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furie

SBOPD
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Not me. I've long funded my gaming hobby with work.

From saving pocket and chore money for ages to buy hardware, to weekend work as a school kid, to overtime and savings as an adult.

I've supported people on here before who "produce" by buying what they create. Even watching a video by Mushroom gives him a few pennies.

Not into "something for nothing"

Sent from my E6683 using Tapatalk
 

GuyWithAStick

Captain Basic
I'd sell your 360 along with a few of your games you don't really play much of anymore around Halloween(maybe later), and wait for Black Friday or Cyber Monday to get an X-Box 1.

Not too big a fan of 'pointless' crowdfunding campaigns in which the donor gets next to nothing. But hey, the internet is a strange place, someone might give you a few bucks. If you really want some money, I'd get a job. Even if it's minimum wage, you can get one in a week or two.
 

Pierre

Strata Poster
YUNG_CHOPPA said:
cjbrandy said:
YUNG_CHOPPA said:
I play skyrim, call of duty, minecraft, & occasionally Pokemon Go but I dont take it seriously enough to drive for Pokemon i just walk around my hood sometimes and play it.

This is gonna sound embarrassing, but i still have an xbox 360, and i dont have gta 5. the reason i dont have GTA 5 is because I want to get it for the xbox one because it comes with the lowrider DLC, and gta 5 for the xbox 360 doesn't. But i can't really afford an xbox one...200 dollars!!!! Come on microsoft!!! but if i save up over a month or two I think i could get it. Is it worth saving up a couple months, or should I just settle with the Xbox 360?

Save up and sell the 360 and some of your games to help build up the money. The Xbox One is backwards compatible with quite a few 360 games including Red Dead Redemption so if any of your favourite 360 games are compatible, keep them!

The original Xbox One (not the new slim version) will be dirt cheap on black friday! I reckon it could be as low as $150 tbh, Sony are destroying Microsoft with sales numbers and with the ps4 pro coming in November I would expect some ridiculously good Xbox One deals.

I been thinking about making a gofundme page for an xbox one, i decided I want the new one so it'll be 400 dollars and if I start a gofundme page would anybody on here be willing to donate something?

Hahahahahahahaha! Cheeky sod. Got to earn your way in life pal.

What am I playing? Not sure really, Rocket League and CoD but got to the point where I'm not even enjoy My gaming that much anymore. Tried Journey because it was free and everyone originally raved about it. Awful. Maybe I'm just getting old. :-(
 

furie

SBOPD
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
I'm old Pierre and thought Journey was a thing of beauty. It's not much of a game, but it's glorious :)

Anyway, the main event... :p

Some time ago, Sony announced Project Morpheus. I immediately started saving for it (I knew it would be expensive right from the start).

It eventually became Playstation VR and I got my pre-order in right away.

When I was in my late teens/early 20's - VR was the thing, the future. I played on a Virtuality tank combat game in the Trocadero in London and loved it.

Lo-def, low frame rate and heavy as **** headsets. It was still something else.

It never took off (for those reasons) and the world of VR kind of sat in a limbo until Occulus Rift showed there was both keen interest and the technology to present it to consumers as a "thing".

It's something I've been waiting for for 20(ish) years, so had to get one. PSVR is affordable (IMO) - just.

In terms of what you get. The headset and all the cables are really good. It looks great and feels like a proper consumer device. It's polished and well presented.

In terms of comfort..? Takes a bit of getting used to getting the headset on and just right for you. It's not just about distance of the "goggles" (though it has a neat slide in and out system for that), but also height and position on your head.

Once on, it doesn't feel massively intrusive, but it has soft rubber bits by your nose that make me feel a bit like I have a mild cold - but not all the time. I think that they sometimes just touch the bridge of my nose and make me feel like that.

There's a tiny bit of a gap at the bottom of the goggles that lets the light in, but when you're playing you don't notice it.

So in terms of quality and comfort? I'd say "much better than I thought it would", but I'm not going to go completely ape over it. There's still work (or we're just stuffed with humans having odd shaped faces), but it's not a deal breaker.

You start up and your "TV" is floating in space in front of you. Imagine sitting about 10 rows back in a cinema. The edges just a little out of the edges right and left.

This is where things get a bit weird.

You can see the screens in the headset. It's a fine grain that shows up when there's an expanse of black. So you can see the pixels around the edges of the TV display.

You also notice that the right and left edges are a bit blurred. It's natural to just move your eyes right or left to see the outer edges, but there's a definite centre "sweet spot" where things are clearest. To read text at the left or right, you need to move your head. This is something I found I had to get used to a lot playing with it. Looking just with your eyes isn't good enough.

