@Gamer83
A game can perfectly be developed for PS4/XB1 and be downscaled for PS3/X360... It doesn't have to be 'held back' by PS3/X360. If that would be the case, then it's due to development budget constraints rather than technical constraints.
Go play Crysis 3, Metro Last Light at the highest settings on a high-end PC. Or even Battlefield 4 on PS4 or PC. Then tell me that those are being held back by PS3/X360. All those big graphics engines are very scaleable..
And I think Ryse, Battlefield 4, AC IV, KZ Shadow Fall look pretty impressive graphically but well you're probably going to shoot me down.
Wouldn't it be cool if you extinguish the candles in the game by covering the lightbar of the DualShock 4 and make the lightbar shut off (and lighting up again when nearing another candle that Garret can extinguish with his hands) (if you have a camera, so it can recognize that)?
Okay, maybe that sounds like an unnecessary gimmick and maybe it would get annoying after a while. But of course it would be optional.
Edit: the lightbar is already being used for indicating your visibility, so that's a much more practical gimmick. Ignore my gimmicky idea.
As someone who isn't really into racing games, I thought the latest short gameplay clips and screenshot looked amazing! I love the natural enviroments, the landscapes and the time of day transition and I'm sure I'll like the racing as well.
Low-level coding just means that you're programming very close to the hardware directly, and not on top of software layers/API's. Also known as 'to the metal' coding, which is often the case on consoles because of the unified hardware.
It could still be a PSVita game of course, especially since Nate Fox from Sucker Punch accidentally almost let slip inFamous on PSVita. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvnGOHHljoo#t=5m40s)
But I think it's still probably going to be a PS4 game. They a fairly sized team with a nice engine running on PS4, so it makes little sense to scale back to the PSVita, unless they're splitting their staff or something.
How exactly are these odd? As you put it the purpose of the beta is to test how those games perfrom in the first place and they need to cover multiple genres to properly test that.
And most of those games are pretty good actually (imo).
I think you're pretty harsh, I haven't hold it yet, but I have heard that it is much more comfortable, has better battery life, has a standard micro USB for charging and has 1 GB built-in storage.
The better battery life and the more comfortable are pretty big deals. I don't now how much it will cost in EU, but based on UK's price it should be €220. I think that's fine with a bundle, but the thing is just that retailers have been cutting the price a lot themselves on the Vita, making this rivision seem like poor value. Compared with the standard PSVita RRP of €199, I think it's all right.
There's only so much you can improve on an already great handheld anyway.
Both PSVita's are currently extremely good value imo. There's not really any alternative where you're getting as much bang for your buck as with PSVita + memory card + PS+..
@-CraZed-
That sounds like a luxury issue. Since in my opinion the value you're getting with PS+ games outweighs the cost of the memory cards.
Fine, different horses, different courses. I am not making excuses by the way. I was already a PS+ subscriber just for the PS3 Instant Game Collection, and as long as they would keep offering PS3 games, I would keep subscribe probably, so that I'm getting PS4 games to me is a nice bonus. I don't think it's hard to understand that I would prefer free PS4 games than nothing. As I said that's just my opinion from my point of view, and I can perfectly see why for other people it sucks.
And I partially agree. It's fine that games retain their value and don't discount up to 1 year, maybe a little longer if it's really a masterpiece to not screw over the early adopters, but Nintendo is simply taking it waaay too far. As I said Mario Kart DS, Super Mario 64 those are games that still €40 and and almost a decade old. Most Wii U launch games are still €60, lots of their big first-party Wii games are still €40 etc. That's not about retaining value anymore, some of those games are completely dated and the novelty has completely worn off, so they should get discounted. They could at least offer some temporary discounts/sales as everyone does, but nope. (and I'm talking about Nintendo first-party games)
@Gamer83 "if there hadn't been such a huge backlash against MS for that, Sony would've gone right down the same path" I don't know, I can't just assume that. I'm a man of science. I wonder in what world there wouldn't have been such a backlash anyway.
"Any time DRM and consoles are mentioned together, you have to worry about what those two companies will do"
Nintendo eShop, PSN Store, XBL, Steam, they all already have have DRM.
There are different forms of DRM, you're talking about online-based DRM, and I agree that should never be tolerated.
