Posts made by Ross

Hello Allies. I'm hoping to get some input from the fine community here about something that has been on my mind for a while. Its becoming more and more apparent that Dreams is such a powerful creation tool that new production companies could possibly form almost entirely from its use. That may sound naive and maybe even a bit crazy yet I've heard this discussion quite a few times now. So I'm wondering, is it possible that Dreams is a new medium or could create a new medium such that it can distinguish itself from being a game, movie, song, book, etc ... ? For example, a future conversation -- "You've gotta check out "The Last CHIM"." "Oh yeah. Is it a movie or a game?" "No. Its a dream." Sorry for the cheesy and poorly written example. Hopefully you get the idea and I'd love to hear what you think. L&R

Thank you all. This has been very helpful. It is great to see so much support for this system and to have a better understand why people find it appealing. Regardless of the fact that I don't see $300+ of value in the system I'm glad others do. Hopefully this translates to a price reduction or more great games. I would love to play through Odyssey and maybe someday I will on the Switch. If not hopefully I can play it on the next Nintendo console. I hope no one has any hate towards me for not seeing the value in it they see. Heck, I paid $300+ for my Vita and still see more value in it today. The great games on the Wii U plus its new mod community make it worth more than a Switch to me currently. I think I understand the Switch just fine now and maybe I was trying to find something that wasn't there. However, I'm still surprised that it's selling as well as it is. Really, I just wish it was more comfortable to use and wish its online infrastructure was better.

Hey everyone,

I reached out to the EZA podcast panel earlier this week to see if they would like to discuss what makes the Switch an appealing system. Seeing as how it didn't come up in the podcast, I was wondering if any of you would like to discuss why you think it is an appealing system. Below is my initial question to the panel for reference. Love and Respect

-Ross

"Allies, help me. Please help me. Do not disregard or dismiss this as many have in the past simply because you may not understand at first. Like you and many others I very much would like to play Super Mario Odyssey. However, I do not understand the appeal of the Nintendo Switch. Typically at this point in the conversation I struggle with how to word further comments or questions because I quickly get brushed aside. For instance, I’m fine with calling the Switch a console if everyone is fine with calling the PSP a console. Both can connect to a television, be played with a separate controller, and are under-powered compared to other consoles in the same generation. If you’re still with me I thank you and believe you may be able to help me. I think the potential for a great console is there but as of now I don’t feel that it offers much more than Super Mario Odyssey. Arms and Splatoon 2 are good but definitely not system sellers. The Switch is a cumbersome device that makes little sense to me but I am glad to see it getting so much support that the Wii U (which had arguably the most comfortable controller) did not. Allies, please help me understand why the Switch is such an amazing device that is deserving of its popularity and not just a circumstance of great timing. As always – Love and Respect,

Ross"

This is far better than I expected. The only game I would replace is Dream Course, probably with Tetris Attack. Can't complain at all. So Hyped!

• The announcement of Sony's next handheld
• Codemaster's new/remake/remaster of Motorstorm
• Demon's souls 2
• Dreams (Media Molecule) release date
• A new Nintendo console
• Shadow drop of the next Oddworld game/remake
• Spiritual successor to Shadow of the Colossus

Tetris
Super Mario RPG
Tekken
Motorstorm
Mega Man X

@tokeeffe9 I want to thank you for making a post to discuss this game. I loved almost every minute of it. Having played through it a couple of times (mostly because I was wanting to take certain "pathways" early) I was wondering if we should start a discussion with spoilers. I think tip toeing around a game like this makes it quite hard to discuss all that it offers.

@Haru17 First off developing for three "levels of power" is not nearly as difficult as you might think. To help, think of how many "levels of power" would need to be accounted for in PC gaming development. Please research this. Secondly, here is a list of games with PS4 Pro support - http://www.gamesradar.com/ps4-pro-confirmed-games-list/ . Not too shabby. Also, what games are poorly optimized for the "default" PS4? I'm not saying there aren't any. It would just be nice to know which games are, especially when you're talking about the best selling console of this generation. Lastly, the Switch is "working" because people were desperate to get the "latest and greatest" from Nintendo. Breath of The Wild helped a lot too (except for all the lag). Please don't get me wrong. I love Nintendo. My family and I have had every console of theirs within months of their release. The Switch will be the first Nintendo "console" that I won't own. At least not for next five years.

