The Video Game Thread

[Juggernaut]

When they say "FREE" is that 1) free forever as long as you have an active subscription, or 2) free forever even if you cancel your subscription eventually, or 3) only free until they remove them at some point (ala: Netflix) regardless of whether you have a subscription or not?

I am thinking about buying a PS4 or Xbox after I move, so asking to better understand how free games work.

For example, on PC if Steam, GOG, Steam, etc. offer free games, you get to keep them or access to them indefinitely.

They're free as long as you have an active subscription. Personally, I would recommend PS4 over XB1.

This is correct. As long as you have an active subscription to their services the game will remain playable. If your subscription lapses, it just locks the game out. As far as PS4 vs. Xbox, well, that is like starting a holy war. I have both, which is nice, but I honestly find myself picking up my Xbox controller much more frequently.

PlayStation Plus free games are more like 1 and Xbox Games with Gold free games are more like 2. As for 3, if a game is ever removed from the PlayStation store, it isn't deleted from your collection.

PlayStation Plus members keep all free game licenses in their collection. If their membership lapses, the free games become locked. Once membership is renewed, the free games become unlocked.

Xbox Live Gold members can download the games during their respective availability periods. When downloaded, the game belongs to the player even if they drop their Xbox Live Gold membership.

If you wish to play your owned games online, then PlayStation will allow you play those games online without Plus, but Xbox requires you to have Gold to play owned games online.

Both memberships cost $60 a year, or $10 a month, if you only want to be a member during the months that they're giving away a game you want.

Between the two, I prefer the PlayStation 4, because of their better first party games. If the Xbox One has game that isn't available for the PlayStation 4, that I want to play, then I can usually find it on PC since Microsoft likes to make their games also available on their operating system. As was the case of the Insomniac Games Xbox One developed game Sunset Overdrive, which I currently own on my PC.

I don't worry about losing access to my PlayStation Plus free games in my collection because I usually resubscribe during E3 or Black Friday sales. I recently paid $40 for a year during a E3 sale in June.

 

[Reality]

PlayStation Plus free games are more like 1 and Xbox Games with Gold free games are more like 2. As for 3, if a game is ever removed from the PlayStation store, it isn't deleted from your collection.

PlayStation Plus members keep all free game licenses in their collection. If their membership lapses, the free games become locked. Once membership is renewed, the free games become unlocked.

Xbox Live Gold members can download the games during their respective availability periods. When downloaded, the game belongs to the player even if they drop their Xbox Live Gold membership.

If you wish to play your owned games online, then PlayStation will allow you play those games online without Plus, but Xbox requires you to have Gold to play owned games online.

Both memberships cost $60 a year, or $10 a month, if you only want to be a member during the months that they're giving away a game you want.

Between the two, I prefer the PlayStation 4, because of their better first party games. If the Xbox One has game that isn't available for the PlayStation 4, that I want to play, then I can usually find it on PC since Microsoft likes to make their games also available on their operating system. As was the case of the Insomniac Games Xbox One developed game Sunset Overdrive, which I currently own on my PC.

I don't worry about losing access to my PlayStation Plus free games in my collection because I usually resubscribe during E3 or Black Friday sales. I recently paid $40 for a year during a E3 sale in June.

Awesome information!

Thank you very much for the detailed reply

 

[bigdnlaca]

GameStop to close up to 200 Stores.

https://www.pcgamer.com/gamestop-to-close-up-to-200-stores/

During a Q2 earnings call, GameStop CFO James Bell announced that "We are on track to close between 180 and 200 underperforming stores globally by the end of this fiscal year."

The videogame retailer is in the middle of implementing what's being called a "reboot" and has so far involved shutting down ThinkGeek's online store, and laying off 170 employees, as well as several staff members of Game Informer, GameStop's in-house magazine.