Backwards compatibility and free online multiplayer are nice. But those things are less important and outweighed by how they handle their pricing model in my opinion, since actual Wii U games are the ones I'm going to play the most on Wii U. Same goes with PS4. I'm probably keeping my old systems anyway, but for people who don't but want to retain their games collection or for people who didn't have a Wii/PS3, it's nice indeed.
And to be fair since I already have Playstation Plus I don't really care that on PS4 multiplayer is behind PS+, in fact I think it's awesome that I'm already building up a collection of PS+ games practically for free (since I bought it for PS3 PS+ games). So coming from this standpoint I would rather have PS+ IGC on PS4 and get a lot of value for my money, than free online multiplayer and no Instant Game Collection.
No DRM and practically no microtransactions goes for Sony too. I know GT6 is has microtransactions, but apart from that one I've never seen microtransactions in a Sony game. I don't they're a huge problem as long as they aren't obtrusive, aren't prompted to the player and aren't in games with a strong focus on multiplayer where players who pay for microtransactions would get an advantage. And so far I think there's only one Sony-published game with microtransactions and that's GT6 as far as I know, so it's more an exception than a rule.
Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, again we're talking about console manufacturers. This has nothing to do with Nintendo/Sony/MS, 3rd parties are free to set their prices. You should call out Square Enix on this one.
But, actually it's good that you mention it since you just proved my point. New Super Mario Bros. U is more than a year old and still costs €60! If Tomb Raider was published by Nintendo it would probably still be €60.
When he's small he's fine, but when he's big it's ugly.
Still seems like a fun, lighthearted game to me, even if I can see why the critics didn't like it and I can see me disagreeing with them. I'll probably buy it at some point.
Nintendo the most consumer-friendly company out of the three companies??
You have to be kidding. The company that completely refuses the ever discount their games, that has never heard of something like 'sales' (yeah and their recent eShop efforts on that are pathetic), the company that links purchased content in the Nintendo eShop to the console instead of to the user, making it a hassle to have acces to your content if you own, or plan to own more than one Nintendo device.
I was a huge Nintendo fan a while back, and while that has diminished and I'm more playstation fan now, I still like Nintendo and I'll probably buy their games at some point, but come on Nintendo is way behind when it comes to downloadable content, offering discounts and sales (Mario Kart DS, Super Mario 64 are still games that are retailing for €40........ And that last one was actually just a port obviously...). Wind Waker HD is also just a remake and they've the balls to charge €60 for a remake.... And don't get me started on the VC prices..
Sorry Nintendo is in my opinion the worst consumer friendly company out of the three, simply because how they handle the pricings of their games. Their consoles may be the cheapest (but you get the weakest hardware, poor features etc, so from a value standpoint it's different), but their games are the most expensive in correlation with the "datedness".
Sorry Nintendo is way behind in all those terms. Personally I think Sony is still way ahead to Nintendo when you see they've got things like cross-buy for every Sony-published game that is on PS3/PSVita and/or PS4, Playstation Plus, regular sales and discounts.
I know but still, even more good word of mouth couldn't have been a bad thing? The 'hype' would be maintained for a longer time. But you're right the PS4 is still selling out everywhere, so it's not exactly a big problem from Sony's standpoint, but I would have liked to see Puppeteer getting more recognition. Here in Belgium retailers still have pre-orders/back-orders all up to march.
Or if the TLOU would have been on PS4 too, then that would have been a big hype booster, the PS4 would already have an GOTY award-winning game straight at its launch.
As long as the game is eventually a great one, then it's fine.
But yeah, Sony should have tried to move some 2013 PS3 titles to PS4, the 2013 line-up for the PS3 was incredible. Puppeteer, The Last of Us, Sly Cooper Thieves in Time, God of War: Ascension, Gran Turismo 6, Beyond: Two Souls, Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, Tales of Xillia, Rain Ratchet & Clank: Nexus.
The PS4 hype would have been crazy if Puppeteer, Gran Turismo 6, The Last of Us would also have been released on PS4. And Puppeteer would have got the sales it deserved.
The box art looks nice (the PEGI rating isn't correct!).
But yeah it could be a could experiment for Nintendo and it could actually be beneficial if they would promote their games this way, since their games could get more exposure this way, but the problem is that it's going to damage people's trust. So Nintendo is going to have a tough time to get people to buy their console for the Nintendo games, with consumers knowing that Nintendo games could again potentially go multiplatform if the console doesn't take off.
