Will there ever be a standard gaming platform? -

[Cyclonus]

Its ridiculous that you have to shell out hundreds of bucks for all the different consoles as well as a decent PC to play all the latest games. And if you want to play retro games its even worse. Why isnt backwards compatibility a standard feature? When will the madness stop?

What's ironic is what I used to say to illustrate this argument was "Imagine if VHS didn't beat Betamax and they both sort of hung around and if you wanted to watch the Star Wars trilogy you needed Betamax but if you wanted to watch the Back To The Future trilogy you needed VHS!" but now with competing streaming services its already happening. Free market competition is overrated, we need standardization.

 

[Syaoran Li]

The closest thing we have to a standard platform is PC gaming, which is ridiculously expensive if you want to play newer AAA games and is a nightmare when it comes to retro gaming. You can do emulation on a PC, but it's also one of those legal gray zones and a lot of companies go above and beyond with their copyright notices to shut down emulation of certain games, Nintendo is infamous for it.

If there was ever a true "standard" platform of vidya at any point, it would be arcade gaming, which is dead in the United States and has been since at least the early 2000's.

Really, the copyright laws and rights disputes are a big part of this. It's part of why streaming has become so fucked and why physical media like DVD and Blu-Ray are usually better.

Personally, I'd love to see a proper take on "retro" consoles like the NES and SNES Classic or the ill-fated Playstation Classic.

The way I would do retro mini-consoles is to get official emulations of older games and have it to where you can add more games onto a classic console. Maybe a proper PS1 Classic may have just 20 games at launch, but then more games become available every so often and you can buy them.

I'd include these game in packs, usually focused on a genre, a franchise, or a well-known company.

 

[DumbDude42]

as far as i'm concerned the PC is the standard for serious gaming
nintendo is for young children, ps4/xbone are for casuals who are too tech illiterate to handle a PC

 

[Watcher]

Why isnt backwards compatibility a standard feature?

Backwards compatibility tends to be a feature console manufacturers advertise at the start of the console's lifespan. A good example being the original Xbox backwards compatibility with the Xbox 360. This happened really early on in its lifespan and at some point Microsoft just stopped doing it.

The reason it's not a "standard feature" is because there's very little money in doing it, and it costs a lot to implement. People generally speaking don't care about backwards compatibility after a console's library has a lot of titles. It's also something that rewards the used video game market which is something console manufacturers have worked tooth and nail to try and kill. Backwards compatibility is also not a trivial thing to implement. A video game console isn't a VHS player, it's technically a computer with a CPU and an operating system. The Xbox 360 ran on a PowerPC CPU wheras the Xbox One uses an AMD x86 CPU. These are completely different CPU architectures and it's not possible to run code on both unless you recompile the game to run on it. This is often in some circumstances completely impossible to do since modern gamedevs don't generally keep source code in a compilable state unless they plan to re-release the game later. Which is only starting to happen more and more frequently.

The only way to do backwards compatibility in this circumstance is to either include hardware from the original console in the box (which increases its size/cost of manufacturing. The PS3 was a perfect example of this where they tried to sell it for 600$ but it actually cost 900$ to manufacture at the time). Or they use software based emulation. Which tends to be spotty/imperfect and is less ideal. You also generally need to do this for each individual game. Which is how the Xbox 360 and later the Xbox One did it.

When will the madness stop?

With the rise in digital companies have found it's far more profitable to just sell the game again on a newer platform. And with the reduction in buying games at retail (We will eventually see Gamestop go out of business it's just a question of when) it's really hard to even conceive of backwards compatibility still being a thing in the future.

What's ironic is what I used to say to illustrate this argument was "Imagine if VHS didn't beat Betamax and they both sort of hung around and if you wanted to watch the Star Wars trilogy you needed Betamax but if you wanted to watch the Back To The Future trilogy you needed VHS!" but now with competing streaming services its already happening. Free market competition is overrated, we need standardization.

