Watch Dogs PC Mod Recreates E3 2012 Graphical Enhancements

Post by Eorl @ 10:44am 17/06/14 | 67 Comments

Watch Dogs' fabled E3 2012 appearance has left many wondering where exactly those graphical details had disappeared in the later editions of the game, and it seems those enhancements aren't exactly "gone" thanks to a recent PC mod by TheWorse.

Overnight, the modder in question revealed through some tweaking of .ini files that Ubisoft has indeed kept the spectacular looking E3 2012 features, though obviously chosen to hide them from plain sight. As well as unlocking past features, modder TheWorse has also added new effects into the game in the form of LoD changes, fog default values increased, performance improvements and rain changes.

“I realized it was based on dunia 2 so I tried to unpack the files which obviously not worked,” says TheWorse on Guru3D (via games.on.net). “After searching so much for the unpacker I found it, started playing with it and after a long time of testing I ended up getting the E3 Bloom from 2012 working.”

“After studying how bin hex worked and downloading many tools to convert files etc, I was able to integrate and enable many effects.”

You can download the mod directly from the Guru3D website, though be warned that this mod is still in progress so expect bugs and graphical glitches.

watch dogs pc modding ubisoft e3 2012 reveal

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Latest Comments

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groganus
Posted 10:56am 17/6/14

It's kind of baffling that a company would hold back the graphical quality of its game for what ever stupid reason it is.

I've read all the dumb speculations about why this happened and I prefer to go with the simplest explanation... Frankly none of them are "Simple" with out being crackpot conspiracies.

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copuis
Posted 11:15am 17/6/14

it is almost like they are purposely making it worse for some reason

there is no issue de-tuning something to work on on a lesser system, like an xbox 360, vs an xbone

but it is different de-tuning it to prevent lost sales of a console (which is about the only reason I can see this sort of s*** happening, I wonder how much pressure MS and sony put to make this happen)

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Jeffro
Posted 11:51am 17/6/14

Lol you guys honestly think its a conspiracy?

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Herron
Posted 12:19pm 17/6/14

Thatbokeh DOF effect looks terrible!

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Jeffro
Posted 12:31pm 17/6/14

Ubisoft are sticking by their claim that graphics were not downgraded on Watchdogs.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/watch-dogs-visuals-have-not-been-downgraded-ubisoft-says/1100-6418171/

https://twitter.com/UbiTessa/status/478622295662297088

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ph33x
Posted 12:58pm 17/6/14

Now there is the 30fps Division debacle.

I thought someone said the new consoles would fix everything - so far I can't see an end to this s*** fest.

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Jeffro
Posted 01:09pm 17/6/14

Lol don't blame consoles for Ubisoft's problems. They can sell their games on PC only if they want.

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dewb
Posted 01:47pm 17/6/14

http://wccftech.com/e3-2012-graphics-watch-dogs-deliberately-turned-off-pc-next-gen/

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Gung-ho
Posted 01:59pm 17/6/14

The more likely explanation is this: Ubisoft implemented these features for demonstrative (promotional videos and screen shots) purposes to help sell the game. I think it's pretty common for promotional material to have graphical features that are never seen by players. Ubisoft being the lazy company they are simply left the necessary data in the release product.

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ph33x
Posted 02:08pm 17/6/14

Lol don't blame consoles for Ubisoft's problems. They can sell their games on PC only if they want.

That would make sense if it was only just Ubisoft doing this. It isn't though.

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Jeffro
Posted 02:23pm 17/6/14

That would make sense if it was only just Ubisoft doing this. It isn't though.

Well you can't put all the blame on Sony and Microsoft either. You were making out that they are the main problem.

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konstie
Posted 02:31pm 17/6/14

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/watch_dogs-unbelievable-hidden-comment-shows-ubisofts-arrogance-towards-pc-gamers-or-not/

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konstie
Posted 02:33pm 17/6/14

Suppose I should quote the rest of the article -

Now let me play the devil’s advocate in this last paragraph. Yes, this comment feels arrogant as hell but perhaps it was included in order to indicate that the PC version did not need special command lines.