Yeah, this is obviously a very important market and was a key to the the PS2's success.
They'll definitely need to cater to this audience too. I think their strategy is to first focus on a strong fanbase of core gamers and then later expand the 'hype' to the mainstream, but without sacrificing the focus on gamers, but merely expanding the audience. I think that's a pretty good strategy and something like the Playroom is a good start.
Nothing wrong with casual games as long as they're quality and fun titles that don't come at the expense of sacrificing development of core games.
But, obviously you can also have family-friendly games like Mario, LittleBigPlanet, Tearaway that appeal to both audiences. They'll definitely make some games like that too if they want to make the PS4 a widespread they need to have an large target audience.
I consider you have very weird taste in games in you say the PSVita's launch games were 'average' but you enjoyed Pilotwings.
I thought Pilotwings Resort was crap. Boring game all around, no substance, very little content. Baffling that they were selling a game like that for €40, but that's Nintendo I guess. Dead or Alive was not at launch. Street Fighter 4 was pretty much the only decent 3DS game for a long time, and that was a port. Actually looking back it's clearly the 3DS that had hardly any decent games for a long time. PSVita got its great games straight at launch. You're not going to tell me Uncharted Golden Abyss, Super Stardust: Delta, Wipeout 2048, Everybody's Golf, Rayman Origins, Escape Plan, Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour, Tales of Space: Mutant Blobs Attack were average. Those are all very well received games and regarded as great games.
PSVita's line-up was miles and miles ahead and consisted of quality, exclusive games in addition to some excellent ports of excellent games (Rayman Origins). That's just my humble opinion, though, different horses for courses indeed.
The exclusives line-up is also very good. Uncharted Golden Abyss, Super Stardust: Delta, Wipeout 2048, Everybody's Golf, LittleBigPlanet PSVita, Gravity Rush, Tearaway, Soul Sacrifice, Dragon's Crown, Muramasa Rebirth, Killzone: Mercenary. Those are not average games, those are all really excellent games. It's just because all those games don't have "Mario" "Zelda" in its name that the line-up goes underrated.
Overblown inconvenience. You can still buy the games retail if you want so you don't take up memory card space. Plus the games are inexpensive and you have options like Playstation Plus, so you end up saving money on that part in comparison to the 3DS for example.
And the Vita has always had games btw. I think I've played it much more than 3DS. In fact, I remember the huge droughts in the 3DS its first year, it was a dust-collector. (Yay Steel Diver and Pilotwings and those were €40 games lol). The Vita had actual great launch games, probably one of the best launch line-ups in recent history. (Uncharted Golden Abyss, Super Stardust: Delta, Wipeout 2048, Everybody's Golf, Rayman Origins, Escape Plan, Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour, Tales of Space: Mutant Blobs Attack to name a few. And all of those were great games)
Still baffles me how the PSVita got its misconcepted reputation of "no games" with a fantastic launch line-up like that that make the 3DS launch line-up like a complete joke (no offense to the 3DS, it's a great handheld and has amazing Nintendo games now, but you can't deny that its launch line-up was really bad) and a few amazing post-launch games too like Gravity Rush and later LittleBigPlanet Vita.
And it seems like everyone has already forgotten it's the lightbar was mainly conceived for tracking by the camera and to measure the distance between the TV & the player adding a very useful metric to motion-control-based games on top of the sixaxis. And it could also be used for splitscreen, to split the screen occordingly the players' positions.
So it's definitely useful imo, but there definitely should be an option to turn if off.