Again, neither are deal breakers because we're just viewing the PS4 menu here - but it's worth keeping in mind if you want to use to watch films, or to play standard games and use it as a second screen (I'll get onto that later).

So I loaded up Playroom VR - it's a free suite of games for the PSVR.

It's very black and with blank space to start with. You shoot a star from your controller and it explodes like a firework over the blackness. It's a very subtle and gentle introduction to the thing. Tracking the star with your head is cool, but it's a bit like sitting in a planetarium or something - not spectacular.

Likewise, the main menu is bland. You look at the games and they "grow" to show you can select them. So far, so "meh". I found it hard to look to the far right and left games, then worked out I could actually stop looking towards the screen - this is one of many "penny drop" moments.

I loaded up a multiplayer player cat and mouse game. You are a cat hiding behind curtains and there are mice picking cheese up off the floor. You move your head forward and push through the curtains - any mouse moving that you're looking at gets caught. Very simple playground stuff. However, the next "Penny drop". You see the mice run past in the intro, but you're in a recess so they go out of sight. OMG - move your head forward and look around the corner and it does it. You actually peak around the corner. It was amazing! Honestly :lol:

There's also a platform game which shows some potential for future platformers, giving you the freedom to find routes and objects that would normally be hidden by the camera. It's okay. Most of the games are just okay and really more tech demos.

I loved the monster game though. You have to chase monkey robot things through a city street, destroying buildings as they dodge the debris. Another Penny Drop moment when I looked behind as the monster was coming out of the ocean. It has a tail, but you feel like it's you. It's that ability to have false associations with things because they're in the right space in the VR world. It's fab.

All the games are a good show off of the hardware. The graphics are in native resolutions and simple, yet detailed, enough to pass off as being high quality. They look like a PS4 game for the most part.

I then worked through the demo disk.

Playstation Worlds is a game I refuse to pay for. 5 tech demos for £30 is too much. I'll grab them when they're a tenner or something. The two games demoed are the underwater cage thing (no shark though) and a shooting gallery.

The underwater thing was really cool. You get a real feeling of motion and it's lovely. Dull though, I don't want to do it again. It really shows what could be capable.

The shooting gallery was great. It uses two Move controllers (you need them on top of the camera and PSVR - I was lucky and already had everything).

You pick up clips with one hand and slap them into the bottom of the pistol in your other hand to reload. Then shoot. It's not much different to a Wii shooting game an doesn't really benefit from the VR - not in the demo. It was a good shooting game though.

Rush for Blood is worth mentioning because it's horrific in two ways. The game itself is a superb horror and really shows what can be achieved to scare the **** out of people. there's a little roller coaster section too which is great. However, the shooting is horrific - it's awful. Two guns (again two Move controllers, but I think it also uses a dual shock), but neither seem accurate. The hands holding them always seem broken at the wrists too.

Oh, and the voice acting/script is awful. It's incredibly immersive though.

At this point, I needed a quick break. I was feeling a little bit dizzy/queasy. Nothing too bad and not "chunder central" as other previews/review mentioned. I'd just been in it for about 40-50 minutes and needed to rest. Until a later point (I'll get to it), this was the only time I ever felt any negative effects of using it.

I headed back into some demos. Lots of tech demo type stuff like Harmonix Music. Rez and Thumper were what I expected (nice, neat, fun shooters).

All so far so muchness.

I played Driveclub VR Demo. It's ugly. The textures are very poor ad it doesn't look like it's in the native resolution but rather upscaled. You can go around the cars and look inside them, but you don't want to because it's like a PS2 game.

The actual game is okay. I loved the original and the driving is the same. It's good to be able to look right and left to look in your mirrors, but it's nothing brilliant. It does feel like a game where there's actually "a game", rather than just a short set of tech demo type stuff.

Loaded up Battlezone demo and... Penny Drop! OMFG, I'm in a tank. It's huge! There's a cockpit I can see out of and it's just out of arm's reach. The HUD is floating around me and... I'm sitting down and I feel as though I'm actually sitting in the tank! It's this kind of thing that really makes VR something special. With some games at some points, it just clicks and you are immersed completely.

Unfortunately, the game is a bit ****.

Last demo I tried worth mentioning is Job Simulator. Another Move controller based game (this one stand up). You're a robot in the future doing a simulation of what humans once did. It's really quirky and amusing. Very well designed.

It does show off the limitations of the Move controllers though. They have the be line of sight of the camera or they don't work. Some tasks involve you doing stuff behind you a bit and they cut out. So you have to work awkwardly to get it to do what you want.