WD-Hidden-Comment

Taking a closer look at this particular file, we can see that the ‘float3 upperColor’ command has special values for Xbox One. Ubisoft has lowered the settings of this particular setting on Microsoft’s console. Therefore, the ‘This is PC, who cares’ comment is obviously a comment indicating that the PC version does not need such workarounds or limitations.

So there you have it. While at first glance this comment will drive you crazy and will make you start cursing Ubisoft, this may very well be a comment showing that the PC version features the best visual effects that were not compromised at all. Or a bad dev joke (that was kept for no apparent reason).

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Jeffro
Posted 02:40pm 17/6/14

Well considering some of the issues Watchdogs had on Xbox and PlayStation maybe they are just better off being PC only lol. I know a lot of the Xbox community were not very happy with some things.

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Eorl
Posted 03:42pm 17/6/14

So got a chance to try out the mod, and so far it isn't looking spectacularly amazing. The DOF is definitely nice, except the camera distance cut off is just...weird. In real life you don't really get that kind of depth cut off as this implies, so it somewhat irks me while playing.

Definitely increases performance though that's for sure. Have no stutters and FPS is far higher on all ultra with my 770 4GB.

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kappa
Posted 03:52pm 17/6/14

Is it just me or does that last screen shot look over cooked with effects? First two look nice though.

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d^
Posted 03:54pm 17/6/14

Pretty odd if they did remove the enhancements. Though it is all up for debate at the moment from the looks of it, people on both sides of the fence.

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ph33x
Posted 09:10am 18/6/14

Well you can't put all the blame on Sony and Microsoft either. You were making out that they are the main problem.

Get your filthy words out of my mouth. My first post is rather clear without your translations.

----------

I totally forgot that FarCry was a Ubisoft game. Inb4 another s*** fest where the game doesn't match the trailer videos. Inb4 hidden code that many PC's can now handle.

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Jeffro
Posted 09:16am 18/6/14

Get your filthy words out of my mouth. My first post is rather clear without your translations.

Lol you going to spend another day carrying on about this?

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ph33x
Posted 09:19am 18/6/14

Lol you going to spend another day carrying on about this?

Because posting twice in a whole day is carrying on. Aren't you the dramatic one.

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Jeffro
Posted 09:23am 18/6/14

Because posting twice in a whole day is carrying on. Aren't you the dramatic one.

Maybe take your issue up with Ubisoft themselves like everyone else has been. Here is where we are talking about it.

http://forums.ubi.com/showthread.php/892116-You-DID-downgrade-the-Grphical-settings-after-E3-Proof

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ph33x
Posted 09:27am 18/6/14

You fail to realise the larger issue isn't solely confined to Ubisoft. It's hard to see these things when you predominantly play them 720/900p console games.

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Jeffro
Posted 09:32am 18/6/14

I already acknowledged that Sony and Microsoft may have a part in this but that's business and they aren't completely to blame. Ubisoft want our money as well as PC so they just need to get their act together or cater to one market seems quite simple to me.

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beau
Posted 09:40am 18/6/14

Was chatting with some programmer guy from ubisoft montreal. Should have asked him about this.

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copuis
Posted 09:58am 18/6/14

I already acknowledged that Sony and Microsoft may have a part in this but that's business and they aren't completely to blame. Ubisoft want our money as well as PC so they just need to get their act together or cater to one market seems quite simple to me.

you said they weren't to blame, but infact if they pay money to make sure a game looks the same on PC and console, then they can infact be to blame to a large degree

(I really dont think you know just how much influence businesses can have on things from time to time, ie, most of the layout of sweets and so on at the counters at coles/woolies aren't based on what sells the best, or what they want to shift, but based on who pays the most for what spot, and it isn't a little amount of money either (far more than you might make in profit from pure sales alone)

also, which is the most profitable stream for a company. if they (for reasons of simple maths) sell 1/3 to sony systems, 1/3 to xbox systems and 1/3 to PC to get a company to pay for "the best it can look" code package, you would approach sony and microsoft for 2/3's of the market, but who would you approach for pc?, a PC is there for more than gaming, end the high end market isn't geared to gamers (it might be used by, and from time to time marketed to, but it isn't the reason for it being made) you are not going to find anyone to chip in the big bucks

so would you as a company stand to lose millions of dollars in payments for "system support" from sony and microsoft in order to provide the best game you could (while at the same time selling the same amount of units) or miss out, and provide the best game you can

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Jeffro
Posted 10:02am 18/6/14

you said they weren't to blame

I said you cant put 'all' the blame on them lol.

