Is it Time to Upgrade Your Console Yet?

As someone who doesn't mind Christmas, but works during it, I'm personally lamenting the prospect of massive queues, shopping-centre shoving and seasonal tunes on repeat. You've all got an idea of how busy Boxing Day will be, so some sympathy would be appreciated.

So understandably, I'll need a way to unwind which refrains from any law-breaking. This method of relaxation used to be gaming, until university and work made any spare time vanish. Although, thanks to a combination of procrastination and a spurt of interesting releases, the medium of gaming has slowly inched its way back into my life somehow; I'm assuming that I'll be forgetting something important over the next few weeks, but I suppose it'll be fine. 

The thing is, over the past two holiday seasons, since the release of the current-gen consoles, I've had one and immediately took it back. For the past 24 months or so, I've been adamant that the highly-touted PS4 and Xbox One simply haven't been worth it. Upon their release, I kept telling myself that an equally priced computer could do just the same, and arguably more. Subsequently, I invested in a laptop and laughed at console users as I played the superior versions of Payday 2 and Battlefield 3 at a higher resolution and frame-rate. But that was two years ago...

Now, much like myself, my laptop has succumb to age, or is in the process of doing so. It's fine with tightly-optimized titles such as XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Metro: Last Light, and it's great for quirky indie titles like Papers, Please and the more recent Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, but the big triple-A titles are beginning to become a bit of a struggle. 

For me, the matter of which console has never been a question: It'd always have to be a PS4, even if we're going solely on exclusive titles alone. But in the face of cracking works like Kojima's masterpiece, The Phantom Pain, or even the inevitably good Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, I'm starting to yearn for something new, something which requires a controller rather than a keyboard and mouse.

To ensure that this doesn't devolve into a fanboy conflict, I'm going to focus on Sony's machine, so take these following words with a pinch of salt. Because I'm going to be talking about PS4s so much, you'll start seeing blue.

Have you seen the release line-up for the holidays?

Ladies and gentlemen, let me give you a quick run-down of this year's top games. I realise how I sound like a marketing rep from GAME with that statement, but I'll carry on regardless...

Firstly, you've got Just Cause 3: A game which has thankfully realised its potential to be a simulator of Hollywood-style explosions and general buffoonery. Grapple onto a train, plant some plastic explosives on it, fly off in a jet and watch as you make a cracking thumbnail for a YouTube video in the process. 

You've got a cracking experience with the aforementioned Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which is quite possibly the most coherent and enjoyable Metal Gear game yet. Be the boss of your own army, and run around with a dog, killing people.

If you're after something old, yet new, look no further than the incredibly recent Fallout 4, a title which has already claimed many hours of time and has challenged many relationships with its involving new mechanics and accessible renovations.


You've also got the upcoming edition of Uncharted, an experience which consistently manages to remain cinematic, yet involving. And it looks like it has a brilliant car chase too, (as to be expected). And if the stars align, No Man's Sky will be on the PS4 in our lifetime, too. Admittedly, some of these games will eventually make their way onto PC, but it's almost gospel that they won't be as optimised, and in the case of Arkham Knight, they may not work at all. 

The value of PlayStation Plus

Initially, I was a tad annoyed that a PS Plus subscription would be required to play online with the PS4, but then I remembered; Microsoft has been doing this for years with their last-gen system, with little consequence. 

When Sony's service was launched in June 2010, it seemed like a very tempting deal indeed. This was before a Xbox Live Gold membership came with free games too, so for the £40 a year, (and with many ways to get a free trial for a couple of months), you got the likes of Bulletstorm, Just Cause 2, Vanquish and Borderlands 2, all of which are cracking titles. 

If you're one to have a gander at the pre-owned section of your local game retailer, PS Plus was an excellent, convenient alternative, and still is. The array of free games available for the PS4 is still relatively short, although is somewhat forgivable, given that games for the console are still few and far between. Regardless, players have already been treated to a few quirky indie titles which were once seldom seen on consoles. Rocket League, Guacamelee! and Transistor have all made their way onto PS4 consoles for free, as part of the service.

PC users are having to upgrade

Unfortunately for myself, and many other semi-casual PC gamers, modern titles are getting more and more demanding. I shouldn't complain, really. How else are games going to improve if they don't take advantage of constantly developing hardware?

So while little indie gems and the less-demanding shooter are still fine on my laptop, the likes of GTA V and Mad Max would most certainly struggle. Most developers nowadays seem to require a quad-core processor to run things smoothly, something which would require a costly upgrade, especially with a laptop. 

So unless you want to fork out for a brand new (or at the very least upgraded) system, it seems that your best bet is one of the current-gen consoles, bundled in with one of these new, somewhat demanding titles, like Fallout 4, for example. 

A waning focus on visuals

I seem to be going on about Bethesda's most recent, and arguably best game, Fallout 4 in this post, albeit with good reason. I mean, have you seen it?

