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.

This weekend I'm catching up on some older games from my backlog, namely Ratchet and Clank 3 on PS3 and Guacamelee on PS Vita. Having a lot of fun with both.

@VaultGuy415 Is it that exploity? Ill admit I spent an hour repeating runs on Hellmire while listening to my favourite podcasts,. I unlocked the cutting edge warbond in that time. It's easy peasy and this game is as fun playing a low level mission and honing your skills, testing new strategems, completing daily challenges etc. while you listen to podcasts as it is jumping into a level 7 automaton mission with your buddies.

It's all choice and I'm glad super creds are easy to find if you decide to look for them as I personally don't like spending extra dosh on micro-transactions (though if I were, I think this game would be the one to deserve it).

@DiggleDog It really is due to the trickiness of copyright law. They may not be worried about this project or dev, but allowing the IP to be used could open up difficulties with denying it elsewhere by more malicious parties, like a flood of fake Bloodborne games being sold on Steam to capitalise on the PC user base hunger, which in turn could cause massive reputational damage to the IP.

A minor compromise all things considered. Hopefully it's just the character names that have changed and not the designs. This will be a hoot and a holla by the looks of it.

I'm getting seriously allergic to all these subscription services. With games so cheap if you go via CEX, eBay or Vinted, or hell even shop the sales in the PlayStation or Xbox Store, you really won't end up paying any more to just own them.

If we seriously think about the time we have available to play these games I think 90% of people will realise all these subscription services do is cause us to spread our attention so thin between titles rather than playing what we really want to play. And with the added bonus of games you may be looking forward to being removed at 30 days notice, it's kind of a no-brainer to switch back to the old ways. I've caught myself many a time playing a game because it's leaving within the month rather than carrying on with the game I bought because I genuinely wanted to play it. It's pure madness.

Games Pass is not 'the greatest deal in gaming' any more, these day it just feels like a novelty.

@Loamy It's fun to watch the reactions to recent Jimquisition admonishments. The 3/10 Helldivers 2 review certainly got a few people up in arms, but the reaction to the 3/10 Dragon's Dogma 2 Review was far more nuclear.

Quality of the critique aside (Haven't played DD2, enjoying HD2), they're providing some of those golden 'grabs popcorn' moments.

@dschons I do not have faith in Bloober I'm afraid. I fear this will be a case of wondering what a team like Bluepoint may have done while playing.

@Mostik As far as I know it's everything. I'm muscle-memoried the load-out changes into the deployment screen menu at this point.

I Just Want Spyro.

This is nasty. Polyphony Digital/Playstation did this with Gran Turismo 7 after receiving rave reviews at launch and went on to get slated on it's Metacritic user score after the fact. The community clearly doesn't take kindly to this practice and rightly so.

Like with GT7, the timing of these additions seems implicitly manipulative and oriented around circumventing negative reception with the critics. I can see his having a bad reputational impact for what has by all other accounts been a massive success. What a shame.

@IndoorEnthusiast I'm also very excited for this. In general I felt the PSP iterations of Playstation franchises were very good (God of War, Ratchet and Clank, Resistance, Motorstorm etc.) though this clearly was an outlier.

That said, I just have a huge nostalgia and fascination in these games and this is one of the two Jak games I haven't played (the other being X), so I'll be looking forward to diving into both for a trophy hunt even if this isn't up to scratch with the mainline ND games.

I'd also really love for them to follow up next month with Daxter. Ready at Dawn is a fantastic developer and their PSP games really show it.

I hate to comment like this but...why is this news?

Fighting for liberty and managed democracy in Helldivers 2 of-course. And I'll be trying to finish off Ghostwire before it leaves PS+ next week. AND if I need another breather from those, I've just started up Resistance Retribution. Great weekend.

@Intr1n5ic I got into it later via ITV3 re-runs. It felt a bit like a pedestrian version on Uncharted or Indiana Jones all set in North Norfolk (where I've holidayed since I was little).I loved it, a nostalgia for an older time.

@Fyz306903 Dude Sexy Beast is one of my all time favourites. Such a great film.

Ian McShane is one of the best ways to sell me on a game. Anyone else here used to watch Lovejoy?

@Atreus97 If you think the issue is people getting "triggered" you're missing the point entirely.

This is all great, and I really hate seeming this petty (and I do want to play the games regardless) BUT - I'm holding out for a physical release.

@Voltan Hahaha. The trailer was pretty much just remixed SM2 gameplay with a bit of dev tinkering, skins. In a sense they were looking at a finished game, just one that's already been released. You'd think the 'concept' part would give it away.

I would love the behind the scenes of what happened here, it seems like a sure-fire hit if Insombian were behind the wheel, or at least another dev using their framework, mechanics etc.

All I can imagine (and hope) is that maybe there were overlaps between the ideas in this project and another Spidey game in the works, making the development of both redundant.

The rumoured Spider-Verse game from Insomniac would be a natural fit for co-op, and having just seen the leaked concept trailer for The Great Web, it all felt very Spider-verse esque what with the dimension jumping, spider-noir sequences etc. To be honest, I think I'd prefer that art style for a co-op Spider game - would help differentiate it from the mainline series.

Fingers crossed that's what's happening.

