Community Chronicle: 03/11/13

My internet is really so very bad, that it would be quicker to post things to me than it would for me to download them. Battlefield 4 for PC is “only” 24.5GB, and it will have taken around 20 hours to download it all, over the last day and a half.

I’ve been wanting to get fibre for, oh, around 3 years, but it’s not ready for me yet!

This is why we’re not ready for a purely digital age of gaming, but I’ll stop whining and get on with the Chronicle now.

It was a week of disappointments, this time around, starting off with the confirmation that the Xbox One will be running Call of Duty: Ghosts and Battlefield 4 at 720p60, whilst the PS4 bests it on both counts.

Though this is naturally disappointing, Gazza chips in with a level head, saying that, “As long as it runs a solid 60fps, I don’t think this will hurt the XBOne too much. People play COD for the fast paced gameplay, not pretty graphics.

” I think it’s more worrying that as a whole, the XBOne can’t seem to run a non-exclusive game at 1080p60. Ghosts is an AAA title with millions of dollars thrown behind it – I can’t see smaller studios being able to dedicate the time and money to optimise their game for the XBOne if the PS4 can handle it fine. I’m sure that as the generation moves along, Devs will become more familiar with the hardware, but it’s not a great start if Devs are having trouble with one console and not the other.”

But it wasn’t just the XBox camp which was having difficulties, as the various PlayStation 4 FAQs released this week, revealing a distinctly lacking set of media functionality. Notably unable to play MP3s locally, let alone stream them via DLNA.

In the middle of quite an active conversation, DJ Judas stated that, “I buy a console for the games too. However, over recent years I’ve used my PS3 for everything media related. It’s become the center of all video consumption. By removing my ability to do this with PS4, the situation becomes more complicated.”

Thankfully, as software features and with Shuhei Yoshida passing on the most vocalised opinions, we might see these things reach the PS4 after a litle while.

Sadly, it looks like there will be no rescuing Blockbuster, as they slumped back into administration. For gamers who had decided to pre-order with them, there was the bad news that these could not be honoured.

“I have 2 PS4s, 5 games and the camera on pre-order from my local Blockbuster. I just hope I can get money back. Now to look for shops still taking pre-orders for the 29th release date…” said the unfortunate Jonnyismyname.

TSBonyman had his more analytical head on, as he said, “That’s a shame, but kind of inevitable due to online competition. I can’t remember the last time I rented a movie anywhere. There came a point where it was better value for me to buy DVDs than to rent them and I never looked back.”

That’s all I’ve picked out from this week, but there’s been some good discussions this time around. Here’s hoping there’s more of the same for next week!

Philzy85 got around to sending in a quick look at his gaming set up, this week. He’s got plenty to describe, so I’ll hand over to him.

I’ve been meaning to put my entertainment rig up for months but, as I have been redecorating, I’ve waited until it’s all back together.

Everything is stealthily hidden away as I can’t stand clutter and exposed wiring. The OCD is strong with this one. Fancy push to open doors reveal the gadgety goodies within.

A Sky+ HD box top left, crappy EE router next to it and my PS3 pyramid pad charger. The space underneath is reserved for my XBMC powered HTPC which is undergoing a complete rebuild. The PS3 sits top right above my Onkyo 5.1 AVR. The Sky box, HTPC and PS3 are all plumbed into the Onkyo via HDMI, the sound is pumped out of some Samsung speakers, while the video is sent to the TV also by HDMI.

I’m happy with the setup I have, at last, but will be getting a larger TV when funds allow. At the moment, I like to pull up my gaming chair and sit 2 foot from the screen to feel full immersion, which is amazing with the surround sound.

A lovely set up there, and I love how it’s all hidden away, then suddenly just appears out of nowhere!

If people want to keep sending things in, I’ll be happy to post them, but this won’t be a regular feature any longer. If you fancy it, just use the submission form below, get in touch with me on Twitter at @teflon, or just send me an email out of the blue to [email protected].

With the forums down, I can’t go and scrape up many of your achivements and things you’ve been playing. Instead I’ve just got What We Played to fall back on.

R1MJAW has been as busy as ever, nabbing the platinums for both Hunted: The Demon’s Forge and Rayman Origins on Vita, while ron_mcphatty finished Metal Gear Solid 4 for the eighth time (!) and got the platinum. That’s a fair old bit of dedication there!

Tactical20 has burnt his way through Lego Batman 2 and what he calls “Lord of da Ringz”, which sounds like a delightful pastiche of the Lord of the Rings story.

Eldave0 has been similarly committed to Black Ops 2 over the last year, reaching 10,000 kills last weekend, as he packs things up, so that he can trade them in for a shiny new Xbox One.

Germanos rounds things out, as he returned to Transformers: War for Cybertron and continued enjoying it to completion, before stepping across to the sequel, Fall of Cybertron, which he’s enjoying even more!

We’re nearly done, but you can head over to page two for the full trophy leaderboards. To finish off this page, we have the usual submission form for photos and accomplishments.