Random Gaming Thoughts

[Sarge]

It's worth noting that the PS4 has zero backwards compatibility. And that, much like the Switch, happened because of the architecture change.

[isiolia]

It's worth noting that the PS4 has zero backwards compatibility. And that, much like the Switch, happened because of the architecture change.

To be fair, the Xbox platform also changed architecture. The PS3 was a more complicated system, and I think Sony also did an API change for the PS4...but you'd think they could have at least done PS1 if they'd been inclined.

My impression has been that MS and Sony basically flipped from 7th to 8th gen. The PS4, since launch, has been a purpose-built machine for current games and streaming. A major turnaround from the pricey, bloated (though feature rich) phat PS3 that slowly got trimmed down revision by revision. Meanwhile, MS took a stab at being the core of your living room with the Xbox One, and has continued to try and maintain value there (a la 4k Ultra disc support). Interestingly, the PS5 will be doing 4k Ultra discs. So, perhaps Sony will expand efforts in other areas as well.

[Sarge]

There's also Microsoft's "backwards compatibility", but that's just games that have been tweaked to run on XB1 to download, as opposed to true BC. I love that they did that, though, and I plan on taking advantage if I ever get an XB1.

[RCBH928]

I may be old... but it still excites me when I see FMV in a videogame. Still feels like "The FUTURE".

[opa]

Love FMV's too. Roundabout was awesome.

[pook99]

I may be old... but it still excites me when I see FMV in a videogame. Still feels like "The FUTURE".

I used to love those old FMV and laser disc games as a kid. Do any modern games still have FMV? The only one I can think of is quantum break, which I did absolutely love, and the FMV played a big part in that.

[isiolia]

I used to love those old FMV and laser disc games as a kid. Do any modern games still have FMV? The only one I can think of is quantum break, which I did absolutely love, and the FMV played a big part in that.

It probably depends on what you want to count. Live action is fairly rare, though there have been others designed around it (Her Story for instance). Prerendered cutscenes (still "full motion video") are pretty common though, as they can provide both consistent performance across platforms/system specs, and a window to load new 3D assets in the background.

[bmoc]

I've had the TV in my living room for a few years now. Yesterday I figured out that when it displays HDR video, it would switch over from the normal video presets like Cinema Mode, Game Mode, etc to special HDR versions of those presets. Unbeknownst to me, every time my PS4 Pro switched from regular video to HDR, it would go from Game Mode to HDR "Vivid". This had extra features like motion smoothing (soap opera effect) turned on. The only way to know that these HDR presets exist is to go into your video settings while HDR video is being output. Turns out that I have an HDR "Game Mode" too which I have now enabled. I discovered all this by watching Netflix on my PS4 Pro for the first time. I normally watch Netflix on the TV's native app. The motion smoothing was very apparent when watching stuff that should be 24 frames per second.

I sure played a lot of games without noticing. I wonder how much display lag I just saved myself from?

[BoneSnapDeez]

The title of this random 7-year-old Escapist thread speaks to me on a deep personal level.
https://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums ... ere-on-out

[pierrot]

So while I have three months of Xbox Gamepass on PC, that I'm not paying anything for, I've decided to try to play through as much of what I find interesting on the service as I possibly can. I started with Bloodstained, which was good, but not really in the same ballpark as SotN, and doesn't do anything really novel that would cause me to play it again over SotN. I've found myself in a weird predicament, though, where most of the games that I've installed to play soon seem to be metroidvanias. (Is everything just a metroidvania now?) I'm almost finished with Recore, and even that has a lot of metroidvania elements to the gameplay. Anyway, my question is really how others might prioritize these few games:

Timespinner
Ori and the Blind Forest
The Messenger (is this a metroidvania?)
Guacamelee 2 (I played the first one to 100% completion, along with all the El Infierno challenges, so I did really enjoy that one)
Hollow Knight
Momodora (Is this one a metroidvania?)

I'm just trying to consider how to organize the order of these so that, hopefully, I don't just feel like I'm playing through the same thing over and over.

Also, is anyone playing The Outer Worlds right now? I'm thinking I might have to give it a look-see. The main trailer for it on the game page in the Xbox app kind of sold me a bit, even though I've never played any Fallout games.

One last thought, because I got it for free with my GPU: Has Activision gone crazy with their naming? The new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is confusing as hell. When I saw it as a promotional game for my GPU, I was thinking, 'Wow, a decade old game. Neat.' Then I find out it just came out a couple days ago. The fuck? I guess it's another game I can try out raytracing with, at least. I don't really notice it that much in Metro Exodus.