Next Gen Consoles

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Are the thumbsticks still a load of slippery bullshit? I ended up putting Xbox One thumbsticks in the dualshocks on PS4 to fix that. Wonder if you'd be able to do this with the Dualsense?

[Chedney Honks]

It seems they've really improved the Bluetooth audio to the pad compared to the PS4. I was pretty disappointed that the PS5 doesn't (currently) support modern UAC 2 USB DACs because I've got a pretty tidy set-up, but having plugged it into the pad via 3.5mm, the Tempest audio sounds brilliant. I'm somewhat sensitive to compression and my only reactions have been positive. Seems they've also beefed it up because even without the DAC, the pad will drive my Hifiman Ananda to unnecessary levels.

Well done you Japanese cunts

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

It seems like an odd decision to give the PS5 controller force feedback on the triggers but not the sticks. I'd have thought that would be an obvious choice for driving games and the like.

Then again, I wonder how much use the trigger feedback is likely to get. The touchpad on the PS4 didn't seem to be used much. Presumably, cross platform developers don't want to spend time catering for one console's specific hardware gimmicks. I'm guessing that's why Sony scrapped pressure sensitive face buttons after the PS2.

And then triggers made a face buttons.

[mobias]

It seems they've really improved the Bluetooth audio to the pad compared to the PS4. I was pretty disappointed that the PS5 doesn't (currently) support modern UAC 2 USB DACs because I've got a pretty tidy set-up, but having plugged it into the pad via 3.5mm, the Tempest audio sounds brilliant. I'm somewhat sensitive to compression and my only reactions have been positive. Seems they've also beefed it up because even without the DAC, the pad will drive my Hifiman Ananda to unnecessary levels.

Well done you Japanese cunts

The audio is the one thing I've been hearing rave things about with the PS5 from a few game developer mates of mine. Apparently Sony always promise the world but don't deliver on it when they're telling studios about the capabilities of upcoming console releases. The PS4 was supposed to be capable of all sorts of tricks over the PS3 but they didn't really ever materialise. With the PS5 they really have delivered apparently. There's a ton of bandwidth there for developers to bring great audio effects to their games.

[Chedney Honks]

I'm impressed because the BT audio via the DS4 was noticeably not great. I wonder whether they're using Sony's 'lossless' LDAC Bluetooth codec. I've listened to a couple of devices previously which used that and it's noticeably better than the standard AAC or SBC.

I'll look forward to proper USB audio output but this is easily good enough.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

With the PS5 they really have delivered apparently. There's a ton of bandwidth there for developers to bring great audio effects to their games.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

If audio is so important to them why have neither companies bothered to put a fucking optical audio out on their consoles, so that when I do get one I have to mess about getting my wireless headphones to work?

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I can think of games with poor sound design (Doom 2016 had oddly weedy gun sounds, for example) but (at least since the advent of CD audio) none where the sound effects were bad due to obvious technical limitations. Artistic licence aside, a sound effect can't really get any better than a recording of the actual thing that it represents and my hearing is only sensitive to the most extreme of compression artefacts. Ultra high definition audio is about the least exciting selling point for a new console that I can recall - especially if it means the games take up nearly the entire hard disk to install.

I can only conclude that mobias is some sort of mutant, with hearing like a dog or something.

[TrenterPercenter]

On the audio stuff has anyone playing the new Demon Souls thought that Stockpile Thomas has a wee bit of Falconhoof in his voice.  I keep imagining Limmy doing the voice.

There is a load of scots in it.  They should definitely make a Dark Souls game where Limmy does all the voices in it.

[Chedney Honks]

I didn't enjoy Spider-Man particularly the first time around, only played a few hours of it, I've never liked the character or superhero stuff, really. Anyway, Miles Morales is superb and I have some fondness after the superb animated film, so I decided to get the Remastered version of the original for £20 upgrade. It's all about that 60fps for something like this, I've concluded. Having a blast with it. Quality game. The combat and traversal are far better at 60, simple as that.

Demon's Souls continues to impress. It's genuinely jaw dropping at points, not only the visual fidelity and detail and lighting, but the subtlety of the audio cues. There's so much texture and nuance to the combat and movement sounds, especially with the 3D audio. Along with the haptics, it brings a remarkable physicality to the moment to moment gameplay. I'll look forward to seeing what the likes of Naughty Dog, Santa Monica et al do with this stuff.

For something a little different but which also makes the most of the Dualsense, I'd recommend WRC9. It's on sale at the moment for £24 or so and the trigger feedback genuinely has to be felt to be believed. The gear shifts, clicks, backfires, road textures, bumps and skids are pretty remarkable. I've never felt anything like this with a pad before. I'm not really a fan of the little pad speaker but it gives off some quite subtle crackles and sprays, road texture and debris collision stuff and it adds an extra dimension. Again, I wonder what GT7 will bring.