Final (I think) Penny Drop moment though in this game. You can look out over the top of the cubicle you're working in in the game. You see an expanse of workfloor around you. It feels like a real, living environment you could walk to. Yes, it's a cartoon world, but it looks real with the depth and everything.

So, what games did I buy?

Batman Arkham VROMFG

Utterly amazing. You use the two Move controllers, but it's designed to overcome their limits. It's essentially a highly interactive point and click adventure - only as Batman.

It's so well designed to make you feel you actually are Batman. There's a superb mix of high buildings (you can lean over and look down onto Gotham hundreds of feet below) and tight spaces that you're confined in. The story is well played out and the scenes you interact with are great. It's one where at some point you just immerse completely and the world feels real to you. You reach to flip switches and pull levers and you almost believe that you can touch them. Brilliant, brilliant game and a must have for all PSVR owners.

For some reason, Sony allowed me to "buy" Eve: Valkyrie for free. I wasn't going to complain :)

Though after playing for an hour, I almost asked for a refund. I've never EVER felt so sick for no medical reason in my life before. Dizzy, nauseous and headachey, I just had to have a shower and lie down. It's not much of a shame because the game is repetitive and dull. It looks gorgeous and it's another "total immersion" title (looking down to see your arms and legs, or behind to see where a fighter flew) that really shows off the possibilities. It's just not a good game and damn, it made me sick.

I also picked up Ace Banana and Sports Bar VR Neither come with instructions, both are clunky and annoying and neither are worth the money. Serves me right for picking up the expensive Eve for free I guess :lol: Though to be fair, the Air Hockey in Sports Bar VR is fab.

So, what about TV/films and normal games? Is it any good as a second screen? Nope. It's too blurred at the edges and it makes you just that little uncomfortable doing it. I didn't feel sick or anything, but I certainly didn't feel good. As there aren't any real advantages (other than maybe you wanting to play while your other half is watching the actual TV) so I wouldn't really bother seeing it as a selling point.

So, overall?

It exceeded my expectations in terms of what the actual VR experience was like. I really didn't expect it to be quite so mind blowing. Stand out titles like Batman, Job Simulator and, erm, those two, yeah - make it worth experiencing at the moment. Thumper and Rez are excellent, but simplistic. In fact, this is where it completely met my expectations. It's nothing really more than the Wii tech demo type games that hit the Wii for so long after release. Or quite simple games given an added "depth" with VR.

It needs games that you can (and want to) play for a few hours (I thought Eve might have been it, but it wasn't) at a time. I guess they'll come. It also needs more solid party games like the Playroom offers.

I guess we'll see what there is the come, but I'm definitely satisfied - as long as I don't think too hard about how much it was for a few demos :lol:
 

peep

CF Legend
Thanks for the detailed break down of your experiences so far. I was originally going to get PSVR but it's just too expensive for it to be worthwhile. I know that after a week or two it'll sit around gathering dust. I'd love to try it out though, especially the Batman game, that sounds awesome.
 

davidm

Strata Poster
^^ have you played that Kitchen demo yet - made me jump at least twice.

I did buy that Worlds thing, just played thru the London Heist thing - very tech demo-ish but good fun - I don't have the move controllers though, shooting might be better with those.

Considering buying DriveclubVR though ; yeah the distant graphics are crap compared to the normal version, but just sitting in the cars and driving around is mind blowing - and the moment I realised I could lean forward as well as just look around - wow.

PS : Where did you get the Rez / Thumper demos from, I can't find them?
 

furie

SBOPD
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
The shooting is much better with Move, but they're a bit pricey.

I played the Kitchen demo in none VR, so I haven't bothered yet, will do though.

My biggest worry with Driveclub are all the people saying it makes them ill. Eve was bad enough. Dunno though.

The other demo stuff is on the VR demo disc download off the store. It's different to the pack in disk. Stupid Sony.

Sent from my E6683 using Tapatalk
 

spicy

Giga Poster
jj23w said:
RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 is finally happening yaay.

So glad this is happening. Red Dead Redemption was one of my all time favourite games ever.

So what are peoples thoughts on the new Nintendo Switch?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5uik5fgIaI

Combining both a portable gaming device and a home console is genius. The trouble is if they don't get the popular titles that sell huge amounts like CoD and FIFA and rely on their own titles they will never get the sales that they need.

There is also a huge gap for a portable gaming device after the Vita has slowly died but most people play games on their tablets now. Can the Switch tempt people back to play on a gaming device? I don't think so unfortunately.

Still will be interesting to see, I believe this could possibly be Nintendo's last home console if it sells like the Wii U.
 