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copuis
Posted 10:04am 18/6/14

only in that last post

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Jeffro
Posted 10:09am 18/6/14

only in that last post

Sigh. Seriously this isn't a conspiracy. It's business nothing else. Ubisoft are the ones who write the code for the games. They chose to leave the effects out of the game. So why blame Microsoft and Sony?

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ph33x
Posted 10:37am 18/6/14

The only conspiracy here is your fierce defence of the console.

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Jeffro
Posted 10:54am 18/6/14

Lol if you want to blame anyone on consoles blame Sony. According to Total Biscuit they had more to gain from a conspiracy then Microsoft.

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Khel
Posted 04:09pm 18/6/14

Would be interesting to see sales numbers, but I reckon PC Watchdogs would have been a tiny amount compared to console sales, even last gen XBox 360 and PS3 sales, so its not suprising Ubisoft think they can get away with s*** like this (if, in fact, allegations are true). Thing is, its been proven time and time again they CAN get away with it, because PC gamers keep on buying. Everyone gets up in arms every time something like this happens, then a few months later when the next big title comes out they buy it anyway.

Why wouldn't they make decisions like this when theres no real obvious downside for them? Get all the big console dollars and PC schmucks are gonna buy whatever they get shovelled anyway, win win.

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Meddek
Posted 04:14pm 18/6/14

Do what I do buy a console for all the single player games and stick to multiplier games on PC.

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trog
Posted 04:18pm 18/6/14

Was chatting with some programmer guy from ubisoft montreal. Should have asked him about this.

he wouldn't have answered. I was chatting with a studio head from Ubi Canada and he wouldn't talk in any detail about unreleased titles.

Buying PC games from Ubisoft has been a sucker's game for a long time :(

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fpot
Posted 06:22pm 21/6/14

The link to the mod in the OP is dead.

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Whoop
Posted 07:08pm 22/6/14

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Jeffro
Posted 07:40pm 22/6/14

This still making news? You have your mod now. Ubisoft and consoles reputation is garbage what more do you want?

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Whoop
Posted 09:03pm 22/6/14

This still making news? You have your mod now. Ubisoft and consoles reputation is garbage what more do you want?

I bet you $50 you can't let this thread go without having the last word

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Jeffro
Posted 09:07pm 22/6/14

Well I don't have 50 dollars at the moment but sure whatever you say. I just think this is being blown right out of proportion tbh.

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ph33x
Posted 10:57pm 22/6/14

This whole PC nerfed game thing is only just becoming accepted by the mainstream. Certainly more to come, and it's a good thing.

Last word.

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Enska
Posted 11:57pm 22/6/14

Haha. itt, Jeffro's about to lose his work experience gig at ubi.

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Jeffro
Posted 12:06am 23/6/14

Hur Dur. Keep trolling guys. But get some new material now maybe. This Ubisoft conspiracy theory is getting stale.

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copuis
Posted 12:17am 23/6/14

who said it was just ubisoft, it is a conspiracy, or at best a business/s conducting quality fixing of products in order to preventing a better product being available to the consumer

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Jeffro
Posted 12:26am 23/6/14

Your entitled to your idea about what it is and I'm entitled to mine. Is that ok with you guys? I don't agree with this whole conspiracy theory I'm sorry.

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BladeRunner
Posted 01:13am 23/6/14

I would say it was intentional. Just fixing it so it looks the same across all platforms. This whole console business is apparently important, lots of money being spent and branding and looks are important.

