Electron Gun's Analyst sits down for six questions with Ben Kuchera, the Gaming Editor for Ars Technica. The interview covers his background, what being a gaming critic is like, and how he feels about the future of gaming.
Analysis of Xbox gamer habits by Ars Technica prove that Sony were probably right to ignore the baying call for PS4 Backwards compatibility.
So Sony is right in ignoring a free backward compatibility feature, but they are still right to charge for it?
Quick, someone spin this for me.
Are you not putting a spin on the spin yourself? I have PS3 games I still own, they cost me nothing to play in my PS3. If I want to play these games on PSNow on my PS4 at a cost that is my decision (I don't by the way). If gamers are real gamers and love games of the past, then more than likely they will keep hardware of the past (as that is the true way to play those game).
The truth is, people are not really bothered about BC, it's about not having what the others have.
Plus, why does everybody say free BC? It would be free for us who owned the games but I doubt it's free to implement for Sony, as with most business cases, if the sums don't add up then they will invest elsewhere.
but most back compat games benefit from more stable frame rate on xbox one. Wouldnt that be the "true" way to play the game?
lol true way of playing at 20 fps? most of the 360 games runs much better on xboxone.
Apparently MS fans had the foresight at the start of this gen to keep their 360 games but sell off the actual system to play them in.
It's weird, because in the past, a great number of people sold off their entire game library and system to finance the purchase of a new gen, while only a limited number kept their old games for playing them into the new gen.
"Gamers are real gamers and love the past..."
Well if tech companies were real tech companies and love customer satisfaction...
To me, PS Now is about playing hundreds of games i've never played and being able to try them in an instant with virtually no download. That's the appeal when i've had PS Now. I was able to try dozens of games instantly without waiting for a lengthy download and i was able to experience numerous games that i missed last gen. Never once did i play a game that i already own. I still own a PS3 and 360 so BC means nothing to me. It's not like even half the 360 games are backwards compatibility anyway. Keeping my 360 makes ALL the games BC. HDMI 1 and HDMI 2..
They have as much right to charge for PS Now as MS is charging for Game Pass. MS are not gonna assume you own the games and give it for free, are they? They are both services.
There! No spin, just common sense
Exactly, which also means:
PS Now =/= BC
Or are you gonna tell me if the PS4 is BC with itself since it has PS4 games now? PS Now has been a cloud service since the start for non PS device (even if now they stopped support for those. Dumb idea) . It was easily mistaken or believed to be a BC solution, but it never was. Sony never said it was BC.
PSNow was = BC for 3yrs. They are now going to add some PS4 games after Game Pass is a thing (convenient), but I have to wonder how those PS4 games will perform on a service that struggled with PS3 games?
@ bigpappy
How can a non playstation device with PSNow be backwards compatible?? It's not. Because PSNow is not and never has been a BC solution and anyone who actually thinks it is or was is an idiot.
They're charging for it???? Find it funny how you guys are quick to say that psnow is their answer to BC when it's not.
Their answer to b/c is no one really wants it, gamers just say the want it, but Sony knows better so they offer the same games no one wants in a streaming service. It's kind of like when your date says no over and over, but deep down in your heart you know she really means yes or when your mom wants to vote but your dad won't let her because he knows she'll screw it up. I might be confusing the second part up with EA Access which Sony won't allow since they know it's a scam and don't want their fanbase getting screwed by making the wrong choice. Neither has anything to do with the fact Sony wants to sell their services instead so they eliminate choice.
There's a report that asked gamers if they use BC an 1.5% of them said yes. So that's gamers saying BC is not a big deal. Especially at this point in the generation. The fact that it's still an arguing point for people just shows how little there is on xbox.
It's not free. System architecture on PS3 is incompatible with current generation. They can't brute force run a game "for free". Their streaming service runs the game on PS3 centric hardware. It's also available on more that just PS4 so it's more of an option for people that want to play older games on their pc for instance.
As if getting the BC feature was free!
Quick, someone please educate this pleb!
It might be free for the consumer but not for the publisher. Microsoft has said that giving BC took a lot of time and money to make the emulation work. This is time and money taken away from new studious or IP's.
Resources MS should spend on studios and games so 7 months don't go by with only Halo Wars and Voodoo Vince (remastered). It's all relative, but i'll take new games over accessing old games (that i already own) on a different device.
No, here's the deal, folks misunderstood the data or intentionally made it sound like a bad thing, I still see PS folks saying it was only 1.5% of Xbox owners who used BC, he'll even many Xbox owners did not correct them.
It's not 1.5% OF USERS, it's 1.5% OF 1.65 BILLION TOTAL MINUTES OF Xbox usage. Go read it again:
https://arstechnica.com/gam...
-In fact it actually goes against the ps fanboy narrative that Xbox has no games so that's why Xbox fans support BC. In fact what the analysis highlights is that over a 5 month period EACH INDIVIDUAL XBOX GAMER AVERAGES ALMOST 25 MINUTES OF GAMEPLAY TIME WITH A LAST GEN GAME.=
That is great, because the same analysis shows Xbox gamers are spending the lions share of their time playing CURRENT GEN XBOX GAMES DAILY, then every once in a while they say cool I havent played Alan Wake in years, let me go rock that guitar scene again.....that makes perfect sense, that's what's expected on a next gen console.
