Yes, Steam is cross buy. Windows, Mac and Linux, if that's your thing. I recently purchased the complete Civilization 4 (Civ 4 + all expansions) and it came with DL links for both PC and Mac versions.

No argument at all on that score. In fact, now we see that Sony will allow publishers to make used game and DRM decisions (while not doing anything for first-party games) makes the blows they landed last night (other than price, of course) a bit lighter.

Ah, but is this really the case? I think not. If you (and I am using the Global You here) want to go to your friends house and play, you still can. In fact, you don't need to even bring your games, you can just download them.

All of this. I agree that the PS4 is a nice bit of gaming tech, and I am sure it will do just fine, maybe even outsell the XB1. That said, I have already preordered the MS deal, for a lot of the reasons that you spelled out. Not only the game sharing (have you confirmed that you can play at the same time? That would…

I guess it's just you and me (heh)....

Definitely check out Steam. But be judicious with your wallet! (It's REALLY easy to load up on games). Just to give you an idea, I have all of the following games and have not even started to play them:

Thank you SO much for a level-headed response. I honestly agree with your points (and who am I trying to impress, while we hang out in the grey, right?) Sucks that you got banned for a CC thing, I know I had a few issues there too.

Diablo III is mulitplatform (including XB1). Infamous looks awesome, as does Killzone. Need to check out Knack, driving games (any platform) don't do it for me. Need to check out The Whiteness. Thanks

I guess I come from a different place. I am an older gamer. I love to game. I buy games (their mom doesn't) and I am not cool with them taking physical media home with them (it invariably gets scratched or never makes it back, plus I wait 2 weeks to play it again, in the best circumstances) so I am cool with the other…

Yep. Also, now PS4 folks have to play for multiplayer online. Seriously, what are the must have Sony exclusives?

Two questions...

But, what about the fact that XBone users can share their games with their "family"? Not (really) trying to troll here, but I have kids who live with their mom. I buy a game and intsall to the HDD. They can log in to our shared XBLive account (that we have had for years, at $5/month) and download and play the game…

One other thing... you Euro folks were bitching that Xbox was $499/Euro 499. PS4 is US $399/Euro 399. Same "shafting" of the Europeans... wonder if we will still see the same rage..

By the way, I personally don't care about offline play or used games...

See, here's the funny part of this. Sony looked REALLY impressive. So, if I decide to buy a PS4 instead, it's all good. Of course, I don't look at it as a war, I look at it as what do I want in MY living room. Not sure yet, gotta check some (perhaps important) things I think I just saw (that being that you will now…

No worries... you probably didn't. Sucks that you guys have such crazy taxes, and, for the record, it IS lame that they think that 499 US = 499 Euro. That would piss me off too.

They did exactly that with the 360. I don't have the specifics in front of me, but I think you could get a 4GB (no Hard Drive) 360 for something like $50, IF you signed a contract for 2 years of live, or some such.

Yeah, I was being a smartass, but seriously. They raised the price once, in 2010, from $50 to $60. That was also the year that they discontinued service for the original Xbox. So, from 2002 to 2010, it was $50. From 2010 until now (and at least in the foreseeable future) it will be $60. Will they raise it again? Quite…

Yep, probably. I know that they have raised the price about what, every 3 years or so? Oh, wait. They haven't. And that's with 77 million XBLG subscribers.

I have no argument with anything that you have said. However, MS has been talking about "convergence" in the Living Room for YEARS. I guess they are throwing their cards on the table now.