AK4tywill

Regarding some of the above comments: It's so unfortunate that, like with others here, everything Harry Potter leaves this nasty taste in my mouth now that JKR has become a militant culture warrior squarely fixated on making already marginalised people's lives as difficult as possible and libelling them as insidious misogynists.

Not that I feel like I'm missing out hugely - I've largely outgrown the likes of Star Wars, HP and other film franchises I adored as a child, and there are far better games and films to play and watch today anyway. But while I was happy to skip the fine but average looking Hogwarts Legacy and use that time to play God of War or The Witcher 3, curiosities like this do oddly grab my attention from time to time, and the PS2 factor that NEStalgia mentioned is specifically what's drawing me with to this.

@rusty82 Just checked. It is indeed 30fps I'm afraid (though it does at least have right analogue stick support).

One of my PSP faves and my first ever Ratchet. I will definitely be trophy hunting this one. Just wrapping up the platinum for Ratchet 3 too. Perfect timing.

@Dragoon1994 They've only just got the PS2 emulation going so they likely have a much more streamlined process for the PSP games, so it would probably be a case of artificially delaying Size matters to have them come out in sequential order, which would be silly - especially given that Size Matters is more of a spin-off/side game.

They also have a lot less 1st/2nd party PSP games left to release and they're trying to get new ones out every month. Ratchet is a clear crowd pleaser.

@get2sammyb Yeah, I'm honestly very pleased with this month. Looking forward to Jeanne d'Arc, Ratchet and Bannerlord. I just hope Ratchet has right analogue control as well, that would be a huge bonus.

@themightyant It's not, this is a new emulation coming to premium. This is it's announcement - it's coming to premium on day 1 like Sony's other recent PSP emulated re-releases.

I honestly think this is a better choice. Having spent hundreds of hours in Inquisition, I felt it was odd to subtitle the sequel as one of the many party members in the third game - even if they would play a major role in this game. 'Veilguard' also just fits better with the naming convention established in Inquisition. Veilguard coming for yo ass.

@pyrrhic_victory Technically it's not been cancelled. It's in development at Schrödinger Studios until we hear anything (not likely).

@DonkeyFantasy My friend's dad works for bluepoint and he says it's Bloodborne 4 and it's battle royale (with Lizzo skins).

Day one play for me. I was getting tired of waiting for Rewind and laughed in horror when I saw the build for the now-cancelled game from Embracer, so I'm very happy we may finally be getting TimeSplitters again - even if it is just an emulation.

@kailun From what I've read online - it doesn't unfortunately. Only Daxter and Ghosthunter do. That being said, they may get added in the future - it happened for Toy Story later down the line and that was also an emulated Disney game.

EDIT: This from a Push Square article published this morning:

"While some third-party titles have been adding Trophies recently, it looks like there’ll be no gongs for LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, the third retro game scheduled to be added as part of PS Plus Premium’s big June update, available today."

@ItsAlwaysSunnyyy The quantity is poor, but I think the quality games on offer this month is actually very solid. I think the unfortunate reality is that we're going to be very limited in terms 'big name' titles we all grew up with as we're living in the age of re-releases and developers have their own, more profitable plans for much of their old library.

That being said, while you may not have heard of Daxter or Ghosthunter, they are gems from Sony's own library and worth a look at if you're interested in the history of Playstation.

I actually want to see these kinds of games on the service more than the big headline first party titles like Sly and God of War, the reason being that those major series received high quality remasters on PS3 which I'd much rather see ported. It would cost more on Sony's end, but I think they deserve them and could turn a profit if priced correctly. For instance, I would love a God of War I, II, COO, GOS collection rather than straight emulations of the originals.

To be honest, when the rumours first hit I was hoping for and expecting a free moving camera and open world type - more akin to the recent Lego Star Wars.

I was a bit disappointed to see the couch co-op optimised fixed camera and more linear design, but the game does look great and I'm glad to hear the boss battles are chaotic and fun in practice - the thunderjaw fight in the trailer looked quite contrived to me so I was worried.