@ib0show I agree that storage is a huge problem. In just about any device really. I'm just hoping that Sony is willing to sacrifice some space to accommodate for this. People seem happy with the size of the Switch.

@bard91 What if the next Sony handheld has been in development since the Vita's release? Also, the compatible library of games would easily surpass that of the Switch's on release. In fact most people would already have a handful or more games for it on release. For example, if you were to go purchase a Vita today ,and had been adding the monthly PS Plus games to your library, you would have a lot of games to play without paying anything extra.

@Haru17 & @bard91 Why would it have to be significantly more powerful than the Switch? If you're going to argue that it needs to be so that it can run current and next gen games -- stop. Performance can scale. PS4Pro to PS4. PC gaming in general. Also, the PSP was $250 at release and so was the Vita. With all of that aside, the point of this post was for us to imagine what this "magical" handheld could be and what we would want it to be. Simply stating that it can't be doesn't even give it a chance. Even if its nothing more than an updated Vita.

@Haru17 I'm confused by why you're bringing up PS Vita TV. You can connect both the Vita and PSP to a TV. In addition, I'm not saying there wouldn't be exclusives to the system, just that there wouldn't need to be. GTA 5/6 on the go would sell units by itself. Just look at what Breath of The Wild did for the Switch. Also, the Switch wasn't going to be Nintendo's next console until the Wii U did so poorly. It was going to be their next handheld until they decided to market it as a console as a way to make a transition from a failing console. Lastly, ib0show is absolutely right, it could easily cost $300.

@Haru17 How about GTA 5, Battlefield, Final Fantasy 15, Until Dawn, Bloodborne, Last of Us, Horizon, ... , Fallout? Does it really matter if you can also purchase these for a home console and play them on a portable through cross buy/play platform? What new games do you want? Did you want 1-2-Switch, Fast RMX, Kamiko, New Frontier Days, Snipperclips, and Super Bomberman R? I can't tell you exactly what games I would want specifically for the next Sony handheld but what I can tell you is that whatever they are should have no problem running on PS4/PS5. The same goes for the Switch. No reason games on the Switch shouldn't be able to run on the next Nintendo console.

@Haru17 Every single Playstation game, both console and handheld?

@dramaticslowmo Shuhei says a lot of things (http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2016/04/21/shuhei-yoshida-not-sure-whether-will-playstation-5/ , http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1235541). In all seriousness though Sony had just filed a patent for the vita successor right before that developer session you linked (http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/02/17/sony-files-patent-for-what-looks-like-a-switch-esque-handheld). I'm sure they've been working on another handheld.

@Haru17 What? Ask the same of the Switch. The answer was Breath of the Wild apparently. Which is also on the Wii U... with less lag. A handheld doesn't need dedicated games. It will never outperform a console counterpart which would be able to run anything that the handheld could.

I am so surprised to see so many allies simply write off another Sony handheld as an impossibility/ improbability. A few years ago the team over at Extra Credits produced an opinion piece that sums up the Vita's failure quite well in a general sense (https://youtu.be/REaUzHef9h4). Is it so hard to believe that Sony can learn from their mistakes? Or Nintendo or Microsoft for that matter? I believe Sony has been in the process of developing another handheld for quite some time now and that we may see it sooner than later. Maybe I'm a bit too excited for something that may never be and I just wanted to share some crazy ideas with fellow allies. Or maybe I'm just burnt from how underwhelming and disappointing the Switch is and wanted to look forward to something exciting. Either way I would still love to hear about any allies dream Sony handheld.

Where is all the L&R? The cross buy/play platform on the Vita is amazing. I play all my psone, PSP, and indie compatible titles on it regularly. Come on guys, dig deep. What do you really wanna see from Sony's next handheld?

