I Will Buy The Console That Plays Games

Ten years ago, this statement would sound redundant. Now it seems developers and manufacturers are doing everything in their power to make it inconvenient to play games. Gamers this generation had to deal with: day one dlc, locked codes, day one patches, and micro-transactions. In the next generation, these same problems will most likely be included in the next generation, and new problems will arise.

[Gr81]

Cute. Though I agree with that sentiment. It seems gaming consoles are treating the ability to play games is a secondary function on them..I'm not a social media enthusiast, so I can careless about facebook or twitter and whatever else involves giving up privacy. I buy game consoles to play games.

Going by what we are seeing, it looks like every console maker is adopting this idea for a jack of all trades machine..I'd prefer they keep it simple. Can't stand all the bloat.

[PopRocks359]

Agreed. My game machine should be able to play games before anything else. If I want a DVD player, I can buy one for all of $40 at Wal-Mart, or even cheaper elsewhere. I would like my game console to do what I bought it for and play some great games.

[MysticStrummer]

The consoles use the current video formats to run their games, so why wouldn't they be able to play movies in those same formats? Playing online requires an internet connection, so why wouldn't the consoles also offer the opportunity to browse the internet and use popular apps like Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, etc?

All that is icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned. The only things inconvenient about modern console gaming, if the word inconvenient even applies, are the mandatory install and day one patch.

Day one DLC, online passes and other microtransactions are just side effects of the wonders of capitalism. A huge chunk of gamers made it clear that they're cool with paying extra for things that are/were traditionally free, such as online gaming and voice chat, so now we can expect to see more devs/publishers selling us things that in the past would have been free. The only way that stuff is going away is if people stop showing willingness to pay for it.

[SilentNegotiator]

LOL, even defending not having built in DVD functionality.

[PopRocks359]

@SilentNegotiator

You know, instead of taking my words out of context maybe you can learn some reading comprehension. I didn't say anything positive or even all that defensive about lacking DVD playback, I said that the forefront of a console is playing games and that if I really need a DVD player I can easily get one.

Seriously, just because you don't agree with what I'm saying doesn't mean you have to be obnoxious.

EDIT: I'd like to add that I feel that having DVD playback, or any sort of video playback of any sort is a welcome side feature, but it should remain as such and not be a selling point when almost all computer desktops, laptops and other such devices play them.

[kma2k]

While that is true gaming consoles have also become the main media machine for streaming & video playback. One thing i really want is the ps4/720 to be able to store media on the hdd like the ps3 does. I would also love them to be able to play any media give us mkv file playback!

I store all my music, pictures, home videos, & movies on my ps3 hdd for easy playback they better cary this ability over!

[theWB27]

So gamers want BC so that they dont have too many consoles crowding the Ecenter. But they're not ok with the system playing other media so the their Ecenter is even less cluttered. On a whole, we don't watch all the bloated channels and prices cable offers and we can pick and choose alot better with our consoles.

These extra features have not dampered the games we've been recieving. With all these extra functions we get, they arent costing a helluva lot more than what we payed for the N64 or Gamecube when they first released.

So if games were being lessened due to these extras, I could see the unwant for it. But we still recieve great games and getting great extra functions. If all these consoles did were play games...they wouldn't feel like electronics. I'd bet gamers would be clamoring for these extra features if we didnt get them.

[stylishjerk]

I believe people are misinterpreting what I'm trying to say. I have no problem with extra media features. I use Amazon, Netflix, and Blu-Ray all the time time. What I am tired of is that it is becoming a nuisance to play games, and now it is costing more time and money to play your sixty dollar game. I have an example for everyone. Let's think of a futuristic car. It has all these fancy gizmos, heated seats, and bing activated internet to do voice commands. The problem is there is so much stuff in the car it takes longer to start the car. In order to start the car you need to download a GPS update. Then you found out that in order to look at you oil change meter it will cost you 99 cents (DLC). Then you find out as soon as you want to return your car there is a chip in it to turn it off, making its resale value worthless. I'm not saying I dislike extra features in consoles, but if it ruins the experience of playing games than I don't see the point.

[theWB27]

You can't really look at electronics and expect them to stay static. I don't see where these extra features has ruined the actual games. We have bigger, better looking games. Some even have 30, 40 hours of gameplay. Replay value has grown too. I've not bought hardly any DLC and it hasn't ruined or made my experience with games any worse. No game I've played has REQUIRED me to get DLC to enjoy it any more.

I guess that's where I'm confused...where has gaming been worse? This has arguably been the greatest generation in gaming we've seen. Truly epic games even with all the extras.

We still put our game in a system...click on the game icon and start it up. Installs? Games are bigger..DLC is extra. If we didn't have this..I can guarantee we'd be clamoring for our consoles to do more.

[ziggurcat]

that's funny because even with day one dlc, locked codes, day one patches, and micro-transactions, i can still play games on my PS3/X360.

and i'm not sure how day one dlc, micro-transactions or day one patches are a problem... you aren't forced to buy dlc, you don't have to participate in the micro-transactions (since all they do is allow for people to waste their money on acquiring in-game items that are already available through natural progression), and patches fix problems that exist in the game to begin with.

seems like pointless whining about first world problems that don't even affect anything.

[Smashbro29]

So the article writer doesn't have a lot of time to play games but writing an entire article is something he has time for?