I couldn't care less about specs. I want games to look Good Enough. PC games might look slightly nicer, or perhaps not, given the enormous variety of configurations they have to support, but not so much nicer that I'm willing to be bothered with it. I'm totally capable of building a PC and going to ridiculous lengths to optimize it. I just don't want to anymore.
And let’s not forget that pre-builts and laptops exist. The laptop mobile graphics situation is the best it’s ever been, it’s so easy to find an affordable gaming system that can handle AAA games.
Or there’s the steam deck, a “console” that can play PC games.
And FWIW my PS4 has crashed before. Most likely a software bug but it fully crashed while I was playing a game.
I do not recommend it , from my experience the moderation is a blackbox, I would get warrningss for my son;s activity with no clue what was wrong, some bullshit like it might have been one of the things in this list of bad things. Then they force you to buy a sbuscription to access online features/multiplayer and if they ban you without any right to appeal they will not return your money for the services they will not longer give you.
So fck subscriptions, fck moderation without transparency and without right to appeal and talk with a human. And also fck Sony for killing online features because are to lazy to keep a few server code safe, lazy and greedy bastards.
I think there’s a good reason Sony is themselves shifting toward the PC.
- People who know about and build computers
- People who want to play games
There's some common overlap; but there are a lot of people who do not overlap. As long as that is the case, PlayStation will always have a market.
Also, I'm glad for this; the PC is not a completely stable platform. I remember playing games with NVIDIA PhysX from about a decade and a half ago, and the physics are just ever so slightly broken and off (to the point some levels are unbeatable).
I agree with you, don't need to buy new 2024 PC components to have a great gaming PC, that seems to be the counter argument here which just isn't the case
>don't need to buy new 2024 PC components to have a great gaming PC
No, you don't. But if you want to compare a PC to a console, you should use equivalent specs. People who just want a convinient way to play games (not AAA games) can pick up a steam deck for $200-300 and be set for life. But that's not who Sony is targeting.
If we are comparing equivalent specs, we should note that this new PS5 Pro is not going to be equivalent to mid-high end graphics cards that cost $500.
Many outlets are comparing it to the RX6800 [1], which would put it at around a $380 retail graphics card like an RTX 4060Ti.
Here’s my PS5 Pro equivalent build:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/q24H6D
It’s $900, but remember that PS5 online play costs $80/year. so you’re breaking even after about 2 years, not counting the cost savings of PC games (I can buy Elden ring for under $50 via cheapshark.com, but it’s $70 on the PS Store)
Also, common components like case, power supply, and storage almost never have to be replaced when a PC is upgraded. Sony is making you throw out all those common components.
[1] https://www.ign.com/articles/playstation-5-pro-vs-playstatio...
>but remember that PS5 online play costs $80/year.
I don't play online. Sony's done a great job this year giving me less reasons to play as well.
>not counting the cost savings of PC games
This isn't Nintendo. You can get most AAA games half off of you wait 6 months post launch anyways.
Quantity of games doesn't rally matter these days anyways. Gamepass beats both if that's your most important metric.
Quantity of games doesn’t matter but platform compatibility, extensibility, and longevity does. Consoles have compromised modding, no ability to install custom software like open source game engine replacements (OpenMW and OpenTTD), limited support of third party or customized hardware (Stream Deck, specialized simulation hardware, VR, etc).
Consoles make you throw out your old controllers when you get a new system, they often compromise or drop backwards compatibility with previous game libraries, and some even shut down their digital game stores. The PS3 almost shut theirs down before people complained. Now you can only buy games with PS Store balance, direct credit card purchases aren’t supported. The 3DS and WiiU eShop are gone.
And we didn’t even start talking about emulation or mouse and keyboard oriented games that suck on console. The most popular game of all time (Minecraft) is significantly worse on console and can’t be played with the extensive modding available that can completely transform the game (e.g., the Create mod). The Sims is awful with a controller. RimWorld, Stardew Valley, Cities Skylines, the entire survival crafting genre - all better games on mouse and keyboard.
I'm not interested in having a console vs. PC debate. I just wanted to emphasize that it's not 2015 anymore and crypto ruined the idea of an affordable high end gaming pc. The good news is that there's plenty of non-aaa games and any pc you pick up for college can probably play older AAA games and indies with no issue. hence why the steam deck is very popular among pc players who wanted some portability. The cheapest gaming is indeed whatever pc or laptop you can pickup, even pre-built.
Power isn't everything, but clearly the ps5 pro and higher end cards are targeting power users. Someone not price sensitive already has some $3k top end gaming rig and won't be convinced of any console (the camp it sounds like you are in). For those that want a taste of that high end but are cost sensitive will probably look towards the PS5 Pro.
Is that a sustainable market? I don't think so. But gen 9's theme has been unsustainability with the devs suffering for the state of the economy (no matter how good or bad your last release was), so this is just on point.
I mean, yes, I do. I can run new AAA games on my MacBook Pro via native ports on Steam and the Mac App Store or Crossover.
Hell, Resident Evil 7 runs on a fucking iPhone at this point.
Don't forget that many PS5 games' render resolution is 1080p and under and up to 60FPS. It really isn't that powerful. If you take your gaming laptop and play at 1440p and complain that you're barely getting 60FPS at high/ultra settings, well, you're already outperforming a base PS5.
> crypto ruined the idea of an affordable high end gaming pc.
idk if you have noticed but we aren't at peak crypto GPU prices. This isn't 2022. GPUs are relatively affordable.
> Power isn't everything, but clearly the ps5 pro and higher end cards are targeting power users
PS5 Pro is equivalent to mid-range PC graphics cards. At $700.
If you own a PC right now, let's say it's a similar age to the PS4. You've got an AM4 motherboard with a Ryzen 1000 or 3000 series and a GTX 1080 or 1070 or something like that.
If you spend $700 on an upgrade and get yourself a Ryzen 5700x3D and RX 7900GRE you are vastly outperforming the PS5 Pro. Heck, if your gaming is more GPU bound and your processor still holds up you could skip the processor and buy an RTX 4070 Ti Super for $700. That GPU will positively SMOKE the PS5 Pro.
It's a bit of the opposite direction for me. Crypto and now AI ruined the idea of a gaming PC being cheaper than a console. 3080's by themselves (which is what a $500 PS5 uses) can still go for $800 by itself on the used market. The gen 9 consoles are the cheapest way to buy 2020's tech right now.
I compare it to a 3X series than a 2X because it's one specific spec that devs can target, leading to better optimization. And PS5 does have a few specific propreitary tricks to leverage as well compared to a PC.
Plus... it's not like the 2X GPUs are dirt cheap to begin with. I see $250-300 new. If I'm going to buy a gaming PC, it may as well at least be better than the machine I already own, and that one part is already half the price of a PS5 base.
Otherwise, in terms of specs and price, I am somewhat amazed that the console market is clinging on to life at this point. The PS5/Series generation pushed me to PC and I’m really not understanding the appeal of the consoles anymore beyond the convenience of not needing to do assembly.
The consoles are just giving you hardware that PCs already had years ago and isn’t even really beating it on price all that well.
This thing is $700 and you’ll end up with a better system if you build a new PC with a $500 graphics card at about $1000 total build cost. And then you have way more flexibility overall and a much larger game library.