Playstation 4 Vs Xbox One: Which Shares Better?

itwbennett writes "One of the new features that both Sony and Microsoft touted for their next-gen gaming consoles was easy sharing of gameplay videos. Peter Smith has put sharing to the test on both consoles, and (spoiler alert), found that both have plenty of room for improvement. There are pros and cons to each, but ultimately, which console does sharing best comes down to personal preference: 'I really hate that the Playstation 4 is limited to sharing on Facebook and I really like that the Xbox One saves to my Skydrive,' says Smith. 'But I hate having to wait for that upload to happen before I can go back to gaming.'"

Comments

Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who gives a fuck, which shares better?

The important question is; which is a better game play platform and which has the best games?

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who gives a fuck, which shares better?

The important question is; which is a better game play platform and which has the best games?

Agreed. I use these things to play games, not to boats my uber awesomness in gameplay to the world. Who cares?

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[Mashiki]

The important question is; which is a better game play platform and which has the best games?

That's obvious, PC. All hail the Gaben.

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[Anonymous Coward]

HA HA HA. Best games? It's all about Hulu while streaming Angry Birds that your friends stop you playing so they can show you "just this one thing."

*Draws on a cigar*

Son, if people wanted to play a console for games, they wouldn't have bought a system that limits what games you are allowed to play. Everyone knows it's about chatting with friends over a webcam.

Now you'll excuse me while I go swim in all this money those suckers gave me.

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[Anonymous Coward]

I couldn't agree more. I don't want a game console to anything else than play games. Period. To me, when xbox started the 'entertainment' features with HULU and Netflix, it seemed most of my friends list was watching some movie. Nobody is going to stop a movie to play a game. So at that point xbox went from being a game console to another tivo. And six seats? wow who wants to peer into that tiny screen?

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[elmer at web-axis]

Your so not 2.0... the most important thing of new tech is how you can brag to others that you have it. - Sent from the NEW iPhone 4000

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[master_kaos]

I remember when the previous gen released all my friends were extremely excited about picking up the xbox 360. This time around none of us actually gives a fuck. We might/probably pick one or the other once a few good games come out (maybe late next year) but definitely in no rush. It seems they are really pushing all this other shit when all I want are good fucking games. But neither console has even one game that is close to appealing...

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[SJHillman]

SPOILERS: The Slashdot demographic is a bit off center of the XBox/PS4's main target demographic. (In other words, MS and Sony don't give a fuck what you use it for)

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[Fwipp]

Well, you are all 8 years older now. Age tends to make toys a little less exciting.

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[barlevg]

Agreed. If you really care about sharing gameplay videos, you're probably going to invest in a HD PVR so you can control your own content, edit/annotate/narrate and upload wherever you want.

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[MightyMartian]

Considering how locked down both systems are, I'd say they care very much what you use it for.

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[master_kaos]

I was going to mention that, but we sitll play quite a few video games, and I still do get excited about other "toys", but admittedly, not as much as 8 years ago

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[SJHillman]

I suppose it would be more accurate to say they don't give a fuck what you (a Slashdot user, typically separate from their main demographic) *want* to use it for.

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[BradMajors]

The important question is; which is a better game play platform and which has the best games?

Not to me. I never play any games on my PlayStation.

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[formfeed]

the most important thing of new tech is how you can brag to others that you have it. [...]

To be part of the inside club, you have to pronounce it correctly.
Hint: It is spelled X-Box, but pronounced Christbox.

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[PopeRatzo]

Considering the renewed attacks on gaming videos using takedown notices, I'm not sure it matters which one "shares better".

If it doesn't create a revenue stream in a direct way, Sony and Microsoft don't care if you have any particular feature.

Remember, these are corporations. They would throw a baby off a bridge for a dollar.

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[bondsbw]

The important question is; which is a better game play platform and which has the best games?

To some. To others, the important question is which is a better entertainment device.

PS4 has the edge in gaming and the XB1 has the edge in home entertainment. Both are decent at both roles and much better than their predecessors.

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[Anonymous Coward]

Bells, motherfucker! Do you jingle them?

Re: Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[loufoque]

Video games are a serious entertainment medium, certainly more interesting than some others like movies. They're not for kids.

Re: Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[stealth_finger]

What's next gen? Why having all that while skyping your buddy in australia, watching the latest greatest sporting extragaganza AND the must watch show of the season ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!!!!! Not forgetting having kinect 'read' and send the anonymous (yeah, right) info to every corporation, spy agency and advertiser AT THE SAME TIME.

Pfft, if you ask me it's next next gen, almost a third next.