One of the major worries surrounding the title when people first caught a glimpse of it, was the graphics. While a conclusive improvement on those offered in Fallout 3, some thought that the visual fidelity of the sequel wouldn't live up to expectations; it looked good, but not 'next-gen' good. 

Personally, I blame the unrealistic standards flaunted by GTA V, The Last of Us, Driveclub and even the very forgettable The Order: 1886. It seems that the latter two titles favoured cracking aesthetics in order to promote the ridiculous importance of console exclusivity, leading to a very good looking, but overall somewhat disappointing experience.

But thankfully, more recent titles such as Fallout 4, and hopefully with Just Cause 3, graphical prowess is merely an afterthought to good mechanics and solid gameplay. Although, with both games set to strive in both visual fidelity and mechanical fluidity, maybe some developers are just excelling when it comes to planning their games, and nailing the execution too. 

Support for last-gen is being slowly discontinued

I've never been too involved when it comes to franchises like the WWE 2K series, or more notably the latest Call of Duty title. Every now and again, I'll get a few hours of entertainment from one of these copy/paste installments, but for the most part, they seem to escape me.

But while critics, and myself, often tend to poke fun at these games for a lack of progression or development over time, the two latest editions in these series' have seen some notable differences when it comes to versions on the last-gen and current-gen consoles. A deterioration of graphics is to be expected when you go back to the PS3 and Xbox 360, but that was often it; the rest of the game mostly remained the same.

Understandably, Activision wouldn't just throw away the potential custom of millions by leaving out the older consoles, but this does have some woeful results. The campaign of Black Ops 3, for example, has been touted as one of the best single-player experiences in ages, when it comes to the franchise; so it does perplex me as to why the mode would be left out of the editions for the PS3 and Xbox 360. If you're after an online-only experience, you've got plenty of other options, and for some fans, the absence of the single-player may be the reason for missing out this iteration. But the same can also be said for WWE 2K16, too. 

The latest evolution in the wrestling franchise is, without a doubt, a massive improvement on its predecessor, that is if you're playing on a PS4 or Xbox One. The older consoles are missing out a fully formed career mode, due to constraints with disc-space, and the graphics do seem worlds apart if you have a side-by-side comparison of the two, a difference which 2K marketing have described as an almost "night and day" level of variance. 

Then take a look at all these games which are exclusive to current-gen consoles, and see if there's anything you feel like you're missing out on. 

The price isn't too shabby

Upon their launch, the current-gen consoles really weren't worth their price. Granted, the original £350 cost was a nice change from the PS3 launch price, which if I remember correctly, hovered around the range of £425. 

Two years ago, all we had was the latest iterations of the Assassin's Creed, Need for Speed, Battlefield, FIFA and Call of Duty franchises, with a slim selection of actual exclusives, including Killzone: Shadow Fall (which was alright), to Knack (which was not). The same could also be said for the Xbox One; both consoles had fairly terrible lineups, and nothing which compared to the previous generations offerings, like Motorstorm or Resistance: Fall of Man. 

But now, with a fully varied range of remasters and original titles, these consoles now make a lot more sense. If you managed to persist with titles which pushed the limits of the nearly decade-old hardware, (see The Last of Us and GTA V), you can now enjoy them in their full glory, with stable frame-rates and higher resolutions.

Once you've had a nostalgic trip, you can then proceed to all the new and exciting aforementioned titles which are coming soon. For £300, you won't have to persist with Assassin's Creed IV for the foreseeable future; granted, there's hardly as big a collection as there is on PC, but these new consoles do need time to create a sizable library of games, something which they are well on the way of creating. 

But rather than conjuring up a series of slightly coherent points, I'll propose the initial question: Is it time to upgrade yet? 

Unless you're a die-hard fan of the PC master race, and want to involve yourself in that particular sphere, then I would certainly recommend upgrading. The PS3 and Xbox 360 have long since been squeezed of all their potential, and their hardware shortcomings are now becoming woefully apparent as newer and newer games are released. 

A PS4 is cheaper to buy than a PS3 when it was released back in 2006. I can appreciate if you haven't got the money to throw around, especially coming up to Christmas, but the excuses for sticking with the last-gen consoles are becoming increasingly scarce. Admittedly, my PS3 is remaining in it's current place, purely for the collection of games I amassed for it, and Sony's answer for backwards compatibility (PlayStation Now), is still full of flaws in its infancy.

That being said, you shouldn't have to resort to old games for much longer. There's no question about it; you will get your value from a current-gen console. Even the fact that we refer to the PS4 and Xbox One as 'current-gen' does say something about how behind the older consoles are. So do the developers a favour, get with the times, and invest in a new piece of gaming technology. 

A Brief Gander at a Lincoln Ghost Walk...

I've always wondered who actually indulges in ghost walks, haunted house experiences and trick or treating; my initial guess would involve two distinct demographics; children, and people who intend to get shitfaced later on in the night. Apparently, I must fall into the latter category.

