CES 2013 Gaming Highlights (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

Anything sparking your interest out there? Steam Box starts to take shape: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/08/hands-on-with-xi3s-piston-modular-pc-at-ces/ Project Shield seems neat but with no pricing or availability details it is the epitome of vapor: http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/7/3846624/nvidia-project-shield-hands-on-video-preview/in/3608257

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Shield looks pointless. If anything, it's vindicating the concept of the Wii U and the Ouya by sort of combining the two in a package that will inevitable cost more than double both put together. Hell, it'd be cheaper to get a PS3 and a Vita than probably buy 1 Shield without a PC to use it with. The Steambox is looking more like some capital investment from Valve resulting in a "Steam Approved" sticker. Nothing about the idea of a Steambox has suggested more than that. Why can't my laptop with an HDMI output port do whatever Steamboxes will supposedly do?

 

[Sam Posten]

Sort of agreed on Shield. And you are kinda right on Piston. http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/8/3852144/gabe-newell-interview-steam-box-future-of-gaming

We've heard lots of rumors about the Steam Box, including that Valve's own hardware would be "tightly controlled." Can you tell us more about Valve's own hardware effort? The way we sort of think of it is sort of "Good, Better," or "Best." So, Good are like these very low-cost streaming solutions that you’re going to see that are using Miracast or Grid. I think we’re talking about in-home solutions where you’ve got low latency. "Better" is to have a dedicated CPU and GPU and that’s the one that’s going to be controlled. Not because our goal is to control it; it’s been surprisingly difficult when we say to people "don’t put an optical media drive in there" and they put an optical media drive in there and you’re like "that makes it hotter, that makes it more expensive, and it makes the box bigger." Go ahead. You can always sell the Best box, and those are just whatever those guys want to manufacture. [Valve's position is]: let's build a thing that’s quiet and focuses on high performance and quiet and appropriate form factors.

Speaking of vaporware, Razer round 3: http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/8/3851476/razer-edge-hands-on-ces-2013

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Speaking of vaporware, the Steam box sounds similar in concept to the Phantom: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_(console)#The_Phantom_console

 

[Sam Posten]

Yeah, no not at all.

 

[JohnS]

Only thing that will be of Interests to me is the new Xbox and Playstation. Two gaming systems is enough for me.

 

[Bryan^H]

Only thing that will be of Interests to me is the new Xbox and Playstation. Two gaming systems is enough for me.

I'm interested in both also. But I'm also very worried. I have invested so much into my 360(I only use my PS3 for watching Blu-Rays, and Sony specific game titles) that if the new system is not backward compatible, I will be devestated. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 games for it nearly 75% of them I have never even finished. I have flashbacks to the original Xbox-The 360 was released and the original systems seemd to vanish nearly overnight(I may be stretching it but it sure seemed that way). The 360 played only a handful of my original Xbox games, and the ones it did play were very scetchy with many glitches. I didn't even have time to buy another original system to future proof myself as my old system died shortly after the release of the 360. So now I have a stack of original Xbox games with nothing to play them on. And don't even get me started on the red ring of death for the 360.....I'm on my third system but the first two fell victim to it! At least when the PS3 was released the PS2 was still available to purchase for a long long time. But now that the PS2 is off store shelves they are selling for big money from sellers on E-Bay.

 

[Ruz-El]

I'm most interested in the PS4, mainly wondering if all my DLC for RockBand 3 will become useless when it comes out. I'll be bitter about it if it happens that way. Steam Box sounds cool to me. It says it can output to 8 screens at one time, so 8 players can be playing from one box. If it means 8 players can be playing/watching 8 different games, it would be killer. If it's just a lan type thing, then not so much.