Chris Brown

Mr CoasterForce 2016
Think the switch is about 5 years too late imo. Agree with the games and how they will shape the consoles future. I dunno, i think nintendo think there is a bigger market for players wanting to play on the go than there actually is? Games on the go such as candy crush, flappy bird, angry birds and temple run work because they are such simple objectives that dont require much thought and are suitable to play in a car or waiting for a train, anything more complex and people wont play it. Popular video games now have to be complex to engage with their target audiences and have multiple layers to remain relevant. The switch will do both of these but neither as good as their competitors, not as simple as an ipad game but not as layered as a PS4 / PC game. If I was nintendo I'd be pumping money into augmented reality after Pokemon Go showed exactly how to capture the world.
 

GuyWithAStick

Captain Basic
In the trailer, it showed some Skyrim gameplay, which hopefully means that it is finally able to handle larger games like that. I'm looking forward to this, but I think I need a bit more info before I can properly judge.
 

furie

SBOPD
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Chris Brown said:
Think the switch is about 5 years too late imo. Agree with the games and how they will shape the consoles future. I dunno, i think nintendo think there is a bigger market for players wanting to play on the go than there actually is? Games on the go such as candy crush, flappy bird, angry birds and temple run work because they are such simple objectives that dont require much thought and are suitable to play in a car or waiting for a train, anything more complex and people wont play it. Popular video games now have to be complex to engage with their target audiences and have multiple layers to remain relevant. The switch will do both of these but neither as good as their competitors, not as simple as an ipad game but not as layered as a PS4 / PC game. If I was nintendo I'd be pumping money into augmented reality after Pokemon Go showed exactly how to capture the world.

This, pretty much 100%

I just don't think Nintendo really get it. They've stopped innovating and gone to copying.

I do like the design. I think it's very smart. I think it's clever. I think it's going to be another £350 I spend just to play a dozen Nintendo games and nothing else.

This is why nobody bought the Wii U. It was expensive (due to gimmick) just to play Nintendo games. So Nintendo fans bought it.

The Wii sold well because it introduced something new and interesting for people to socialise with. Suddenly Baby, Teen, Mum, and Grandfather could play a game together. It was new and exciting.

I've seen these fads before (Simon, Fondue and Karaoke come to mind) and every few years a new family thing hits the big time. Nintendo created a fad - well done.

Now everyone has a touch screen device of some kind that can play games - and they have been doing for several years now. Even better, those devices also do lots of other stuff (play music, watch films, email, etc.). People are invested into those mobile platforms already (balls deep in an app-store ecosystem).

Nintendo aren't going to eat into that. There are already tablets that can do gaming (small and broadcast) and come with controllers (2 Android and a Windows) - so they're not even first to the market with the concept. None of those devices have fared well. Hell, look at the trouble Microsoft are having getting into the market and they have their tablets in the same app-store ecosystem as the X-Box.

Okay, so you can have a replacement for the DS. Who wants to replace a £100 small DS with a £350 console twice the size that can't fold in half? Would you give that to your 7 year old to play Pokemon? No, they have their own £90 disposable tablet they play Pokemon Go on already. They also have a DS which you only bought them when Nintendo finally released a version that was under £150.

Great, they have Skyrim. A 5 year old game that is due out on (undoubtedly) the superior PS4 and XBONE next week or something - which will hit 60 million potential gamers. Which of those who wants to play Skyrim will be waiting for the inferior version on The Switch?

So the same as happened with Mass Effect 3 (remember that Wii U special). They'll sell four copies and the third parties will pull out. It's the third party's fault too for rehashing old games rather than supporting with new IPs... Only new IPs don't sell on Nintendo consoles because people only buy Nintendo consoles to play Nintendo games on. ARRRRRGGGHHHH! It drives me nuts :lol:

Chris is spot on - people don't want complex games on the move (generally). It's what killed the PS Vita, Sony just didn't understand (until too late). It was too much and the games too complex. The DS works because it's easy to use, easy to snap shut and you just carry on when you're at home. This will be a faff. Plus, seriously, how often do people see DS gamers compared to Smartphone users? Who still uses their DS for Streetpass?

There are (let's say) about 13 million die hard Nintendo fans. We know there are that many because that is how many people own a Wii U. Very few own that as their sole console. Most will have it as a secondary. It's because people have the Nintendo console for Nintendo games. Even then, it was only after they ditched the utterly useless cheap version and heavily discounted the one you could use that they got any traction. Most people simply don't want to spend £350 to play a Zelda remake and a new Mario Kart.

