3007

One of the boys has a copy, I suppose I should toss it into the binder for my upcoming vacation. Last year, I played through Wolfenstien and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Re: lesser regarded, Metacritic gives a 70 for TimeShift (which I admit had an oddly poor first level) and an 87 for Halo 4. So, it’s 17 better! Poor old Turning Point got a 43 (but a 70 user rating, interestingly).

3008

I thought I was done with Halo 4… then I started messing around with the settings on SWAT and realized my mates and I could play Halo Quidditch (boost up everyone’s speed; everyone can briefly boost ahead for a short time [forget the name of that power]; all games go to 10 points - each kill gets you 1 point; each melee 2 points; and an assassination is an instant win). Suddenly, we’re all back in.

On the business side of things, Halo is of course more than just a shooter for Microsoft. It’s an exclusive, a franchise and a universe. The combination of all three make it valuable to Xbox.

Actually, while on this topic, what would the analog to this be on the PlayStation ecosystem. Killzone - while an exclusive and a franchise - has never been embraced enough by fans to support the types of comics, books, toys, etc. that Halo has going for it. The Uncharted series - definitely a system seller; love those games - don’t really have spin offs in the same way.

3009

Don’t really understand the controller fanboi’ism personally.

I have both and use both. I personally prefer mouse/keyboard all things equal, but i’ve used my ps3 controller both on the console and on the PC, and i’ve used my 360 gamepad a lot on PC games as well. Don’t see any obvious advantage with either.

3010

I just don’t like the basic shape of the PS controller. I always feel like I’m fighting the angles of the handles and my thumbs feel cramped on the sticks. The Xbox 360 controller is the first controller I’ve ever held that feels like it was specifically made for my hands. That’s really all there is to it.

3011

Agreed. I appreciate the PS3 for many things - Netflix, Blu-ray drive, Naughty Dog - but the controller is not one of 'em. This is a personal preference thing but for me the 360 controller feels more natural in hand. That said, I’m eager to try the PS4 controller because I think Sony heard that feedback loud and clear. Plus, I like the idea that it has a touchpad built into it. I don’t see that being a staple of AAA games but I bet some indie developers will have fun with that feature.

3012

I don’t think one works better than the other. The Xbox controller is just one hell of a lot more comfortable for my hands. My hands hurt after using the PS3 controller.

But I also realize that’s just me.

3013

I think that citing Titanfall and Halo as individual items on the XBox list was equally as stupid as putting “Developers” (meaning Sony’s in-house Naughty Dog) as an item on the Sony list. If the Xbox list had replaced those two with “Multiplayer” and then outlined why this generation’s gamers prefer Microsoft’s multiplayer to Sony’s it would have been a better point.

On the Kinect, I offer my 11-year-old daughter as a reason why including a Kinect might be a good decision: I honestly can’t remember the last time someone played a game on our XBox. Probably it was a Dance Central game using the Kinect, and it was probably 6+ months back (our PS3 hasn’t been used for anything other than a BluRay player in at least a calendar year). What my 11-year old DOES do a lot of is watching Netflix or playing DVD movies on the XBox, and she almost exclusively uses the Kinect-enabled voice commands, followed by motion commands, followed by grumbling about having to dig up a controller for when the first two items can’t answer the mail.

Although I don’t use them personally, the current-gen Kinect voice commands seem to do pretty well for her, and I would love to be able to verbally command my TiVo to play the most recent Game of Thrones or Colbert Report rather than have to navigate through a bunch of menus.

3014

Add me to the list of people who get hand cramps from the DS3. They aren’t terrible or anything, but I can play with the Xbox 360 controller for hours with no discomfort, but the PS3 controller gives hand cramps after a couple of hours of play. I’m very hopefully the elongated PS4 controller addresses this issue.

3015

I can’t stand, on the other hand, the stick layout on the 360 and got a third party controller where I could swap the left stick and d-pad…

3016

Well the PS4 controller improves on the old model. Read the CNET hands-on review of the PS4 controller here: http://reviews.cnet.com/ps4/

Yes, they pointedly complain about the d-pad, which I know will freak some fighting fans, but on the whole, CNET is very positive on the PS4 controller.

