My Moral Collapse on the PS4


I've been a big fan of gaming consoles since I was a kid. I had a Pong system way back in the day, and it's probably somewhere in my parents' attic right now.  (Don't laugh; Pong was the sh!t.)  
Later my dad, in his infinite cheapness, bought me an Atari knockoff that I still have to this day; it wasn't an Atari system but it played Atari games - kind of the way a Yugo will get you from place to place as well as a BMW will.  It's buried at the bottom of a steamer trunk - along with a bunch Atari games like the original Mario Brothers (not Super Mario Brothers, so this is real old school) - and the last time I checked (about 20 years ago) it still worked.  However, I'm unlikely to ever play that game system again; the last two TVs I connected it to went on the fritz shortly thereafter, and I blame the cheap-azz console for that.
Fast-forward to the present, and you'll find that I've advanced from knockoffs to premium brand consoles (not out of ego, but a desire not to ruin any more televisions). First and foremost on that list is the Sony Playstation.  I've loved playing Sony games, and I was fine with being a customer for life. Then they released the Playstation 4 . Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against the PS4 itself. I think it's a great console and constituted a nice step forward for the next generation of gaming.  What bothers me, however, was the business decision by Sony execs not to make the gaming system backwards-compatible.  In other words, it won't play games for previous-generation consoles. So nothing designed for the PS3 or earlier Playstation systems will work on the PS4.
To me, this is a complete slap in the face and shows a profound lack of respect for Sony customers. In essence, when an earlier PS console stops working (and at some point they will), the only options are to either not play those games any more, or buy a new PS, PS2 or PS3. (This is in addition to buying the PS4 if you want to play the latest games.)  In essence, this feels like a decision that is ultimately designed to put more money into Sony's pocket. I mean, let's face it:  most people are going to take the position of "you can't fight city hall." They'll gripe a little, but then shell out the cash for the PS4 with a what-are-you-gonna-do? mentality.
Personally, I feel like you can fight city hall.  I think people - especially consumers - can make a difference on issues like this.  (Remember "New Coke"? The public outcry was so bad that they had to bring back the original Coca-Cola. Good luck finding New Coke anywhere these days...) I may be a voice crying out in the wilderness, but I refused to bend on this topic.  Thus, for the past two years, I have adamantly refused to purchase the PS4.  (Yes, I know that Sony has yielded to some extent and is taking some steps in the right direction in terms of allowing the PS4 to play older games, but it's not enough and it's something they should have taken care of in the first place.) So I've been standing pat, refusing to yield since 2013 - my head bloodied, but unbowed. Until now.
Last month, Bethesda Game Studios released Fallout 4 . I'm not even going to beat around the bush here: I  love - I mean absolutely  love - the Fallout series, and apparently others feel the same:  Fallout 4 had the biggest game launch of the year, generating $750 million in sales during the first 24 hours of release.  (By contrast, the next game on the list - Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 - generated $550 million sales during the first 72 hours of release.)
Without going into a lot of detail, in Fallout you play a customizable character in a post-apocalyptic world populated not only by people but also (just to name a few) mutated plants and animals, killer robots, murderous raiders...not to mention offshoots of humanity such as Super Mutants and irradiated ghouls.  There isn't another game series out there like it.  (If there is, someone please clue me in.) 
Needless to say, I want this game. Badly. Possibly even bad enough to compromise my stance on buying a PS4.  I haven't completely thrown in the towel, but when my wife pointedly asked if I wanted the PS4 for Christmas, I kind of whimpered instead of adamantly shouting "No!" as I have in the past.  (I even made her aware of the fact that the PS4 bundle goes on sale Dec. 6 for $299.)  In short, it seems that I may have caved in all but name only - I just haven't actually said the words. (I also can't bring myself to actually buy the PS4 of my own volition, which is why Mrs. Wonderful will have to do it.)
Of course, I'm wholeheartedly ashamed of my moral collapse on this issue.  After all, somebody has to be willing to take a stand, even when it's futile.  I fought the good fight for two years and was willing to keep at it indefinitely. In order to stay on point with my message, I would also have willingly forgone a lot: Uncharted 4 (which is coming in 2016), whatever's next in the God of War franchise, etc.  But my Achilles heel has been revealed. Plainly speaking, Fallout 4 is simply a must-have for me.  However, I will still continue to push for backwards compatibility, and to Sony I say this: you didn't break me or my resolve - Fallout 4 did.  



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Published on December 03, 2015 16:46
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message 1: by Mike (new)

Mike Leon I don't think you should feel this conflicted. See, I'm the guy you're talking about in your post. I pretty much exclusively play old video games, and I'm here to tell you nobody plays old video games. It's like me and three other people I think. It's probably true Sony doesn't care about us, but we don't care about Sony either. The last console I bought was a Gamecube when it was new. I want to (and do) play old games on the actual systems they were designed for (not newer systems that were jerry-rigged to play them). It doesn't matter to me if the PS4 plays PS1, PS2, SMS or SNES games. And I should have a neutral stance based on that, except...

Backwards compatibility is a pain in the ass for hardware producers. As each new system comes out, to be backwards compatible with old games it may need to include obsolete parts that are only there to play those old games (again, for me and three other guys). There's coding and playtesting that needs to be done (and after all of that there are still usually old games that glitch or don't run at all). That makes the system bigger and more costly for everyone. And it just escalates from there. It starts looking really silly if you fast forward to extreme examples: If PS9 has to play games for PS1-8, then how much does that add to the price tag? Eventually it will not be feasible to keep building consoles like that anymore no matter what Sony or you or anyone does about it.

So in short, I don't want to see Sony raise prices and charge you and millions of others more to play Fallout 4 just so I can play Super Metroid on their console.

So go buy your video game console and play Fallout.


message 2: by Kevin (new)

Kevin You're a very generous soul; I hadn't thought about it from the standpoint of making everyone else "pay" in order to maintain backwards compatibility, and perhaps you're right about that. But if you like playing old games (and I actually do, so make that four other guys), what are your options when your PS2 or what have you breaks down? Do you simply go out and buy another one? My argument is that you shouldn't have to.

In short, I don't know if the solution is backwards compatibility, streaming, or something else, but I feel like there should be an option to let me continue playing games I've already bought without paying for them again.


message 3: by Mike (new)

Mike Leon I think the short answer to your problem is emulation. It depends on what you want to play specifically. For the 16-bit/ps1 era it's the hands down solution. For anything newer than that things are spotty, but it's getting better. I think the gap will close as those systems die out. It's free. It's convenient. In many cases it works better than backwards compatibility too. Msg1 looks like crap on a ps2 compared to a good emulator, for instance.

I'm a big fan of ports to new consoles. Lots of old games are popping up on Android and xbox arcade and whatnot now. This is a great solution when you consider this: most video games are shit. 10% of them are worth playing and 1% are so good you want to play them 20 years down the road. People still love Mario 64 but nobody ever says "Man, I wish I could play BioFreaks right now." Ports are a practical way to keep those gems out there and convenient to play. Unless you desperately want to play Shaq Fu (trust me, you don't) this is a pretty good alternative to backwards compatibility.

There's always the third party solutions too. There are a couple companies who make combo systems that play old Sega and Nintendo games and as long as there's a market for it stuff like that will be around for newer systems. I wouldn't be shocked if some outfit develops a console that just rolls together all of the older PlayStations just to fill the retro gaming niche market. That would be interesting.


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