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Jeffro
Posted 10:00am 23/6/14

It's not 'apparently' important lol. It's big money business and if anyone knows how business works they would understand that this dispute is a load of codswallop. Anyway Microsoft just updated us on some info about console resolution so maybe you might rethink how much the Xbox One is this piece of garbage everyone is saying it is.

http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/23/4359450/xbox-one-will-support-4k-output-resolution-and-3d

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ph33x
Posted 10:07am 23/6/14

I would say it was intentional. Just fixing it so it looks the same across all platforms. This whole console business is apparently important, lots of money being spent and branding and looks are important.

And it only exists due to this perpetual culture that consoles are the be-all-end-all. Keep that image up, money rolls in, everyone has a console, you're not cool if you don't have a console, you need cod cause everyone has it, etc.

Break any part of this filthy perpetual cycle and people will leak out like ants from an ant mound made of animal turds. Once they get a breath of fresh air and realise they have lived in a pile of turd their whole life, they'll buy a Intel/GTX powered PC and never look back. Sony and MS (surprisingly enough) are worried about this.

So from here they need to hang onto as many people like Jeffro as they can. It's now or never for the console peasants.

Anyway Microsoft just updated us on some info about console resolution so maybe you might rethink how much the Xbox One is this piece of garbage everyone is saying it is. [Link to Xbox 4K article]

See? This stuff is what feeds Microsoft more money. Let's ignore the fact that the console hardly has any games 1080 @ 60fps, but move even further to say they're going to render at 4K resolutions. I'm not a rocket scientist or anything but something about this story doesn't add up.

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Jeffro
Posted 10:11am 23/6/14

Let's ignore the fact that the console hardly has any games 1080 @ 60fps, but move even further to say they're going to render at 4K resolutions.

I'm not getting into a debate on that. As this is a old article that was only just recently updated but I will say we have a lot more games on the way that will be 1080p @60 fps.

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TiT
Posted 10:17am 23/6/14

I'm not getting into a debate on that. As this is a old article that was only just recently updated but I will say we have a lot more games on the way that will be 1080p @60 fps.

yeah pacman

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Jeffro
Posted 10:25am 23/6/14

yeah pacman

You trolling me brah?

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ph33x
Posted 10:27am 23/6/14

I will say we have a lot more games on the way that will be 1080p @60 fps.

I will say that no 3D game will ever release on the xbox at 4K res. No, none, never. A PC GPU with a metric f***-ton more power is at the 30fps @ 4K level. Ignoring this fact is what makes you such an avid Microsoft peon.

4K will be used for photos, movie clips, "possibly" dvd/bluray, and "possibly" very simple games such as Pacman above, Pitfall, or E.T. The Extra Terrestrial remake.

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Jeffro
Posted 10:30am 23/6/14

Like I said guys I'm not getting into a debate on that lol.

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ph33x
Posted 10:39am 23/6/14

I wouldn't debate it either, it's a dead end road on that front. - What 1080 60fps games are you aware of that are 'on the way'? - I want to write up a list and see what happens as things get closer. If you can't run D3 60fps @ 1080, then you're going to struggle to run the majority of other games at the same speed.

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Jeffro
Posted 10:52am 23/6/14

Just off the top of my head there is the 3 big name series Halo, Call of Duty and Forza. A few others are more exclusive to PlayStation but we may be able to get them to work at 1080p as well. Destiny for example.

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fpot
Posted 10:55am 23/6/14

I was super pumped for the next-gen consoles and was ready to spend $800+ on something that had awesome hardware and would usher in a new generation of graphics and stuff. Instead we got a pile of gimmicky crap that simply can't compete with what PCs can offer performance-wise.

I gotta say, I don't often buy into conspiracies, but is the one proposed by this thread really that far-fetched? All it would take is some money changing hands, and deliberately gimping a game is completely legal so there really is no risk involved for Ubisoft. Also is this the only statement they have released on the matter -

The PC version does indeed contain some old, unused render settings that were deactivated for a variety of reasons, including possible impacts on visual fidelity, stability, performance and overall gameplay quality. Modders are usually creative and passionate players, and while we appreciate their enthusiasm, the mod in question (which uses those old settings) subjectively enhances the game’s visual fidelity in certain situations but also can have various negative impacts. Those could range from performance issues, to difficulty in reading the environment in order to appreciate the gameplay, to potentially making the game less enjoyable or even unstable.

