Why do consoles suck so much these days?

[Pidesco]

So my kid has had a barely used XBOX ONE for a year and it's the crappiest piece of hardware that I have ever bought.

 

So the advantage of consoles over PC used to be ease of use. Plug and play, put in a game and you are playing. That has certainly been thrown out the window, at least for the XBOX ONE. Endless updates, an absolutely horrible interface, apps, apps, apps. login to a Microsoft account, login to developer specific accounts, limited hard drive space, long loading times. And then you have to pay a monthly fee, just to play games online or even just to speak to other people.

It's essentially all the disadvantages of a console and all the disadvantages of a PC rolled into one device, and you have to pay monthly for the extra incovenience.

[the_dog_days]

1 hour ago, Pidesco said:

So my kid has had a barely used XBOX ONE for a year and it's the crappiest piece of hardware that I have ever bought.

Lucky you. I've had a PS Vita, Wii U, and Sega Saturn. All of which were way worse.

[HoonDing]

[Skazz]

Um... I used to love my DS. Which was a) portable b) a console.

Am I getting banned?

Edited July 9, 2020 by Skazz
fixed typo

[Mamoulian War]

1 hour ago, Pidesco said:

So my kid has had a barely used XBOX ONE for a year and it's the crappiest piece of hardware that I have ever bought.

 

So the advantage of consoles over PC used to be ease of use. Plug and play, put in a game and you are playing. That has certainly been thrown out the window, at least for the XBOX ONE. Endless updates, an absolutely horrible interface, apps, apps, apps. login to a Microsoft account, login to developer specific accounts, limited hard drive space, long loading times. And then you have to pay a monthly fee, just to play games online or even just to speak to other people.

It's essentially all the disadvantages of a console and all the disadvantages of a PC rolled into one device, and you have to pay monthly for the extra incovenience.

Might be the issue of Xbox. I have PS2, 3 and 4 and the only thing, which I have issue with is the online pay behind paywall. Everything else is manageable, because I have turned off automatic updates. Might be because I do not play multiplayer games at all, with exception of few races now and then... But yes PS5 did not sparked any interest for me so far... so you might be onto something...

[melkathi]

23 minutes ago, Skazz said:

Um... I used to loved my DS. Which was a) portable b) a console.

Am I getting banned?

Did it have Majesty?

That is the realization that had you stop loving it, no?

[Lexx]

The only issue I have with my PS4 is that I have like... 4 games. Most of the time the device is off and I'm not using it.

[Hurlshort]

Yeah, my PS4 gathers dust most of the time. 

The Nintendo Switch gets a lot more use. It is portable and multiplayer friendly. Every time Nintendo puts out a console, I think it is weird, but then it ends up being the right tool for the right time. That's why they make the big bucks.

[Sarex]

I literally got my ps4 to play God of War...

Edited July 8, 2020 by Sarex

[Tale]

The hardware is subsidized. That and the exclusives are pretty much it. I can blow $400 easier than I can build PCs whenever it comes down to it. But it's usually a specific game that's the decider for me. Once upon a time that was the Metal Gear Solid franchise. I'm not sure what it might be next gen. If anything.

[Lexx]

I bet for many it will be Skyrim.

[Skarpen]

The last good console was SNES. From there it was only worse.

[Skazz]

16 hours ago, melkathi said:

Did it have Majesty?

That is the realization that had you stop loving it, no?

Alas. No cheering for Fervus on the go.

[Zoraptor]

I don't think anyone would hold up the xbone as a model of a successful console*. The hardware in the top model is the best, but it never quite got away from Ballmer's typically scatterbrained vision of an all things to all people but always online media device, with MS taking a cut of everything. They forgot that you have to focus on pushing the essentials like being a good console first and treat everything else as nice extras; which is what Sony and Nintendo did. Still, at least that resulted in a lot of funny Untergang and Bane memes.

