Christ, that's impressive. The game wouldn't be possible a few years ago, what unbelievable use of multiple sources of technology within MS. Azure, Bing, Hololens, shelved experiments etc. The section about MS photoshynth algorithm is fascinating. I'm just blown away at Asobos brilliance in leveraging tech outside of gaming to pull this off.
"As for Neumann, he believes the version of Flight the world will see on Tuesday is just the beginning.
"We can spin up as many virtual machines as we want," he said with no small bit of pride. "If we want to have a million-animal caribou herd where every caribou is running its own AI, we can do that. The boundary of the local machine is broken. That is no longer a barrier for us to do things. Now it really just comes down to, 'What do you want to simulate?' We dream about these things a lot. Now, the dream is no longer some vapor that goes away. It is all totally possible."
"As for Neumann, he believes the version of Flight the world will see on Tuesday is just the beginning.
"We can spin up as many virtual machines as we want," he said with no small bit of pride. "If we want to have a million-animal caribou herd where every caribou is running its own AI, we can do that. The boundary of the local machine is broken. That is no longer a barrier for us to do things. Now it really just comes down to, 'What do you want to simulate?' We dream about these things a lot. Now, the dream is no longer some vapor that goes away. It is all totally possible."
To me it's facinating how microsoft seems to have a good strategy going forward to push tech. And that got me really exciting for the coming years. With the smaller teams output of games, that are integrating and playing around with what tech can do for games. They can much faster iterate in the smaller scale, add value to gamepass and with not being AAA Games have more freedom with new ideas.
The passionate teams seems to test new waters in these, validate tech and this way possibly make it available for the bigger games in the future. So not only comes fun games out of these small teams like Bleeding Edge, Minecraft Dungeons or Grounded. I can see they keep pushing the bigger releases to more unique expieriences, with the knowledge these small teams generate. Training In-Game Agents with Reinforcement Learning
I love what MS and Asobo did with Flight Sim and i think it's a glimpse of what is to come from Xbox Game Studios in the future.
But it does. Unless PS5 is coming at $600+ (which almost NO ONE talking about the brilliance of PS5 DE at $100 cheaper will even entertain), then Sony is taking a loss on PS5, especially now. Same for Xbox. If they then eliminate a $20-30 part and cut $100 from the price, then every DE is taking an EVEN HEAVIER loss. So, I'll reiterate. If PS5 comes in high enough (maybe with a cheap peripheral) to turn a profit on the console, ONLY THEN could I see DE taking $100 off the price.
Now consider this, if we're looking at a $500 DE, who's going to buy that console at launch? Is it going to be the person who's been buying used games? No. Is it the person who buys COD and a sports game every year? No. Is it going to be the ResetERA super whale - who also buys everything digital? Well.. No. The idea of the "better digital customer" is based around the idea of converting these less good customers wholesale. Not just their physical vs digital buying habits, but their overall buying habits. And yet, these are exactly the people who are least likely to do that. COD + Sports game isn't enough to make up $100 over the generation. Owner of <10 used games all gen isn't going to make up $100. Most super whales are probably ALREADY mostly digital (and if not, aren't going to be dissuaded by $100.
Is there a case? Sure. It's just not very strong IMO. Sony might be making a gamble that gaming as a segment is going to grow all up - especially at the lower end, and they're trying to bring more people into the tent. But if so, then they're taking huge losses to make that bet on people who normally don't buy consoles or don't jump in until several years in.
(Continued from inside) Xbox IS making that gamble (and taking a ton of shit for it on this forum). But Xbox prepared differently. You can see Xbox is aggressively cutting price everywhere they can on Series S and to a lesser degree on Series X. Every move is designed to save a few dollars here and there, while still getting the most important parts as far as they can. Dropping Optical, not redesigning the controller significantly, saving a bit on RAM, not going for the most advanced SSD they could conceive, etc. MS had ALWAYS planned to rein in price. That's why they're going to be able to cut price significantly on Series S. But hey, even then, we might still be looking at very expensive consoles.
