I think a lot of the complaints and angst is the "free-to-play model" (and concerns about "pay to win" and harshly gated content) being shoved into full cost retail games now. At least they are responding to all the concerns about it. Apparently the gaming controversy de jour - some gamer feeds about it:
Micro Transactions have been going on for many years including big name titles like nhl and call of duty.Its up to the individual person if they want to buy it just like in real life.
Micro Transactions have been going on for many years including big name titles like nhl and call of duty.Its up to the individual person if they want to buy it just like in real life.
NHL and Call of duty are two of the worst when it comes to ripping people off...making a few minor changes and charging another $60 each year while stopping support for the previous title. Sure you don't have to pay if you don't want to but when people who pay gain an advantage that is what I have a problem with.
So basically on one of my Gator Forums on the xbone thread there happened to be a Executive Support Tech that sent me a few emails. Basically said that I can try to return it and get a new one but he will get me a new one from Microsoft next week plus a few other things.
so far I'm more upset than mad, mad at the controller and that my turtle beach from 360 wont work for it.
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Thank you for everything CP. Good memories and thankful for everything that has been done to help me out. I will no longer take part on these boards. Take care, Go Flames Go.
Assassin's Creed IV: Xbox One (offline, no update): 5 minutes 50 seconds
Xbox One (with update, fastest connection): 7 minutes 2 seconds
Xbox One (with update, 10Mbps connection): 10 minutes 32 seconds
PS4: 42 seconds
The rest of these were tested on our office Wi-Fi which is around 9-11Mbps. It may have been faster on a wired connection, but you can compare your own connection speed here. These are our results:
Need For Speed Rivals: XBO: 09:25 (including update)
PS4: 00:32
Just Dance 2014: XBO: 08:48 (including update)
PS4: 00:45
NBA Live 14:
XBO: 16:26 (including update)
PS4: 00:35
Micro Transactions have been going on for many years including big name titles like nhl and call of duty.Its up to the individual person if they want to buy it just like in real life.
The micro-transactions are ridiculous in Forza though. There's at least one car that costs $50 in real money to buy. Of course you could grind for hours and hours and hours to earn it, but that takes the fun out of the game.
To give Turn 10 credit they've gifted some cars to people, and will tweak the way you earn credits so it should be easier to earn cars through play, but as a loyal fan of the series I think they've taken things too far. If you buy the limited edition and the car pass you're in for $130, and you still have to either grind or pay to get access to the extra content you've supposedly paid for.
I support developers and understand that $60 per game isn't quite cutting it considering how expensive they are to make, but if they're going to double-dip on DLC and microtransactions then they can bite me.
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I dont know what I did but I left the light on all night on the front of the machine. But all of a sudden it's working, downloading bf4 now.
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Thank you for everything CP. Good memories and thankful for everything that has been done to help me out. I will no longer take part on these boards. Take care, Go Flames Go.
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to PIMking For This Useful Post:
I dont know what I did but I left the light on all night on the front of the machine. But all of a sudden it's working, downloading bf4 now.
It may have been a glitch with the initial software update. Glad things worked out as it's a bummer to hook everything up and then have to take it apart, return it and wait.
I've had two games of bf4 just stop and dashboard all of a sudden.
Plus the servers are empty no one is playing conquest
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Thank you for everything CP. Good memories and thankful for everything that has been done to help me out. I will no longer take part on these boards. Take care, Go Flames Go.
Wow finally got into a conquest server with 64 players and holy S&)t that is nuts
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Now that the games/final hardware are out and patches applied, here are the Digital Foundry looks at the cross platform Call of Duty and Battlefield 4. Maybe we'll get an Assassin's Creed 4 shortly as well.
PC still rules them all but it is interesting that you can "opt out" of the horrible Microsoft filter/upscaler by forcibly downstepping to 720p output.
They also have video links showing the real-time frames per second for two consoles.
With the day-one patch enabled, we are looking at a native 1080p framebuffer on the new Sony console, backed up with a post-process anti-aliasing solution that looks very similar to FXAA. The crisp imagery associated with full HD visuals is clearly visible throughout the bombastic campaign and multiplayer modes, although the post-process AA leads to some light smoothing of texture details and specular highlights, giving the game a softer look than the PC version - which in all of our media we have operating with traditional multi-sampling (4x MSAA, in this case). Owners of Microsoft's new console aren't treated to the same level of quality in this area. 720p - also featuring the same post-process anti-aliasing - is confirmed, which is then upscaled to 1080p by the console before arriving on your TV screen. On top of that, a strong sharpening filter is also applied over the entire 720p image, encompassing both in-game imagery along with the HUD elements and even the main menu screens. Based on the fact that we're seeing something very similar in Killer Instinct and Dead Rising 3, we have a feeling that this may actually be part of the Microsoft upscaling solution - and we don't like it.
