Select A System That Suits Your Style (February 3, 2018)

[ChrisReid]

A whole bunch of exciting new video game hardware has come out in the past year, and it's been quite a while since we last asked what systems people would most prefer a new Wing Commander game on. The latest console and handheld devices out today are more powerful than high end PCs from just a couple years ago, so any of these platforms could produce stunning results. Which would you like to see?!











The last poll was our annual pulse on what fans are expecting for the year ahead. Like most years, the results were mixed. About a third of folks aren't particularly optimistic, but about 40% expect another big year. Take a peek at our 2017 roundup for a summary of all the fantastic things that happened last year - we're sure this year will be at least that amazing!

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Original update published on February 3, 2018

 

[Pedro]

Interesting to see the XBox One leading the pole, I don't think I've switched mine on in years.

Nintendo will always be a part of my gaming life, Breath of the Wild is the only non VR game this past year I got totally hooked on, but it's not the right home for Wing Commander in my view. I don't need Wing Commander on the go - it's the kind of game I'll find the time for at home with the best possible quality of experience...

... that being the case, and given how much I adored the Star Wars VR demo (the best few minutes of gaming in my life) I have to go with Playstation VR. Plus it means the odd violent scene ala Angels death wouldn't be a problem - if not for PSVR I'd never have beaten Resident Evil 7 (it's not a kid friendly game so it was impossible to get a chance to play it until I could hide away in the helmet).

 

[ChrisReid]

It's also interesting to see how it's changed and changed back. In 2006 when we did this poll, Xbox 360 beat out the Playstation 3 with 33% to 24%. But in 2013 the Playstation 4 beat the Xbox One 30% to 26%. And now Xbox One X is winning over the PS4 Pro with 26% to 8% (or 18% if you want to add the PS VR on top of it). The Xbox One certainly had some significant problems out of the gate (backtracking on DRM, clumsy interface, higher price with bundled Kinect, lower performance compared to the competition, etc), which have all been remedied this time around with the One X.

Although both Sony and Microsoft are marketing this as an incremental upgrade that's part of the same generation, it's practically a new cycle. The Xbox One X is ~5x as powerful as the Xbox One, just as the Xbox One was ~5 as powerful as the Xbox 360, and with half the time gap between "generations." The one really great thing about the connection between the two is that the transition is seamless - all games are cross compatible, all hardware still works and the interface/OS is the same, so it's really painless to upgrade this time around, and they arrived at a time when 4K TV prices have really taken a nosedive.

I'm surprised the Switch is as popular as it is, and I'm even more surprised the VR stuff is as well. There's obviously some amazing experiences to be had there, but in general, people don't want to buy extra hardware, they don't want to be attached to cables, and they don't want to wear junk on their heads, so it's hard to see that segment really growing much more with those limitations.

 

[Quarto]

Interesting to see the XBox One leading the pole, I don't think I've switched mine on in years.

Yes, well, you do live in Japan .

I think it's natural for the Xbox One X to take the lead over the PS4 Pro, because Wing Commander's fandom - especially now, when after years of no new products we've been reduced to only the most hardcode fans - is predominantly North American. And from what I know, after the initial difficulties, the Xbox One was definitely the more popular of the two brands in the US (vice versa in Japan), and its successor is as well.

It's also an indication of the fact that people just plain haven't been sold on VR yet, so PlayStation VR is not a competitive advantage - not yet, at least. Neither is the Switch's portability, of course - yes, it's true, apart from Breath of the Wild (undoubtedly THE reason to buy a Switch), people wanted the Switch to play Skyrim portable. But they only wanted that because they'd already played Skyrim at home.

The really interesting thing in this poll, of course, is the fact that the Quine 5000 takes the lead (I'll admit, I just voted for it too). It would be interesting to know what the different Quine 5000 voters actually thought. For me, it was a way of saying, "look, I don't care, just give me a new WC game at all". Some others probably thought the same. But others still may have voted for it to express pessimism about any new WC game at all, or just for the heck of it.

 

[capi3101]

In my case, I voted for the Quine because a desktop/laptop wasn't one of the options. Give me a break, I'm old...and get off my lawn while you're at it, you damn kids..........

