Next-gen gaming: PS4, XB1, etc.

[Don Boyer]

POLL CLOSES SATURDAY ABOUT 11:55PM EST, BITCHES!

[Fanofyankees13]

PS4 and XB1 for me. I'm loyal to both Sony and Microsoft. Both systems have great features and I'm a pretty big gamer, so it was a no-brainer to pick up both. My friends are pretty split between the two, so I'll still be able to play with everyone, and I won't have to miss out on any of the exclusive titles for either system.

[Anthony]

I've always been in the Xbox camp, but have had Playstations here and there, along with some other consoles that are now part of my Console Collection..........NEC Turbo Graphics anyone, or maybe a Dreamcast (Still love that system)

[Curt]

I have been a PC gamer, never really continued with the consoles past N64. Saying that, I am tend to be more on the Windows side since it is the best for gaming, but I do have a macbook and dual boot my main PC with Linux ( Ubuntu ).... and run virtualizations of other distros. If I was going to get a console, 99% sure I would pick the PS4. I like what they are doing to support indie game developers.

[Don Boyer]

PS4 and XB1 for me. I'm loyal to both Sony and Microsoft. Both systems have great features and I'm a pretty big gamer, so it was a no-brainer to pick up both. My friends are pretty split between the two, so I'll still be able to play with everyone, and I won't have to miss out on any of the exclusive titles for either system.

Well, not everyone's pockets are as deep as yours are, apparently... 

I've always been in the Xbox camp, but have had Playstations here and there, along with some other consoles that are now part of my Console Collection..........NEC Turbo Graphics anyone, or maybe a Dreamcast (Still love that system)

You want old?  My first system was a Magnavox Odyssey 2.  Predates the Atari 2600 by perhaps one or two years.  It was THE first game system with interchangeable cartridges, but DAMN was it primitive...

I have been a PC gamer, never really continued with the consoles past N64. Saying that, I am tend to be more on the Windows side since it is the best for gaming, but I do have a macbook and dual boot my main PC with Linux ( Ubuntu ).... and run virualizations of other distros. If I was going to get a console, 99% sure I would pick the PS4. I like what they are doing to support indie game developers.

...and I like how Sony doesn't charge a fee for online gaming, unlike one money-grubbing console maker I can think of... 

I'm not planning a new console purchase very soon, but I do have a PS3 right now.  I bought it less for the gaming capabilities, more because it was, at the time I built my second home theater, the cheapest software-upgradeable Blu-ray player on the market.  The fact that it played games was a bonus.  Were I to choose a console, I'd stick with Sony.  But I know I do more gaming on iOS than any other.

(I still miss the first one, but it was way overpowered for apartment dwellers.  Even with the bass boost off on the Sony amp, the Infinity 5.1 speakers could rumble the glass with the volume at about 40% - I never turned it much higher than that for fear of serious damage.  100 watts per channel and 75 watts to the sub-woofer, which was so strong I had to build a sound-dampening box for it to stand on that would absorb excess vibrations and keep them from penetrating to the floor below.)

[Anthony]

You want old?  My first system was a Magnavox Odyssey 2.  Predates the Atari 2600 by perhaps one or two years.  It was THE first game system with interchangeable cartridges, but DAMN was it primitive...

.....oh, I can go older Don, do you remember the Pong console? How about Mattel Electronic Football...........man the hours spent running that little hash line, lol

[agera94]

Don I'd hate to burst your bubble but PS Online will now require a subscription fee; however there are many incentives for doing so. The 'next-gen' that is so raved about is really bringing consoles one step closer to having games that don't need to be optimised for the hardware they're running on. Pretty much, they're cheaper and more optimised PC's. Both the PS4 and XB1 look like great picks though

[Don Boyer]

You want old?  My first system was a Magnavox Odyssey 2.  Predates the Atari 2600 by perhaps one or two years.  It was THE first game system with interchangeable cartridges, but DAMN was it primitive...

.....oh, I can go older Don, do you remember the Pong console? How about Mattel Electronic Football...........man the hours spent running that little hash line, lol

My older brother had the Mattel game, and I played it for quite a while.  I think it came AFTER the Atari 2600, though.  LEDs weren't mass-market cheap until the mid-1970s - in the early '70s, an LED digital watch could cost several hundred dollars.