112 MB - Spelunky
116 MB - Alien Breed
131 MB - Limbo
164 MB - Dragon Fantasy Book I
164 MB - Eufloria HD
168 MB - PixelJunk Monsters Ultimate HD
176 MB - Stealth Inc: A Clone In the Dark
186 MB - Quell Memento
189 MB - Dragon Fantasy Book II
192 MB - Velocity Ultra
216 MB - Super Stardust Delta
228 MB - Men's Room Mayhem
242 MB - CastleStorm
260 MB - Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack!!!
301 MB - flOw
301 MB - Thomas Was Alone
333 MB - Machinarium
341 MB - Big Sky Infinity
394 MB - Guacamelee
404 MB - Flower
420 MB - Hotline Miami
502 MB - BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
522 MB - Rocketbirds - Hardboiled Chicken
526 MB - Pinball Heroes Complete
587 MB - Puddle
605 MB - Pure Chess
661 MB - When Vikings Attack
672 MB - Sine Mora
708 MB - Motorstorm RC
764 MB - Frobisher Says!
909 MB - Kickbeat
952 MB - Stick It To the Man
1118 MB - Pinball Arcade
1169 MB - Sound Shapes
1226 MB - Jet Set Radio HD
1334 MB - Zen Pinball 2
1400 MB - Rainbow Moon
1495 MB - Stranger's Wrath
2311 MB - Escape Plan
PSM:
7424KB - Super Crate Box
24 MB - Forevolution
28 MB - rymdkapsel
65 MB - Rock Boshers DX
72 MB - Life of Pixel
86 MB - Bike Rider DX
149 MB - Aqua Kitty
172 MB - Tokyo Jungle Mobile
See you don't NEED big memory cards. A 16GB only costs €29 and you could easily fit a bunch of digital-download only games on it. Getting retail games or buying retail games digitally and sacrificing storage is a trade-off anyone must make for any system. Okay, on the PSVita the issue is bigger I agree because the storage is more expensive for €/GB, but the games are not expensive at all in comparison to its competitor (3DS), so you end up saving money on the games. As I've said the 3DS has been the much more expensive system (and that for a system that in my opinion has been somewhat disappointing, but luckily there are some great games. The screen is crappy and has low-pixel density, it is not as comfortable to hold as PSVita, the hardware & design & software is much better on PSVita imo) for me and it always baffles why everyone always focus on the memory cards and ignores the rest. I don't want to say the 3DS is a bad system, it's good in its own right, but I simply prefer the PSVita and I think it's a much better value, even with the memory cards. Not to mention most PSVita bundles come with a 8GB or 16GB memory card and are only €199 or something (+ with games). 3DS XL is €199, doesn't come with a charger and comes with a 4GB SD Card which is less than the PSVita's and doesn't come with a game. And that's a system that has lower specs, a crappy screen, more bare-bones software etc. Again, I don't want to bash the 3DS, there are some great comes there which makes it worth it (on PSVita there are great games too btw, they are simply more underappreciated for some reason ), but what I'm saying is that the value proposition is just better on PSVita and people always act like the memory prices are a disaster and makes it too expensive etc, but that's not true imo.
I think the PSVita memory cards issue is way overblown. People who complain should own a 3DS and then they'll realize that the PSVita is actually the less expensive machine even with the memory cards. And that's because Nintendo's eShop prices are ridiculous, they WILL NEVER discount their prices and you'll end up having to spend much much more on 3DS games, on Nintendo games at least, than you would on PSVita, regardless of the game's quality. (Not to mention they are shipping 3DS XL in an uncomplete package since the adapter is not even included.... (!) ) Because crappy games like Steel Diver are still full priced, meanwhile on PSVita you can get Tearaway for €25 or something, Killzone Mercenary for €20 or something I think and a lot of PSP for €5 or €8. Meanwhile Nintendo's virtual console titles are priced at €5.. More than 20 years old games..
On PSVita if you buy the system + a memory card + 10 great games it is WAY LESS expensive than on 3DS + 10 great games. And let's say we are only counting retail games.
And I don't think the memory cards are really a huge issue as everyone makes it out to be. Most digital-download only games (so games only available on the PSN Store and not retail) only take up between 50MB and 500MB. You can buy a 16GB memory card for €29 or something and have at least 32 digital games stored on the device and you could get the bigger games on a physical PSVita card.
Plus the competition is not as strong in Japan, so they definitely should have priotiized the western markets. They made the right (and obvious) choice.
@RyoHazuki @get2sammyb
Well it's simply a matter of covering as much of the market as possible, the low-end, mid-range and high-end. When you have a small marketshare in the smartphone market it's best thing to do because you have the higher chance of people picking one Xperia smartphone by offering a lot of options. Manufacturers like Sony, LG, htc (any manufacturer that isn't Samsung or Apple) can't afford to simply make 'one or two amazing phones' a year, it would be extremely risky. The best thing to do is try do cover differnt ends of the market.
