Bizzy

Here's some other "predictions" Michael Pachter has made:

2006 - Predicted that Nintendo will soon pull-out of the console business.

2009 - Asserted the 7th gen would be the final generation of consoles.

2014 - Predicted that Microsoft’s Xbox One is going to outsell PlayStation 4 by 75,000 units.

If Nostradamus is the Renaissance mystic whose verses can be twisted into anything, Michael Pachter is the analyst whose predictions twist themselves into nothing.

Tear it all down and a better industry will rise from the ashes. It can't happen soon enough.

yet another RPG. Have we not hit peak RPG yet? They all look and play the same.

@LogicStrikesAgain There's a difference between need and would like.

Don't forget, PS+ will also be more expensive by the time PS6 comes out.
When the console starts to fail due to it's price, the few adopters will be squeezed again by further PS+ price increases to make up the shortfall because of investor/shareholder demand for returns.

You would need to give your head a wobble to buy into that.

PS6 then could be Sony's Sega Saturn if competitors are smart. Good. Sony needs knocking down a peg.
Hubris with a price tag to match.
Luxury pricing kills mass adoption and results in lower yields. Consoles survive on volume and high prices destroy volume.

Meh, not my type of game. Far too many of these types of games but pleased others will enjoy it if it's their type of thing

@HRdepartment My interpretation of "chasing the dragon" is very different to yours. Not sure where you heard that phrase but you might want to look it up

It’s really VERY weird how people who haven’t bought the game and openly say they hate it still seem to care so much about it.
I imagine psychologists would have a field day with these people because something isn't right.

You don't see people who hate Marmite ranting and raving and writing comments that they want Marmite Food Company to go bust and sack their employees. So why a video game?

I like the art style. I think it's very similar in art style to Wipeout. Like corporate neo industrial futurism.

£1200 (+ £300 for a year of GamePass Ultimate). With Co-pilot and Edge to sweeten the deal.
P.S. I am being sarcastic. (I think)

@nomither6 Yeah

@nomither6 I have a PC too. tbh I have several

@Brigurugi The art of Marathon and Antireal, to me personally, reminded me a lot of The Designers Republic from the Wipeout series.

I can't help but feel the Headline should have been
"Poll of loyalists confirms loyalty remains high. Experts shocked.”

The foxes have all agreed that the hen house should stay open.

I wonder how much Co-Pilot they will cram into it!
In all seriousness, this is great news! There needs to be more, not less competition in this market. My personal opinion is that PlayStation is at it's best when they're the underdog.

Maybe because the stores like Walmart have taken the ability to buy physical away from the consumer, rather than the consumer turning their backs on physical.

I was thinking of another quote that went along the lines of "The definition of insanity is releasing the same franchise over and over again"

Yet another reason to avoid subscription based cloud streaming like the plague. What's the tally now?

@Rob3008 Well said!

The irony being that Netflix subscribers say the same about the games available on Netflix too

@Rich33 You might be tempting fate

@themightyant Enjoy! Sounds like a perfect Sunday

@themightyant I just feel that we should not be excusing companies as large as Sony or ALPS or whoever the sticks are being sourced from their responsibility to provide quality products to their consumers as they promise in advertising.

Regardless of the stick manufacturer it reflects on Sony at the end of the day as they're the company with the badge on the front.

If these companies do not feel that is necessary to do that then they shouldn't expect people to get excited about their mid-gen refreshes or next gen systems.

It leaves a poor taste in the consumers mouth who have suffered from sub-par products and broken promises.

@themightyant As I stated yesterday, I agree that TMR or even Hall effect are the solution. I have Dreamcast controllers from 1999 that their sticks still work perfectly. They used Hall effect from factory.

However, I also have PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4 that have also not suffered stick drift.

I suspect (in my opinion,) that the problem with the DualSense is that either ALPS or Sony decided to cost cut on the quality of the potentiometers.

(In my cynical opinion) They did this to increase sales of replacement controllers to those who are unwilling to attempt a repair. It's a fiddly job and some people do not have the skills or tools to attempt it themselves.

@themightyant You were talking about this yesterday in another story.

I want to go through a thought experiment with you.

1. Month 0 – Brand new controller: potentiometers and sensors are perfectly aligned, no drift. Dead zone at factory settings.
2. Month 3 – Microscopic wear on the potentiometer’s resistive track introduces tiny electrical noise.
3. Month 6 – Dust and mechanical fatigue cause inconsistent voltage readings, producing slight phantom inputs.
4. Month 12 – Significant wear and sensor degradation make the stick register movement even when untouched.

Dead zones only mask small deviations by ignoring inputs near the center. Once drift grows large enough, the phantom signal exceeds the dead zone threshold, so the controller still interprets it as intentional movement.