 

[ChrisReid]

The really interesting thing in this poll, of course, is the fact that the Quine 5000 takes the lead (I'll admit, I just voted for it too). It would be interesting to know what the different Quine 5000 voters actually thought. For me, it was a way of saying, "look, I don't care, just give me a new WC game at all". Some others probably thought the same. But others still may have voted for it to express pessimism about any new WC game at all, or just for the heck of it.

Yeah, we noticed that too! It's obviously just the joke option, and it appropriately took only 10% and 8% in 2006 and 2013 respectively. What changed between 2013 and 2018 that now it's actually in the lead with 33%?? We know that obviously the PC would win the poll if it were an option, so we intentionally left that off so we can see what else is popular, and in years past the Quine did not significantly serve as a proxy for the PC. We basically have the same options as 2013... so why the difference this time? I have some theories...

 

[Pedro]

The most recent I can find is November 2017 for the US

PlayStation 4 Total Sales: 21,965,795
Xbox One Total Sales: 19,001,261

Still that's definitely better than I thought and definitely than global

PlayStation 4 Total Sales: 69,635,004
Xbox One Total Sales: 34,156,108

But I was more thinking of software. I played the Halo titles and a bit of sunset overdrive. Everything since then Microsoft has made dual platform so whilst I own GoW3 on XBox One for example I played it on PC for 60fps before the X was ever released. It seemed (and obviously my location is a factor because I see no advertising for the XBox) like MS had given up on the hardware.

The PS4 Pro is an incremental release, it's just a better GPU for the sake of VR/ 4k, it bizarrely doesn't even have a 4k blu-ray player which makes me think it was almost exclusively designed to combat the challenges of VR on that level of hardware.

The XBoxOneX (XBOX?) is admittedly a potential generational shift. I'd seen the rumours floating around of MS considering buying a large games publisher but in my headcanon that was to offset the disapointing performance of XBoxOne.

This may explain the results as the standard units aren't present, I can't see any figures for PS4 Pro vs XBOneX sales - but upgrading the the X certainly makes a lot more sense than to the PS4Pro.


As for VR I agree with most of what Chris said - I don't think it's going to grow yet but as an enthusiast I love it. I want the best possible experience and that's it. I don't think people necessarily mind having something on their heads - but right now I can't argue with the term junk. They're heavy, the PSVR in particular steams up as soon as you put it on, they're tethered. They're just not ready yet,
That said it's a good enough experience to make people dive in despite those issues (the PSVR had been supply constrained, still is in Japan - I had to import mine). When wireless lighter headsets with proper eye tracking and far higher resolution than the current batch come about I still believe it'll take off with the majority of console gamers if the market manages to hold on for the 5 or so years that will take.

I really doubt Skyrim will crack a million on Switch, Nintendo just doesn't attract that kind of market. Every million plus game except Xenoblade is a Nintendo title. I think it sold as a portable home system if that makes any sense. It does come to weekend barbecues, on holiday etc. It's not selling that great when you think about it as an acceptance that mobile has cornered the truly portable market.

 

[Dyret]

I'm surprised the Switch is as popular as it is, and I'm even more surprised the VR stuff is as well. There's obviously some amazing experiences to be had there, but in general, people don't want to buy extra hardware, they don't want to be attached to cables, and they don't want to wear junk on their heads, so it's hard to see that segment really growing much more with those limitations.

Not really surprised by the Switch, everyone seems to have bought one for that new Zelda game. Agreed on VR, though, having to wear a giant ugly isolating brick on your head to play games is... not great.

In my case, I voted for the Quine because a desktop/laptop wasn't one of the options. Give me a break, I'm old...and get off my lawn while you're at it, you damn kids..........

Pretty much this.

 

[Pedro]

Agreed on VR, though, having to wear a giant ugly isolating brick on your head to play games is... not great.

Really? Everyone looks a berk gaming, I can't imagine caring about that (the idea of feeling like I had street cred to lose to begin with is a little farfetched anywho). And far from isolating I've found it pretty social, family friends who just don't do gaming got pretty into it, it quickly turns into a spectator event (all systems reflect what the player is seeing on the screen). New players are particularly fun to watch.

 

[Quarto]

The PS4 Pro is an incremental release, it's just a better GPU for the sake of VR/ 4k, it bizarrely doesn't even have a 4k blu-ray player which makes me think it was almost exclusively designed to combat the challenges of VR on that level of hardware.