Comparing it to Apple is silly, anything with the Apple logo sells, Apple is already the giant in the smartphone and tablet market, they aren't struggling to gain a significant marketshare so they can allow themselves to stick with their iPhone updates.
I think it's also how Samsung got their huge marketshare making thousands and thousands different models (much much more than Sony) and slapping 'Galaxy' on every Android device.
I mean covering the other ends of the market doesn't have to come at the expense of sacrificing the higher end of the market.. And when you're already struggling for the third place in the smartphone market with LG, htc etc, why would you shoot yourself in the foot by only making a few high-end models?
And usually promoting their flagship models like Xperia Z, Xperia Z1 is usually what they do on top of offering all the other mid-range models.
And I think the Xperia phones are great, actually.
But I think PS+ for PSVita wasn't a good idea (from Sony's standpoint), for gamers it's absolutely fantastic and they should be grateful about that.
Even if it might lure in PS3 PS+ subscribers in buying a PSVita it will still not be viable for Sony, since the PSVita is sellling either with very little profit or with loss and the PS3 PS+ gamers are probably only buying a PSVita to get the PSVita PS+ games.
The PSVita's games library is simply (and that would count for any handheld's library) not big enough for a service as PS+. Not enough 3rd party support for PS+.
I think they'll have to announce they'll discontinue PS+ on PSVita soon. Maybe they could let some players keep some PS+ games as a compensation or something.
It really sucks because the PSVita is simply fantastic. And it's a lot of bang for your buck too. It costs only like €199 + 8GB card + a game now in my country. In comparison the 3DS XL costs €199 bare-bones (but with a 4GB memory card too) and it doesn't even come with a charger. Not to bash the 3DS or something; I think that's a great handheld too with fantastic games, but on the side of the hardware and design, the PSVita is simply better and seems like a better deal. Games library are both very good now, PSVita's library is just underrated and many people forget 3DS had a 1-year headstart to build up its games library.
Despite its low marketshare, I hope PSVita still stays a viable platform for mid-tier games and indie games and finds some boost with the Remote Play functionality.
Very sad to see PSVita and its gems like Tearaway not selling well, despite being top-tier quality stuff. Tough industry. Creative games like Tearaway and new IP's should be rewarded and not punished.. No wonder most big companies prefer to stick in their comfort zone with all those tedious sequels etc.
I think it's obvious Sony won't develop/publish any more AAA or A PSVita games and - I might be too empathic or something but whatever - it's hard to blame then when you see Tearaway only selling 14K...
Sony needed the support of the big publishers, but they have sadly moved on to mobile/tablet games. Imagine if they could have secured a GTA V-spin-off or prologue launching on PSVita before the main GTA V. Nintendo has the benefit of having the holy trinity of video games' most iconic franchises with Mario, Zelda and Pokémon and can always maintain confidence in its system-selling power.
I think money hats for big 3rd party games are a waste of money. And moneyhats for exclusive DLC are also a waste of money. Especially if Titanfall 2 is coming to PS4, then it was just free marketing for the franchise for Respawn/EA lol. And if they moneyhat Titanfall 2 again, Microsoft will have wasted even more money compared to simply purchasing the IP.
This game really looks amazing. It utilizes the PSVita features in a neat way too, it screams creativity and a unique, colourful artstlye. Gameplay looks fun and great too.
If I would be getting a PSVita, I'll defeinitely get this game. And something says I must support this kind of creative and non-comfort-zone new IP's.
It sucks it might get overshadowed by the next-gen consoles hype and that it won't sell gangbuster numbers.
I would have liked the auto-delete function for when the HDD is full.
That way, you'll never have to deal with storage management, because it will simply always re-install when the HDD is full. And since it always seamlessly installs on the background while playing, it's still convenient.
It would be nice if we would have the option to enable the auto-delete for when the HDD is full. The only downside, is that when it's full you're going to have to deal with longer initial load times when you switch games.
Why does everyone call this DLC when it's bonus content that comes with the disc at no extra charge? DLC stands for downloadable.
Anyway I'm a bit indifferent about this, but to be honest I think timed exclusive bonus content / DLC is not really necessary, it doesn't really serve much prupose I think, especially if it comes at a high price for the platform holder.
Would this DLC be paid on other platforms after those 6 months of expired btw?
