep, I'm buying the disc PS5.

[Neon Ignition]

Had a dark thought that makes that GTA5 opening look better.

2021 - Next Gen Consoles out for 12 months...
Bethesda are totally going to announce and launch The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Anniversary Edition aren't they?

[randombs]

Will people be able to sell their digital games at some point? I guess people within the industry have discussed this matter? I wish I could sell some of my digital games.

I seem to remember reading something about how the dual-licensing system for digital games(offline license installed on the primary console, online license installed on other consoles) could cause trouble for re-selling PS3/PS4 games. I'm sure the same thing applies to Xbox.

The offline license can stay on the console forever and means the game will always be playable on that particular console. Suppose someone was to buy a game, download it to their PS4, take the PS4 offline and then sell the game on. That PS4 could still play the game because of the offline license file was still present.

What I don't know is if the offline license for a game is removed when that game is uninstalled. If it is, then Sony can force the uninstall as part of the re-selling process. I'm sure YouTube videos would pop up explaining when to unplug your ethernet cable, but still.

I suppose it's more about economics than technical limitations. For example, Ableton allows you to transfer ownership of their Live software to someone else very easily.

[Cassius_Smoke]

What about a game rental service? You can download the game and have it for a limited time and then you are locked out until you pay again.

[Team Andromeda]

[MENTION=221]nonny[/MENTION]
I've never bought a digital game for full price - they've all been quite cheap in the sales. So AAA games for under £20 and Indie games for under £10. If I really want a new(ish) game, I'll buy a boxed copy, because I'll want to sell it if I don't like it.

I've more or less 90% digital these days. Its so much easier and convenient; with no need to look for discs or the need to get up when you want to play a different game. For games that I know will drop in price soon after (like F1) I buy the boxed version 1st and then wait until there's a sale on Gold or Plus and buy the digital version and sell the retail version on eBay.

Even on my classic systems I'm going far more digital and having all the games run on SD cards and its not all down to wanting to look after discs, or carts

[Hirst]

I like discs, but primarily because I like having something I can sell later and I like market forces to gradually knock the price down. I'm not against buying some games on digital, but I like them to be substantially cheaper than the physical version. It's crazy to me that the digital version of a new game is usually a bit more expensive than the physical version and crazier still that people pay it.

[Yakumo]

I like discs, but primarily because I like having something I can sell later and I like market forces to gradually knock the price down. I'm not against buying some games on digital, but I like them to be substantially cheaper than the physical version. It's crazy to me that the digital version of a new game is usually a bit more expensive than the physical version and crazier still that people pay it.

People who pay the same or more for a digital version to me are just off their head or don't care for wasting money. Convince isn't worth the price but that's just my opinion of course.

[nonny]

I've more or less 90% digital these days. Its so much easier and convenient; with no need to look for discs or the need to get up when you want to play a different game. For games that I know will drop in price soon after (like F1) I buy the boxed version 1st and then wait until there's a sale on Gold or Plus and buy the digital version and sell the retail version on eBay.

Even on my classic systems I'm going far more digital and having all the games run on SD cards and its not all down to wanting to look after discs, or carts

Yeah the convenience factor is one strong selling point. No more hunting for the disc you need, just have it all there at your fingertips to switch to when you need it.

That said, I agree you'd have to be a Muppet to buy a digital version for more than the disc copy. If anything it should be less... Which it why I've always avoided local pricing on digital unless there's a sale.

[Asura]

On the headphones vs. speakers discussion, never forget, humans only have 2 ears - we hear everything in stereo, not 5.1/7.1. We pick up the differences in direction etc. through cues, which is our brain's way of reconstructing an audio scene, similar to how bats use echolocation. 5.1 is just a way of reconstructing those cues.

Try this (you must be wearing headphones), and close your eyes:

Most of you will have heard this before, but that was a demonstration of how you can reconstruct those cues to give better 3D sound, purely in stereo.

This is something that made great leaps and strides over 10 years ago, but IIRC, Creative Labs patented the idea with their EAX software (which, to summarise heavily, was like "ray-tracing but for audio"), which prevented anyone else from using it and the idea didn't take off.

It's great to see Sony etc. revisiting this concept.

[Hirst]

People who pay the same or more for a digital version to me are just off their head or don't care for wasting money. Convince isn't worth the price but that's just my opinion of course.

If we were talking about a tiny amount of money and somebody who really doesn't care about having a box and would rather have it right now, I'd understand it a little more. But as a general rule of thumb, I save about £10-15 a game by buying physical. Especially if you're buying brand new, it would seem digital is just throwing money away, with the only real disadvantage that you have to wait a couple of days for it to turn up (or go to a shop I guess). It's never bothered me that much though, most of the time I get a game I won't end up playing it for a couple of days anyway.