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[stealth_finger]

Wii U.

lulz

Re: Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[Goose In Orbit]

You missed being sucked off by a hyper-realistic solid hologram of ...

Re: Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[Goose In Orbit]

... <insert crush name here>

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[Goose In Orbit]

By "worthwhile" do you mean "rehashes of old games" or "actually original"?

Re: Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[stealth_finger]

That would push it into next gen times ten.

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[Lord Lemur]

I believe the preferred vernacular is that they would monetize the gravity-influenced baby-bridge altitude inversion if the ROI made sense.

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[CronoCloud]

No, it's obviously consoles. PC gamers don't actually play games, they just play benchmarks for bragging points on their e-peens. Besides, after spending so much on their hardware they don't have money for games, that's why PC gamers in Europe and Asia are such pirates, and why PC GAmers in America are the "Only buy $5.00 games at steam sales" sorts of guys.

And if they do play a game it's just "one" game that they play over and over and over to the exclusion of everything else. Whether it be Starcraft, League of Legends or just one map in Counter Strike... they're not "gamers" they're the electronic gamer equivalent of the guys who play touch football/basketball while insulting the other players with homophobic comments every weekend.

Re: Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[NekSnappa]

Natalie Portman covered in grits.

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[Smauler]

My Steam library is currently 152 games, a lot of those having been bought full price... EU4 was the last. You're wrong, on every one of your comments.

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[GreatDrok]

"The important question is; which is a better game play platform and which has the best games?"

Steam?

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[jellomizer]

Exactly that sharing feature is one of those big touted however, I really don't care type of feature.

Now I see two big problems with both the PS 4 and XBox One.

Problem 1: Subscription for more services. Yes it isn't too much, however I really don't want want an other bill to pay for, and if times get tough, games will be the first to go. the PS 4 is a bit better then XBox One is. At least I can still watch Netflix without paying Sony extra fees.

Problem 2: Family Games. I would like to see more games fit for the entire family that they can play together. Now we don't need blood and gore to make a game interesting, the Wii U is better with this, however it really sucks as a console. Why can't I have a family multi-player game that doesn't look like I am in Baby Land.

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[CronoCloud]

You're wrong, on every one of your comments.

I'm wrong...in regards to YOU, that doesn't mean that there aren't Filthy PC Gamer Bourgeoisie that fulfill the stereotypes I mentioned.

You may buy games at full price, but many of the Filthy Gabe Newell Worshipping PC Gamer Bourgeoisie here on Slashdot brag of paying no more than $5 per game... and then wonder why the PC version of cross-platform games is an afterthought.

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[Smauler]

I've not met many of the "Filthy Gabe Newell Worshipping PC Gamer Bourgeoisie" here on Slashdot. The typical stereotype is open source, Linux and anti DRM. For most of Steam's existence, it's been the antithesis of all three of these things.

The reason lots of people are supporting Steam here, as I see it (and quite a lot are, despite the DRM), is that locking down hardware is bad for the consumer, always. Paying full price for the games is not the issue.

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[CronoCloud]

For most of Steam's existence, it's been the antithesis of all three of these things.

Oh I agree on that.

The reason lots of people are supporting Steam here, as I see it (and quite a lot are, despite the DRM), is that locking down hardware is bad for the consumer, always.

Well I think the "argument" comes down to either:

1. Getting open hardware with more visible (and annoying) DRM, aka the PC

2. Getting locked down hardware with transparent to the user DRM, that you don't even notice. AKA a console.

I prefer 2 to 1, especially since I don't like Windows. Yes, that means my computer runs Linux but I game on the PS3/PS4.

  Yes, there's Valve's future offerings...but that IMHO is going nowhere because:

1. It requires a Windows machine for some games, especially if you supposedly get the low end version.

2. Stupid controller, Any PS2/PS3 user worth their dual shock knows that "hybrid" dual-shock + mouse (or Move Navigation controller + Mouse) control works VERY well for those games that need more accurate pointing and is a proven solution that is known to work.

3. Lack of games... you think Windows devs are just going to jump on the Linux bandwagon? What will probably happen is that SteamOS will get some native indies, a few valve provided games and you'll be expected to stream everything else from a Windows machine.

4. I already have a 'nix based console, two actually. If developers want to develop for a 'nix based/derived console, they can already do so and have been doing so since 2006. I'm talking about the PS3 and PS4.

Paying full price for the games is not the issue.

Considering the comments PC gamers make about $60 games here...especially the Euro-gamers...I think in some cases it IS about price.

Re:Who Gives a Fuck, Which Shares Better?

