The Computer/Console Gaming Thread

[1AZRAEL1]

I despise most online gaming as it is, so I won't be getting that. I want split screen multiplayer again like the good old days. Rumours are Halo will be going back to that which would be great.

The internet speeds we have are rubbish. It won't kill consoles.

[Autocon]

Youd think split screen would make a come back as tv screens have become bigger. What would be cool is to link up multiple tvs for split tvs!

[1AZRAEL1]

We used to play LAN games with multiple tv's and consoles linked up. Ah memories.

[SharkyMcShark]

The main issue with it will be if Google Stadia (or similar competing game streaming services) starts buying exclusive rights to games, similar to what Epic is doing now.

[DELTAprime]

EB Games parent company Gamestop made a $673 million loss this financial year. I hope we don't see EB Games stores closing because that would leave me without a store locally to preorder my consoles from as I don't have a JB Hifi.

https://www.techspot.com/news/79486-...sses-2018.html

[1AZRAEL1]

I would hope not. If EB sales here are still really good, they wouldn't see them closing them up.

[SharkyMcShark]

I think they'll be substantially gone within 5 years.

From a business perspective they're in a really odd and precarious position.

A substantial amount of their revenue is from second hand console games. Publishers are always looking for ways to divert consumers away from second hand games and consoles, and are increasingly favouring the model that PC games have now where a game digitally sold and tied to a specific online account (preventing a second hand sale).

Consoles themselves, however, are physical goods and need a storefront presence. All of this has led to a war of attrition between EB/Gamestop and the games industry where on the one hand the industry still relies on storefronts to sell the consoles on which their games are played, but on the other hand is trying to do everything to undercut one of the main sources of profit of the storefronts.

As far as blocking second hand sales goes, first publishers tried all those pack in codes for in game content. The content you'd unlock with the codes would tie to your account, not to the copy of the game itself, and the codes weren't reusable. Then publishers decided that they'd push that model to pack an "ONLINE PASS" with their games. The Online Pass was usually just the game's usual online mode, but again tied to a one time use code that players had to purchase if it wasn't packed into the box. If you bought a second hand copy of FIFA and wanted to play online you'd need to fork $20 over to EA. Now more and more console games are just being sold digitally.

[DELTAprime]

I wonder how Zing is going for them? My local EB store was changed into an EB/Zing store a couple of years back. The Zing section started as a single row of shelves at the front of the store. Now it's at least a third of what is a rather large EB store. The EB/Zing store up in Rockhampton is over 50% Zing.

This doesn't necessarily mean Zing is making money for them, but it would appear to be doing better than game sales.

If my local EB turned into a Zing store with an EB section I'd be fine with that.

[SharkyMcShark]

XCOM 2 Iron Man mode.

I've not felt this much stress in a singleplayer game in a long time, but in a great way.

[DELTAprime]

I've been playing Astroneer. It's a Minecraft like game where you start on an alien planet and gather resources to 3D print bigger and better things till you get to other planets and gather even better resources.

I really like it. Not at all bad for a mere $30.