I think the first part of your statement is more interesting in the context of Xbox. Xbox is leading the charge for the digital future. Not because they've been killing off physical (somewhat the opposite after the One launch), but because they've been presenting a more attractive alternatives with Game Pass, Play Anywhere, Back Compat (though this will work physical too), etc. At the end of the day, I think the flaw with expecting Sony to change spending habits with an extra $50 (on top of the expected $50) is that Sony would have to be changing not just the spending habits of some users - but the wholesale users overall. MS is overtly trying to do that and they have a strategy that revolves around that. Who will be successful? Who knows.
That's an interesting read on the different strategies, I see the Series S as a cheaper option because Xbox knew they were breaking the bank with XSX and had to make something somewhat affordable. There do seem to be a few more money saving decisions on XSX even though it's extremely capable, most powerful, etc. On that note, has there been images shown of all of the PS5 and is there optical?
Aren't accessories usually sold for huge profit? It feels like a compatibility/design decision to me but who knows. Whenever MS has talked about controller R&D in the past, the cost in those articles has always been something ridiculous so keeping it simple would definitely save some money.
If we go by this logic the PS would be the Sad Dad Misery Simulator Box :D
I'm actually super happy that Xbox has such a diverse portfolio. I think that smaller games like Playstation's Concrete Genie or Tearaway make the lineup special.
I truly wish MS believed in FS enough to give it more attention a branded flight stick and make it an official launch title for the Series X.
Also, with the EA Play rumors (if those are still relevant) what are the chances MS can bank a next gen patch for ME1 since that game was mostly exclusive to Xbox for a long time.
Forza Horizon 5 should be in Japan, I can't see in other country. If there are multiple cities/countries, then I would like something as Midnight Club 2 (LA, Paris, Tokyo), but here in FH, it would be LA, Italy (sry dont remember the city) and Tokyo.
The irony is that if Battletoads and Tell Me Why review well also, Xbox Games Studios will have had a very impressive year in terms of quality of releases and the diversity in line-up, even without Halo Infinite.
The days of Xbox being perceived as being the shooter box are long over now.
Most of gaming community forget that MS is investing a lot of new games. I wouldn't be surprised if they get higher scores and more popularity. Without wanting to make an offense, but I had PS4 and every exclusive they have feels like Netflix movies, all the same.
ok, this is the first media from flight sim that i am intimately familiar with, goat rock beach and the russian river in sonoma co CA. i grew up near here and frequently visit this exact spot when seeing family. i can identify the road we take down, the parking lot, and the dune we have to climb to access the beach. and of course, for goonies fans, goat rock itself. this is incredible.
ok, this is the first media from flight sim that i am intimately familiar with, goat rock beach and the russian river in sonoma co CA. i grew up near here and frequently visit this exact spot when seeing family. i can identify the road we take down, the parking lot, and the dune we have to climb to access the beach. and of course, for goonies fans, goat rock itself. this is incredible.
ok, this is the first media from flight sim that i am intimately familiar with, goat rock beach and the russian river in sonoma co CA. i grew up near here and frequently visit this exact spot when seeing family. i can identify the road we take down, the parking lot, and the dune we have to climb to access the beach. and of course, for goonies fans, goat rock itself. this is incredible.
That is a really nice quality of life feature, but I guess that will be limited to free apps so no one takes advantage of that to share accounts for games.
I personally don't think so, because of the XSS. Then again, I think that the $600 tag on the XSX is well worth it money and hardware wise. Its an amazing machine with great hardware and a beautiful beautiful design. I have no problems with the price tag, nor I would have it with the PS5 having the same price. I do think that Sony has to price their console in at least $500. The backlash would be too big. I wouldn't have a problem, but the vast majority will.
ok, this is the first media from flight sim that i am intimately familiar with, goat rock beach and the russian river in sonoma co CA. i grew up near here and frequently visit this exact spot when seeing family. i can identify the road we take down, the parking lot, and the dune we have to climb to access the beach. and of course, for goonies fans, goat rock itself. this is incredible.
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