Two days before Halloween, me and a few friends thought it'd be a good idea to see what the fuss is all about. Surprisingly, in the 21st century, stuff like this (while quite seasonal), is still quite popular. I mean this particular group does tours all year round at 7 PM, Wednesday through to Saturday. I imagine the walk becomes pretty boring when you're trying to avert the eyes of the guide all by yourself, but still I must admit, they do seem like a rather dedicated bunch.

So, it's Thursday, (the 29th of October, to be precise), and after a hurried walk up Lincoln's aptly and imaginative named Steep Hill, (points for originality there), we meandered for a while in the square outside the Cathedral. A square which is normally relatively quiet is now host to around 200 men, women and children, all stood around in the cold with a somewhat perplexed look on their collective faces. While I was going into this experience with a very reluctant attitude, I assured myself that a turnout this big, and with claims that their stories had been shared on radio and TV, that the walk would be at least somewhat believable and legitimate; unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

The night began with a sizable crowd, a mass of people which would mistake you into thinking something important was occurring. Admittedly, the night was home to some low fog which encompassed the cathedral, so if you were into this kind of thing, the atmosphere must have been pretty great for you. I've no idea how she managed it, but the guide for the party of a few hundred managed to stand a tad taller than the rest. In a black cape and fragile glasses, everyone assumed she was selling tickets, but quite frankly, it's not like you actually needed one. For a receipt-less £4, you were granted a ticket with nothing more than some information from the company behind the walk, and even then, just their email, website and contact number. 

Truly spooky stuff.

Unfortunately, I don't know if I'll be treasuring this ticket for the foreseeable future. After a less than ideal first impression, the guide who described herself as "Harry Potter's Grandma" in an attempt to gain a few laughs off of the kids, bellowed to the group that the tour had begun, before directing our eyes to the nearby Widow Cullen's Well pub. Apparently there's a dead body at the bottom of the well, not that any of us actually ventured into the pub to have a look, but regardless, it was gripping stuff for the first 30 seconds. 

Myself and many others then continued onwards, with an unjustified wave of optimism, guessing and hopelessly assuming that the tour would pick up the pace. The next stop was only a few dozen feet away, at a nearby hotel. The capturing narrative for this locale was that of a key which shot across a room, shitting up a patron in the process. How this underwhelming tale managed to leave the walls of the hotel and make its way to this guide, I have no idea, but it was the next step on this increasingly underwhelming adventure. To make matters worse, and possibly because the climate of Lincoln appreciates some pathetic fallacy, it had now started to rain...

Another two stops went by, both equally forgettable but with a single exception; a drunk gent had joined the fray, and was stood among the kids at the front of the crowd, with a girlfriend who had a look varying from 'playful and self-joking' to 'distressed and murderous'. At this point, this gentleman, with his well-timed quips between pauses in the guide's stories, becomes the central attraction of the tour, reimbursing out four quid through a series of laughs which were only matched when my mate laughed in the piercing silence of a particular character named 'Mrs. Biggerdyke', which does seem surprisingly legitimate.

An hour into the 90 minute tour, and becomes woefully clear that this poor lady is ill-equipped to handle such a crowd; she begins rambling about different dimensions, of "civil war people", and of a particular "staunch royalist lady", (a phrase which initially draws me in, but is then ruined by the guide's countless repetition of it). At this point, I'm assuming the guide has built up some kind of connection, or at the very least, feels comfortable with more informal conduct in front of complete strangers, but that just wasn't happening here. All these little pieces of bullshit and links to the real, tangible world were presumably meant to draw us into the story, to help us suspend our disbelief, but some odd spouts of stuttering, some unchanging lexis and narrative inconsistencies quickly put a stop to that.

We could sense the end was near; we were now approaching the ominous cathedral, layered in fog and a dazzling of rain. Even if the story was awful, it'd still make for a bit of a spectacle at the very least. After trekking down narrow roads and dark pathways which I'd never seen before, the building came into sight. Anyone who's ever been near Lincoln and seen this marvel will know how it's portrayed, lit up like the centerpiece of the city, so I began to get my hopes up for the first time in the night. 

But then, we just stopped. Down a miserable road with the cathedral in sight, the diminished party came to a standstill, and we were told one last story before being sent on our merry way. We didn't even go into the cathedral...

Note the drunk gentleman beneath the clear umbrella

As we had done before, we laughed at the stories themselves, and how terribly unbelievable they were. We had a giggle at the drunk chap, and at why people even come to these superstitious events anymore, (because, I mean, we'd come out of a sense of irony, right?).

Yet after I'd proclaimed, "Pub!" and we'd took refuge in a local guest house, I got thinking: At four quid for a useless ticket, and assuming that around half of the group had paid, this 90-minute exhibition of implicit extortion had garnered a good £400, for a job which everyone was stating they could do. Everyone then went quiet, and with a internal though of "shit", we went back home. 

It's all well and good us slating things such as this, ghost walks and haunted houses, but as with annual atrocious game releases and the latest Paranormal Activity film, if some people demand it, then why not supply it? And make a good few quid in the process.