What Nintendo need to do is to produce a solid console that is affordable enough for people to buy it as an near impulse buy. £150, plus £30 for Mario Kart? Yeah, I can do that for Christmas... "for the kids".

I may be shocked and The Switch may come in at that price range. If it does, it will make a killing. As soon as it hits PS4/XBONE price ranges, then it needs to have a justification - and another touch screen device in your house isn't it, no matter how many balcony parties or basketball matches you're planning on attending in 2017...
 

nealbie

CF Legend
Ugh.

Short answer: **** sake Nintendo

Long answer: It's been clear for years Nintendo don't understand anything, but their own continued success and sales blinds them to this fact. Unfortunately, they also own many of the top IPs in gaming. People (myself included) will still have to have it in order to play the new Mario Kart, the new Zelda, the new Pokemon, etc, etc. These, any many others, are all great franchises that are continually improved ever so slightly like the iPhone every year or two. However, the vast majority of users will play the games available on all platforms on their PS4/PC (or Xbox One if they're broken). Since the PS2, Nintendo consoles have been "exclusive only" platforms (like the Xbox One has now become to many). The one thing they do still have is the handheld market, and that's again because they have the best and most addictive IPs that you can pick up and put down at a moment's notice on your 3DS. The Switch is an awkward halfway house that Nintendo will again dub a success because millions will still buy, but even giants like me will have no chance of being able to put the Switch away in our pockets. Did no one read the millions and millions of Club Nintendo game registration forms that said they only bought the WiiU to play exclusive content? Apparently not.

It's a shame that Nintendo hold so many amazing franchises and are too stubborn to just stop making consoles and rake in the money from selling Mario and Pikachu to the highest bidder for every new game.
 

davidm

Strata Poster
david morton said:
Considering buying DriveclubVR though
Picked that up yesterday (and some Move controllers ; that was an expensive lunchtime trip into town :( ).

Racing was better I thought - but can't explain why - in the game compared to the demo, perhaps just more variety (obviously), the gameplay is very like the orginal Driveclub (again, obviously).

Move controllers on the roller coaster / pig-zombie demo (Until Dawn:thing) definitely improved gameplay too - just need a really good shooter for it to come out.

Find I've struggled to play on it for much more than an hour at a time though - not from any motion-sickness, luckily haven't had that - just from the uncomfortable level of the whole headset/masses of wires/sitting in camera view/faff of it all. My neck gives up too with all the looking around combined with the weight of the thing (and its not heavy).

Still haven't played all the demos / VR Worlds things yet either.

Good though (if a bit un-ergonomic and expensive)
 

Bat Fastard

Hyper Poster
Not sure how many on here like the first person shooter games, but Battlefield 1 is **** incredible. I was a bit skeptical with it being WWI, but boy was I wrong. The campaign is awesome and the multiplayer is epic and freaking addicting. Highly recommend it if you like FPS games. Please do not buy that BS know as Call of Duty Infinite Warfare over this....
 

PineCone666

Roller Poster
Anyone play Geometry Dash over here? It's a super fun game.

Combine 'The Impossible Game', 'Gravity Guy', 'Jetpack Joyride', 'Flappy Bird', 'Wave Wave', £1.99 and you get this game. Anyone play it, or just me?
 

PeskyTrimBrake

Hyper Poster
Frontier finally opened the Planet Coaster Beta. They nailed it and if all goes well, it could be my favorite game this year. Of course its still lacking since its in Beta but Frontier is constantly updating it with new updates and patches. I also appreciate how they made the effort in making the coasters realistic while maintaining their signature style from RCT3.
 

peep

CF Legend
^I've been playing since the second Alpha and while there's still a lot of problems (I hate the path tools) it is an excellent upgrade on RCT3. RCT World btw is rushing its release to the day before Planet Coaster and it pales in comparison, any comment section below a social media post is slating it.

The think I love most about Planet Coaster is that they're listening to the community and continuously make updates. Their interaction with the community has just been amazing.
 

PeskyTrimBrake

Hyper Poster
^I've been playing since the second Alpha and while there's still a lot of problems (I hate the path tools) it is an excellent upgrade on RCT3. RCT World btw is rushing its release to the day before Planet Coaster and it pales in comparison, any comment section below a social media post is slating it.

The think I love most about Planet Coaster is that they're listening to the community and continuously make updates. Their interaction with the community has just been amazing.
I mean, they did add the optional grid system now which lets you build rectangular paths like RCT3. I agree, Frontier listening to their audience is making them one of my favorite game studios. The camera needs to be fixed though cause when I try to move the camera, I have little to no control.
 
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