By having access to adjust the dead zone you are just delaying the inevitable misread as well as moving the mechanical wear out from the center. You would be continually, periodically making the dead zone larger and larger until the dead zone is the entire circumference of the analogue stick. Making the stick completely unresponsive.

@themightyant TMR is the way forward

@themightyant Strange, I have replaced and inspected mine and other's analogue sticks/potentiometers under my microscope and you can see clear removal of the graphite contact. Maybe you have experienced another point of failure which makes the quality of these controllers (and planned obsolescence) twice as bad.

I have repaired about 7 or 8 controllers now by replacing the potentiometers. Usually, the right stick and only one of the two potentiometers on that stick. So the problem I have come across so far has not been a software issue.

@Areus haha, why would they do that?! This is a cost cutting exercise.
If anything, they are using an even thinner layer of watered down graphite-based conductive ink.
It's all by design.

I have found this generation the least exciting. I have owned every PlayStation since 1995.
The DualSense controller is also the first I have owned to experience stick drift. PS1 and PS2 controllers/sticks are built better. I learned to solder though.

@lazymike Nice idea.
While appealing in concept, the reality is unlikely. Sony’s framework is structured to monetise classic titles repeatedly, requiring either overpriced repurchases or ongoing subscription fees to rent those games.

Where have I heard this all before?

@11001100110zero It's not replacing the PC. It's to go along side a PC. Under the TV. To play couch games and remote play. As well as a full desktop experience if you want.

@x3King84 init! It's rather childish to see.

@Flaming_Kaiser

You can use GoG easily on Steam Machine. Steam Machine is not tied to Steam. GoG is DRM free and you can download and keep your games forever. Even burn to a disc if you must.

A lot of people (on a PlayStation centric website) getting their knickers in a twist about something that isn't aimed at them. Who would of thunk it.
I don't know what you're all worried about.

@MrHabushi You're absolutely right
deleted my comment

Glad I never got PSVR2. It feels like it will enter rather large Sony Hall of Fame of abandoned products.

Call it what it is - an upsell disguised as a promotion.

"No word on price" but you can guarantee that it'll be overpriced.

@Boxmonkey You might be surprised—this is precisely why unions exist. They empower workers to hold companies accountable, including taking legal action when necessary, and ensure that employee rights are upheld. It's the kind of support that would be financially daunting for most individuals to pursue alone.

You mention the employees using 'UK employment law'. You can thank the unions for that! Trade unions played a pivotal role in shaping UK employment law from the Industrial Revolution through to today.

@trev666 That doesn't make any sense. The games catalogue on 'Extra' is a rolling one. They come and go. The games on essential you can keep for as long as your subscription is active.
If you like a game on extra and it gets removed, surely it's great when it arrives on essential?

@MajorityThomas lol

"Free content pack valued at £17.99 / $19.99."
Valued by whom, exactly? Sotheby's? The Antiques Roadshow? Dickinson's Real Deal? The Price Is Right audience? Or just the developer?
The developer could claim it's worth £1 million—but that doesn't make it true. I could argue it has no value at all.
Value is subjective. What holds worth to one person might be meaningless to another.
In this case, the "value" of the free content pack lies with the developer. It's bait—designed to lure players into trying the game and, ideally, into its microtransactional ecosystem.
It's like saying bait has value to the fish because it's a meal, rather than to the fisherman who set the trap.
What a bizarre article and advertisement.

I have two fat PS2 consoles and playing LAN games on them is a ton of fun. A huge catalogue of games. No install. No sign in. No monthly fee. No microtransactions or patches. It just works. We lost something along the way to PS5.

For me, by the time the PS2 came out the 2D Mortal Kombat/Street Fighter model was looking pretty tired and 3D fighters like Soul Calibur, DOA & Virtua Fighter did 3D fighters better. The popularity of MK in the 6th gen was far cry from the hype that surrounded the MK franchise during the SNES/MD era. I think I had probably completely lost interest in the series after MK3.
These games were always better with friends in the arcade and arcades were quickly dying off in the early 2000s.
So this line up looks pretty good for me. However, like most games these days, I never pay full price and never buy games on release. Those days are long gone. This will be no different. Will be fun for a tenner.

@Faultandfracture You're thinking of 2042. 2142 was great. I have great memories of Titan mode and the walkers.

When you want to view it on the PS Store but Push Square decides to link 'PS Store' not to the PS Store but their own website. "cool"

Thoughts and prayers to all the Dual Sense analog sticks soon not to be with us

Take me back to the 90's when the western world seemed full of hope and optimism for the future. The world today is unrecognisable. The outlook for the future is bleak. I feel sorry and sad for those born after the millennium.