Games

The best thing about this gen so far is the rise of handheld PCs, like the Steam Deck and ROG Ally. I mostly play on the Deck nowadays, while the PS5 gathers dust.

My steamdeck makes me feel like I've gone 3rd party. It's affordable and can run about 90 percent of releases. Plus indies and it's not locked down by anything.

I think this is actually a good thing. In a perfect world exclusives wouldn't exist and you would buy things based on their own merits. Having to buy something you don't want because you fear missing out on a game is a horrible experience. In fact I stopped caring because I got so tired of possibly missing out on a game. It has worked out great for me this generation.

I think this is by far the worst generation for gaming.

Obviously from a technical standpoint, it's great. Fast loading times, better performance, graphical prowess. But in terms of the quality of the games, it's dire. I honestly don't understand why I was in such a rush to buy a PS5, because most of the games I've enjoyed have had PS4 versions, so whilst I may have experienced that better performance and graphics etc, I didn't really need to buy a PS5.

The reason is PC part prices. If you want an affordable in on modern gaming, you get a PS5 or Xbox. Yeah, you can get used parts, change settings, upsampling, upgrade down the line. But tell that to the person who just wants to buy a machine that lets them play games, hard to convince people to likely go through a bigger hassle, pay more, and have to assemble, set it up, and manage it themselves. I own a gaming PC and an OLED Switch, and if a friend asked me, I‘d tell them to just get a PS5. I would‘ve said something different five years ago.

95% of the games I play are on pc. With mods. Faster load screens. Better debugging by the community.

The 5% of games I don't get to play "new" will inevitably be developed for pc - by the companies themselves or some smart fan.

I figure consoles have another 25 years max before they are totally obsolete tech.

I disagree with not owning one.

If you have a 4k 120hz, VRR tv, then you really are missing out when playing games.

And the speed of the PS5 loading, along with Xbox series quick resume features, make gaming feel much more instant like it used to in the snes days.

As someone who skipped the last generation... I think this one is way better.... Because it's fully backwards compatible. Since I got a PS5 I've gone back and played many games I missed. Meanwhile the only game for the PS5 I play is GT7. And since I've loved every GT game, it was worth it for me. I expect that GTA 6 will be the next PS5 game I actually get.

PC has always been better anyway

I liked the price point of the PS5 vs getting a solid gaming PC.

Returnal is one of my favorite games of the last few years.

Demon's Souls is a delight for the eyes, as well. And I loved being able to replay such a classic PS3 game, even if Bluepoint modified the art direction from the original in certain ways.

FF16 was incredible, I don't care if they trimmed down the jrpg elements

Sony seems content sending many of its exclusives over to PC after a few years, which I'm grateful for. So if you've got a PC I wouldn't see a huge need for a PS5.

You're right in that exclusives are becoming less and less but I still think it's worth getting a PS5.

If you have the wallet for it I think the perfect setup is owning a switch for party games and Nintendo exclusives, a PS5 for Sony exclusives/general couch gaming and as your media machine, and a PC for all the rest.

Ps5 definitely has some great exclusives that imo make the system worth it, not to mention the graphical upgrades and how quick it is compared to a ps4.
-Ghost of Tsushima is a beautiful game, with a great story and gameplay, performs so much better on PS5 -Spiderman 2 -God of war Ragnarok -Horizon zero dawn -Gran Turismo

I use my PS5 for most of my games over my gaming PC, just more comfortable for me. Also I still like that you can get lucky if you go to a GameStop and find used physical copies of expansive games at a discount.

I have also always recommended owning an Xbox/PlayStation as a media device as well. Sound and image quality usually surpass your smaller basic steaming devices or built in smart TVs. Compared to my ps5, my ps4 crawls through the menus and loading screens. One of those things that you won't notice until you upgrade.

Having said all that, I wouldn't get the "pro" model, unless you have the cash and want to game in like 8k or some bs

PS5 is nice if you can't afford a PC capable of 4K or Ray Tracing for the games that are on every system ($500 for a machine capable of high fidelity gaming is a good value; couldn't build a PC for that price with the same capabilities atm).

It might be more worthwhile if the exclusives for it weren't able to be counted on 1 hand. There's very little to warrant buying a whole system if you're only interested in the exclusives.

My partner and I got a PS5 when they became available and only played a couple of games on it. It mostly collects dust now. I'd attribute a lot to PlayStation's games becoming more available on PC.

