Microtransactions on a game that you paid full price on is bull****. That pisses me off about NBA2K the more I think about it, but at least you can earn it legitly. Their free app also gives you free VC at the cost of annoyance. (Their website is coded quite poorly imo)
I've had xbox but never really played any of the racing games. I've thought about Forza. So in the game you need to spend real money to buy in-game cars? I guess I won't be playing that game should I get the Xb1
You don't need to, but they designed the game in such a way so that people would be strongly pushed into paying money (either to get a boost in credits, or just buying the cars outright). I don't mind that in my F2P games (like Warframe), but not in these $60 retail games (especially when coupled with Day 1 DLC).
No, you drive to earn the credits to buy the cars...but it takes time to race and get the cars you want.
As long as you can get the stuff by grinding it out, then it's okay, imo. If you need to take the microtransaction route to "win", then that is when the developer is taking things too far. As long as you can do it with time and skill, then it's all good.
I don't think many games will ever go the route of "paying to win," at least not in the way you mean. Besides the obvious backlash, I think it is likely MUCH more profitable to just make it extremely tedious and time-consuming to advance in the game (or acquire the things that usually aren't so difficult to obtain), and then just "sell" those things off cheaply. Giving the illusion that it is "optional", but when set up in such as way, it is hardly optional for a large number of gamers. I could accept some form of microtransactions in full priced games, but for me, it would have to be obvious that it was something added after the fact (and or something purely cosmetic), and not something that influenced the design of the game. In Forza 5, NBA 2K14, GT6 (I think), Dead Space 3, etc., microtransactions clearly had an influence on the designs of these games. Why can't you easily race as any car outside of career mode? Why does it take so much longer to unlock cars (and/or why can't you be awarded cars for every race)? Why do you have to "unlock" the ability to edit your lineups and hire/fire staff members? Why can't you have local/offline copies of your save files? Etc. These games were designed in that way BECAUSE they want gamers to pay for those things. Not all gamers, but the impatient ones...and they'll make sure to design the game in such a way that they impatient gamers feel...well...impatient. Make sure to constantly remind them about these "optional" choices. Even when done right, it is a bit of a slippery slope. I think it can be done OK, but it is hard to do. I think if you're going to spend that much time with it, you might as well make your game free to play. If these games were F2P, I wouldn't really have as much of a problem with them. They'd probably be more successful too.
Back to PS4: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-12-02-playstation-4-uk-launch-sales-are-over-250k Not really a surprise though. Sony seemed to confirm they shipped ~1M consoles to Europe for their launch, though they're still busy counting sales (probably will be ~2M, but they're trying to make sure).
Use this site gents: http://www.nowinstock.net/videogaming/consoles/ps4/ If you go to the main page Xbox's are quite easy to find. I would say now that PS4 has launched in the majority of the countries it's going to, they should be easier to find in the next couple weeks. I'm sure they will want to sell as many as they can before Christmas.
Maybe if this was a $600 unfinished product with games like Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidge Racer, it would be easier to find. Sony did hold back some units in the US so that they could have 1M (or more) to sell in EU. I'm curious to see how they allocate stock in the upcoming weeks since it appears the PS4 is quite popular in both regions. Try to build up a lead (or stay even at least) with their competitor in their weakest region, or build up a huge lead in one of your strongholds (and possibly the biggest region for game consoles)?
IMO, they were smart to put Japan last. I'm sure Japanese gamers aren't happy about it, but Microsoft isn't selling any Xbox ones there. If I were them I would allocate as much as possible to the US and/or EU since those are the two territories where Xbox will sell the most. Especially based off the reports that Xbox One outsold PS4 3:1 on Black Friday. With that said most reports claim this is due to lack of PS4s available.
Oh yeah, it was definitely smart to wait on the Japanese launch (for so many reasons). It is surprising since that broke the PlayStation tradition, but it was smart. I'm curious about the NA and EU breakdown specifically. They can pump more units into NA to try to outdo the XBO, but there might also be a risk of not selling out of that stock. Also, I'm not sure if this is the case anymore, but I think in the past, these companies made a bit more money (or less of a loss anyway) on systems sold in EU vs NA (we are very sensitive about price here). So they can probably sell more systems at a smaller loss in EU, but they might have to give up marketshare in the NA market, which is arguably more important for them. That might mean losing an advantage to the CoD, BF, Madden, etc., gamers in the US (in EU, PS3 already appears to have those gamers, throwing in FIFA for Madden though). Already talk of "substantial" volumes of PS4 stock in the weeks leading up to Christmas in the UK. They have some PS4s in Brazil, where not many people are interested in the device since it costs $1800+ (due to taxes). Makes you wonder how things would be if they held off in regions like that (though I doubt many systems were actually shipped to Brazil).
I'm not a financial analyst, but I'm almost positive any PS4s that come in stock in the US right now will sell out immediately.
I'm essentially interested in the breakdown of shipments through their fiscal year (end of March IIRC). I think they're expecting 5M systems sold (which likely means shipped for them). They might be lowballing that, so maybe 6M if things go well. With 1M sold in NA, and likely another 1M sold in EU, that would leave 3M-4M for the next few months. Of that, you will need some for Japan and possibly other markets. With the remainder, I'm just curious if they'll split them 50-50 (more or less), or if they'll push one region over the other (and if so, which ones?). As well as the PS4 seems to be doing now, I'm not sure they could easily sell through several more million units in the US alone. I suppose they'll target high demand areas in both regions, assuming they have data like that (i.e., don't ship 2000 units to Tyler, Texas). Might have to take into account the re-sellers too (are there more here than in Europe?). I don't know what the number is, but there are only so many "hardcore" gamers who would be willing to buy a PS4 (or XBO) in the US, and you don't want to over-ship in one region while another region has tons of those people without systems (or maybe just none of YOUR system). It is an interesting "problem" to have.
has anyone tried to hook up a ps4 using a dvi to hdmi cable? i tried to do that with my old tv in my bedroom and playing games worked fine, but blu ray defaulted to 480p? any way to fix this? I guess i'll just have to hook the ps3 back up
Y'all stop worrying about how many shipments Sony sold and how much money they're gonna make and help me optimize my audio.
what up guys, for those who haven't found a ps4 yet.....sony says they are doing their best to have more shipped to retailers before xmas.