[fluffythdestroy]

WHAT ?? xbox one and PS4 plays game ? Don't bullshit slashdot'ers man. It's not nice

First WGASA?

[Anonymous Coward]

So now that the current generation can't make the same technological jump that the previous one did (owing to the fact that it'd probably bankrupt them this time round), the "important" stuff is secondary done-in-software fluff like sharing?

Yeah, I know social media is where it's at, but this is depressing...

Neither

[Anonymous Coward]

A PC, Twitch, and Open Broadcaster.

More importantly

[symbolset]

Which one seats six comfortably? XBox.

Re:More importantly

[hairyfeet]

Uhhh..somebody that likes having actual control of their files instead of handing everything over to FB maybe?

As for TFA the answer is....they BOTH SUCK, you should buy a PC instead. You can get a damned nice PC cheaper than ever, controllers? hundreds to pick from. Games? There is easily a dozen different places you can buy them and thanks to actual competition (a free market instead of a monopoly? What a concept!) prices have never been better and you can find sales all the time.

Lets face it folks,even if you are a console fan the first year of a new console? Sucks. It takes them awhile to really get the hang of coding for a new system and just because these are X86 isn't gonna change that. So for the first 6-12 months the titles are gonna be rushed, buggy, and when folks look back on the top titles of that system it ain't the launch titles that get mentioned. So grab yourself a cheap AMD quad or hexacore along with one of those nice cheap HD77xx cards, slap on the OS of your choice and get your game on. Hell don't want to build one? Your friendly neighborhood fixit shop guys like me are more than happy to put your kits together. So go grab one of those quad kits or Hexacores, slap in a card and get to gaming!

Re:More importantly

[rr_at_slashdot]

somebody that likes having actual control of their files instead of handing everything over to FB

This applies to nobody using that "feature". The only target for "sharing what I played" is children/teenagers who want their classmates to see how "great" they are. Facebook is the obvious solution.

Re:More importantly

[Vitriol Angst]

The more I hear about PS 4 and xBox One -- the more I realize my next gaming platform is going to be a computer.

Every other day I have to fix the finicky networking on the xBox, and every month verify that it's "really me".

Of course every week now I've got a new blog to quit using because they want me to verify by FaceBook. I hate trolls as much as the next person, but I'd rather anonymous jerks than everyone installing that trojan horse POS, that has nothing better to do than find new ways to insert itself into your life. And all Microsoft and Sony can think of instead of adding value - is new ways to insert themselves in the same orifices that FaceBook has already occupied.

Re:More importantly

[stealth_finger]

I know the thing is big but no way six people can sit on it?

Re:More importantly

[tlhIngan]

As for TFA the answer is....they BOTH SUCK, you should buy a PC instead. You can get a damned nice PC cheaper than ever, controllers? hundreds to pick from. Games? There is easily a dozen different places you can buy them and thanks to actual competition (a free market instead of a monopoly? What a concept!) prices have never been better and you can find sales all the time.

Cost? Lots of PC games cost $60. Oh look, same as console games! (This only happened the past couple of years).

And games? Well, if you want Minecraft and the like, yeah. But GTA 5? Spring 2014. Perhaps if you were a shooter fan, BF4, yes.

The problem with the PC is that piracy has killed a lot of the lucrativeness of it. So the PC version is "just a port" because the devs are really only looking to recoup their porting investment when 9 out of every 10 copies played is pirated.

That's why people have gone console - the money's better there. The only ones left on the PC are the indies, and while we can argue all day which is better (90% of it is crap, but that still leaves a ton of good indie games).

It's why this round of the console wars is not going to be defined by AAA games (they already won that - the PC ports are just a formality), but by which company offers a better indie developer policy - they've been accustomed to the Apple model of doing things and are anxious to continue. (They'd love the Android model, but they are realists and really do know what happens when a crap release comes out and bombs their ratings).

Hell, if "consolification" wasn't important, why are there things like Ouya, and why has Valve started looking at consoles? Valve is traditionally a PC developer first, own the PC "app store" market (which, mind you, isn't really any better than Microsoft or Sony's - it's just as hard to get in, the only benefit is updates are trivially easy. Apple still holds the crown for walled gardens, while Steam is probably close behind).

Re:More importantly

[CronoCloud]

Also did they solve that annoying update thing.

They solved that quite some time ago with the PS3...at least if you have PSN+. With the PS4 it's all backgrounded.

I turn my console on about once a month. Every time... "we want to update this if you want to play your games *at all*"

Use it more often.

Oh look my PC will update itself and still let me play.

Your PC might, but the games that need updating won't...you'll have to wait till the update finishes....just like you do on consoles. So you'll be reading Slashdot while Pando-whatever updates your MMO client.