What will this thing be? What do you want it to be? I would love to hear all allies thoughts and ideas of what will most likely be Sony's next handheld and what you hope it will be. Will there be game cartridges or download only? Expandable storage or set capacities on arrival? Will it connect to a T.V. like before or be smooth like to the Switch? Clam-shell? Low spec? Inexpensive? E3 2017? There are so many avenues Sony could take in developing another handheld. So what will it be, or what should it be?

I'm loving the discussions you all are bringing to the table so let me respond and add a bit more. First I think it's worth taking a look at the release history of consoles to have some reference as to what I'm more interested in. A quick google search pulled up this from wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_video_game_console_releases . We could compare this "mid-gen" console release(Switch/PRO/Scorpio) to the more aggressive era of SEGA. However, I feel that it is really quite unique what's happening. For all three (Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft) to be releasing consoles at this time is not a coincidence. From what I can see Sony would have been fine without releasing the PRO and so would the gaming industry. I'm extremely excited to see what Scorpio has to offer but again Microsoft would be fine without it (even being behind Sony) and will probably take a huge loss on it. Nintendo though, they really needed something. I believe the Switch was already in development as a handheld and became their solution to that something. EZA has indeed spoken in great length about all three of these consoles but they have yet to touch on the question I presented which is why I have reached out to the community as suggested by EZA. Also, in response to the idea that PC's are a concern for consoles I will simply state that PC's are doing worse and worse each year and have been for some time. Video gaming is the one industry that is keeping custom PC's alive. Proprietary instead of standardized hardware is what the majority of the tech industry would prefer. I've worked in various areas of this industry for many years and owned/operated a startup focused on custom computing so please have some consideration for my words surrounding this topic. I have an enormous amount of respect for EZA and this community which is why I would sincerely love to hear EZA's and the community's response to what I question. Again I'd like to thank all of you who have taken the time to read/respond to this post and as always Love and Respect.

-Ross

@GoTaco

Hey GoTaco. No, EZA never said they were interested in doing this nor did I say they were. I simply stated that after asking similar questions numerous times and following their suggestions they would want the community to get behind it first instead of just a single person as stated on the EZA podcast a few weeks back. As for your comment on the difficulty of researching this I can't imagine it would be too difficult to simply ask Nintendo and Sony when their respective console's development cycles started. The Pro is not an entirely new console and as such would not take as long to develop. The Switch on the other hand I feel was in development since before the Wii U's development was complete. Thank you so much for your interest in this topic and I hope we can continue to further its discussion with all allies.

Love and Respect,

Ross

These are all great responses so far Allies! Please keep them coming. From the sound of it there is a general consensus that Nintendo is not nor will they try to compete with Sony or Microsoft in terms of hardware. This now makes me question whether or not third party AAA titles such as Red Dead Redemption 2 will make an appearance on the Nintendo Switch and if so will they be "lesser than" versions. Also, the responses make me feel as though I should clarify my initial question. I was more curious as to whether Sony and Microsoft decided to make mid gen consoles simply because Nintendo did (who struck first?) . To further the discussion -- Will the PS5/NeXtbox be portable "consoles?" Again, Please keep the responses coming.

Love and Respect,

Ross

I have asked the Allies the following question numerous times and it sounds as if they would like the community to support the question before they answer it. Also, I feel that it would be a great story to dig into by any sleuths out there.

Allies, do you think the PS4 Pro and Xbox Scorpio were reactionary measures carried out in response to the development of the Nintendo Switch? I feel that Nintendo did the right thing by developing a console mid gen cycle, especially if it was previously in development to solely be their next handheld. Nintendo now has a chance to make an informed decision on whether or not to release a traditional console (non-portable) during the next generation (PS5/The next Xbox) that will be on par with competition in terms of hardware. The mid gen consoles give the industry a chance to see how well superior performing hardware will sell. This evolution of consoles is extremely exciting to see and though Sony and Microsoft’s console are more similar they all provide a unique and very informative look into what may come next. I’m curious to hear all of your thoughts on this.

Love and Respect,

Ross