Comments 395

Re: Firaxis Unveils Civilization 7 Content Roadmap for 2025 and Beyond

Bluemoon2008

The biggest question is will it consistently corrupt saves losing hours upon hours of gameplay forcing you to start from scratch again like 6 did? And will it regularly slow to a crawl before crashing when you get mid to late game? I loved 6, even bought the expansion which I never normally do but I'm not going to bother if I can't be sure these issues won't happen again. I love Firaxis games, civ 6, xcom and midnight suns are some of my favorite games, xcom series being my absolute favourite series but the games are always infested with technical problems. I see it's releasing on ps4, no chance this doesn't blow up ps4's at this point.

Re: PS Plus Essential Games for February 2025 Announced

Bluemoon2008

Stopped feeling anything about the latest online multi-player game to come to ps+ in a bid to either save a dying game or give a DoA new release half a chance of surviving 6 months. Payday 3 is just the next in a very, very long list of them.

High on life I was expecting at some point. Seemed like a fairly mediocre game but the Rick and morty appeal being enough to elevate it to worth a go status. Happy enough with that although felt like an extra game if anything.

Pac man I think I recall playing the original and enjoying it. Do find a lot of these games are best left in memories though, they rarely stand up to the level my memory has of them. Might give it a go, wouldn't be something I'd ever actively want on the service but not complaining.

Decent month overall that isn't going to set the world alight. More likely to play one of them than last months offerings.

Re: EA Stock Price Plummets After Dragon Age: The Veilguard, FC 25 Disappointments

Bluemoon2008

Good. This only really impacts people outside the industry looking to profit from it and having no real interest in the actual product.

This isn't really about DA or Fifa(FC) underperforming. It's about expectations of constantly bigger audiences being far too great and a need to recognise the reality that the industry is close to hitting the ceiling in terms of pure audience numbers. Even games like FC, one of the biggest titles in gaming cannot show perpetual growth, there's always a cap. The financial vultures have just found that out in a very expensive manner.

Re: Sony Cancels Bluepoint, Bend Studio PS5 Games, One Being a Live-Service God of War Title

Bluemoon2008

Jesus christ. We know they were going all in on the live service stuff but this is taking the piss. 2 big teams that should never be doing that, they've just ensured both teams give us nothing until next Gen now.

If a team as respected as bluepoint making something using the GoW IP cannot produce anything worth releasing, there's not much hope for the other live service garbage they've got on the go either.

This is potentially a complete waste of an entire generation now. Could go down as the most catastrophic decision/mismanagement in gaming history.

Re: 11 New Games Are Coming to PS Plus Extra, Premium Next Week

Bluemoon2008

Poor lineup for me. There's too much weight on the headliners which means the other titles suffer a dip in quality.

Also think they should space out the like a dragon/yakuza games more, we've only just got ishin added and they're always huge games.

Already own GoW. LaD im not in the mood for yet and ive got ishin still to play so Atlas fallen is the only one i'll probably take a look at from that list as I really liked the surge. Rest of the games don't interest me.

Re: Suicide Squad Dev Rocksteady Suffers More Layoffs as PS5 Game Hits PS Plus

Bluemoon2008

@RobN Exactly. Nobody needs QA testers when theres nothing to test in the games infancy, that's just one of the easy to comprehend examples of which they'll be many. The industry has to accept and adapt to the evolution of how a game's made and what that means for jobs.

Contract work is the natural progression for this industry. Think of a building site, thats the most accurate analogy i can come up with for comparison. you're not bringing in an electrician day 1 to wire a building when the foundations havent even been laid yet. Likewise, once the shell of a building is up, you dont need a bricklayer hanging around being paid to watch electricians install plug sockets. Most people involved will come in as required, do their role and move onto the next thing as soon as their part is done. And once the building is complete, its common most people involved move on to other projects and only a core, small number of staff remain to seek and start the next project. Nobody has a problem with this, it makes perfect sense, and it now makes perfect sense for the games industry too, which is why I do not understand the constant highlighting of job losses.

Rocksteady aren't really the right sample case to make this point though given they have had an abnormally large budget and time frame to make suicide squad and have the Arkham success behind them and have the financial power of WB games backing them meaning they can easily afford to keep all staff on if they so choose, but for many other game companies now, they quite literally live or die by their last release and so cost cutting will be essential for survival.

Re: Poll: Do You Use PS Stars?

Bluemoon2008

I do the monthly games, starting one of that months essential and extra games each nets you 100 points per month, it's essentially £5 free credit per year for doing that and takes a couple of minutes per month. No reason not to do it.

Re: Suicide Squad Dev Rocksteady Suffers More Layoffs as PS5 Game Hits PS Plus

Bluemoon2008

Would these lay offs have been prevented if suicide squad was a monster hit? Not convinced that's the case.

the game was in development for a decade, the game finally comes out, regardless of its reception and sales, a lot of those people suddenly had little to nothing to do and no company wants to pay people they don't currently need. it could be years before they need somebody with their skillset again with how long games now take to make so it just makes sense to lay them off. It's not nice but people need to get used to it, people working in games can expect to have a job until the game they're working on is complete, afterwards, if you're not going to be needed on another project instantly, expect to be looking for another company that does. It's not an unheard of practice it's just new-ish to games as they adapt to much bigger projects and bigger budgets.