Re:More importantly

[hairyfeet]

Look at the AMD quads and hexas, if you want the biggest bang for the buck ATM they are an incredible value. Go look on Tiger and you can get a barebones starting at just $189 and I've built a few of those and I can tell ya....its a monster. You pair that with a nice HD77xx or HD78xx? You got a system that games like mad, does transcoding, editing, hell anything you want. you really can't beat the price either.

As far as FB? make you a bullshit FB account, pretty much all you can do anymore if you want to actually use forums. Sites are getting so fucking LAZY they'd rather just let FB do the work and sadly I wouldn't be surprised if there are plenty asking for this, as I have met several customers that live on garbage like FB and tweeting twits for shits. So make up an account, not like there aren't a bazillion browsers out there, use one for your forum usage and fake FB only. If you need a suggestion? Comodo Icedragon or Dragon, Pale Moon, Waterfox. Then if a forum asks for FB? Fire up your forum browser and give them your FB that says you are Leeroy Hungfarlow and keep on trucking.

Re:More importantly

[noh8rz10]

draw a circle of people who don't like FB. now draw a circle of people who like skydrive. who is in the overlapping area? people who work at MS.

Re:More importantly

[symbolset]

In it.

Re:More importantly

[hairyfeet]

Not if you use Steam, my games are updated in the background, it even updates my mods when a new version comes out, couldn't be simpler.

It doesn't change the fact that the first year of a console's life is shit. Sorry i didn't think to save the link but there was an article just the other day showing that the best games for a system? Usually come late year 2 and early year 3. Just because its X86 isn't gonna change that as its still using a funky shared memory model and like with every launch its more about getting the game on the shelf ASAP and not how good it is so even if you like consoles? the smart money will sit it out for a good 8 months. This gives devs time to learn the system and for the manufacturers to get the bugs out.

Re:More importantly

[Reapy]

I almost wonder if a PC ends up being cheaper in the long run. You can get a lot of games on sale for really cheap now, while buying for a console is still going to run you 60 dollars, even if the game is old, the price will hardly drop, while you can grab best of the year games at the end of the year for 7 - 15 dollars on the PC. If you couple this with free to play games that are done well where you are having fun without spending any extra in them, you have way, way more gaming available to you for way less.

Also don't get me started on mod availability for added gameplay length, and not having to pay more than your ISP costs to play the game online, and generally you can run your own servers for things as well.

I could see easily spending 1500 on games over the year for the 360, while being able to get about the same ~200 on the PC just a bit later after their release. After a year or two you probably have made up the cost of a 1500 gaming PC on the game prices alone.

Still, the ease of a console is there. The other day I was trying to play lego marvel with my son on a HTPC I had set up, which granted has onboard video, but I had to drop the graphics and had some issues doing that as the framerate tanked when we hit the open city level for the first time. I have little time with him between their bedtime and me coming home for work, and I thought I had it all set up ahead of time, but that was based on smaller levels early in the game. So about 45 minutes into the game crashing and doing some sort of slow 'rebuilding shaders' and hanging on menus for 15 minutes at a time, we got it going, but a part of me was thinking I should have gotten it on the 360 so it was pre calibrated and tweaked to work immediately.

Either way, going to try to skip the consoles this time around if I can, though I have a feeling as my son's get older they will probably 'need' to get on xbox live or the sony thing to play with their friends.

Re:More importantly

[CronoCloud]

It doesn't change the fact that the first year of a console's life is shit.

For game releases I would agree, mostly, but early model hardware hasn't been affected by any cost-reduction measures, a la removal of the link and expansion ports in the PSone, the lack of a hard drive bay in the PS2 slim, and the various things that Slim and Super-slim PS3's don't have that the Deluxe Fat PS3's do, in the name of getting the cost down.

Re:More importantly

[Gingernads]

...while I could see easily spending 1500 on games over the year for the 360, while being able to get about the same ~200 on the PC just a bit later after their release.

If you are spending 1500 a year (£ or $), you aren't playing games, you are just buying them.

How times have changed

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's me thinking "filesharing on a game console?" and then it's about posting your gaming "achievements" on a "social network". To me, gaming with friends means getting together with friends and playing games. Now get off my LAN.

PS4 is better for Sharing Your Drunk, Naked Wife

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Forget about sharing gaming videos.

What really matters is which one is better for sharing video of your drunk naked wife.

Re:Twitch

[donaldm]

I can share easily with the PS4 on twitch, all I need.

