Overly long post incoming.
Here's my take on this generation and the problem I've got with the treatment different companies get by the press, you tubers and fanboys across agenda pushing forums like Reset Era or this one
I have been a PC only gamer since I built a gaming PC right when the 8th generation of consoles started. I really got back into gaming this gen after leaving the hobby for like 7 years. This generation right from the start, the press was set to destroy big bad monopolistic Microsoft since their Xbox one reveal. I get that Kinect was a clusterfuck, but the always online checks? We are 99% of the time online now. Sharing games? We are more digital than ever now. And guess what, you can share digital games with xbox as well. But that stupid video from Sony got viral, because that's the narrative the press and fanboys wanted to push.
Then I saw how the xbox one got flak for running games at a slightly lower resolution (typically 900p vs 1080p) the gaming press and the fanboys made this incredibly small gap feel as if it were an ocean of performance. Curious why this was never a thing again once the Xbox one X released. Oh and btw Sony, those "Dynamic 4k" ads for the PS4 Pro on the Champions League? That's false advertising.
Something started to caught my attention, when it came to new releases. There wasn't much talk about MS , but everything Sony did was seen as the second coming. Mediocre games like Uncharted 4 were given really high scores in Metacritic just for being released by one of Sony's top studios. Sony fans will later recognize that is the weakest Uncharted series ever. For comparison, Rise of the Tomb Raider was given lower scores in spite the fact that you could do much more in the game and the gameplay was more fluid and better paced
Even acknowledging that MS First party output was a mixed bag this generation...Do you have any shadow of doubt that if games like Quantum Break, Killer Instinct, Titanfall and Sunset Overdrive were released as Playstation exclusives, they would have 10 to 15 extra points by press outlets? Its all about keeping your largest audience happy, dont tell them something they dont want to hear. Tell them what they want to hear: Sony good, MS, Nintendo and PC gaming bad.
FFs just compare Killer Instinct to the clusterfuck that was SFV (Sony console exclusive) I was there at launch with a copy of SFV on PC trying to install the damn thing, to this day is one of the most barebones fighting games ever. Completely inexcusable. At least KI was free to play, and you could buy the full version afterwards. And down the line got an awesome single player extra mode, Lords of Shadow. Compare to that terrible excuse for a Story mode from SFV.
Then we got the concern trolling (a recurring theme by the press/you tubers/fanboys when it came to the Xbox and MS) due to their decision to release their games on PC. Will MS become third party? Is Xbox dead? Why do I need an xbox? Seems that everyone all of a sudden had a spare gaming PC alongside their PS4.
BTW remember all the flak MS got for a couple of months of timed exclusivity with Rise of the Tomb Raider? Sony does it all the time, FFVII Remake, Nier Automata, Nioh and more. But is never called for it.
Then we got the constant downplay of Xbox releases when it came to the Goty awards: Truly great games with lots of replay values and big communities like the Forza Horizon games could never be considered for Goty because they are racing games. It seems you have to be a cinematic third person game with an "emotional" story to be elegible to Goty awards. Give me gameplay oriented games any day.
Also the constant downplay of innovative games like Sea of Thieves just because they are online experiences. The press shills must learn that Games as a Service like Sea of Thieves can have as much value and prestige as Single Player story based games. Not everyone is interested in Single player one and dones where moving the analog stick up and watching cutscenes is half of the gameplay
And then the fanboys... truly the worst fanboys in all gaming. Nintendo fanboys are passionate about their games, xbox fans got flak all this generation and the PC gaming community is by far the best and most collaborative. Never got the PCMR stereotype. PC gaming is for everyone, from Intel HD graphics to 4 way SLI 3080s
But Sony fanboys (of course talking just about fanboys here) they really believe they are the bees knees. Smug and arrogant. These folks truly believe that all third party devs owe Sony and should not release their games in other platforms: remember the meltdown when Square and Capcom DARED to release FFXIII and DMC 4 on the xbox?
I believe this sense of entitlement comes from the PS1 and PS2 when they monopolized the console market thanks to piracy (how do you believe that Sony got its "global" appeal?) Chinese style dumping to get Sega and Nintendo out of the console market it was.
Bunch of hypocrites they label PC gamers as pirates when Playstation is what it is thanks to piracy. All those shills in the press in their 30s and 40s grew up with their modded PS1 and PS2 and a tower of CD-R - DVD-R. Cheap folks that champion the used games market so that they keep buying and selling games without giving money to the devs. At least PC gamers buying games on Steam sales give money to the devs.
At the end of the day its about being critical when companies do things wrong give them a pat on the back when right. But if you really like this hobby as a whole its important to be FAIR. Not everything done on MS, PC or Nintendo is bad and everything done on Sony's camp is the second coming of christ: Their games are polished but safe, their regional pricing policy is non existent. PS Now is an utter failure. The PS4 and PS4 Pro sounded like jet engines when pushed, and Sony's stance on backwards compatibility is an embarrassment.