Re: Talking Point: Is PlayStation Right in Saying PC Isn't a 'Major Risk' to Console Business?

Bluemoon2008

@Contimaloris
Makes no sense, you're contradicting yourself. Xbox are seemingly going down the 'play our games anywhere on anything' route which you have to imagine they envisage Xbox/gamepass to just be this Netflix style interface that's available basically anywhere with almost instant access so why would that lead people to PC which is a different direction to that?

PC will never be more convenient than console, Xbox are trying to find something even more convenient than a console.

Re: Talking Point: Is PlayStation Right in Saying PC Isn't a 'Major Risk' to Console Business?

Bluemoon2008

There is a very minor overlap from a vocal minority that might have a decision to make, it just so happens that those people are generally also the most hardcore audience that youll gind commenting on artciles like this to make it feel like a much bigger issue than it is.

they're basically different markets, in the same way Nintendo switch and Playstation aren't really competing with one another.

Re: PS Plus Essential Games for January 2025 Announced

Bluemoon2008

Inevitable that suicide squad would turn up here or on extra at some point, best get it out of the way I suppose. I'll probably play it but can't feel anything more than underwhelmed by it given it's best known for being a disaster. Nfs, meh, sure I'll take it. Stanley parable, heard nothing but good things.

No headline grabbers I'll be rushing to download but all 3 I'll likely try. Just feel a bit like it's 3 ps+ extra filler titles rather than essential big hitters. Solid if unspectacular month.

Re: Sony Promises It Hasn't Abandoned the Famous Franchises from Its Past

Bluemoon2008

They should be using the dormant IP they have a lot more, its the obvious answer to filling up release schedules now that games take signficantly longer to make. You simply can't have naughty dog or insomniac doing a new jak & daxter or a new resistance though, they've outgrown those games. They are Playstations flagship studios, they have to be doing the next massive mainstream game not a somewhat niche title that won't attract the same audience.

They either expand the sizes of those studios so they can do multiple games at once which can get risky or they think about who else can do it, be that a smaller in house studio, somebody from the outside licensing it or a new studio entirely.

Re: UK Sales Charts: Astro Bot PS5 Cracks the Top 10 Right Before Christmas

Bluemoon2008

@UltimateOtaku91

Not really. You can buy a Playstation or Xbox and not need to purchase any games. You've got gamepass and ps+ that give access to literally hundreds of games without buying any. Majority of consoles bought for Christmas will be for kids, vast majority of those kids will be most interested in playing games that are free to play, again no game purchase neccesary for that. A switch gives you none of those options, if you buy a switch, you have to buy games too otherwise it's useless.

Now, I wouldn't wager against the switch being the best selling console this Christmas. It likely is, but your suggestion that this list indicates that is well wide of the mark.

Re: Poll: What Are Your Most Anticipated PS5 Games of 2025?

Bluemoon2008

Mouse P.I looks incredible. Sad to see it get so few votes.

Ghost of yotei we know will be of the highest calibre.

I'ce no doubt whatsoever it will be the biggest thing in gaming probably ever but i can't get remotely excited by gta 6. Not played gta5 since ps3, I've no interest in the online aspect of it, it's the single player story I'd be in for but I can't help but think gaming has moved on a lot since gta 5, I know we had red dead 2 but I didn't enjoy that, felt like a chore to get through and I'm not entirely sure Rockstar will have kept up with the industry. Given how long they've been working on gta 6, I expect they'll be a lot of dated features in the game by release and they'll understandably be concentrating on the online side of the game as that's where the money printing machine is.

Re: Elden Ring: Nightreign Explained in Huge IGN Report

Bluemoon2008

Fairplay for trying something different, there's the makings of an interesting idea there for sure and they seem to be going about it the right way In not trying to monetise every aspect of it but doesn't sound too appealing to me right now. Not completely out just yet purely because it's fromsoft but will need convincing and expecting to skip this.

Re: Intergalactic PS5 Is Naughty Dog's Wildest, Most Creative Story Yet

Bluemoon2008

A strong reveal. Interesting premise and it's naughty dog who don't miss. No reason to have any doubts this will be anything other than outstanding.

It's been in production for 4 years already and Sony have dialed back on the announcing a game thats half a decade away habit so i'd say there's a fair chance we might even see its release next year. Fully expect a proper state of play gameplay reveal early next year.

Re: 12 New PS Plus Extra, Premium Games Arrive Next Week

Bluemoon2008

I'm just about whelmed with that. Sonic and forspoken were two i had down on the I'll play it when it inevitably comes to ps+ list.

they're just not exciting headline grabbers, both seem to be fairly mundane run of the mill filler titles that are actually the headliners for the month. Fist is one I've also had my eye on so happy with that. Phogs actually looks okay and I might even do coffee talk as palette cleansers between bigger games.