About the worst thing said here is that the triggers don’t feel like triggers like they do on the Xbox One controller (the PS4 apparently went with flat and wide for their triggers). What they liked: It’s about as light as the PS3 controller, the shoulder buttons are soft rather than clicky (YMMV but the CNET reviewer saw it as a plus over both the PS3 controller and the Xbox One controller) and the touchpad apparently is a winner.

3017

One dude infamously compared the PS4 controller to the birth of his firstborn child, so there is some indication that it’s much improved.

3018

Anyone who knows anything about the console hardware business model knows that this suggestion is ludicrous. Microsoft is selling you their hardware, at best, at break even, but probably at significant loss. They count on you buying games over the course of years to make money. Maybe you didn’t know this, but every game you buy, no matter what publisher, benefits Microsoft to the tune of about $7-$10.

Just getting you to buy the hardware as a trap accomplishes nothing for them. If you buy an Xbox One and then decide to stop buying games because they sprung a surprise DRM scheme on you, they lose their shirts.

The real reason you have to patch on day 1 is because they have to go back and re-engineer their entire system, and that’s going to take them a while. It won’t be done in time for when they have to start loading systems, which could be any day now. I can virtually guarantee you that any system sold in late 2014 will not have the latent DRM code on it.

3019

Well, I was originally going to post this review: http://penny-arcade.com/report/article/the-playstation-4-conroller-is-just-slightly-better-than-the-best-thing-eve

But it is so over the top that I can’t tell if it’s satire

3020

So what. The first two Halo games didn’t help the first Xbox from selling really poorly compared to the PS2. The article that was pointed out was saying Halo will help make the Xbox one win over the PS4. My point was this gives Halo way more credit than it deserves. Its a nice “feather” in MS cap but that’s all it is.

3021

You asked why everybody was talking about halo when CoD had more players. I answered that question.

3022

My somewhat flip answer to whether Halo is just a nice feather: http://i.imgur.com/bgQg1iD.jpg

Of course Halo being an exclusive is a major plus for the Xbox One! Jason, you may not like it, but there are plenty of people who do. Personally, I’m in the “I enjoy playing Halo but mostly for multiplayer because the single player story makes no freakin’ sense” camp.

But clearly, there are more rabid fans out there. They buy all the games; they play hours upon hours of multiplayer; they read the books; buy the comics; watch the series; dress up in cosplay; for god’s sake, Steven Spielberg is working on a live action Halo series because it’s so popular.

3023

Also, when I think about titles that are system showcases, I think of Uncharted for the PS3 (and I hope the PS4) and Halo for the Xbox.

I have no idea what 343 is going to do with the Xbox One architecture, but I am looking forward to it. The one thing I wish they would do, they won’t. And that’s letting you play with Forgeworld on the PC. In an ideal world, I would like to make maps for Halo V using my mouse and keyboard and then play said maps with my controller.

3024

They added, “On Xbox, the ad is part of the actual experience, it’s not something that is outside.

Are there even ads in the PS3 interface? It’s just a menu driven interface without all of the “splash” etc. of the XBox interface (one reason I much prefer the PS3 interface to the Metro-like XBox interface.)

The idea of the camera on the XBox analyzing who is in the room, what they are doing, where they are looking, etc. in order to tailor ads for me really turns me off for some reason. I just don’t care for my game console sitting there literally watching me and analyzing me and whoever else is in the room.

3025

No ads in my PS3, but no idea about the US one, since I don’t have ads (Other than games) on my Xbox 360 either.

3026

Game ads are something I don’t mind at all. It’s only when I see non-game ads that I get a little annoyed. I don’t need McDonalds sitting on my 360 interface, trying to incite me into eating junk food when I’ve worked so hard over the last 5 years to lose 70 pounds and finally come back down where I used to be before I moved to Seattle.

Game ads on the other hand? If an ad can point out a game I’d overlooked before, or let me know about an upcoming I hadn’t heard about that might be cool? I’m fine with that. In fact, I welcome it.