Yeah, that's a detail I found really interesting as well, the lack of the 4K blu-ray. My hunch is that this is a conscious decision, signalling the start of the transition towards a disc-less console. The only reason you really need a 4K blu-ray drive at the moment is for movies - but those are being streamed or downloaded so much, that the 4K blu-ray may turn out to be something of a dud. I mean, already the original blu-ray was nowhere near as successful and revolutionary as the DVD had been, in terms of consumer interest.

 

[Worf]

No, the real reason is the PS4 is a games machine, not a media machine. Sony is a backer of the 4K UHD format, but they intentionally did not want to support it because they did not want their PS4 to handle media. It's why its media playback functionality is non-existent (Yes, it's there, but limited).

Streaming 4K is a quality improvement over Streaming 1080p, but it's only about equivalent to 1080p Blu-Ray,. It's unfortunately nowhere near quality wise. If you have a good audio system, streaming really sucks, because audio quality of all streaming methods suck. If you're lucky, the stereo stream is higher quality than multichannel (which is highly compressed to ridiculousness).

Streaming 1080p is around 4-6Mbps. 4K streaming is around 18Mbps. Blu-Ray (1080p) is around 26Mbps. UHD Blu-Ray is around 75Mbps. Of course, industry wants everyone to go streaming as well - because it's all win-win for them - people pay them to "own" it but it can be made to disappear in an instant. You are right though, adoption of UHD Blu-Ray isn't high - when made to compete, 3D Blu-Ray can still outsell UHD, enough so that industry is actively killing 3D for home -- both in removing 3D TVs from the market, as well as removing 3D content by making them retailer exclusives. Think of it this way - usually people buy Region A (North America) Blu-Ray because the product is out first, but many people in North America are importing Region B (Europe) and C (Asia/ Rest of World) discs because they get 3D versions of movies. Blu-Ray adoption in North America is around 30%. In Europe, it's around 10%, and Europe gets 3D? That said, UHD sales are around 5% of Blu-Ray sales.

It's kind of funny because the original Xbox One world (the original DRM system) exists today (everyone is pushing digital downloads), and we're stuck with the old school "sharing" and "used" system - which doesn't work if you don't have a disc to share anymore because it was bought digitally. And way too many games are digital only.

 

[Dyret]

Really? Everyone looks a berk gaming, I can't imagine caring about that (the idea of feeling like I had street cred to lose to begin with is a little farfetched anywho). And far from isolating I've found it pretty social, family friends who just don't do gaming got pretty into it, it quickly turns into a spectator event (all systems reflect what the player is seeing on the screen). New players are particularly fun to watch.

Heh, yeah, most people seem to feel the that way, it's just a weird personal hang-up for me, like I hate wearing headphones for the same reason most of the time. I stand by clunky and ugly, though, but that will probably sort itself out in time.

 

[Pedro]

Heh, yeah, most people seem to feel the that way, it's just a weird personal hang-up for me, like I hate wearing headphones for the same reason most of the time. I stand by clunky and ugly, though, but that will probably sort itself out in time.

I agree with that, and it’s a definite problem atm. There are tonnes of cool attempts at music and exercise games with mainstream potential but who wants a heavy cabled steamy helmet on their head when exercising and sweating?
I don’t have a positive enough self image to care about how it looks but the practicalities of the current helmets mean they won’t be going mainstream anytime soon.

 

[ChrisReid]

Streaming 1080p is around 4-6Mbps. 4K streaming is around 18Mbps. Blu-Ray (1080p) is around 26Mbps. UHD Blu-Ray is around 75Mbps. Of course, industry wants everyone to go streaming as well - because it's all win-win for them - people pay them to "own" it but it can be made to disappear in an instant.

That's the obvious concern, but you mostly mitigate that by not buying digital copies from doomed platforms. It was not surprising when "Target Ticket" went under. On the other hand, what Apple has done with upgrading digital copies to 4K is amazing. I was not an active buyer of iTunes movies over the years, but I had a handful, and somehow now I own dozens of free 4K films. It's been game changer for me. I pretty much only rented or Netflixed movies, but in the last few months, I've bought a bunch of cheap 1080p Blu-rays that came with 4K digital copies. I can stream the 4K version and have the Bluray to play in my car for road trips.