Well that proves the article wrong in stating you can only share to Facebook. In fact you can share to an "Online Service" see here although at the moment (it is coming) you can't upload to Youtube. Still I do agree with the first poster that games are more important and for those who need to share they have to realize that this feature is only available if the game actually permits it.

In the interim I will stick with my PS3 since I am not interested in the initial games for the PS4. Of course later on that will change.

Back In The Day As Of '03

[Anonymous Coward]

Sony had a very intriguing product, PSX.

PSX had lots of "goods" for developers; at a little 'developer studio' along a backstreet in Shinjuku I saw and talked about using PSX with Flash (MX) and other code. And I saw lots of very awesome video renders.

Sony market PSX under Sony Corporation, not Sony Computer Entertainment! [see Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSX_(video_game_console)]

That was then. Sad.

Microsoft Xbox One, to me from what I read --- been able to read or find what I was not supposed to be able to read, looks on spec a lot like PSX and a little better!

Perhaps, this time around, PSX will win.

Spoiler alert: the reviewer is an idiot

[MikeBabcock]

To quote, from the PS4 section: "When you tap the button your game is paused and the Share screen opens. Here you'll have 3 options: "Upload video clip," "Upload screenshot," and "Broadcast gameplay." The latter starts Twitch streaming, which the Xbox One doesn't yet support, so I won't cover it today."

So there's a feature on the PS4 to allow a form of sharing the XBOne doesn't have yet, so its not included in the line-up? How's that a fair comparison? People who want to share to Twitch should surely know that the PS4 already lets them do that *right now* and that should be included in the comparison, should it not?

Re:Spoiler alert: the reviewer is an idiot

[Anonymous Coward]

The narrative is that they're both pretty much equivalent choices. Never mind the Xbox One's higher price tag (a good Kinect title is bound to come out some day!) or its much weaker specs (here they mention that no one can even see 1080p anyways. Or even better, a comparison to the PS3's shining later in its life despite its weaker GPU, despite that being because the PS3 and 360 had completely different architectures, while the PS4 and XBOne are extremely similar)

Re:Spoiler alert: the reviewer is an idiot

[MikeBabcock]

Five insightfuls, an overrated and two trolls ... possibly my most controversial opinion ever so far, gotta love gaming discussions.

Re:Slashdot Beta been forced on some users

[Anonymous Coward]

You're not alone. This beta site is much, much worse than any of the previous redesigns that have been forced upon us over the years. While they made the site less-enjoyable and harder to use, they at least maintained some shred of what makes Slashdot worth visiting. The beta site loses all of it. It is by far the worst redesign I have seen of any website, ever.

Indeed, we all must speak up about this whenever and wherever we can. I don't think anyone who hasn't been forced into using the beta site yet knows how bad it truly is. But to anyone else who is reading this, if you have had to use the beta site and hated it as much as we apparently have, please say something! If you have mod points, please mod up these sorts of comments.

I really don't think that those who are behind Slashdot these days understand how disruptive and terrible the beta site going live would be. Like the parent says, it will very likely be the end of Slashdot.

OMG, ZZZZzzz

[Bender Unit 22]

I don't understand why people would want to watch other peoples mediocre gaming skills.
"Look at me as a play a level in some generic shooter". zzzz
There are a few exceptions where I want to see the graphics, maybe to checkout the gameplay or a hint/guide/learn from someone. But let's face it 99% of the gameplay videos out there are just filling hard drives with useless pixels.

And I don't get what makes people think you would want to watch them do something as ordinary as playing a game?

Re:OMG, ZZZZzzz

[Anonymous Coward]

i got 5 "likes" on my morning dump post

Re:OMG, ZZZZzzz

[Fr33z0r]

I've only used the Xbox One, but when you record something (generally by just saying "Xbox record that" after something cool happens) it's automatically shared with your friends in a constantly updating "Friends clips" playlist. Being able to turn on your console when you get home from work and watch a highlights-reel of all the funny/weird/awesome stuff your friends thought was worth recording is a feature which is difficult to overrate.

When you upload worthy clips, they're also shown in a playlist on the store page for that game, so rather than simply browsing to a game you're interested in buying and watching a selection of cutscenes and carefully manicured gameplay trailers from the publisher, you get to watch as many gameplay clips as you like that average gamers thought worth recording - arguably a lot more useful in forming a decision on whether or not it's a game you'd enjoy playing.

More important question:

[klingers48]

Which functions better as burn tiles for spacecraft atmospheric re-entry? My money would be on the Xbox One for its greater surface area, allowing for better heat diffusion.

My question..

[Adult film producer]

What does sharing mean?

Re:My question..

