Japanese Nonsensical Designs for Consoles vs Sound Systems

[jonovid]

in the interests of preventing scratches on video game discs.  vertical vs horizontal mounted case design, but why?  CD and DVD drives that are horizontal have less disc damage
from miss loading. kids fumbling the discs.
somehow it is ok for the Japanese to design sound systems or home theater to take all the room they need with horizontal disc trays, but if its a game console. it must be as
compact as possible with vertical mounted disc slot. 

[lezginka_kabardinka]

in the interests of preventing scratches on video game discs.  vertical vs horizontal mounted case design, but why?  CD and DVD drives that are horizontal have less disc damage
from miss loading. kids fumbling the discs.
somehow it is ok for the Japanese to design sound systems or home theater to take all the room they need with horizontal disc trays, but if its a game console. it must be as
compact as possible with vertical mounted disc slot. 

"Nonsensical" to a non-Japanese eye, but the Japanese are MASTERS of design, even above the Germans. I think they're okay, they've been excelling for quite a time now.

[themadhippy]

somehow it is ok for the Japanese to design sound systems or home theater to take all the room they need with horizontal disc trays

Id say its more down to history,look at the size of your average hi-fi component from when cd's first appeared and its kinda stuck.Also they originally sat in a pile of other audio kit and the top of the stack was needed for the turntable .

[AVGresponding]

in the interests of preventing scratches on video game discs.  vertical vs horizontal mounted case design, but why?  CD and DVD drives that are horizontal have less disc damage
from miss loading. kids fumbling the discs.
somehow it is ok for the Japanese to design sound systems or home theater to take all the room they need with horizontal disc trays, but if its a game console. it must be as
compact as possible with vertical mounted disc slot. 

AFAIK you're free to use the PS5 in horizontal orientation. It looks stupid that way, but then it looks stupid stood on its end. I get why they want to distinguish their designs from the other consoles both current and historical, but doing it in a way that makes them difficult to fit in with other things strikes me as a bit daft.

In any case they (and the other manufacturers) want you to get tired of discs, so it becomes easier for them to go fully digital and own you rather than you owning them.

The PS2 era was peak gaming for me; everything since has been technologically impressive, but disappointing in execution by comparison.

[ConKbot]

Discs? You're supposed to buy it online, and let Sony revoke your license to use it whenever they bung up licensing.

[AVGresponding]

Ah the first world problems 

Consoles in general are nonsensical with their proprietary-and-locked-down-everything design. Not to mention milking their users down to the last penny.

DRM? No modding? No cheats, hacks or trainers? I can't imagine grinding some BS collectibles or progress bars just because game developers shareholders wanted to say their product offers 100+ hours of gameplay (where the actual story takes 8 hours, at best). That's sadomasochism - and not of that "kinky fun" kind.

As a proud member of the PCMR I've never paid for any game (or software) until I was 28 years old  And the most I've ever spent was $60 on Beyond Compare license.

In any case they (and the other manufacturers) want you to get tired of discs, so it becomes easier for them to go fully digital and own you rather than you owning them.

Luckily Stadia and other clouds have mostly dispersed.

I don't mind paying for the console. I don't mind paying for the game. I don't mind being locked in and locked down; different consoles have different strenghths and weaknesses and different titles, and the hackers enjoy the challenge. I object most strenuously to being told I must be online to play an offline game, that I can't buy/sell used games, that I must subscribe to multiple companies in order to play online, and that those with the deepest wallets have an unfair advantage in-world.

Microtransactions and pay-to-win are not a console invention; they existed in the PC MMO world long before there was any serious console online presence. Console manufacturers and content publishers have just leveraged their bigger player base to expand these rapacious practices to astonishingly profitable levels, but it will prove to be counter-productive in the end, I believe.
The arrival of GTA6 when it drops will be a good bellweather for this; much of the creative talent behind the previous games has left, some, including Dan Houser himself, because of the shift in focus from story and gameplay led content to online, live service microtransaction heavy cash-milking. I suspect GTA6 will be a major disappointment, in terms of quality of storyline, dialogue, and general immersive feel.