Because that is a big steaming pile of evasive bulls***. In particular the part I bolded.

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Jeffro
Posted 11:00am 23/6/14

We all know consoles can't compete with PC performance wise. We wouldn't want to take your niche market off you now would we.

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fpot
Posted 11:07am 23/6/14

whoa, that guy just called PC a niche market. This angers me as I have an emotional attachment to my gaming platform of choice and must defend it.

Nah, all that actually proves is that the above statement applies to you and consoles, because you're willing to say incredibly dumb things to try and get a reaction out of people.

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ph33x
Posted 11:20am 23/6/14

I just don't have the required missing screw to fall in love with console filth. I wish I did, the day would probably breeze along much faster when you don't use any form of active thought. The drool on your shirt would be annoying though.

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Jeffro
Posted 12:08pm 23/6/14

Lol ph33x you really need to get over your elitist mentality. So far this morning you have called us filth, peasants and droolers.

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Whoop
Posted 12:18pm 23/6/14

Jeffro itt:

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Jeffro
Posted 12:20pm 23/6/14

Jeffro itt:

Lol Whoop your the one who bumped this dead thread yesterday so you could get some more trolling in.

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Khel
Posted 12:23pm 23/6/14

Once they get a breath of fresh air and realise they have lived in a pile of turd their whole life, they'll buy a Intel/GTX powered PC and never look back.

Realistically, they probably wouldn't, they'd probably just not play games, or play something on their phone. The vast majority of gamers out there aren't like us, they aren't tech savvy and aren't willing to jump through the hoops that gaming on a PC currently requires. I guess thats the main driving goal behind the whole Steam Box thing, to make PC gaming more console-like and accessible.

I've played WoW with people who know basically nothing about their PC, and if someone didn't set it up for them and install everything for them, and they have to do anything outside of click the World of Warcraft shortcut on the desktop, they're lost and have no idea what to do. They play WoW and watch Youtube on their PCs, then go do all their other gaming on a console.

Like it or not, we're a shrinking minority, the tech-savvy gamer. Maybe not so much shrinking because theres less of us, but more because theres more of them. We aren't the average 'gamer' anymore, we aren't the target demographic.

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ph33x
Posted 12:43pm 23/6/14

Lol Whoop your the one who bumped this dead thread yesterday so you could get some more trolling in.

Lol you going to spend another day carrying on about this?

you have called us

Ding ding ding. Watch it go!

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Jeffro
Posted 12:34pm 23/6/14

Exactly Khel if I want to use my brain I just go to my real life job. I don't game as a job like the esports community does.

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paveway
Posted 12:42pm 23/6/14

Like it or not, we're a shrinking minority, the tech-savvy gamer. Maybe not so much shrinking because theres less of us, but more because theres more of them. We aren't the average 'gamer' anymore, we aren't the target demographic.

i think this is why i enjoy the utter disdain for consoles from the usual types on this forum more and more

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ph33x
Posted 12:44pm 23/6/14

Realistically, they probably wouldn't, they'd probably just not play games, or play something on their phone.

Realistically, this is correct. However the point of my posts this very moment is to keep that filthy Jeffro on his toes as long as humanly possible and nothing more. Actually carrying a logical discussion over the future of gaming and/or hardware performance would be a waste of time.

It's like convincing your mate at the club (with 3AM faculties) that she's the opposite of hot. Possibly even that she is a he.. - The only notion you can rest against is that tomorrow, after lunch, he'll listen to you more often.. ;)

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Jeffro
Posted 12:46pm 23/6/14

Lol well if you went on with the same amount of abuse on any other forum you would be taking a vacation from them.

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ph33x
Posted 12:56pm 23/6/14

Lol well if you went on with the same amount of abuse on any other forum you would be taking a vacation from them.

I'm from GameArena bro. ^_^

Don't feel so bad though, every forum has its snake oil buyers - Sony and MS needs these kinds of people to survive in the long run. Did you know there are people out there who swear that playing them $100-$129 (are games still over $100 for consoles or has that calmed down?) FPS games using a console controller is vastly superior to KB/mouse?

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