Very very happy with this so far.

[Mister Six]

I can think of games with poor sound design (Doom 2016 had oddly weedy gun sounds, for example) but (at least since the advent of CD audio) none where the sound effects were bad due to obvious technical limitations. Artistic licence aside, a sound effect can't really get any better than a recording of the actual thing that it represents and my hearing is only sensitive to the most extreme of compression artefacts. Ultra high definition audio is about the least exciting selling point for a new console that I can recall - especially if it means the games take up nearly the entire hard disk to install.

I can only conclude that mobias is some sort of mutant, with hearing like a dog or something.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's less about fidelity and more about being able to do interesting stuff with the audio, like making characters/objects sound realistically distant (rather than just quieter), or using multidirectional audio properly.

You could do all this stuff before (and some games would put filters on sounds to make them appear like they're in an adjoining room, like The Last of Us) using the same calculations that determine visual distance from the player, but we are visual creatures and so the processing power tended to be used on better graphics and AI rather than sound.

On the audio stuff has anyone playing the new Demon Souls thought that Stockpile Thomas has a wee bit of Falconhoof in his voice.  I keep imagining Limmy doing the voice.

There is a load of scots in it.  They should definitely make a Dark Souls game where Limmy does all the voices in it.

Or do a Falconhoof crossover.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's less about fidelity and more about being able to do interesting stuff with the audio, like making characters/objects sound realistically distant (rather than just quieter), or using multidirectional audio properly.

You could do all this stuff before (and some games would put filters on sounds to make them appear like they're in an adjoining room, like The Last of Us) using the same calculations that determine visual distance from the player, but we are visual creatures and so the processing power tended to be used on better graphics and AI rather than sound.

Fair enough, although I can't remember ever thinking that something didn't sound realistically distant enough either.

I'd rather see further development of physics engines and that, like a new Red Faction game with buildings you can realistically demolish into millions of fragments of rubble.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Or heads that you can explode into millions of fragments with a shotgun.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Why would I want the fragments to have a shotgun? They'd just shoot me in revenge.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Yeah, but they're only little fragments, so they'd only have very small shotguns, so they shouldn't pose any significant danger. Just march on to the next head.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

I think this has made my mind up on what console to buy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGAjhjp8dnI

RetroArch running legally on Xbox, no need to mess around with custom firmware, so you've got a brilliant emulation box for a one off cost of whatever $20 is in real money.

[Hand Solo]

RetroArch running legally on Xbox, no need to mess around with custom firmware, so you've got a brilliant emulation box for a one off cost of whatever $20 is in real money.

Hasn't this been available for years and years though, just using developer mode?

I told my mate who has Xbox I was playing Cave Story on Google TV using Retroarch and he'd never heard of it so I told him about dev mode and to download Retroarch or a PSP emulator to play it on because bizarrely it still hasn't been ported?!

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Apparently so, but I'd never heard of it being possible. The newer consoles should give it a bit more oomph to get games running at full speed anyway.

[Hand Solo]

Apparently so, but I'd never heard of it being possible. The newer consoles should give it a bit more oomph to get games running at full speed anyway.

Yes, my Google TV can run up to Saturn/PS1/N64 games alright, but struggles a bit with emulating DS titles, and anything above that is unworkable. My laptop isn't a gaming machine with rubbish Intel onboard graphics but can handle Wii/Wii U stuff and I have some knockoff Joycons with motion controls so have been playing Skyward Sword before moving on to Wii U Breath Of The Wild, I haven't tried PS3 stuff but doubt it could handle anything beyond that.

When I'm next round my mates I'll prob try and get Dev mode working on his Xbox and download some more interesting games for him, I'm sick of watching him play boring 1st person shooters for hours, some retro platformers and puzzle games won't tax his system but we could download some stupid Wii party games or something to play with his gf over Xmas - he bought her an extra controller because it's just him on the Xbox all the time but she never joins in on any games prob because theyr'e all 1st person shooters and bore her arse off like they do me so some other more fun things might change her mind and be a laugh.

I just tried a Wii game via Dolphin on my budget Samsung A20 phone and it's a bit stuttery, not really playable, so might upgrade my phone over Xmas, it's a bit silly because it's such a small screen I'd have to have a controller with me.. barring very few titles I'm loathed to use onscreen controls - but getting a higher spec tablet just for games would be a bit pointless as my laptop is touchscreen and folds over to tablet mode and is 14".

It's just I have the 8Bitdo SF30 controller and it's small enough to take with you in a pocket and has rumble and motion controls so it would be cool to whip out something like a Wii game on the train or something.