The end result isn't a particularly pretty sight: harsh edges are further accentuated over the additional jaggies created by the upscaling, while fine details, foliage, and the surface of water all appear quite grainy in comparison to the PS4 and PC versions. It's a crushing step down from the PS4's much clearer 1080p presentation, taking away some of the finesse expected from a next-generation product, but thankfully it's also something that you can opt out of.
While there's nothing you can do to increase the native resolution of the Xbox One game, it is possible to disable the sharpening filter by switching the console's output resolution to 720p. With that in mind it's rather baffling as to why Microsoft would choose to bork image quality in such a way by default, especially considering that we actually see more detail resolved when the unmolested 720p output is upscaled by our display - though your screen may (or may not) add a frame or two of processing lag to carry out its own upscaling calculation. Perhaps the team behind the Xbox One hardware thought that the sharpened look might help to hide the deficit in resolution, but in truth it does more harm than good.
Each next-gen console version has its strengths and weaknesses, but clearly it is the PS4 game that offers a superior experience overall. The advantage here comes in the form of cleaner and sharper visuals that help to better realise the extra next-gen spit and polish on display over the 360, PS3, and Wii U versions of the game - something that Xbox One's upscaled 720p presentation fails to do in quite the same way. However, the Xbox One version has its own charms in the form of a smoother, more consistent frame-rate.
Indeed, the performance impact on PlayStation 4 is something of a disappointment, and those expecting a solid 60fps presentation that closely matches the glory days of the original Modern Warfare are sure to be let down in this regard. In that respect, from a purely gameplay perspective the Xbox One game has the edge, and this translates into a more fluid experience when playing online, with the hiccups seen on the PS4 title restricted to the game's campaign mode. It's an interesting situation considering that while the smoother frame-rate clearly benefits gameplay on the Xbox One, the resolution deficit makes it harder to consistently pick out enemies from a distance compared to the PS4 version - something that is also worth bearing in mind.
For the sake of absolute thoroughness, we can confirm any such change doesn't extend to the resolution issue. If you're buying the PS4 version, you're getting a 1600x900 image scaled to whichever output you'd prefer, while the Xbox One trots behind with a 1280x720 framebuffer that, to be blunt, has an impact on overall visibility on some of the game's bigger multiplayer maps.
But with all else being equal in the final build, image quality stands out as the biggest differentiator in terms of defining each console's look. Neither can match the upscale-free 1080p output of the PC for handling tiny water shader details - appearing especially blurred over as a result on Xbox One. It's also curious that both platforms introduce a more aggressive depth-of-field layer during scripted events, where the PC is left largely unaffected.
Even with the massively dialled down internal resolution on Microsoft's platform, it's telling that these frame-rate drops remain consistent across both sets of hardware, indicating the bottleneck may be in the utilisation their multi-core Jaguar CPUs. By comparison, the PS4 fares a little better based on our experiences; though the nature of Battlefield's multiplayer games is often too chaotic and variable for a fair, like-for-like tests to be feasible. Even so, the key takeaway here is that those looking for the most fluid experience will need to stick with smaller Team Deathmatch games.
For every other sequence, we see a consistent delta of 10fps in the PS4's favour; from the docking of a rainy, battle-torn Singaporean beach to the ripping in half of an airship carrier. At its peak, the PS4 takes up to a 16fps lead also, leaving the Xbox One stuttering along in the face of alpha effects during the Baku mission's towering explosions. Let there be no doubt that the PS4 has a huge advantage in frame-rate and overall smoothness of control, then - just one which doesn't satisfactorily translate to the multiplayer side.
However, the divide in internal resolution - which remains at 900p on PS4 compared to the straight 720p on Xbox One - is the big sticking point, even with the removal of the Xbox version's sharpening filter which amplified the aliasing. Put simply, the assets and effects are identical for each next-gen platform, but the added pixel definition on PS4 spares it from the distracting edge-crawl on thin objects that proves to be an issue on the Microsoft side.
The PS4's strong performance lead is the real clincher though; a wide 10fps margin flaring up for most of our campaign mode tests. The comedown hits, however, once you realise that neither platform can pull off a straight 60fps during the larger Conquest multiplayer maps, where most of the fun is to be had. Regardless, a clear-as-day recommendation still goes to the PS4 version, and while there are glitches on both consoles that need to be addressed, the embracing of seamless, behind-the-scenes updates should at least ease some of Battlefield 4's growing pains.