A VHS is a completely different device to a game console. It's essentially a "dumb" device you put a standardized tape with video/audio on and it will play. A game console is essentially a computer that runs code.

Not just that but consumers generally speaking don't respond to "standardized platforms". There was an attempt at doing this called the 3DO. Which was a game console that was designed so there was just 1 open architecture that different manufacturers would make consoles for. This catastrophically failed because there just weren't good exclusive games for it. People only flock to consoles to play exclusives and very little else. The main reason the Nintendo Switch is selling extremely well right now is solely because of 10 or so titles you can't play on any other device.

---

Now the reason PC doesn't have this issue is because modern PCs still use x86 processors which computers 20-30 years ago also used. The Windows operating system also prioritizes backwards compatibility with 32bit applications. Not specifically because of gaming though but because a lot of Windows users especially businesses rely on applications made 20 years ago that it would cost thousands of dollars to upgrade off of. It just so happens that video games as a result also get supported even though it's also imperfect there.

There's also examples of PC platforms that completely neglect backwards compatibilty. A good example being MacOS. After Apple switched to Intel CPUs in the mid 2000s, it became impossible to play any Macintosh games from the 90s on any newer Mac computers.

 

[dreamworks face]

The closest thing we have to a standard platform is PC gaming, which is ridiculously expensive if you want to play newer AAA games and is a nightmare when it comes to retro gaming. You can do emulation on a PC, but it's also one of those legal gray zones and a lot of companies go above and beyond with their copyright notices to shut down emulation of certain games, Nintendo is infamous for it.

PC gaming is actually cheaper now proportionally than it ever has been. Modern consoles are seven years old, so not a lot of new games are super resource intensive, and mid-range cards from five years ago can push new games at reasonable frame-rates as long as you don't go for 4k. When I was growing up a gaming PC had maybe a 3 year lifespan tops.

Personally, I'd love to see a proper take on "retro" consoles like the NES and SNES Classic or the ill-fated Playstation Classic.

The way I would do retro mini-consoles is to get official emulations of older games and have it to where you can add more games onto a classic console. Maybe a proper PS1 Classic may have just 20 games at launch, but then more games become available every so often and you can buy them.

I'd include these game in packs, usually focused on a genre, a franchise, or a well-known company.

The hacked PS1 classic ended up really awesome. You could boot off a usb drive if you named the drive "Sony." The people who hacked it put a lot of care into getting stuff like multi-boot games to work and automating getting images of the ps1 disc covers off the internet and it looks really pro.

 

[Pepsi-Cola]

The root of all problems in the games industry is gamers being incredibly stupid consumers with a complete lack of agency. Lack of backwards compatibility, subscription online services, annual releases like Call of Duty and pretty much any sports game, etc. People continue to reward these shitty practices with their money and it's pretty mind-blowing.

I'm not saying that you should take buying video games as seriously as investing in Car Insurance, but seriously, these game companies will stop fucking your ass without lube when you stop paying for it.

 

[Reverend]

No. Nor do I ever want there to be one.

Competition is good, no competition=stagnation=same shit different day.

The more companies out there try and do new things the better the market is for it as we, the consumers, get to see new products that we didn't know interest us and on platforms we didn't know existed.

On the flip side we can let the shit tier companies who churn out the same garbage year in and year out die off.

 

[Cyclonus]

This also leads to fanboy wars between different consoles, or between console players and PC players. Stanning for a corporation is retarded, I learned that lesson the hard way by being a Sega fanboy back in the day. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo don't give a shit about you, all they care about is your money.

