The Casual Gamer's Guide to Video Gaming 2017

The new consoles have finally been announced, the dust is beginning to settle, and now there are a lot of choices for anyone wanting to make their way back into gaming or starting from scratch. Maybe you don’t know one PS4 SKUfrom another or have any idea who Nathan Drake is—and that’s okay. Not everyone has the time or the motivation to be a gaming enthusiast, and so this guide is for the rest of you: explaining the consoles, the games, and the technologies you need to know about to hold up a reasonably detailed conversation about video gaming in 2017.

Sony PlayStation 4 Slim

In terms of sales at least, Sony’s PlayStation 4 is comfortably beating Microsoft’s Xbox One at the moment, and the Slim model is an upgraded version of the original console launched in 2013, which is no longer on sale. Prices start at $300

The Slim features a 1.6 GHz octa-core processor made by AMD, 8GB of RAM and graphics power capable of 1.84 teraflops—a measure of how many graphically intensive calculations a system can make in a second, and a useful shorthand for comparing systems. On top of that you get 500GB or 1TB of storage for games and other content.

Display output tops out at 1080p with HDR support, you get a built-in Blu-ray drive, and it’s available in black or white. Every PS4 game will work on the Slim and the Pro, but the Pro gives developers a chance to boost frame rates or make their scenes more detailed—how that extr?

The top-end PlayStation 4 as of 2017 and really more of a PlayStation 4.5. If you want the very best gaming console that Sony has to offer right now then this is it, though the upgrade doesn’t make sense for everyone and comes at a price: $400 or above.

Inside there’s a 2.1 GHz octa-core AMD processor, 8GB of RAM plus 1GB for “non-gaming” tasks, and enough graphics oomph to push out 4.2 teraflops of gaming power: That equates to resolutions running at up to 4K with HDR (depending on the game and your TV). The console is only available with 1TB of storage space on board.

Again there’s a Blu-ray drive included, though no support for 4K as far as physical discs go, and all that power adds some bulk too. The Pro is about 14 percent wider, 11 percent longer, 40 percent taller and almost 60 percent heavier than the Slim, and you don’t get a white option, which together with the price may make some casual gamers think twice.

July 04, 2017 Tags : 2017 , Casual , Gamer's , Guide

Tuesday, 4 July 2017

The Casual Gamer's Guide to Video Gaming 2017