In other news the PSVita version of Rayman Legends is getting the invasion levels with a free patch. (So basically full version + 5 exclusive levels and for a cheaper price, and it's portable of course)
Comments 188
Re: Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes Looks Best on PS4, Says Kojima
@Gamer83
A game can perfectly be developed for PS4/XB1 and be downscaled for PS3/X360... It doesn't have to be 'held back' by PS3/X360. If that would be the case, then it's due to development budget constraints rather than technical constraints.
Go play Crysis 3, Metro Last Light at the highest settings on a high-end PC. Or even Battlefield 4 on PS4 or PC. Then tell me that those are being held back by PS3/X360. All those big graphics engines are very scaleable..
And I think Ryse, Battlefield 4, AC IV, KZ Shadow Fall look pretty impressive graphically but well you're probably going to shoot me down.
Re: Soon You'll Be Able to Lay Your Light Fingers on Thief for PS4
Wouldn't it be cool if you extinguish the candles in the game by covering the lightbar of the DualShock 4 and make the lightbar shut off (and lighting up again when nearing another candle that Garret can extinguish with his hands) (if you have a camera, so it can recognize that)?
Okay, maybe that sounds like an unnecessary gimmick and maybe it would get annoying after a while. But of course it would be optional.
Edit: the lightbar is already being used for indicating your visibility, so that's a much more practical gimmick. Ignore my gimmicky idea.
Re: Delayed PS4 Title DriveClub Is 'Really Innovating in the Racing Genre'
As someone who isn't really into racing games, I thought the latest short gameplay clips and screenshot looked amazing! I love the natural enviroments, the landscapes and the time of day transition and I'm sure I'll like the racing as well.
@Gamer83
Good to keep your expectations low.
Re: inFAMOUS: Second Son Studio Unclouds Unannounced Project
@italodance
Low-level coding just means that you're programming very close to the hardware directly, and not on top of software layers/API's. Also known as 'to the metal' coding, which is often the case on consoles because of the unified hardware.
It could still be a PSVita game of course, especially since Nate Fox from Sucker Punch accidentally almost let slip inFamous on PSVita. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvnGOHHljoo#t=5m40s)
But I think it's still probably going to be a PS4 game. They a fairly sized team with a nice engine running on PS4, so it makes little sense to scale back to the PSVita, unless they're splitting their staff or something.
Re: The Games Sony Picked for the PlayStation Now Beta Are Baffling
How exactly are these odd? As you put it the purpose of the beta is to test how those games perfrom in the first place and they need to cover multiple genres to properly test that.
And most of those games are pretty good actually (imo).
Re: Weirdness: Here's a Novel Way to Dim the PS4 Controller's Light Bar
The Playstation logo looks really nice.
Re: Feature: Three Reasons Why You Should Skip the PS Vita Slim and Snag the Original
I think you're pretty harsh, I haven't hold it yet, but I have heard that it is much more comfortable, has better battery life, has a standard micro USB for charging and has 1 GB built-in storage.
The better battery life and the more comfortable are pretty big deals. I don't now how much it will cost in EU, but based on UK's price it should be €220. I think that's fine with a bundle, but the thing is just that retailers have been cutting the price a lot themselves on the Vita, making this rivision seem like poor value. Compared with the standard PSVita RRP of €199, I think it's all right.
There's only so much you can improve on an already great handheld anyway.
Both PSVita's are currently extremely good value imo. There's not really any alternative where you're getting as much bang for your buck as with PSVita + memory card + PS+..
@-CraZed-
That sounds like a luxury issue. Since in my opinion the value you're getting with PS+ games outweighs the cost of the memory cards.
Re: A 'Well-Known DRM Solution' May Be Coming to Your PlayStation Multimedia Apps
@LDXD
Fine, different horses, different courses. I am not making excuses by the way. I was already a PS+ subscriber just for the PS3 Instant Game Collection, and as long as they would keep offering PS3 games, I would keep subscribe probably, so that I'm getting PS4 games to me is a nice bonus. I don't think it's hard to understand that I would prefer free PS4 games than nothing. As I said that's just my opinion from my point of view, and I can perfectly see why for other people it sucks.
