Amazon reviews from the PS4 and Xbox One next-gen console wars | Hacker News Reader

Amazon reviews from the PS4 and Xbox One next-gen console wars

blog.roguecode.co.za

22 pointsmbennett28 comments

Many of those charts would do well in a "Most confusing graph" competition, especially as a series.

For example, the "HOW HAPPY VERIFIED REVIEWERS ARE WITH THEIR CONSOLE" pie chart at first glance makes PS4 look a bit better than the Xbox, because the graph above it uses black for PS4.

You have to click he radio button to see that that is correct, by a tiny (I expect not statistically significant) margin. Whether that holds for 4-star reviews, too is kept hidden from the readers.

One could just as easily show the distribution over all star rating for both devices in one graph. More information, easier to grasp.

The console wars are quite pointless, I think.

Maybe it's just regression and nostalgic delusion, but I find that the consoles of old (up to the sixth generation) had novelty in their designs and ability to mod them.

But now I find them to be dull. Unless one really wants to play exclusive titles, I find no reason to own a console.

Agreed. I've been trying to put my finger on why this console launch feels lackluster to me, and this is it. There's simply nothing novel here with either device (wii-u doesn't count does it). I'm bearish on consoles at this point. While the launch numbers look good, I'm wondering if these units really have legs. It's clear gaming isn't the top focus with either of the parent companies, so this will be interesting to watch.

Valve/Steam/Steambox OTOH, is a fresh and exciting prospect(to me).

The sad thing, from a technical perspective, about most of the recent consoles, is they are basically PCs. There is no more crazy ASIC design leading to graphics performance light years ahead of non-console computers, or the last console generation. For a while there we got used to the new gen consoles being leaps ahead of the current state of the art anywhere (including PCs). However, once GPUs got commoditized and mass produced, continuing that trend became impractical. The good news is that while next gen consoles won't be leaps ahead of state of the art, this is not necessary to have good games, and an extremely fun gaming experience not possible on any other platform.

The sad thing I mentioned above is at the same time very exciting to me--once there is no crazy custom ASIC design, developers won't have as much trouble writing games. You basically get a PC with a blessed system configuration and a well known API that will lead to more and better performing games than during the last generation.

As far as console vs. phone or PC, I don't see them going away any time soon. They have many advantages over both.

I was never a fan of consoles - the interface is so low-bandwidth I give up in frustration in a few minutes.

So I find nothing to be sad about, that quality gaming has become available on more platforms.

Well iPad is as close to a console as a device could be. 3 year support, yearly refresh that brings good incremental improvements and probably they will surpass consoles when the cycle moves on - so they will only need a way to stream and controller.

I love my iPads. But where can I get something like Dark Souls for them? The console niche puts more GBytes of graphics etc into a world. You just don't do that for the iPad. Not this year and probably not the next either, anyway. (Edit: Please prove me wrong :-) )

I was envisioning the future. But the iPad model is a perfect console - long enough to make sense, short enough to not stall innovation.

Now I cannot predict the future. But we have had amazing games running on way less cpu, gpu and ram - and install base in a way is king. Right now we are in the GameBoy era of the iPad. The games grew with their auditory - if you have demand for quality writing, deep story and mature games - they will show up.

It's called "growing up."

The console wars are pointless when you make enough money to buy any and all the consoles you wish.

thats why i think the Xbox Ones direction with voice controls and extended media capabilities is more future proof than the PS4s which is more or less just a gaming box. I guess the console market is ready for a new competitor in the coming years though, Valve or Apple is my bet.

Well, the PS4 also has some kind of voice controls and media capabilities, with more to come in the future. Just because they don't make a big deal about it doesn't mean the console only does games.

thats true but Sony makes a big deal about just being a gaming consoles focused on games while MS is pretty much in the opposite corner and kinect is arguably way ahead of anything Sony has at the moment.

The capabilities of new consoles are pretty exciting, more so the xbox one (but that's just my opinion), but things are a bit different today as consoles are only a part of the gaming landscape rather than the majority of it. PC gaming isn't going to go away. The oculus rift and other VR/AR systems may become another strong pillar of video gaming. And mobile gaming has begun to come of age over the last few years. Not to mention non-computerized games like RPGs and other table top games, which have seen a lot of growth outside of the European market where they were traditionally confined.

Ultimately a console is like any other gaming platform, you buy one because you want to play the games on it. If you never find a game compelling enough to make that jump then you're not going to buy the console. Now that so many games are cross platform, to the PC as well, there's not as much need to buy any particular console unless you find yourself with a strong desire to play certain specific games.

This highlights one of the more disappointing aspects of the internet, where group-think leads to essentially mobs of people creating fake reviews on amazon.

I wonder what goes through the minds of people when they do that. I mean they're probably aware of the fact that they don't have the console. More than that, what do they have to gain from doing this?

>"More than that, what do they have to gain from doing this?"

Gaming console wars are a great example of people who have confused their self-worth with their preferences/possessions. Combine that with viewing the world and this contest in particular as a zero-sum game and there you have it.

People creating fake reviews to feel better about "themselves".

It's the same mentality that leads to fans of opposing sports teams to get into fights with each other. They've attached their own self-worth to the thing they like. This happens in the tech world too ...don't ever make the mistake of telling a 10yr+ Java developer that Java sucks. ;)

>>>Abandon Thread >>> http://i.imgur.com/oWVPPXF.gif

It's tribalism, and it's been around since long before the Internet.

Why do people spend time on useless graphs for something that could be explained clearly in 3-4 sentences?

Because it's blog. He's not writing for the Times.

Sometimes, pictures show information better than words.

Also, infographics get embedded, which still sends traffic your way...

Yeah, but these pictures don't show the information that well. You can't see the numbers side by side -- you have to click between and have an animation run. In addition, they use a two-dimensional representation for one-dimensional data, which is bad because people are bad at judging the sizes of areas.

It's not about making charts, it's about making bad charts.

The writer does not seem to be a paid journalist and they helpfully provide the raw data.

Perhaps someone will make a better chart and post it.

Definitely there could be some "die-hard fanboys from both sides of the fence are attempting to create bad rep for the other", but there are other possibilities as well: 1) Some people bought from other channels are upset enough to want to vent their disappointment on Amazon (quite likely, as I did that to a book that I bought elsewhere to warn off others on its issues) 2) People with vested interests (paid or otherwise)

And perhaps bigger news in the UK (not sure about other countries): amazon console sales are xbox 360's in the top few slots. No sign of the "one" or PS4.

The PS4 will be released the 29th in Europe.

Not what this indicates? http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/bestsellers/videogames/

Seems legit.

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