Cikajovazmaj

Glad to see they succeeded. However, I wouldn't say nobody saw it coming, Sony was advertising aggressively (as I assume they knew what they had on their hands). It's just that most media didn't take it seriously and laughed at it during all those State of Play events.

In an amusing twist, fact that nobody is taking it to seriously is exactly why it's working that great 😃

@Darylb88 I agree Sony will follow in a few years, but I kind of wish they didn't. There are downsides to GP day and date model (quality, release cadence, amount of varied content) that people are mostly ignorant to, that Sony would surely inherit if they switched to similar service, simply to make it financially feasible. While there is a large population out there that is not phased by these concessions, me personally would rather opt out of such future.

You must appreciate Sony for being open about the numbers, even when they are not great (as over the last few days). The fact that Xbox is being sneaky about their own, and tries to manipulate the opinion by cherry-picking just the ones they feel strong about (34 millions of subs), makes me believe they are doing far worse than Sony.
As for the strategies, and I don't want to offend anyone, it's easy to put your first party releases to the service day-1 when they are of questionable quality and are releasing to a smaller potential "buying" audience. GP started strong with 3rd party releases, but over the last half a year (probably more) it's been mostly disappointment for me. I still am subscribed to the service, but because I took advantage of extremely charitable exchange rate early on. No way I would subscribe full price, as a value for a casual gamer like me is just not there. (I tend to play smaller number of games, and I don't need to play them day-1, but I want them to be 9/10 and 10/10 experiences. Similar to how I don't watch every 6/10 movie, and concentrate only on pieces I'll remember/will leave lasting impression)

I might be wrong here, but it seems to me Sony is converging toward the same goals.. they are starting with aggressive PC release schedule, trying to cut down wait between PS5 and PC release date. Microsoft did this some time back.. PS Plus PC version is a logical next step..
(I don't believe they will ever release their game for Series consoles though, as install base is probably not large enough)

I'll take some Tales of Arise, thank you very much. Unbound I've already played, but it's definitely worth checking out (and with better graphics as I've played on XSS - is there a save transfer?).
Valhalla is probably considered big hitter, but not for me.

I can't even imagine how bad Team Green is doing, given half the sales and more expensive unit production cost.

Well, that s*cks. I really wasn't planning on buying Helldivers 2

Tried the demo, enjoyed it quite a bit. Reminds me of Xenoblade Chronicles mechanics with better graphics (XC is really held back by the under-powered platform). I'll pick it up eventually, that's for sure.

@dark_knightmare2 I'm well aware, I was really just playing dumb.. didn't really work.. I'll let myself out.

There is actually no indication MS is going multiplatform from that message. It's still all just rumors..

It's a great game, well deserved. Also, $10 upgrade path is the way to go for these re-releases, and I'm glad data is backing that up.
As far as the story goes though, sometimes it feels like people need to be reminded Joel is a fictional character in a game used to advance the plot. Events that transpire do that exceptionally well, it's supposed to s*ck and feel like a gut punch.

I've missed this feeling in gaming for a long time. Things just going bats*it crazy... yes!

Didn't expect poll to be so negative. I happen to think these 3 games are just what Essential should be about. Oh well, to each their own.

@3Above my region specifically is usually subject to "local" tax unfortunately. Of course that is for physical releases, PS Store has normal prices.

Just a suggestion, but poll should have "Waiting for it to hit subscription service." option. And I'll be doing just that, as game looks good, but not 70€ good.

This was I believe a first State of Play I have not watched in real-time as I really didn't think any of the games were a must for me. But man, after watching it today, I was wrong. Pretty good offering, 5-6 games I'll keep a close eye on and few more that wouldn't surprise me ending up being great.

Negativity is strong with this site.
Xbox had a showcase with 4 games (and surprising 5th) and everybody lost their mind how much content there was.
Sony does 15 games, everybody whines how there is nothing to play and console is an unbelievable disappointment.

This is a second news of a game launching with important content behind paywall today. And both launching day 1 to Game Pass. Not saying PS Plus launch would have been different, but this is the quality straight to services releases will bring you... :/

EDIT: Just learned Like A Dragon is not launching to GP. No idea what were they thinking.

Totally don't care what haters are saying, Part 2 was/is a masterpiece and I can't wait to replay it on PS5 with these enhancements. Not sure graphics can get much better though, maybe next gen 😀

It takes time to shift mentally from giving same amount of money for ownership to renting. It also takes time to buy into the idea of that being great value ☺️

Honestly, after visiting first hand, Japan gaming scene is living and breathing Nintendo. I don't see anybody being able to compete, even with significantly better offerings (similar to how in large parts of EU PlayStation is synonymous with console gaming).
So having a good hardware year and beating direct competitor (Xbox) fares well for Sony. Realistic goals, that's all.

Bramble, after that I'm not sure. Some GT7, maybe a bit of Cyberpunk 2077.. life is good.

Giving 8/10 to a game you eventually come to appreciate as a GOTY oh well, it happens. Honestly, I would have rated it 9/10, or 10/10. Especially after doing a full first run with a Platinum, it's most fun I had on my PS5 through 2023.
There are some heavy hitters I haven't tried though (Alan Wake 2 and Baldur's Gate 3 among others)

I already tried APT on GP and found it to be a bit boring (I guess concept ran out of steam in part 1 for me). But Evil West I tried and had way more fun than expected. Nobody saves the World I played through Switch trial and wishlisted the full game immediately. So a good month for me 😊

@HonestTruth don't want to burst your bubble, but PS5 (and XSX) have been fantastic consoles.
And PS4 Pro can't run almost any games in 4k, let alone 60fps. 4k is typically achieved through checkerboarding (it's a synonym for PS4Pro in my head), technique that produces 4k signal, but poor visual quality with artifacting far worse than even FSR2. One can consider that 4k, but then so is a HDMI upscaler...