And I partially agree. It's fine that games retain their value and don't discount up to 1 year, maybe a little longer if it's really a masterpiece to not screw over the early adopters, but Nintendo is simply taking it waaay too far. As I said Mario Kart DS, Super Mario 64 those are games that still €40 and and almost a decade old. Most Wii U launch games are still €60, lots of their big first-party Wii games are still €40 etc. That's not about retaining value anymore, some of those games are completely dated and the novelty has completely worn off, so they should get discounted. They could at least offer some temporary discounts/sales as everyone does, but nope. (and I'm talking about Nintendo first-party games)
@Gamer83 "if there hadn't been such a huge backlash against MS for that, Sony would've gone right down the same path" I don't know, I can't just assume that. I'm a man of science.
I wonder in what world there wouldn't have been such a backlash anyway.
"Any time DRM and consoles are mentioned together, you have to worry about what those two companies will do"
Nintendo eShop, PSN Store, XBL, Steam, they all already have have DRM.
There are different forms of DRM, you're talking about online-based DRM, and I agree that should never be tolerated.
Re: A 'Well-Known DRM Solution' May Be Coming to Your PlayStation Multimedia Apps
@LDXD
Backwards compatibility and free online multiplayer are nice. But those things are less important and outweighed by how they handle their pricing model in my opinion, since actual Wii U games are the ones I'm going to play the most on Wii U. Same goes with PS4. I'm probably keeping my old systems anyway, but for people who don't but want to retain their games collection or for people who didn't have a Wii/PS3, it's nice indeed.
And to be fair since I already have Playstation Plus I don't really care that on PS4 multiplayer is behind PS+, in fact I think it's awesome that I'm already building up a collection of PS+ games practically for free (since I bought it for PS3 PS+ games). So coming from this standpoint I would rather have PS+ IGC on PS4 and get a lot of value for my money, than free online multiplayer and no Instant Game Collection.
No DRM and practically no microtransactions goes for Sony too. I know GT6 is has microtransactions, but apart from that one I've never seen microtransactions in a Sony game. I don't they're a huge problem as long as they aren't obtrusive, aren't prompted to the player and aren't in games with a strong focus on multiplayer where players who pay for microtransactions would get an advantage. And so far I think there's only one Sony-published game with microtransactions and that's GT6 as far as I know, so it's more an exception than a rule.
Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, again we're talking about console manufacturers. This has nothing to do with Nintendo/Sony/MS, 3rd parties are free to set their prices. You should call out Square Enix on this one.
But, actually it's good that you mention it since you just proved my point. New Super Mario Bros. U is more than a year old and still costs €60! If Tomb Raider was published by Nintendo it would probably still be €60.
Re: Do You Want a PS4? Amazon UK Has Knack Packs In Stock
Ugh I hate seeing that Knack character design. :c
When he's small he's fine, but when he's big it's ugly.
Still seems like a fun, lighthearted game to me, even if I can see why the critics didn't like it and I can see me disagreeing with them. I'll probably buy it at some point.
Re: A 'Well-Known DRM Solution' May Be Coming to Your PlayStation Multimedia Apps
@Gamer83
Nintendo the most consumer-friendly company out of the three companies??
You have to be kidding. The company that completely refuses the ever discount their games, that has never heard of something like 'sales' (yeah and their recent eShop efforts on that are pathetic), the company that links purchased content in the Nintendo eShop to the console instead of to the user, making it a hassle to have acces to your content if you own, or plan to own more than one Nintendo device.
I was a huge Nintendo fan a while back, and while that has diminished and I'm more playstation fan now, I still like Nintendo and I'll probably buy their games at some point, but come on Nintendo is way behind when it comes to downloadable content, offering discounts and sales (Mario Kart DS, Super Mario 64 are still games that are retailing for €40........ And that last one was actually just a port obviously...). Wind Waker HD is also just a remake and they've the balls to charge €60 for a remake.... And don't get me started on the VC prices..
Sorry Nintendo is in my opinion the worst consumer friendly company out of the three, simply because how they handle the pricings of their games. Their consoles may be the cheapest (but you get the weakest hardware, poor features etc, so from a value standpoint it's different), but their games are the most expensive in correlation with the "datedness".
Sorry Nintendo is way behind in all those terms. Personally I think Sony is still way ahead to Nintendo when you see they've got things like cross-buy for every Sony-published game that is on PS3/PSVita and/or PS4, Playstation Plus, regular sales and discounts.