Very happy with Premium, though Extra is quite weak for headliners this month aside from Monster Hunter (I can't imagine most football manager players are on console).

I'd love to see a detailed comparison of these versions against the PS3 remasters. The remastering of Sly Cooper was excellent on PS3 and it seems from this article that it remains the definitive way to play the game. I also remember it being fairly forgiving, so probably isn't one of the titles that most needs the 'rewind' function.

Meanwhile, I have the Tomb Raider HD Trilogy unplayed on PS3 and am tempted by convenience of playing Legend on my PS5 (I have premium) but suspect the PS3 version may be technically superior (I think it's actually a 7th gen version rather than a 6th gen version as is the case here).

I'm not sure what the incentive would be other than altruism and good press, but couldn't Sony step in and help them out? It's clear the studio wants a real physical release, they're just short on resources.

@KoopaTheGamer Because words mean things until they're abused to the point of becoming meaningless.

'Director's Cut' is a phrase that has a purpose and communicates intent and content. If the phrase is overly-abused and mis-used it will become as useless as 'deluxe edition', 'gold edition', 'premium edition' 'ultimate edition' etc. etc.

Different publishers having their own inconsistent vocabulary to convey 'completeness' is frustrating (I can't be the only one who has to regularly search online for which version of X game is the best to buy), but 'Director's Cut' is valuable because it already has a universal meaning and tasteless game publishers are willing to destroy that for the sake of a tacky nonsense marketing gimmick.

I sort of loathe that Sony coined this stupid terminology for video-game re-releases (where it more often than not makes zero sense - as pointed out by Hideo Kojima regarding the 'Director's Cut' of his own game) before - rightly - abandoning it after just two titles.

What creative control was wrestled away from the director of Hogwarts Legacy? What re-arrangement of scenes and sequences will be implemented to achieve their original, un-compromised and as yet un-seen vision of the story?

If WB can answer those questions then by all means, go ahead and call it 'Director's Cut'. If it's just some extra features and missions, slap 'complete edition' on the box and be done with this pretentious nonsense.

I hope they can at least re-use the assets, engine, animations etc. to remake the other two PS2 sequels without as much time, effort and cost. Hopefully then they'll stand a better chance of a decent return on investment (and give us a complete trilogy).

Currently playing through Syphon Filter 1 but i may dip back onto Assassin's Creed Origins which I left a couple of months ago.

Rejoice! Japan Studio lives through Team Asobi!

A few gems but a lot of what we already knew was coming, and far too heavily saturated with dark fantasy action games which does none of them any favours as they all start to blend together.

Also felt like much of what we saw was updates/retreads of games we already know of. Great for fans of those individual games but not much broad appeal.

Astro looks great but the leaks definitely took a lot of 'wow' out of the reveal. I kept waiting for 'one more thing' at the end.

It did very little for me personally. The writing seems fine at least, but still quite generic. I was also hoping there would be more than just pvp gameplay - if you create a cool world i want lots of ways to explore and interact with it.

Also can't help but wonder what the decision was to not make it free to play. It's closest, already immensely popular competitors are.

Everyone has forgotten about that Gravity Rush 2 Remastered rumour. I'm really hoping we see it tonight.

@BearsEatBeets Because this was marketing, not an actual journalistic endeavour (even then, journalistic interviews are edited - though not usually to this degree).

So many "X PlayStation announcement imminent" rumours lately that it's like we're having the showcase/state of play screamed in our faces.

The not-knowing is torturous. Sony please just give us a date or dispel the rumours.

Sony NEED to start showing which games we have via PS+ essential vs premium. I have Spongebob via PS+, but I have no idea if it's going to be 'locked' in June because I don't know which program I got it through. This problem didn't exist with PS Now and Plus due to different branding.

@NinjaNicky Rare is the moment like this when I share every sentiment from a comment, from the fatigue of pop culture cameos in Call of Duty to the frustration of repeated fruitless treks across Hell Let Loose.