Bell also mentioned during the earnings call that the majority of of GameStop stores worldwide are profitable, but said "we have a clear opportunity to improve our overall profitability by de-densifying our chain." And this year's closures won't be the last of them. He went on to say, "we are applying a more definitive, analytic approach, including profit levels and sales transferability, that we expect will yield a much larger tranche of closures over the coming 12 to 24 months."

This year GameStop posted a loss of $415.3 million.

Sad to see a lot of the brick and mortar stores closing, it may not happen in my life but look for consoles games to follow que with PC games and go all or mostly digital.

Gamestop had a chance to gain customers when Best Buy went away with the Gamers Club. No price matching, the lack of sales/incentives for new releases and preorders, and low trade in value on games are the reason no one wants to shop there anymore unless you are shopping there for clearance or nostalgia items.

Companies are forcing digital but I don't think the consumers will accept it until a. digital prices on single games are cheaper than physical and b. You can trade in the rights of digital copies for some compensation. I believe with Xbox, you can redo a digital purchase and get a full refund (there are limitations obviously).

As long as you can sell physical copies to get some value on something you purchase, physical will stay.

 

[SlammedZero]

Gamestop had a chance to gain customers when Best Buy went away with the Gamers Club. No price matching, the lack of sales/incentives for new releases and preorders, and low trade in value on games are the reason no one wants to shop there anymore unless you are shopping there for clearance or nostalgia items.

Companies are forcing digital but I don't think the consumers will accept it until a. digital prices on single games are cheaper than physical and b. You can trade in the rights of digital copies for some compensation. I believe with Xbox, you can redo a digital purchase and get a full refund (there are limitations obviously).

As long as you can sell physical copies to get some value on something you purchase, physical will stay.

I've been torn. I was originally resistant to the idea of digital. I felt having a physical copy in my hand felt more rewarding and I liked the idea of trade-in value or resale. Over the years though, the convenience of buying a game without leaving the house and the ability to change games without leaving my chair has sure swayed me. Is it that the ultimate laziness? Yeah, but it sure is convenient. With resale values taking such dramatic decline as well, I have kind of given in to the digital world. I still retain some physical copies and am not completely against having them, but I will admit, I have fell for the digital idea. The biggest downfall though, as you mentioned, is that the price of digital is still very high. Even games that have been released for awhile, the Xbox/PS stores sure want a lot for them when you can find used physical copies for much cheaper.

 

[Crazed Liotta Eyes]

I've been torn. I was originally resistant to the idea of digital. I felt having a physical copy in my hand felt more rewarding and I liked the idea of trade-in value or resale. Over the years though, the convenience of buying a game without leaving the house and the ability to change games without leaving my chair has sure swayed me. Is it that the ultimate laziness? Yeah, but it sure is convenient. With resale values taking such dramatic decline as well, I have kind of given in to the digital world. I still retain some physical copies and am not completely against having them, but I will admit, I have fell for the digital idea. The biggest downfall though, as you mentioned, is that the price of digital is still very high. Even games that have been released for awhile, the Xbox/PS stores sure want a lot for them when you can find used physical copies for much cheaper.

It is kind of unfair that digital prices are so high. I work at a small developer that did release our last digital title at a lower price point than the physical version. We publish the digital versions of our games but must have an external publisher for a retail (physical) release. Those publishers are harder and harder to find and the ones that are still out there only want to make a deal that doesn't make sense for us financially. It looks like we'll only be releasing digital from this point forward.

 

[Lutonio]

I was all about owning the physical copy of games. I liked actually possessing it and being able to sell of trade it if I wanted, and the clection just looks nice on a book shelf or tower.

That has started to change as my wife plays more though as we're both able to play through one digital purchase.

 

[Kevinicus]

I had been a big fan of Gears of War for the longest time. My group of friends played every night during the summer of 2010 after the game launched the Fall before. We got a really damn good.

The series just lost its appeal after Gears of War 3. The story mode and co op still looks good, but the multiplayer has been wallbouncing and gnashers for 13 years, and I guess we got burnt out.