[freeze128]

Sharing is what MS and Sony want you to do with your content, while they refuse to do that with theirs.

Which one charges you to use external services?

[technosaurus]

I'm sorry but I will not buy another MS box that wants to charge me for access to services they don't even provide like watching Netflix or Hulu.  I've paid enough MS taxes over the years as one time expenses, buying a computer, android phone, etc... With the PS removal of "Other OS" and the Wii forcefully removing dvd playback at a hardware level, I hope the steam box drives them both under.  Till then steam gets preferred status followed by wii and games that play on an un-updated PS3 followed by games (for my kids) that are only available for kinect.

Re:Which one charges you to use external services?

[Yosho]

and the Wii forcefully removing dvd playback at a hardware level

I'm not sure where you're getting that from. The Wii didn't remove DVD playback "at a hardware level." Nintendo just didn't pay the licensing fees necessary for DVD playback in order to reduce the cost of the system, so they can't legally let you play DVDs on the Wii. If for some reason you don't have any other devices that can play DVDs, you can hack the Wii and install homebrew software that will play DVDs on it.

Re:Which one charges you to use external services?

[technosaurus]

Not on new machines.  The new ones physically cannot play them regardless of homebrew.

Re:Slashdot Beta been forced on some users

[Jorl17]

Slashdot now looks like an old Blogger page. I hate blogger pages, they're last decade thing. If Beta becomes all I can have, I'm leaving slashdot. They weren't getting anything from me anyway, so I guess it's one less connection to their crappy servers anyway.

Twitch, and probably Youtube

[Punto]

The PS4 can share to twitch.tv, which is the equivalent of uploading a video clip to the "Sky drive", except the upload is done in real time. Also, I suspect Youtube opened up their live streaming feature because of the release of the consoles (especially PS4); now that everyone can share their gameplay, they want to be a viable option.

Similar Problem

[jdev]

I asked this same question when deciding what frying pan to buy. After some research, I decided that Cuisinart's lack of Twitter support was a dealbreaker and went with the Calphalon.

Re:Similar Problem

[rr_at_slashdot]

Don't underestimate the weirdness of the young ones. For many of them the pleasure of bragging about their "skills" in some game is greater than the pleasure of playing the game itself.

I second this. But xbox has really good clients

[Marrow]

I really agree that Xbox360 should not charge for using streaming clients. Unfortunately, they seem to be the best clients for those services. Less skipping and lagging. Maybe its more memory to play with or a faster processor, but I prefer to watch on 360. And I dont want to prefer that because I dont want to pay again. And again. And again. Forever. Its intolerable! I need to figure out how much money a used 360 will bring. Maybe a roku3 will be just as good and I can put the money to that. I only have to pay them once.

Who wants to read gaming FB updates?

[Camembert]

Occasionally I notice in my Facebook feed that an acquaintance has unlocked a level in some inane IOS game. I wonder if anyone cares to read or even deliver such updates? It seems that MS and Sony think that it would be good, but it sure doesn't make my life better.

Re:Who wants to read gaming FB updates?

[Anonymous Coward]

Seems relevant:

Nintendo of Japan President Satoru Iwata: "The primary use of Twitter and Facebook is not gaming, but a means of communication. Although I don't use either of them, if I did, I imagine I'd use it to talk about my outings and vacations to people who aren't exactly video game enthusiasts. I don't think my former classmates would care to hear about my new Mario Kart record and so on."

Re:Who wants to read gaming FB updates?

[artor3]

It's an advertisement. It's not supposed to make your life better. It's supposed to extract money from you.

Re:Who wants to read gaming FB updates?

[Xest]

Actually I think it's quite fitting, now rather than reading drivel from people about how they're new baby shat itself again or how someone broke down at some traffic lights - people whom I only begrudgingly accepted their friend requests so I don't have to answer that awkward "Why did you ignore my friends request on Facebook" if I ever bump into them in real life because I'm averse to crushing their souls by being honest and saying "Because you're really actually quite a boring, annoying, pointless person". I can similarly deliver inane shit into their lives about how I just killed someone with a defibrillator in Battlefield 4.

I was under the impression the whole point in Facebook is to spread complete nonsense about your life that absolutely no one else gives a shit about so the question is why do you think this doesn't fit in?

Re:Who wants to read gaming FB updates?

[Camembert]

You sure have a good point.
In my case, living in a different continent from my family and old friends I find FB nice to keep in touch and exchange pictures.

Re:Who wants to read gaming FB updates?

[Vitriol Angst]

This is obviously FIXED by the fact that people who post Gaming updates on FaceBook have no friends, and they use FaceBook for gaming updates and "liking" various Pizza companies to get coupons.