[mobias]

I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's less about fidelity and more about being able to do interesting stuff with the audio, like making characters/objects sound realistically distant (rather than just quieter), or using multidirectional audio properly.

Yeah that sort of thing plus there's just more memory dedicated to audio so in something like GTA you won't always here a variation of the same compressed audio file for any number of vehicles and weapons. Also, with a dedicated processor for audio hopefully you won't hear peds saying the same thing over and over again so much where ever you go. Something which open world games are notoriously bad for. 

People may say that sort of thing doesn't excite them or interest them much but when you hear it in practice people will say its noticeably better I think.

[lazarou]

Then again, I wonder how much use the trigger feedback is likely to get. The touchpad on the PS4 didn't seem to be used much. Presumably, cross platform developers don't want to spend time catering for one console's specific hardware gimmicks.

Just as a point of reference the xbone has had a poor man's version of this for an entire generation now ("impulse triggers" that use a fine degree of rumble control per trigger for haptic effects) and I can't even remember the last time anyone so much as brought it up. I quite like it, when used well it adds quite a bit to driving games especially, but honestly for the most part you forget it's even there. I'm sure the PS5 take on this is a fair bit more advanced but I can't see it making much more of an impact in the long run.

I actually had a proper force feedback gamepad for my pc a decade or so ago, some odd contraption with a hemispherical pad I forget the name of (google edit: looks like it was a Gravis Xterminator Force). That was a whole lot of fun with the few things that used it, the problem with deploying that kind of tech for a mainstream console is that it'd need to be built like a fucking tank and probably cost a fortune. Having fairly flimsy sticks that fight back against you would just end up being a huge point of failure, I'm guessing they settled on the triggers as those were the most manageable in that regard. It's a shame though.

[Hoodenter]

Don't really see the point in buying one atm, there aren't any big game releases with it, so it just loads quicker and looks nicer....okay I will wait till it drops in price then :/

[Thursday]

Dunno how quickly it'll drop in price though.

[Timothy]

Don't really see the point in buying one atm, there aren't any big game releases with it, so it just loads quicker and looks nicer....okay I will wait till it drops in price then :/

Don't forget the Dualsense which is great. And Quick Resume for Xbox games.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Sounds like they put out a good amount of heat too, so double as a heater for the spare room.

[QDRPHNC]

Maybe I'm just getting old, but this is the least exciting generation of consoles in my lifetime, and my first console was the Master System.

I'm not really into emulation, quick launch is nice but not essential, the PS5 controller looks lovely, but it is just a controller, and the launch games look marginally nicer than what I play on my One X. I'm sure at some point there'll be something that makes the switch worthwhile, but I don't think it's happened yet.

[Chedney Honks]

Have you tried the PS5 controller?

[QDRPHNC]

No. Vibrates in different ways, doesn't it?

[Chedney Honks]

Yeah, I didn't mean that as a challenge, as such. The controller is definitely something new. At first, I assumed it would be quite gimmicky and either distracting or something I'd just get bored of, but it's very noticeable going back to PS4 games how unsophisticated the rumble is in comparison.

I just fired up TLOU2, one of my favourite games of the year and a very immersive, atmospheric experience no matter what you think about the story or gameplay. When trotting around on the horse, though, you have a constant WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB sensation which I'd never noticed before. When I played it, I probably found it added something, and it would have seemed pretty subtle. Then I booted up Demon's Souls and Miles Morales just to check, and the difference is really impressive.

There's such a range of sensations (or the clever illusion) that little things become heightened. A stab feels rather different to a slash or an overhead smash. You can feel the nuance of a backstab when you crack through the ribs. That's not an exaggeration. The web shooting is subtle but the little schllliicckkk vibrates through the trigger in a way that feels appropriate. When you release and go into freefall, although nothing is happening, it's the absence of subtle feedback that then gives you the sense of hanging in the air for a moment before air resistance builds up.

It's far more significant than the 120fps or ray tracing.

Something like Astro's Playroom is one little trick after another, and while the game itself is little more than an opportunity to show off the pad, it really does. The footsteps and rain drops and splishy splashy textures really come through very well. I also always would choose to turn off the pad mic on the PS4 but again, the that's very much improved here and feels like it adds something when in not playing with headphones.

I could go on. I'm not trying to make out that this is life changing but it's the main thing that feels like a step forward to me. I actually keep wanting to play COD because the triggers feel so good and every weapon feels a bit different. Christ, even FIFA feels cool with the sprint trigger feeling more resistant for different players as they get tired. It's such a tiny thing but having a tangible feedback rather than looking at their stamina bar is a cool idea.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

A stab feels rather different to a slash

It can simulate doing a wee?