Take this to the bank, BC cannot be spun into a bad thing, Xbox players are playing mostly current gen games alot AND they have the option to play BC games on their current gen hardware for FREE (if they owned it previously). The ONLY reason ps n4g folks say "'meh" is because Sony gave them no choice except ps now. Instead of requesting it more to perhaps make Sony change in this ONE instance in favor of the consumer they rather save face in online console war nonsense.
Sony is doing a great job, but there's always room for improvement.....not arrogance, but given how some of you act, I expect that Ryan exec to keep telling you, your most requested features are not what you really want, bu, but we have something else for ya, here's ps now.
Well, the one thing that remains true is that just like, oooh Idunno. Nintendo has never really had backwards compatibility except for very scarce and random moments - no one seems to care, they still sell their older games on a Virtual Store.
With Sony and Playstation consoles, you have to realize and understand the sophistication of Ken Kutaragi's designs, he deliberately made them complicated and to try to get PS2 and PS3 compatibility is one of the hardest things am sure a dev could do, let alone the work Naughty Dog had to do for instance to port The Last of Us amazingly for the PS4.
Xbox 360 and Xbox One, are basically just PC's in console form, Nintendo and Sony had different means of changing that up, with that being, Cartridge, and Sony? It was with things like the Emotion Engine in PS2 and the Cell Processor that you don't have in PC's, how it handles data completely differs from an average PC. Porting takes Time and Money. If it was just a simple flip of a switch like many (but not all) Emulation's and Roms? Then they could just do that, but since they can't do that with ALL games - it's tough luck, but really, Backwards compatibility was a thing Sony more or less invented originally in the Console Wars between PS1 and PS2 and PS3 - they then discarded it and everyone got butthurt even though the realism is there, it will get harder and harder down the line to offer it.
Not every fucking game I played from Windows 95 era will work on my Windows 10, this is just a simple fact, a programmer would need to ensure patches come out for those old games, if not Fan-patches that fix the complications, bugs, glitches, errors, complications, in order for it to work with the New tech hardware of CPU's, GPU's, or Dual-GPU's or even by a computer having too much RAM - could cause problems for an older game.
Oh... he was talking from a Sony financial side of things. Not from a user base care side of things.
Wow. Ur one of those that thinks PS Now is only for backwards compatibility. Right, bc if i get PS Now i'm totally going to skip the HUNDREDS of games i haven't played yet and ONLY play the games that i already own/have played... <- Sarcasm
Why should those that don't care about BC, pay for those who do care about it to have it? That is what happened with the PS3, We had to foot the bill at launch for those gamers that wanted BC. However, now sony has made those who want BC pay for it. Which is better IMO, I don't need to pay for crap i'm not going to use. There's times when games have came out that I got PS Now for a month or rented the game for a month, so I could play it, like TWD so I can get some easy platinums LMAO, and that's how it should be done. This isn't a feature everyone uses, yes it would be good to have built in, for people like me that dabble, however, I do still have a PS3 OG and Slim, guess what I never plug those up.
At the end of the day BC is a dumb feature to charge a WHOLE userbase for when only 1% of the install base would use it, in 0 benefit to the other 99% and/or Sony as a company in terms of profit.
MS isn't trying to make playing old games the most used feature on X1. It's just for those of us who don't want two consoles hooked up to play both old and new games. It's for when you all of a sudden have the urge to play one of your old titles, it's there. A simple convenience.
Thats how i use my ps3. It plays 3 gens of games. Not every fun game has to only be from one generation.
Just because some games are "old" doesnt mean they should no longer be enjoyed.
Hey guys at this point I wouldn't try to educate them any more personally Im for ALL gamers getting more choice but clearly the ps fans on n4g would rather argue it's 'meh rather than keep asking Sony so they might move toward a similar BC strategy. The Ryan exec arrogance says it all basically ps fans want what they tell them to want. I mean he simply cant say what he said all while Sony promotes ps now, which is a direct investment to bring old games to ps4. They are even killing ps now support for everything but pc and ps4 which puts more focus on them wanting ps fans to buy/rent games on ps4.
NO, BC is not something I use often, No BC it's not a system seller but it is something thats really cool when you get the itch to play an old favorite. So YES we are gonna keep praising it but mostly just be glad our preferred console has the option.
That's the thing. It doesn't have to be a lot of people. It's just there when you need/want to indulge in an older game. Instead of hooking up you old console to do so, you can play it straight from you new console.
@lennoxb63
Sorry but Sony doesn't seem the benefit to invest on something that won't be use by the majority. If you want a product like that then you have an Xbox one for that.
@Thatguy,
Then why did they invest close to half a billion on Gaikai just to stream those very same games they claim no one wants to play? If it wasn't for those 380 million reasons I would get where they are coming from. Which are we to believe?
@death
What you and a lot of people need to get through your head is the fact that ps now is NOT an alternative to backwards compatibility. Both are two different things. Ps now is a service that grants one the ability to play games with out the need of a console. Ps now is meant for a more mainstream market where as BC is the total opposite of that which only covers something niche. I don't understand how people are having a hard time wrapping their head around that.