@kirkn Good shout, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be accurate. I bought Burnout Paradise Remastered for a steal at £1.79 a month ago. It's currently in the 'cheaper than ever' section for £3.59.

We have different definitions of 'cheap'.

Don't forget, if you want the platinum trophies, make sure you pick up the PS4 version - PS5 doesn't have them.

Watch Dogs and Red Dead 2 have already been on the service previously (at least when it was called PS Now) so they don't feel much like headliners. And those are horrendous Premium choices. Why should we even be excited about the prospect of the new PS2 emulator if this is what they're doing with their PS1/PSP emulator?

@adit365 I will not forgive Sony if they do that. The Rise of The Ronin/Dragon's Dogma 2 clash was frustrating enough.

@Vault_Mcfly I mean, it's a satire of machismo jingoism which we constantly get via 'manly-man' games like Gears of war, Call of Duty etc. It's only cringe when the satire goes over people's heads.

Very hyped to finally play Deceive Inc. Been wanting that game for a little while.

That aside, what a weak month. If Watch Dogs and RDR 2 were getting 60fps patches it would be great, but as it is it's just a repeat of headliners we've had previously on PS NOW/ Plus Extra (that most have likely bought regardless).

Most disappointing are the Premium options. No PSP games? How long is it going to take for Sony to give us Daxter, Motorstorm Artic Edge and Ratchet & Clank Size Matters?

It's really dirty to give us so little notification for these additional removals. Not even two weeks?

@AFCC I recently tried jumping into Destiny 2 for the first time with a hope to play it solo like a traditional game. On paper I should have loved it, but I found it to be an extremely frustrating experience.

The story makes no effort to catch you up (not even a recap movie) and heaps a bunch of sci-fi goo goo gaa gaa on you that makes no sense to a newcomer.

What's more, there is a very poor sense of direction as to what should be tackled and in what order. This is compounded by the bizarre decision to boot you into a completely different planet/quest/expansion when you startup the game (it doesn't pick up from where you left off). One time i got quite far through a quest, had to log off and when I returned I was somewhere completely different being told to talk to someone that I couldn't identify or find and It took me lots of attempts to get back to the planet i was on previously. I had to guess my way back to the mission I was part way through and found i had to start all the way from the beginning.

Another time I launched the game and it booted me into a new story again. The planet seemed cool enough so i played through the story of the expansion for an hour or so but eventually reached a point where i couldn't progress because I needed to buy a costly expansion that I didn't have. I guess they let you play the opening for free as a taster, but booting a noob into that from launch without telling them is not a good idea. Reading on forums and Reddit, this is an issue that the Destiny 2 community is aware of and very frustrated by as they recognise that it is putting off new players.

Overall I felt that every time I played I wasn't making any progress and while the mechanics were fun and the game was visually polished, it was all i incredibly repetitive and felt meaningless. The world building just wasn't for me either and felt very sci-fi generic.

My advice is don't give it too much of your time if you're not initially hooked. While I hoped it would essentially be Halo for PlayStation, I was left very disappointed and felt it wasn't worth my time or SSD space, especially considering the quality of games elsewhere in my backlog.

Against all my better instincts, I may actually download and try FC24. Last time I tried a football game was Fifa 10.

The devs really know how to play it.

You can call Rise of The Ronin, Helldivers 2 and Stellar Blade first or second party, but they're certainly not third party titles.

@Darude84 Ah, gotcha. Yeah I've been unsure as to whether I should just skip the OG and go straight to Remake, but from what I see the people who rave the most about Remake are those who played the OG so I reckon it can't really spoil the experience.

I suppose knowing there are changes (I have a few guesses on what they are based on what I know of the original story) isn't ideal as I won't be that surprised that they deviated, but I guess that's just the nature of playing something a while after release.

@Darude84 Thanks for the heads up. I'd been recommended to play the original FFVII before Remake so that I better appreciate the changes, and I thought that would extend to Crisis Core as technically FFVII+Crisis Core are set in a different timeline than the Remake trilogy.