Ah, I thought it was funny.
Their reaction, with all "Sheldon-like" answers backed by data and analysis just tells you all you need to know... It's a joke, it's not a sales report.

This should be a blueprint for how to design trophies in a game. You basically achieve 80% by just playing and enjoying the game, no "trophy hunting" required. Then you do few hours to polish the rest, and voila, your first platinum you had fun getting.

This ain't good news.. I would love there to be 3 serious console contenders. Given MS acquisition tactics, preferably not them.. but better anything than nothing.
However, Series generation has been total flop half way through life-cycle :/
Hopefully next Nintendo system is successful as Switch and that keeps Sony in check.

@Sakai I'm not sure what you are referring to, but I didn't know MS has ever publicly disclosed their profit numbers (they usually talk about gross, which is a different thing entirely)?

@Cherip-the-Ripper yeah, I know.. I wasn't really serious, November might be to remember but due to all the wrong reasons. Time to hit that backlog

@Grimwood here I go... This might actually be the worst month since service started. time to see what's happening on GP

@kyleforrester87 you sir are a genious!
Seriously, this is a Sony thing with slim versions, they are always cost-cutting and worse compared to OG in any way. They also used to be slightly cheaper.. but such is the world we live in now.

@BAMozzy PC gaming seems a far rarer thing these days than it used to be.
I basically make my living from PCs and don't own one that would be "gaming capable". My current, perfectly capable and CPU intensive optimized machine, would cost about 1000$ to upgrade for gaming. For that, I would be able to get a console and subscriptions for next 5 years for all the games I would need.
There ain't no PC first gamers out there anymore...

I feel like this discourse has become redundant. Xbox has lost because they have no games (technically they have 3, which is about 1 per year) and their hardware has no advantages over direct competition (PS5 is mostly the same, Switch portability is unmatched).
They are finally starting to ship games (whichever state they might be in), but battle has been lost for current gen.

Sort of expected that after the demo. Screenshots had me hyped as I felt Astral chain style somewhere in there, but demo gameplay and long conversations were just dull. Shame

Some bangers in the list there. Quarry is genuinely a good game, but I've played it as soon as it joined. Medium is the one I really tried to finish when removal was first announced (over 2 weeks ago), but just couldn't stick with it. There was hype around release time, and I just don't see it.

That seems more inline with what I would expect from Insomniac. They really are a talented bunch.

Not gonna lie, I expected it to score 9. Still, not a bad score and subjectively I know I'll love it as it's fundamentally a Spidey game.
Friday can't come soon enough.

Genuinely surprised feedback is not more positive. Almost all Extra games I either played and know are good, or have been on my list to check out.
Tip: don't sleep on Eldest Souls, I've played it on Switch and it is quite fun.

@CutchuSlow actually, you are among 75% as the trophy this was tracked by is received as soon as you take off (before shooting).
Would be cool to get how many people stuck with it after first 5 hours or so.

@JAMes-BroWWWn Starfield sort of fizzled fast... 20 days after release it moved to the background and is basically dropped out of all conversations. Additionally, I've read somewhere that after 15 days, 25% of players haven't even played until you fly off the first planet (around 45 mins assuming you don't overcomplicate character creation). So yeah, not great.

MS just wants to ruin gaming for everyone I guess..
Where was this few months back when Activision Blizzard merger should have been stopped?

Incredible if it manages to hold steady 60 fps. I'll probably play at 40 as that has been very acceptable compromise for me so far this gen, but amazing achievement non the less.

Didn't Saints Row get patched into decency though? Storyline and general story vibe seem to be permanent issue though..

Such a shame. They should have put Shadow Gambit on a service and maybe try that avenue of monetization..
I looked at the reviews 2 weeks ago and wishlisted it for purchase later on, once it's 20-30% discounted. Didn't even dream they would close

I loved previous entries. That said, I avoided the latest one, as reviews were quite poor. Definitely giving it a go through PS Plus.

Not sure I see a use case for myself (too many screens already, paired with a switch), but at least price is understandable. I was afraid they would release it at $300, or similarly ridiculous overpricing.

I mean, as a player on all 4 platforms (low mid PC included), that chart looks like it should. MS is really not producing much to deserve better market placement.

@KaijuKaiser you are assuming PS6 (and that whole gen) will be backward compatible, which was historically never a given. I do believe this time around though, Sony would push that card way harder than MS (basically not sure what worth BC Redfall would bring ).

I feel like Sony's play here, and the current sale back this up, is to aggressively increase the install base so that they minimize the impact MS can make through their Activision Blizzard merger.
If Sony gets people to jump on board till the end of the year, ain't nobody switching to a Series console THIS generation. What Sony's plan for PS6 and onward is, I'm not sure (might not be a factor at all, given changes in user habits that might occur in next 4-5 years).

@Wheatly well, in Insomniac defense, they said they needed PS5 super fast SSD as that was the only SSD in the platform they were targeting. It would be weird for them to say it needed a PCI Gen 3 NVMe drive to run, and then publish a game on PS5 using different hardware options...

As for optimizations, I feel like they could make the game run on a larger spectrum of configurations, but probably by changing/tweaking the mechanics. It becomes a question of how much you are willing to compromise the experience, which I am glad they did not. Requirements and performance on Ricks machine seem perfectly reasonable to me, and I would actually call it well-optimised for what it delivers. Games for few years now are almost completely unplayable on such hardware, and R&C was perfectly serviceable.