Honestly, BC would be even less used on PS4. We are nearly 4 years into the generation and Sony has already released more exclusives this year than i can even keep up with. I don't even have time to play brand new exclusives that are so highly regarded they are likely goty contenders let alone a last gen games i already own and have already played. I still need to get Nier, Persona 5, and MLB The Show 17. Still need to platinum HZD and Farpoint. Still barely touched Prey and MEA. Wipeout Omega just released to rave reviews and it's native 4K 60fps with HDR on Pro. We just got KF2 and Life is Strange on PS+. AZ Sunshine and Crash release this month. I still want to play The Surge which offers 4K and 60fps on Pro.
We are in the thick of it right now, 3-4 years in and the games starting pouring out. We have options aplenty. Ppl need to understand the difference in the significance of backwards compatibility at the very beginning of a gen and 4 years into a gen. Backwards compatibility at the very beginning of a gen is a massive feature bc ppl generally still have huge last gen libraries, and very few new gen games to play. In the beginning of a new gen the previous gen is still very relevant, but after several years and after support has completely dried up this is no longer the case. Ppl just have overwhelming options for new, technically superior experiences and the significance of non remastered, old gen games is not nearly what it was circa 2013.
There's no excuse for why PS4 doesn't have basic PS1 backwards compatibility when every PlayStation hardware prior had the feature. It became a longtime tradition until 2013.
This is exactly why I spent $599 for my 60 gig. Arc the Lad and both Lunar Collections, FFVII and FFVIII, GT and GT2, RE1&2, Ridge Racer, Metal Gear, and Spider-Man are all part of my favorites for the PlayStation. Not to mention I don't have a working PS2 anymore. I put too many hours on a few of them and oddly misplaced my PS2 slim which I reboxed for safe keeping. If the Pro would have been b/c with all of these I would have bought it already.
Not all BR drives can read CD's. I had to do some research into this, because I thought that it seemed fishy, but BR lens does indeed need the appropriate laser diode to actually be able to read CD's or DVD's. While all players I know about do indeed support CD's, it's because they actually do have the diode to do so. Sony's PS4 does not have this diode. Same goes for DVD, but Sony did include the DVD diode. The laser itself between all the different formats uses a compeltely different wavelength, and while the laser frequency can be produced by a single lens, the diode required to do that isn't always included on the lens.
I don't know what you guys are all talking about I would love to be able to play my PS3 games on my PS4 so many games I own that I'm not playing right now because I can't you guys need to give your heads a shake if you don't want to be able to access your old games what are you idiots go ahead and give me dislikes your absolute fools for not wanting backwards compatibility
Today Ben Kuchera admitted in an entire goddamned article dedicated to this apparently widespread problem, that he still can’t differentiate between the Power and Eject buttons on the PlayStation 4…
The guy's just not a gamer. I net he's implying that he uses kinect to power up his xboxone. ...but that's a feature the Xbox one has..so unless he's only 2 years in, making him a newborn in gaming or he's full of it and wants a raise. Sad....the click bait has reached level sad on the bs scale.
Haha. That's what I thought, is the guy talking for himself after 2+ years?
I must admit I was confused at first but always use the controller to switch it on anyway. Grab controller with thumb on PS button : nothing faster than that.
Like Kingthrash360 said, he isn't a gamer and he isn't trolling. This guy is genuinely mentally challenged.
This is the same person who can't play Doom properly.
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
This is the same person who is afraid of virtual guns (and real guns) and sounds like he's about to cry from playing a VR game.
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
The list goes on and on, I honestly don't know how Ben Kuchera even has a job with his incompetence, oh thats right that most of Polygon, never mind. Guess he won't be fired anytime soon.
Oh come on, I'm a gamer and when I actually need the actual damn buttons I've pressed the wrong one more than once. They aren't exactly labeled nor easy to see and I always turn on my console using the controller, same for putting it into sleep mode. Removing discs I also do using the controller. Maybe once every 6 months I need to (or just do since I'm nearer the PS4 than a controller) use the actual buttons.
Why say he's not a gamer because he probably doesn't use these buttons for the same reasons? And why the hell write a story about it? *shakes head*
I wouldn't bother.
I mean, most normal folks can understand that it's fairly easy to confuse the two slivers, especially if you use the controller most of the time. It's easy to forget.
But then, the original article was on Polygon, which means a lot of muppets feel duty-bound to poop on it from a great height, no matter how innocuous it actually was.
Why do you play video games?
That question seems a bit absurd, I know, but I ask because every once in a while, I find myself in the thick of a quantity vs. quality debate. It’s an important conversation to have, for sure, as countless games have been padded to manipulate our perception of value. However, these discussions often take such a disheartening turn, that I can’t help but feel like I’ve wandered into an alternate dimension, one that could only befit an episode of The Twilight Zone. Expectations of gaming are going to vary from person to person, sure, but there are certain arguments I’ll just never be able to wrap my head around. Jamin Warren, host of the PBS Game Show, is my latest source of bewilderment, because he’s making the case that video games are too long.