I guess what I mean is, can Crisis Core 'spoil' anything more than the original FFVII already would?

Having more power is all well and good, but if developers don't actually utilise it it's all for naught, and Sony themselves have a less than stellar record in this department.

Sure, when the PS5 launched Sony drip-fed us PS5 performance updates, but they left most of their games untouched and stuck at a disappointing 30 frames-per-second. Elsewhere, while Microsoft developed their own FPS Boost feature to allow games a performance update without the need for developer support (useful for titles they don't have dev access to like third party games), Sony didn't even attempt to match the effort.

They're also notoriously quick to give up the goose if they don't immediately see a strong profit forecast (even if there's strong potential). PSVR2, Dreams and PS Vita can attest to that.

The PS5 isn't a PC where we can immediately tap into the power increase. With consoles we're entirely at the mercy of developers and publishers to see if we can utilise the extra power for our favourite games. I'm sure Spider-man 2 and a couple of other heavy hitters will great some great performance, upgrade, but else-where I'm very hesitant to have optimism.

Right then, time to finally get on with playing Final Fantasy VII so I can play Crisis Core so I can play Remake so I can play Rebirth.

@nomither6 I love the originals, I'm replaying them all at the moment (currently trying to platinum Up Your Arsenal), and while they're undoubtedly classics with beautiful worlds and a great sense of humour, they have aged a little gameplay-wise. Not as bad as many games of the era, but as with Jak 2 & 3, they are heavily shooter-reliant before either development team (Insomniac or Naughty Dog) had worked out how best to integrate that core mechanic into a platformer.

Up Your Arsenal is probably the best thanks to the optional 'third person shooter' control option in the menu which gives a lot more control to the player, but this comes at a cost of that platformer feeling that I love about the Ratchet games and really does just make it feel more like a shooter, which to me isn't entirely what Ratchet is about.

Going and playing 2016 now feels like an absolute treat. The presentation, world, animation and mechanics feel like the Ratchet formula honed to a T. I understand the tone and narrative complaints, but the game is framed as a non-canon retelling of the original story from the unreliable narrator of Captain Qwark, which I think is a very skillful way of making it both serve as a companion piece to the altered film narrative while still finding a way to fit inside the Ratchet timeline. I also just don't hate the story either, I think it has tons of great moments even if it's not as compelling as the peak entries (and the side characters are far less interesting than Talwyn, Azimuth, Sigmund etc.)

If Insomniac were to remake the first three games with the same love and detail they did here then they would likely jump straight to the top and sit beside ACIT, Into The Nexus and Rift Apart for me, but until then I think 2016 is easily one of the best Ratchet GAMES, specifically because of how fun it is to play.

This game is a gem. It may be the black sheep of the franchise (at least with the hardcore fans) but truthfully it's one of the best.

@Flaming_Kaiser I would be all over those and have long had a similar thought. The 'boutique blu ray' scene (Criterion, Arrow etc.) is huge and largely untapped in gaming. Limited run are probably the closest, but Sony have the resources and IP to make some serious money by selling physical copies of older games from their library complete with art/bts booklets. It's an untapped money-maker.

@Flaming_Kaiser Yes you can buy them individually thank goodness. I wish Nintendo would follow suit.

@Czar_Khastik We already got it 😂. This will be the third iteration of Medievil 1 on PS+ Premium. Fourth if you count the original Medievil unlocked by beating Medievil Remake.

All that ludicrousness aside, I will still play it and bag all those trophies. I love Medievil.

@Bentleyma I do highly recommend it. There are so many great games on the device. I'd also say it's worth getting one on Ebay from Japan as you can get a 2000 in a nice colour (the blue and red both look really great) and Japanese people take much better care of their handhelds than Americans/Europeans.

Do you know which games you're most eager to get on it? If you're not going the mod route (can't earn trophies if you do I believe) It's worth checking to see if you have any games on it through PS+ I had over 100 just through claiming the monthly games, and a lot of PS3 and PS4 games still have crossbuy.