 

[DumbDude42]

No. Nor do I ever want there to be one.
Competition is good, no competition=stagnation=same shit different day.
The more companies out there try and do new things the better the market is for it as we, the consumers, get to see new products that we didn't know interest us and on platforms we didn't know existed.
On the flip side we can let the shit tier companies who churn out the same garbage year in and year out die off.

competition happens inside the same standard (PC) non stop
nvidia/amd on gpu, intel/amd on cpu, dozens of manufacturers on PSUs, RAM, motherboards, coolers, monitors, headphones, input/output devices, etc

consoles as platforms are inherently uncompetitive, they can't compete against PC, and are only kept alive by exclusivity deals. if nintendo games were available on PC they wouldn't be selling a single switch ever again, same for ps4 and xbone.

 

[Reverend]

This also leads to fanboy wars between different consoles, or between console players and PC players. Stanning for a corporation is exceptional, I learned that lesson the hard way by being a Sega fanboy back in the day. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo don't give a shit about you, all they care about is your money.

People are gonna sperg out over anything, it's human nature to 'hate' someone who doesn't like what other people like. I'd rather them argue over the teraflops of gigaram in the next GCPU of the next VidyaBox than get into physical altercations.

Pissing contests are named that for a reason cause it doesn't amount to a pot full of it when it's all said and done.

Makes it easier to tune out the noise when the shills go off on things and entertaining as well as one must Not Engage.

 

[Mr. Hedgehog]

Yes, it's called PC. The real issue isn't about console or pc, the answer is clear on that. The real problem is having to use Windows for gaming. Which is bad news if you happen to have Windows 10, a thinly veiled malware which decides, in an authoritarian fashion, when you can have updates (not even IF), has bloatware that can be compared with smartphones and tablets etc. So, we're stuck between depending on the non existent good will of console makers and depeding on the good will of fucking Microsoft.

 

[No Exit]

PC is the best standard console unless you're a chump who just has to play the latest exclusive immediately, in which case dropping a whole wad of cash on them is your problem.
Aside from Nintendo, most good exclusive console games eventually get ported to PC. If they don't then during your wait a decent emulator should have popped up. You can also just wait for the end of the console and buy a cheap one on sale. Then you install some homebrew and enjoy all the games you missed.
You can also buy a SNES or PS Classic and hack them for some good emulation. There's also the options of flash cards.

TL;DR it's only a problem to soyboy consoomers who need the latest thing right away.

 

[Cyclonus]

Ive got nothing against PCs but they have a problem with ME. I get bluescreens and viruses and games just refusing to run. Consoles last years for me, I have to get PCs repaired all the time. I dont want to have to be a computer hardware expert to play a game, I just want to put the damn game in and play it.

 

[werbwub]

As many others have said pc is the best. Just build a cheapo pc that costs the same or slightly more than a console and upgrade it over time. Unlike console games pc games are cheap as hell if not free, epic games are giving games for free every month and recently square Enix gave out tomb raider 2013 for free on Steam. The only issue that pc has is that certain devs don't like putting their games on PC, mostly Japanese devs.

 

[Back me up!]

For Retro gaming the only standard really is Retropie. I know, I know it requires a bit more effort to set up but the sky's really are the limit with that sucker. With the Raspberry Pi 4 emulation is all the way up to Dreamcast and Playstation 1 at higher resolutions.

 

[Section230]

No, because capitalism. Until maybe one day yes, because capitalism.

 

[DumbDude42]

The only issue that pc has is that certain devs don't like putting their games on PC, mostly Japanese devs.

yes good point, for some reason the japanese dont play on pc at all, everyone in japan is playing on console or mobile
some of them port their stuff for pc (with mixed results) but others just dont bother at all

 

[737 MAX Stan Account]

GOG Galaxy 2.0 now has it where where you can integrate all of your pc accounts (Steam, Origin, Uplay, EGS, etc) onto their platform. So at least there’s that.

 

[The best and greatest]

Consoles are the reason games are so expensive, because they're sold at a loss to try and keep them relevant so the cost has to be made up somewhere.

 

[Niggernerd]

PC and consoles are for exceptional individuals who can't afford arcade cabinets. Keep playing your Mario and Mine Sweeper fags lol