 

[JohnS]

I'm interested in both also. But I'm also very worried. I have invested so much into my 360(I only use my PS3 for watching Blu-Rays, and Sony specific game titles) that if the new system is not backward compatible, I will be devestated. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 games for it nearly 75% of them I have never even finished. I have flashbacks to the original Xbox-The 360 was released and the original systems seemd to vanish nearly overnight(I may be stretching it but it sure seemed that way). The 360 played only a handful of my original Xbox games, and the ones it did play were very scetchy with many glitches. I didn't even have time to buy another original system to future proof myself as my old system died shortly after the release of the 360. So now I have a stack of original Xbox games with nothing to play them on. And don't even get me started on the red ring of death for the 360.....I'm on my third system but the first two fell victim to it! At least when the PS3 was released the PS2 was still available to purchase for a long long time. But now that the PS2 is off store shelves they are selling for big money from sellers on E-Bay.

I have 100's of games on my PS3 and have upgraded the hard drive three times. The PS3 has given me the yellow light of death twice, and I'm hesitant on fixing it now because of the PS4 maybe coming later this year. Luckily I have the 360 to fall back on when I'm bored and want to play a game.

 

[mattCR]

Originally Posted by Bryan^H
I'm interested in both also. But I'm also very worried. I have invested so much into my 360(I only use my PS3 for watching Blu-Rays, and Sony specific game titles) that if the new system is not backward compatible, I will be devestated. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 games for it nearly 75% of them I have never even finished.
I have flashbacks to the original Xbox-The 360 was released and the original systems seemd to vanish nearly overnight(I may be stretching it but it sure seemed that way). The 360 played only a handful of my original Xbox games, and the ones it did play were very scetchy with many glitches. I didn't even have time to buy another original system to future proof myself as my old system died shortly after the release of the 360. So now I have a stack of original Xbox games with nothing to play them on.
And don't even get me started on the red ring of death for the 360.....I'm on my third system but the first two fell victim to it!
At least when the PS3 was released the PS2 was still available to purchase for a long long time. But now that the PS2 is off store shelves they are selling for big money from sellers on E-Bay.

If you're paying big money for the PS2 you're getting hosed. You can get them at Gamestop for less then $60. Someone is making out like a bandit

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Rumor has it that the PS4 will not be backward compatible with PS3. I'd imagine its powerful enough to software emulate PS1/PS2 but not PS3 and the cost of putting in PS3 hardware (like the PS2 and PS3 each did with their previous generations) is too costly. That said, we won't know until they announce something. In regards to the original Xbox, MS has openly said that once they sold 30 million consoles they abandoned it to push out the next system. They wanted to get a foot in the door, establish themselves in the market, then deliver a new product and make it live as long as possible. They've been very successful but as of this month there are more PS3s out there (as in, on store shelves and in homes) than 360s so Sony's long term strategy may be paying off slightly better.

 

[JohnS]

Rumor has it that the PS4 will not be backward compatible with PS3. I'd imagine its powerful enough to software emulate PS1/PS2 but not PS3 and the cost of putting in PS3 hardware (like the PS2 and PS3 each did with their previous generations) is too costly. That said, we won't know until they announce something. In regards to the original Xbox, MS has openly said that once they sold 30 million consoles they abandoned it to push out the next system. They wanted to get a foot in the door, establish themselves in the market, then deliver a new product and make it live as long as possible. They've been very successful but as of this month there are more PS3s out there (as in, on store shelves and in homes) than 360s so Sony's long term strategy may be paying off slightly better.

I'd be okay if the Playstation Plus account is backwards compatible with the PS4. All I have to do is re-download all the free games I've acquired. It will take quite some time, but I'd still get all my games. The other thing with a new Xbox is that it should come out at the same time as the new call of duty game. Which is also during the holiday season (November)

 

[Ruz-El]

Originally Posted by JohnS
I'd be okay if the Playstation Plus account is backwards compatible with the PS4.
All I have to do is re-download all the free games I've acquired.
It will take quite some time, but I'd still get all my games.

That's my concern, all those PSN games are now null and void. As is all the songs I purchased for Rockband which is as much a platform as it is a game. :S

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I wonder if they'll eventually start offering classic PS3 titles as PS4-compatible PSN downloads, as they've been doing with old PS1 (and PS2?) titles.