"David LIKES Death From Above Battle Ax Happy-Fun-Time" Wouldn't you want to LIKE this too?

Re:Who wants to read gaming FB updates?

[Vitriol Angst]

people whom I only begrudgingly accepted their friend requests so I don't have to answer that awkward "Why did you ignore my friends request on Facebook" if I ever bump into them in real life

The way you talk about those disgusting babies and awkward "social things" -- I'm guessing this doesn't really happen to you too often.

Re:Who wants to read gaming FB updates?

[Xest]

I didn't say anything about disgusting babies, you seem to be projecting your own view or something there, I just said I really don't give a shit if someone's baby has shat itself, it's uninteresting and I just don't care, and judging by the clear lack of response to such posts, I guess neither does anyone else.

As for bumping into people from my past whom I only begrudgingly add then yes you're absolutely right, it doesn't happen too often. I always figured this was normal given that I live amongst a population of 65 million and people tend to move around.

I guess if you bump into everyone from your past frequently you must live in some incestuous backwater hick town "Population: 200" or something?

That would explain why you're not too bright too I guess.

what about sharing?

[issicus]

get your own.

Re:PS4 is better for Sharing Your Drunk, Naked Wif

[Anonymous Coward]

Got a javascript heap spray alert from clicking on your link, yet another site to avoid!

Re:PS4 is better for Sharing Your Drunk, Naked Wif

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Eh, I use noscript, didn't have any problems.

Re:PS4 is better for Sharing Your Drunk, Naked Wif

[rmdingler]

The likelihood of a link proving defective is directly proportionate to the number of times "naked" is used in its trailer.

Re:Slashdot Beta, OMFG! I'm Blind!

[rmdingler]

Right, It's like the ACA website developers were unable to complete their gov't contract until they finished up here.

Super duper Superman 64

[tepples]

Super duper supermen!

You laugh, but the PC can emulate both Superman 64 and Superman 64. Commodore and Nintendo versions.

Re:Slashdot Beta is sharing a bad experience with

[weilawei]

I sure hope someone does, until they get the message. The design is awful. It's a waste of space and makes browsing the comments--the main attraction here (for me)--a major pain in the ass. Make a redesign that puts the focus where it belongs.

HDCP

[tepples]

invest in a HD PVR so you can control your own content, edit/annotate/narrate and upload wherever you want.

The questions and answers about this product states that it'll work for the Xbox One, but the PlayStation 4 appears to have HDCP encryption to keep you from doing just that.

Re:HDCP

[stealth_finger]

invest in a HD PVR so you can control your own content, edit/annotate/narrate and upload wherever you want.

The questions and answers about this product states that it'll work for the Xbox One, but the PlayStation 4 appears to have HDCP encryption to keep you from doing just that.

Go old skool and point a camera at the TV.

Which console offers better offline gaming?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's all that matters.

Re:Slashdot Beta is sharing a bad experience with

[fast turtle]

what beta tag? I'm Not and Have Not seen any sign of it so wtf are you smoking?

Other games with demo recording support

[tepples]

Never mind the fact that demo recordings (rare as they were; Umihara Kawase and some sports games?) were supported by the games themselves

Super Mario Kart had an obscure "ghost" feature, and Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart DS refined it. True, racing is a sport, but is karate a sport? Super Smash Bros. Brawl has the same sort of "replay".

I know know ...

[hundredrabh]

Steam gaming machines.

In defense of the stream

[SuperKendall]

Actually the one of the guys from Penny Arcade plays at times, and while he's not very good he is interesting to listen too as it sometimes turns into a running Q&A about Penny Arcade which can be very interesting.

Yeah 90% of streams are probably boring as hell to watch. But it opens up a lot of creative opportunity for people and I wouldn't dismiss it as worthless just because it follows Sturgeon's Law like everything else.

Re:We can all agree the Wii U sucks!

[Brad1138]

Intellivision was the worst console ever.

Are you kidding, Intellivision was the the console to have in its day.

Re:Slashdot Beta been forced on some users

[jones_supa]

I challenge you to show me a discussion thread on Slashdot from 10+ years ago that you think was more interesting than today's stuff. Post the URL.

Drunk uncle

[formfeed]

Last Saturday, SNL's drunk uncle already "discussed" PS4 vs Xbox.

I hate to admit, I stand with drunk uncle on this...

Re:PS4 is better for Sharing Your Drunk, Naked Wif

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Most people shouldn't run javascript.

Re:PS4 is better for Sharing Your Drunk, Naked Wif

[_merlin]

I doubt anyone appreciated that - she's nasty. Well maybe she'd be hot in Toowoomba, but let's not go there.