Here's my take on this generation and the problem I've got with the treatment different companies get by the press, you tubers and fanboys across agenda pushing forums like Reset Era or this one
I have been a PC only gamer since I built a gaming PC right when the 8th generation of consoles started. I really got back into gaming this gen after leaving the hobby for like 7 years. This generation right from the start, the press was set to destroy big bad monopolistic Microsoft since their Xbox one reveal. I get that Kinect was a clusterfuck, but the always online checks? We are 99% of the time online now. Sharing games? We are more digital than ever now. And guess what, you can share digital games with xbox as well. But that stupid video from Sony got viral, because that's the narrative the press and fanboys wanted to push.
Then I saw how the xbox one got flak for running games at a slightly lower resolution (typically 900p vs 1080p) the gaming press and the fanboys made this incredibly small gap feel as if it were an ocean of performance. Curious why this was never a thing again once the Xbox one X released. Oh and btw Sony, those "Dynamic 4k" ads for the PS4 Pro on the Champions League? That's false advertising.
Something started to caught my attention, when it came to new releases. There wasn't much talk about MS , but everything Sony did was seen as the second coming. Mediocre games like Uncharted 4 were given really high scores in Metacritic just for being released by one of Sony's top studios. Sony fans will later recognize that is the weakest Uncharted series ever. For comparison, Rise of the Tomb Raider was given lower scores in spite the fact that you could do much more in the game and the gameplay was more fluid and better paced
Even acknowledging that MS First party output was a mixed bag this generation...Do you have any shadow of doubt that if games like Quantum Break, Killer Instinct, Titanfall and Sunset Overdrive were released as Playstation exclusives, they would have 10 to 15 extra points by press outlets? Its all about keeping your largest audience happy, dont tell them something they dont want to hear. Tell them what they want to hear: Sony good, MS, Nintendo and PC gaming bad.
FFs just compare Killer Instinct to the clusterfuck that was SFV (Sony console exclusive) I was there at launch with a copy of SFV on PC trying to install the damn thing, to this day is one of the most barebones fighting games ever. Completely inexcusable. At least KI was free to play, and you could buy the full version afterwards. And down the line got an awesome single player extra mode, Lords of Shadow. Compare to that terrible excuse for a Story mode from SFV.
Then we got the concern trolling (a recurring theme by the press/you tubers/fanboys when it came to the Xbox and MS) due to their decision to release their games on PC. Will MS become third party? Is Xbox dead? Why do I need an xbox? Seems that everyone all of a sudden had a spare gaming PC alongside their PS4.
BTW remember all the flak MS got for a couple of months of timed exclusivity with Rise of the Tomb Raider? Sony does it all the time, FFVII Remake, Nier Automata, Nioh and more. But is never called for it.
Then we got the constant downplay of Xbox releases when it came to the Goty awards: Truly great games with lots of replay values and big communities like the Forza Horizon games could never be considered for Goty because they are racing games. It seems you have to be a cinematic third person game with an "emotional" story to be elegible to Goty awards. Give me gameplay oriented games any day.
Also the constant downplay of innovative games like Sea of Thieves just because they are online experiences. The press shills must learn that Games as a Service like Sea of Thieves can have as much value and prestige as Single Player story based games. Not everyone is interested in Single player one and dones where moving the analog stick up and watching cutscenes is half of the gameplay
And then the fanboys... truly the worst fanboys in all gaming. Nintendo fanboys are passionate about their games, xbox fans got flak all this generation and the PC gaming community is by far the best and most collaborative. Never got the PCMR stereotype. PC gaming is for everyone, from Intel HD graphics to 4 way SLI 3080s
But Sony fanboys (of course talking just about fanboys here) they really believe they are the bees knees. Smug and arrogant. These folks truly believe that all third party devs owe Sony and should not release their games in other platforms: remember the meltdown when Square and Capcom DARED to release FFXIII and DMC 4 on the xbox?
I believe this sense of entitlement comes from the PS1 and PS2 when they monopolized the console market thanks to piracy (how do you believe that Sony got its "global" appeal?) Chinese style dumping to get Sega and Nintendo out of the console market it was.
Bunch of hypocrites they label PC gamers as pirates when Playstation is what it is thanks to piracy. All those shills in the press in their 30s and 40s grew up with their modded PS1 and PS2 and a tower of CD-R - DVD-R. Cheap folks that champion the used games market so that they keep buying and selling games without giving money to the devs. At least PC gamers buying games on Steam sales give money to the devs.
At the end of the day its about being critical when companies do things wrong give them a pat on the back when right. But if you really like this hobby as a whole its important to be FAIR. Not everything done on MS, PC or Nintendo is bad and everything done on Sony's camp is the second coming of christ: Their games are polished but safe, their regional pricing policy is non existent. PS Now is an utter failure. The PS4 and PS4 Pro sounded like jet engines when pushed, and Sony's stance on backwards compatibility is an embarrassment.
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