For what it’s worth I love the ps5. The ps5 controller absolutely reinvigorated my love of gaming. I know some pc games are getting the adaptive triggers but I do not think it compares.

PS4 and Xbone was the first generation I skipped. I always waited to see what console I was going to get first but then that whole gen just came and went before I knew it. I kind of wanted a switch this gen but I could never justify it to myself.

I haven't seen the point in anything but PC ever since the PS4 came out. You get worse hardware and less games.

I'm really enjoying my Xbox Series X with a Gamepass subscription. I've played a much wider variety of games than I normally would have.

You're right though, the jump between generations is getting less and less noticeable. N64 to Gamecube was like night and day.

PS2 was good, PS3 was skippable. Xbox 360 was good, Xbox One was skippable. Can you guess when I got a PC? Lol. The Switch was the perfect console to pair with the PC in my opinion, but then I got a Deck...... So, no, no reason to get any of the new consoles unless you just absolutely need to play the new Spider-Man game right now.

PS5 and a Steam Deck aren't massively different in price. Building a PC can be relatively the same price during sales depending on your expectation. And then the games on PC are so much more often cheaper, that it saves a lot of money on that front.

Over the last few years, I have bought countless games for Steam at a few bucks or less that were $20+ on PS.

And that's not even getting into how garbage Sony customer service has been for over a decade when you need them.

I might regret wasting money on a PS5. I play Steam Link or Steam Deck more than anything today, and this is likely my last console Gen. Steam also has controller configuration settings that make playing older games so much nicer. Some games I never thought I'd comfortably play with a controller can be modernized very well with enough tinkering.

The Nintendo Switch is an appallingly slow and clunky piece of handheld. Nintendo hardware is slow and their UI, eshop, and general software designs suck. They are immensely restrictive about game saves, ownership, and transferring things to new systems, and their stuff is needlessly pricey.

I don't even bother with Xbox. PC for that.

I don't think I've played anything exclusive to the PS5. Not worth buying in my opinion.

I have played stuff exclusive to the switch, I mostly dislike it though. I'm not sure why, I think it's that they don't compete because they have us with their catalogue and I dislike their business practices, selling gimmicks and vaulting content. Especially given most of the switch games are port of Wiiu games then it probably is skippable.

I'd agree, should have skipped.

I don't have a current console gen (if you discard the Nintendo Switch) but I don't want to skip it, I want a PS5 but granted I am not sure I'd get it if it wasn't retro compatible with the huge backlog of PS4 games that I have... Even the Xbox with the game pass is feasible to me (something impossible to think for me, I have always been a Sony and Nintendo user).

I play some Xbox SEX but I bought a PS5 on a whim when I had a (then-)rare chance in 2022, and it's still unopened in my closet.

I just assumed it's because I'm busy and wished I had more time. But now that you mention it, not a lot of must-play games. Even Elden Ring on Xbox, I could've played on PC just fine.

When the new FF7 remaster episode comes out I'll probably set it up then.

Steam Deck is the MVP of this Gen, for sure.

I'm waiting to see the switch successor. I have used mines like a lot. That, and my Retroid Pocket.

Let's put it this way. Split screen was a mostly console exclusive feature before some genius decided to kill it off. Locking multiplayer behind a pay wall at some point was also the stupidest idea I've ever seen.

Most new titles for consoles are exactly as enjoyable on PC. The experience is almost identical. Companies prefer it this way too.

They can make a nice exclusive and release it for PC 2 years later to reap double the profit.

The above has me thinking that consoles are becoming a niche. I'd just get a steam deck for portable gaming and a play pass for the exclusives not yet available on PC.

I think as someone who enjoys being in the zeitgeist of gaming. The switch is still kind of non debatable. It has way too many varied and strong first parties. While Sony doesn't have as many. Most of their game release within the GotY range currently so also worth it.

If you are a normal gamer. You are correct in some way. Realistically I may recommend Xbox in favour basically only for gamepass. It's cheaper than a PC post graphics card gouge and is less scary to newcomers. Their gamepass is also slightly better.

I think if console is your way of gaming then upgrading to a PS4 or XBSX is alright.

Personally I only bought an XSS because it was relatively cheap last year (plus Gamepass with the £1 upgrade offer) but I'm done with future consoles now. PC gaming doesn't have to expensive so that's the way forward for myself.