EDIT: Realised I typed 'Insombian' instead of 'Insomniac', went to edit, decided I preferred 'Insombian'.

@lankieBD I'm gutted i didn't bite the bullet when it first went up like you did. It does leave a bad taste in my mouth, especially when Helldivers 2 just launched for less money.

The pre-order was initially £32.99 on the PlayStation store, but was soon jacked up to £39.99. Cheeky, I wonder if they saw the numbers and figured they could milk it.

I managed to snag a physical copy from Argos, really looking forward to picking it up and playing it on Monday. Helldivers was one of my favourite PS4 games so my expectations are strong.

I don't usually bother with demos, but I'll be immediately checking this out when it drops proper. Very curious about Stellar Blade.

I'd like.a physical PS5 UK release if possible. They only seemed to make 5 copies and sold them through playstation direct (long gone by now of-course).

My hype is through the roof. Ever since that digital foundry video I've been eager to replay this in 60fps, I just never thought it would happen.

Gravity Rush 2 is easily one of my top 5 games of the last gen. The moment-to-moment gameplay is unlike anything else in the 3rd person action genre, it's very refreshing, and the world is a wonder to explore: So beautiful, cosy and mysterious. If I were to live in any video game world it would be Hekesville.

I really hope more people take the opportunity to play it, maybe then we might even get a sequel, though won't dare to dream.

Like many here I was never chomping at the bit for Sony's big live service push, but somehow it now seems we've lost all the most exciting live service projects (The Last of Us, Twisted Metal, this) and have been left with Fairgame$$$$ and Concord, from which all we've seen is a terrible CGI ubi-style trailer and jiggly burger. What a sad twist of fate.

@__jamiie @NeuralDeclan I'm sorry you had to be involved in that on either side. What is the thinking behind this law and what does it help prevent? I imagine it's vaguely within the realms of transparency and fairness but it seems so unnecessarily cruel.

What is the logic of telling "150 of them that they are "at risk" of being the 90 people who will soon lose their job"?

In whose mind is it better to traumatise 150 employees by telling them they're all at risk, so they can anxiously bite their nails, instead of deciding first who the 90 are going to be and immediately telling them? Surely that would be more humane and less damaging to the morale of the company.

Even with the Bloomberg article breaking the news early, I can't fathom why they would decide to issue this warning to their staff if they really have their best interests at heart, though the cynic in me can't help but wonder if there's an added bonus of squeezing extra work out of them in their final days by having them all scramble to prove themselves more irreplaceable than each other in some twisted 'lord of the flies' performance.

Seriously, can anyone who works in this field enlighten me as to what their logic is?

@get2sammyb Clearly I need to start getting some more sleep. Aside from the fact that I didn't catch that in the massive headline, I don't know why I thought we might get February sales figures before the month's even through. I think I thought I was looking at weekly figures (do we even get those?).

Interesting that Helldivers 2 is selling gangbusters on Steam yet failed to penetrate the PS5 charts this week. I'm sure Sony is taking note.

Let this be a cautionary tale to remember when we next hear grand plans of mass industry consolidation.

Oh dear. Didn't take long at all for the "that's a man" crowd to show.

Fantastic month. My only complaint is that I won't have the time to play everything I want. But wow, The Outer Worlds, Resistance, NFS, AC Valhalla and Tales of Arise (the first in the series to pique my interest)! Hard to complain with those headliners.

@get2sammyb Yes. People forget that "Second Party" is a term that we, the fans, and the gaming press invented ourselves to distinguish between games from Studio's the manufacturer owns and those it doesn't.

The term isn't really used internally, at least not in any formal sense. To Sony, a title is either first or third party.

I only played the first 3 Gears and thought they were massively over-rated. 3 of my picks made the top 5. They were The Elder Scrolls, Indiana Jones and Forza Horizon, the other 2 I picked were Wolfenstein and Sea of Thieves.

Very exciting news. I'm actually super stoked by the prospect of Sea of Thieves on PS5. I've wanted to give that a go for a while. Maybe this means Spyro and Crash are saved as well! It's gonna be a long week.

I came for the horror of no platinums, I stayed for the horror of speedrun trophies.

@DennisReynolds

1) My point is that people would accept sacrifices in order to achieve a 60fps mode. 900p is one example.

2) The majority might not care, but Dragons Dogma isn't a mainstream franchise, and there is a large contingent of enthusiasts who will only play games that offer a higher frame rate. Majority? No. Significant? Quite possibly.

Very disappointing. Developers have to learn that we want 60fps options. If it means you have to turn the resolution down to 900p, so be it, but give us the option. This will lose them sales.

On principle I always hate it when the first game/film has no subtitle but the sequel does. I also don't like non title-distinguishing subtitles: 'On the beach' sounds like it could have been used for the first one. I hear people in a future with multiple Death Stranding titles asking of this alleged title : "Which one was that again? I'm sure they all went on the beach at some point".

That being said, I'm really not fussed. I'm sure the game is going to be excellent based on how phenomenal the first one was.

And a State of Play in the next two weeks? Nothing of substance to complain about here.

@Widey85 Personally I don't rate her. She also wrote the Tomb Raider reboot games and they had terrible stories imo, but if you recommend Lost Words and it's not too long I'll give it a try before it leaves.