*To be honest I don't think you would hold up any MS console as a success. Even the 360 had the infamous RROD issues which are lethal financially when you're already selling the units at a loss, and was partly successful because PS3 was a relative stumble for Sony.

Edited July 10, 2020 by Zoraptor

[Humanoid]

I have an 360 (Slim?) and a PS4 Pro, which I've had for pretty much two years now. My gaming usage of either of them has yet to hit three digit hours (indeed the PS4 would struggle to hit half that), so I suppose it's absolutely true that I got no real value out of them. I suppose it's not too late for the PS4 still, but I don't really see myself using it much, if at all, before the next generation hits. - indeed before trying out PES2020 recently there was probably a period of a full year where I didn't use it at all.

To be fair to the 360, I didn't buy it as a gaming console, but to stream pay TV, namely Eurosport, as Microsoft did a deal at the time with the dominant pay TV provider here to provide a cut-down pay TV service over the internet for a cheaper price. The only things I ever played on it were FIFA and Rock Band, which are both cross-platform titles, so if not for the pay TV thing, there would have been no reason for me to buy it at all.

The Switch has gotten a little more use than the others, but still far from representing good value. I played through the new Fire Emblem and occasionally play Mario Kart, but the latter could easily have been done on the Wii U. But hey, at least it's been used for more than 100 hours, as low a bar as that is. Hell, the best game I played on it was probably Lolo on the NES classic collection.

 

 

Still, I comfort myself with the fact I never bought into the Ouya, so there's that at least.

[Amentep]

On 7/8/2020 at 11:01 AM, the_dog_days said:

Lucky you. I've had a PS Vita, Wii U, and Sega Saturn. All of which were way worse.

I loved the Saturn.

On 7/8/2020 at 12:06 PM, Skazz said:

Um... I used to love my DS. Which was a) portable b) a console.

Am I getting banned?

I liked the DS; 3DS was also good. Switch is awesome.

Regarding the actual topic, I think each generation Sony and Microsoft forget a little more of what the theoretical advantages of the console is and move farther from it. Something Nintendo hasn't yet, although they have their own issues.

Once sony and ms can convince console gamers to ditch the discs, im sure they'll be happy that they can provide games as. Service though...

[Bartimaeus]

I was gifted an Xbox One some years ago (would never buy one myself, given its horrid games library relative to Sony and especially Nintendo). It's a horrific user experience. Update every time I turn it on combined with absolutely lousy download speeds (I have a gigabit connection...and it takes 15-20 minutes to download a 1.5GB patch...what the hell, Microsoft? I know I don't live exactly close to major civilization, but that is so slow relative to every other content provider). These updates seem to be re-inventing the wheel for the UI every time too, which means stuff is constantly shuffled about for no real reason. Ads everywhere. Annoying prompts constantly. Login or you might as well not own this console. Terribly slow everything due to using an HDD with games sometimes exceeding 80GB. It is just the worst user experience and it makes it so I never, ever use it, and should've just sold it the moment I got it (...which I probably would've done, but couldn't realistically without seeming like a terrible person to the person that gifted it to me, bah). Awful console.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Aside from the original Xbox (which only makes it due to nostalgia for playing Halo as a kid) all xboxes have been kind of ****. Nintendo Switch is pretty good imo, but I grew up playing smash and zelda so I'm biased to those games even if I spend more time playing on my PC.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Our flat PS3 is still running hot here, and still cool. It's holding up very nicely indeed for something used extensively over a decade (doubling as a Blu-ray player and a device charger). But the best item, no comparison, 3 of them in our household, is the Nintendo Switch - fantastic - and several games have cross-platform compatibility. I have no intention buying anything newer at this point in time. PC for the win!

Edited July 13, 2020 by IndiraLightfoot

[Majek]

My PS4 and ps4 pro are still going strong, the switch is getting a little less use because i'm only using it away from home.  And i'm getting PS5 as soon as i can. Will play everything at least 2 hours everyday.