Re:Twitch

[stealth_finger]

I can share easily with the PS4 on twitch, all I need.

Didn't the disable that after some guy stripped is drunk passed out wife, who by all accounts was a bit of a minger. Maybe if she was hot it wouldn't've been so bad.

Re:Slashdot Beta been forced on some users

[stealth_finger]

I'm UK and mine's fine. Can you not just change something in the URL to get the regular site?

this sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

i'm from Finland, don't have an account, but have been coming here for the last 5 years or so. I'm being forced to the beta site as well. I don't like it, it wastes space, is really uncomfortable to read and seems quite buggy still. I'm not going to use this. I'll be checking now and then if they've fixed it for us, but for now, bye and thanks for the past years

Sharing is for the iOS generation

[umafuckit]

The only reason I can think why we have the sharing button is as a misguided response to tablet and phone games. We keep hearing how casual gamers are sucked into those and diverted away from consoles (this, etc: http://www.forbes.com/sites/terokuittinen/2013/05/16/google-play-alone-about-to-overtake-entire-portable-console-game-market-wake-up-nintendo/. A lot of these iOS and Android titles have sharing features and offer to upload your performance to Facebook. Why anyone would want to do that is beyond me, it seems that Sony and MS have decided to try to integrate their consoles into the phone experience as much as possible. So now we have a sharing button and a PS4 app (http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/ps4-playstation-app-launches-for-ios-and-android). Doesn't change the fact that tablet and phone games are almost all shit, or that people will continue to play them because they're there and they're mindless.

Re:Twitch

[CronoCloud]

They only disabled streaming for PlayRoom, which is what was used to do that video. For those who don't know, PlayRoom is an Augmented Reality thingy that shows off the features of the PS4 Camera and DS4. It does so in a sort of EyePet style fashion, so you can see the room behind the little robots or whatever.

There was one couple who used the Playroom to create a sort of Talk Show that became a bit popular.

Privacy controls

[DrXym]

Personally I'd be more amenable to the console that shares the least, or at least has switches that control its behaviour. I would be more impressed by a console which strikes a good balance between privacy and the ability to share and allows users to adjust it further one way or the other as they see fit. And if someone doesn't want to Tweet, Like, live cast or whatever then there should be a simple checkbox in the settings which removes all that shit from the UI.

Re:Privacy controls

[CCarrot]

Personally I'd be more amenable to the console that shares the least, or at least has switches that control its behaviour. I would be more impressed by a console which strikes a good balance between privacy and the ability to share and allows users to adjust it further one way or the other as they see fit. And if someone doesn't want to Tweet, Like, live cast or whatever then there should be a simple checkbox in the settings which removes all that shit from the UI.

Exactly.

When I read the headline, my first thought was that they were obscurely talking about which console invades your privacy more (i.e., shares 'better')...disappointing to read the summary and realize they're talking about a fringe feature that only self-obsessed little wankers would care about.

Re:Twitch

[CronoCloud]

UStream as well.

Re:Who Gives a F*** Which Shares Better?

[CronoCloud]

I'm a PS4 owner, so I can't tell you how the Xbox works.

Does either platform make it possible to completely disable/ignore the sharing features? (e.g. what happens if I accidentally press a sharing button?)

Nothing! You actually have to choose how you want to share, and if you don't give the PS4 any Twitch/Ustream/Facebook/Twitter info it can't do any sharing.

Can you completely disable/ignore content shared by other users if you're playing against them online?

Yes, nothing shows up during actual gameplay.

Can you run either platform totally offline?

Yes, but you'll miss out on system and game updates that way.

Re:Who Gives a F*** Which Shares Better?

[The Moof]

Can you completely disable/ignore content shared by other users if you're playing against them online?

Yes, nothing shows up during actual gameplay.

You misinterpreted the question. If I don't want any video of my gameplay shared, but I'm playing against some kid who records and shares his uber-mad-leet skillz all the time, does his game not record the gameplay featuring me because of my preferences? I believe I'm SOL in that case and the footage of me gets shared against my wishes.

Re: Excellent

[rmdingler]

While I occasionally dabble in the disposal of tobacco in a small series of fires, I am no cigarettte.

translated:

[JustNiz]

>>> 'I really hate that the Playstation 4 is limited to sharing on Facebook and I really like that the Xbox One saves to my Skydrive,

Translated:
I believe you are all stupid enough to not spot the obvious inconsistency in my claiming to really hate one proprietary locked down site but loving another. I also have a vested interest in only promoting and saying good things about Microsoft products.