I do not see how they were emulating Steam. I do not have a Steam account, though aren't most games on Steam older games anyway?


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Steam covers just about everything now as I understand it. But the reason I, and I suspect many others, bought games consoles was so I didn't have to faff about with settings, patches, why won't this work with my card?! etc. Though we got the patches anyway... Steam at least has something of a connection with it's 'community'; MS is more like The Matrix in that sense

I agree about the not needing patches and an end to the wondering whether the game will work. Though mobile games also solve that problem. Plus if they are crap it might only be a few quid lost not £50.


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PlayStation 4 and Vita bargain bundle heading our way?

http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/pl ... y--1171259

The only game I'd actually wanna play on the Vita would be Uncharted, nothing else really appeals with that small screen experience overall. And I found the Vita slightly weird to hold in HMV when I was messing about with it

It also has to challenge smartphone games in terms of playability and value for money.


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Publishers may vanish in digital age, says Xbox founder

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/42 ... x-founder/

The problem with 'the digital age' is that it'll be very difficult for games to stand out. It'll be even more difficult to get people to visit Live and PSN never mind pay their ridiculous prices. The amount of people from this generation who are gonna get burned when they realise all those games, map packs, even patches etc have a shelf life...

And here's some potential future competition from Amazon

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/42 ... d-service/
...


Nintendo boss 'strives' for return to form by March 2014

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/42 ... arch-2014/

It's got more problems than a lack of games though...

It's predecessor is probably collecting dust and has been for some time. Joe average looks at the U and sees a minor upgrade, which it is.

That controller's shocking with no real point to the screen. And Nintendo know it, hence the more traditional pad.

The rivals hype machines have started already. They might cost a lot more but they're one-stop shops for entertainment and have mainstream games that aren't hobbled.

Xbox One TV and DVR features require Xbox Live gold subscription

http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/co ... on-1171685

If you are playing multiplayer then even a basic subscription seems sensible. Maybe what they should do is have four levels of subscription. The bottom is free but does not allow multiplayer games. Then three paid levels of subscription starting from a very low level to cover all the other features. If thought out sensibly they could do well.

Live does have different levels of subscription, but the bottom two are so rubbish that you're likely to pay for 'gold' anyway - you know, to use all those features that they got so excited telling you about. Like Internet Explorer...

I think that they are making a mistake. If the gold subscription was expensive and offers far more than the customer needs it will get dropped at the first hint of trouble. If the lower subscriptions were say $2 a month but had one or two features then even if that is all the customer wants they will perceive that $2 a month for what they want as a good deal and stick with it. If it were $20 a month or even $10 a month and considered bad value by the customer it might get dropped, and they potentially lose the customer.

Over here it's around £40 a year for the package that's actually useful i.e. multiplayer. But even that's a scam because you have to be on that to use Netflix and God knows what else. Never mind that you're obviously already paying money to Netflix.

It's utter BS, but now it's coming to PS4 n'all in the sense that you'll now be paying for MP, though at least it'll get you free games.

£40 is not so bad but it does seem ridiculous to pay that just so that you can watch Netflix etc. Though if you had a Netflix account you could also watch it on your tablet. The ability to watch Netflix on the bigger screen of a TV might appeal to some.

I have Netflix through the PS3; I wouldn't dream of watching it anywhere other than a big screen, personally.

WIth an iPad you can airplay it to an Apple TV. Though I think that the Apple TV has a Netflix app anyway.

PS Plus not required for PS4 video capture

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/42 ... o-capture/

It's a next to useless feature for the majority, but Sony still come out of it looking better.