I really liked the first one, and thought the 2nd was okay. I didn't get around to the 3rd for a few years, and found it too repetitive and kind of forced myself through it. I tried Ascension, but was just way too bored and didn't care. Finally I played 4 (after having it for about 2 years - it came with my XBO-S) and enjoyed it a lot more than the previous couple. I hope 5 is good, but it'll be awhile before I play it.

I'm more interested in Zelda this week, but I'll probably hold out until Christmas to get that because I have others I need to get through.

 

[Lutonio]

I really liked the first one, and thought the 2nd was okay. I didn't get around to the 3rd for a few years, and found it too repetitive and kind of forced myself through it. I tried Ascension, but was just way too bored and didn't care. Finally I played 4 (after having it for about 2 years - it came with my XBO-S) and enjoyed it a lot more than the previous couple. I hope 5 is good, but it'll be awhile before I play it.

I'm more interested in Zelda this week, but I'll probably hold out until Christmas to get that because I have others I need to get through.

Yeah, I've kind of gotten over it and there are a lot of other great things out right now with Remnant, Monster Hunter, and Borderlands.

The Last of Us Part 2 is my most anticipated game. I played that competitive multiplayer until my disc turned into dust.

 

[Zordon]

Anybody get Borderlands 3?

 

[Juggernaut]

 

[SlammedZero]

Anybody get Borderlands 3?

I'm curious about this too and what people think.

 

[SlammedZero]

So since I preordered the new Call of Duty I get early access to the beta. Wow. Super impressed so far! The graphics are extremely crisp, the guns feel great, and the gameplay feels smooth. The maps so far have a really old school Call of Duty feel to them. I'm loving it so far. I don't think I have a complaint yet. This may be the one that helps bring back some of the franchise's glory. (Though I understand loot boxes are still going to rear their ugly head in the final game. No surprise)

 

[Zordon]

Game is a lot of fun, more enjoyable than some of the past installments. COD is back!

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

I haven't played a COD game since the 1st one way back in the day. Did not realize you could dl and play the beta via the Blizzard launcher. I need a break from playing WOW classic every night, I just may try this.

 

[BigStar]

Of course since COD is back, I started Division 2 lol...it's actually pretty good. Great gameplay and like that it takes place in D.C. feels more like a real collapse of a formal government being in the heart of it. Has anyone played Monster Hunter? See that got a new expansion and got good ratings

 

[Khartun]

Any of you Switch players? Link's Awakening came out today!

 

[Zordon]

Of course since COD is back, I started Division 2 lol...it's actually pretty good. Great gameplay and like that it takes place in D.C. feels more like a real collapse of a formal government being in the heart of it. Has anyone played Monster Hunter? See that got a new expansion and got good ratings

Monster Hunter is a dope game. Probably my second favorite game last year behind GOW. The amount of content, depth, gameplay, and constant support is something that almost no other game has offered in the last two years. Game is better playing co-op than single so you might want to check how big the community is still.

 

[BigStar]

Monster Hunter is a dope game. Probably my second favorite game last year behind GOW. The amount of content, depth, gameplay, and constant support is something that almost no other game has offered in the last two years. Game is better playing co-op than single so you might want to check how big the community is still.

Thanks for the info Z. Is it still possible to run it solo and have fun or would it become almost too hard to level up against those big monsters I've seen? Does look cool and the orig is pretty cheap now so thinkin i'll pick it up.

 

[SlammedZero]

Of course since COD is back, I started Division 2 lol...it's actually pretty good. Great gameplay and like that it takes place in D.C. feels more like a real collapse of a formal government being in the heart of it. Has anyone played Monster Hunter? See that got a new expansion and got good ratings

I played Division 2 briefly and I liked it. Had great graphics and the open world seemed very large and immersive. Now you have me sitting here wonder how I played it and why my experience was so brief. haha I'm thinking they had a free weekend trial on Xbox for it or something.

 

[Hennessy_King]

Im on that 2k20 on PS4 holla at ya boi