Check this out, though - an arcade game I played that was based on the first video game ever designed for a "minicomputer."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Wars

Imagine "Asteroids," but the game is strictly two-player, there's no rocks (you had the option of putting a star in the center of the screen with positive or negative gravity) - the objective was kill your opponent as frequently as possible, and you had 90 seconds to do so for every quarter you dropped in the machine.  $10 and you could play for an hour straight.  You had hyperspace, and it was just as reliable as in "Asteroids," but you also had options for looped or walled edges (pass through and appear on the other side or bounce off) and shots fired could also have a bounce option (but not pass-through).  It was also the first game where one shot wasn't necessarily an instant kill - a glancing shot damaged the vessel, making debris appear and slowing the ship's controls.

The first version of the original game was written in 1962 for the Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP-1.  It is described as having a little less memory and about the same processing power as a 1996 digital organizer!  (That was a 200kHz processor with about 9kb of RAM, upgradable to 64kb.)  The term "minicomputer" is derived from the fact that it was the first wave of computers that didn't occupy an entire room the size of an apartment - the PDP-1 took up roughly the same space as a commercial refrigerator, not counting accessories like the CRT and keyboard of the terminal or the modified IBM Selectric typewriter used for printed output.  The memory storage medium was punched paper tape...yikes...

But enough of that tangent...  The only system I'm really planning on getting between now and year's end is probably an iPhone 5s.  I might get a new iPad as well, but I'm not holding my breath - my first-gen model is no longer supported past iOS 5.x but it still goes online, plays streaming video and has enough games to keep me occupied...

[magnacat]

for me, unlike fanofyankees13 (lol), i am going to have to really take money into account when making this choice. luckily, i am interested enough in all the games i still have yet to play for PS3 and Xbox360 (including d/l'd games), for it to be a little while before i MUST have a new system. (i am also looking into SteamOS, but i'm waiting to hear what PC gamers opinions are on this one, first.)

i did, at one point, have no difficulty choosing the PS4, because of all the issues surrounding stuff like used games, and indie game development with the XboxOne. it seems that Microsoft has come to it's senses on those problems, now, thankfully, so other than paying an extra $100 for a kinect (that i don't want  ), it pretty much comes down to the games. since i can use both for DVDs/Hulu/Netflix/internet...

so as for games, it seems they will both have Assassin's Creed IV, Battlefield 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, NFS: rivals, and the (seemingly) awesome Watchdogs. while PS4 will have exclusives for
Deep Down
The Order: 1886
Killzone: Shadowfall
Driveclub
Knack
and Infamous: Second Son

and XboxOne will have-
Dead Rising 3
Titanfall
Halo 5
Forza Motorsport 5
Crimson Dragon
and Ryse: Son of Rome

so for me, it's just going to be a tough choice until they have more games sceduled for each system...

[John B.]

I am for none of them. I have what I have and assume they will still make games for the 360. I might later on get the xbox one but I dont play video games like I use to and I have a good friend who if he got it I know would not mind letting me play it.

[Don Boyer]

I am for none of them. I have what I have and assume they will still make games for the 360. I might later on get the xbox one but I dont play video games like I use to and I have a good friend who if he got it I know would not mind letting me play it.

It's likely to be the same old story.  They'll continue supporting the old system for a while, but eventually will stop in favor of the new one.  I'd wager by this time next year, new XB360 games will be scarce.

However...

It also means that soon enough, you'll be able to buy recent new XB360 games for a song and used games for even less!  I knew a guy who always was one console generation behind, preferring to snap up games for next-to-nothing instead of paying new-release prices.  He'll probably be buying a PS3 on Black Friday!

[MrMollusk]

I have a Gameboy color and Pokemon red.

Don't need none o dis fancy shit.

[Anthony]

I knew a guy who always was one console generation behind, preferring to snap up games for next-to-nothing instead of paying new-release prices.  He'll probably be buying a PS3 on Black Friday!

You know this isn't a flawed plan by any means...........as always, as long as your not one of the "Gotta have it NOW" crowd your golden, lol

[Don Boyer]

I knew a guy who always was one console generation behind, preferring to snap up games for next-to-nothing instead of paying new-release prices.  He'll probably be buying a PS3 on Black Friday!

You know this isn't a flawed plan by any means...........as always, as long as your not one of the "Gotta have it NOW" crowd your golden, lol

This guy was all about not wasting money...he lived with his parents until he married in his, what, late 20s?  Early 30s?