Jurassic world evolution is fantastic and probably the best game of the month but it was on essential not long ago so fairly pointless for most.

Plenty for me to play overall just nothing I'd be in a rush to play

Re: Poll: Will You Be Watching The Game Awards 2024?

Bluemoon2008

Yeah I'll tune in. I'm interested purely for the announcements, its basically replaced E3 at this point. The awards themselves, I can take or leave. It's vaguely interesting to see who wins what but the drawn out process of it, I really don't care for, I'd just as happily see a list of the winners and we can shorten the whole thing by an hour or so. The rest of the fluff like the musical stuff, I don't care about either, likewise for random celebrity appearances. The ads and sponsors get too much hate, it's got to be financed somehow, if they do that by throwing a bunch of add at me for me to ignore every chance they get then so be it.

Re: It Takes Two Dev Confirms Next Game to Be Revealed at The Game Awards

Bluemoon2008

His games aren't for me, nothing to do with the quality or anything just having somebody to play through an entire game in co-op with is just beyond me but I respect how hes found his niche and stuck at it producing better and better titles everytime which has also seen better and more lucrative success each time too.

Would be quite easy for him to ditch the co-op only niche genre in favour of chasing a trend that could appeal to a bigger audience and make a lot more money but he's sticking to what he knows and what he's become something of a master of and that's rare nowadays.

I wont play his next game but I'm sure many others will and I hope it is a smash hit to reward his commitment.

Re: Outriders Dev People Can Fly Cancels Multiple Projects, Laying Off 120 Staff

Bluemoon2008

Actually enjoyed outriders, had some solid foundations that a sequel could build on. Shame we'll never see it.

@LavenderShroud

There's no impending crash, there's never been so much money to be made from the industry, the problem is an increasingly small number of companies are making the majority of the money and everybody else is chasing the same thing and taking huge risks in pursuit of it to the point where its ride or die for most and inevitably most will die.

You've got your cash cow games continuously making a fortune like fortnite, gta, Fifa etc that are not going anywhere. The majority of gamers play one or several of them and either don't want, can't afford or don't have the time for anything else. That removes a huge portion of the potential audience for anything else and what's left after those gamers are removed is a much smaller pool of potential customers and far too many games vying for their limit attention.

It's upto these companies that don't have a money printing behemoth to sustain them, to be more efficient and have better long term plans. It's on them to make something new and/or original to generate interest and not just churn out clones of something that already exists. Its on them to manage budgets better. perhaps starting smaller with realistic achievable sales to survive and look to build slower instead of looking for the instant mega success. There's companies out there that have shown it can be done but greed and the desire to go after the next big thing tends to be the reason for failure.

Re: Gamers Are Reportedly More Interested in Watching Games Than Actually Playing Them

Bluemoon2008

Quite a misleading title. "Game related videos" isn't strictly people playing games. That's going to include gaming podcasts, gaming news, trailers, guides, trophy help etc.

I spend literally zero time watching people play games, I've no interest in it whatsoever, however I do spend a significant time on the other stuff mentioned above that may actually qualify me as one of these people that are "more interested in watching than actually playing" despite the fact that couldn't be fuether from the truth.

There's lots of times where people simply can't game but they can have gaming related content on. They might be travelling and cannot game but they can listen to a podcast, or doing something else whilst listening, I regularly even have podcasts on whilst I'm actually playing, I will watch news roundups whilst I'm cooking/eating.

Re: Ubisoft FPS XDefiant Shutting Down, Not Accepting New Players

Bluemoon2008

To the surprise of absolutely nobody...

Live service games has to be the worst idea in the industry at this point. It should be a sackable offence to even pitch it.

Too many of them, the big ones are going nowhere which eat up most of thr audience and there's very little audience for anything new long term. Unless you've got something incredibly unique and a fully fledged out post release schedule ready to go, you all but guarantee a hefty loss and an early shutdown.

Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Essential Games for December 2024?

Bluemoon2008

Objectively, there's no way this is a crap month regardless of whether you're interested in the games. the quality of the games is good enough.

My gripe is twofold with it takes two. Firstly it's a 2 player only game. Finding somebody to play with and commit to playing the entire thing together and all that entails with regards to scheduling doesn't fit my gaming habits and is the single reason I'll never even download it. Second gripe is a minor one in comparison but the extra/essential double dipping really ***** on extra/premium subscribers.

I'm excited to play aliens, looks really good, temtem seems fine just not sure I'll ever get round to playing it, it's a big commitment and fairly low down the backlog pecking order.

Re: PS Plus Essential Games for December 2024 Announced

Bluemoon2008

Saying nothing about the quality of the game but it takes two is an awful choice to bring to essential. Theres a huge number of people who either dont want to play with somebody else or isnt able to get somebody else to play with for whom a 2 players required game is absolutely useless. And that's before the increasingly common complaint of it having already been available on extra. Just a really poor choice.

I'm very happy with aliens dark descent, these are the type of games we usually get for extra that go under the radar and I love discovering so thats enough for me.

Temtem, probably won't bother with it myself, but no complaints with that.