PixlBit

The 90's were a time of meteoric growth for the video game industry, both from a technical and a creative standpoint. In just ten short years, we went from the 16-bit wars ("Genesis DOES what NintenDON'T") to games like Soul Calibur and Power Stone on the Dreamcast. Indeed, next gen transitions back then saw titles that curbstomped even the best looking titles on their predecessors graphically; just compare Tekken 3 to Tekken Tag Tournament, or FF9 to FF10. That made next gen hardware a very easy sell, as much better visuals signified a clear and unambiguous sense of growth.

So I just got back from the mall, where our Sony store got a PS4 demo unit just yesterday. Spent about a half-hour playing through some games. Here are my thoughts.

http://experienceplaystation.com/

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/10/15/watch-dogs-the-crew-delayed-until-at-least-april-2014?abthid=525d6f634850f60146000007

Video game companies love their orchestrated product rollouts. Whether it be a new game, console or service, it's standard operating procedure to string us along with rations of PR gruel for months. Next-gen content, however, has been especially egregious.

So Sony's press conference was streamed at 2 in the morning last night. I could've stayed up, as I don't have work until 3PM or so, but decided to just sleep in and catch up tomorrow.

So I was able to get a 32GB card for around $45 from Gamestop, via trade-ins, coupons and Power-Up discounts. That was below the $50 upper limit I was willing to spend on the card--the maximum price I think it should be at, frankly--so I'm satisfied. I just wish I didn't have to do all that just to get 32 gigs of memory at a sort-of sane price. I only paid around half that for my 32GB flash drive, for instance. But whatever.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-09-06-kojima-clarifies-decision-to-make-mgs5-character-more-erotic

So it's come to our attention lately that--gasp!--the next-gen consoles aren't going to match the performance or visuals we saw in the carefully curated marketing materials to date. You know, the ones running on PC graphics solutions worth $1000? Or the ones that were "in-engine" smoke and mirror nonsense that comes nowhere near representing actual gameplay footage? Yeah, apparently you still can't get the same results out of $400-500 boxes using laptop-friendly parts, that are designed to minimize heat and electricity use as much as possible.

Just two weeks after Iwata said otherwise--citing the better sales of the $350 Premium as proof that a price cut wasn't needed--a WiiU price cut has been announced.