I just went onto the store now just to give a few examples:
Final Fantasy VII Remake - Digital £59.99 vs Physical £39.99 (£20)
Disaster Report 4 - Digital £49.99 vs Physical £38.85 (£11.14)
The Last of Us Part II - Digital £54.99 vs Physical £47.99 (£7)

£20! You could get some right games for that.

[teddymeow]

I've recently gone full digital on PS4. Sold my physical copies during the recent Days of Play and came out in profit!!

I'm keeping a couple of physical LEs because they are nice but I even went digital on TLOU2 and will do the same for Ghost of Tsushima

ShopTo have a sale on PSN credit so £55 of credit costs £47.70 which is less than a physical copy of either title.

Going digital also.means the kids can't use the discs as frisbees!!

[Neon Ignition]

I never really understood the hastle of getting a disc out, realistically you're only going to have 2-3 games on the go at once and woudl have them to hand as a result. If you want something you haven't played in a long while then getting the disc is literally no more effort than anything else anyone does in their lives. More so though, the issue lies entirely with new games via digital.

Like has been said, I can order a new release for upward of £10 cheaper for the physical copy, often get it a day early too and then trade it in (because the vast-vast-vast majority of games aren't worth keeping when done) and claim back upward of another whopping £36 back for it. Now for the digital version I get no chance of it early, can't resell it and support genuinely anti-consumer practices in supporting console makers artificially inflated pricing.

I've got a ton of games from sales though, it's well worth picking some stuff up that stays with you later (I think I paid about £6 for TLOU Remastered) etc and it's different if the game is digital only, I won't die on a hill over it, but abso-friggin'-lutely no way will I give Sony £55 for Ghosts of Tsushima rather than be out of pocket by about £8 by putting a disc in.

[BIG EDD]

On the headphones vs. speakers discussion, never forget, humans only have 2 ears - we hear everything in stereo, not 5.1/7.1. We pick up the differences in direction etc. through cues, which is our brain's way of reconstructing an audio scene, similar to how bats use echolocation. 5.1 is just a way of reconstructing those cues.

Try this (you must be wearing headphones), and close your eyes:

Most of you will have heard this before, but that was a demonstration of how you can reconstruct those cues to give better 3D sound, purely in stereo.

This is something that made great leaps and strides over 10 years ago, but IIRC, Creative Labs patented the idea with their EAX software (which, to summarise heavily, was like "ray-tracing but for audio"), which prevented anyone else from using it and the idea didn't take off.

It's great to see Sony etc. revisiting this concept.

I'm currently testing the DTS X sound app on the xbox preview program. Sounds great so far

[Digfox]

This is something that made great leaps and strides over 10 years ago, but IIRC, Creative Labs patented the idea with their EAX software (which, to summarise heavily, was like "ray-tracing but for audio"), which prevented anyone else from using it and the idea didn't take off..

Sony and MS have the potential to take sound to the next level through the Tempest chip (and MS equivalent) because it's going to be the baseline and standard moving forward. With HRTF and 3D all built in.

Although Creative Labs didn't kill the development in virtual surround sound. Indeed Microsoft changed their Direct X APIs with Vista which removed 3D audio hardware acceleration from Windows. Creative did sign deals with developers to use EAX before that and were the dominant player in PC audio, but we have seen ASUS cards based on Dolby Headphone and other implementations of virtual surround sound since then.

I think in general audio has always played second fiddle to visuals and amount of processing power the PS4 and XBO had for audio was a sign of that. Cerny talked this during the presentation for PS5.

Although audio will be a recurring theme this gen due to the big leap, there's probably enough subject matter for a thread on this.

[wakka]

I never really understood the hastle of getting a disc out, realistically you're only going to have 2-3 games on the go at once and woudl have them to hand as a result. If you want something you haven't played in a long while then getting the disc is literally no more effort than anything else anyone does in their lives. More so though, the issue lies entirely with new games via digital.

Like has been said, I can order a new release for upward of £10 cheaper for the physical copy, often get it a day early too and then trade it in (because the vast-vast-vast majority of games aren't worth keeping when done) and claim back upward of another whopping £36 back for it. Now for the digital version I get no chance of it early, can't resell it and support genuinely anti-consumer practices in supporting console makers artificially inflated pricing.

I've got a ton of games from sales though, it's well worth picking some stuff up that stays with you later (I think I paid about £6 for TLOU Remastered) etc and it's different if the game is digital only, I won't die on a hill over it, but abso-friggin'-lutely no way will I give Sony £55 for Ghosts of Tsushima rather than be out of pocket by about £8 by putting a disc in.

I reckon you're probably in a relatively small minority, as someone who buys on releases, thrashes to death quickly, and then trades for maximum value. Most people I know who bought RDR2 are still plugging away at it, for example. Plus, you personally do finish more games, more quickly, than practically anyone!

So while I can see why discs and trading makes a ton of sense for you personally, I don't think it's something the majority of more casual players are bothered about now.