Re: Rumour: PS4 Exclusive DriveClub Slamming on the Brakes Until June
@get2sammyb
I know but still, even more good word of mouth couldn't have been a bad thing? The 'hype' would be maintained for a longer time. But you're right the PS4 is still selling out everywhere, so it's not exactly a big problem from Sony's standpoint, but I would have liked to see Puppeteer getting more recognition. Here in Belgium retailers still have pre-orders/back-orders all up to march.
Or if the TLOU would have been on PS4 too, then that would have been a big hype booster, the PS4 would already have an GOTY award-winning game straight at its launch.
Re: Rumour: PS4 Exclusive DriveClub Slamming on the Brakes Until June
As long as the game is eventually a great one, then it's fine.
But yeah, Sony should have tried to move some 2013 PS3 titles to PS4, the 2013 line-up for the PS3 was incredible. Puppeteer, The Last of Us, Sly Cooper Thieves in Time, God of War: Ascension, Gran Turismo 6, Beyond: Two Souls, Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, Tales of Xillia, Rain Ratchet & Clank: Nexus.
The PS4 hype would have been crazy if Puppeteer, Gran Turismo 6, The Last of Us would also have been released on PS4. And Puppeteer would have got the sales it deserved.
Re: Pachter: Nintendo Should Publish Its Games on the PS4
The box art looks nice (the PEGI rating isn't correct!).
But yeah it could be a could experiment for Nintendo and it could actually be beneficial if they would promote their games this way, since their games could get more exposure this way, but the problem is that it's going to damage people's trust. So Nintendo is going to have a tough time to get people to buy their console for the Nintendo games, with consumers knowing that Nintendo games could again potentially go multiplatform if the console doesn't take off.
Re: Talking Point: Do Sony's Family Franchises Have a Future on PS4?
Yeah, this is obviously a very important market and was a key to the the PS2's success.
They'll definitely need to cater to this audience too. I think their strategy is to first focus on a strong fanbase of core gamers and then later expand the 'hype' to the mainstream, but without sacrificing the focus on gamers, but merely expanding the audience. I think that's a pretty good strategy and something like the Playroom is a good start.
Nothing wrong with casual games as long as they're quality and fun titles that don't come at the expense of sacrificing development of core games.
But, obviously you can also have family-friendly games like Mario, LittleBigPlanet, Tearaway that appeal to both audiences. They'll definitely make some games like that too if they want to make the PS4 a widespread they need to have an large target audience.
Re: Want More PlayStation Vita Games? Thank the Skies for Unity
@rastamadeus
Whatever floats your boat.
I consider you have very weird taste in games in you say the PSVita's launch games were 'average' but you enjoyed Pilotwings.
I thought Pilotwings Resort was crap. Boring game all around, no substance, very little content. Baffling that they were selling a game like that for €40, but that's Nintendo I guess. Dead or Alive was not at launch. Street Fighter 4 was pretty much the only decent 3DS game for a long time, and that was a port. Actually looking back it's clearly the 3DS that had hardly any decent games for a long time. PSVita got its great games straight at launch. You're not going to tell me Uncharted Golden Abyss, Super Stardust: Delta, Wipeout 2048, Everybody's Golf, Rayman Origins, Escape Plan, Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour, Tales of Space: Mutant Blobs Attack were average. Those are all very well received games and regarded as great games.
PSVita's line-up was miles and miles ahead and consisted of quality, exclusive games in addition to some excellent ports of excellent games (Rayman Origins). That's just my humble opinion, though, different horses for courses indeed.
The exclusives line-up is also very good. Uncharted Golden Abyss, Super Stardust: Delta, Wipeout 2048, Everybody's Golf, LittleBigPlanet PSVita, Gravity Rush, Tearaway, Soul Sacrifice, Dragon's Crown, Muramasa Rebirth, Killzone: Mercenary. Those are not average games, those are all really excellent games. It's just because all those games don't have "Mario" "Zelda" in its name that the line-up goes underrated.
Re: Want More PlayStation Vita Games? Thank the Skies for Unity
@rjejr
Overblown inconvenience. You can still buy the games retail if you want so you don't take up memory card space. Plus the games are inexpensive and you have options like Playstation Plus, so you end up saving money on that part in comparison to the 3DS for example.
The games line-up is pretty damn good now:
http://puu.sh/6mrqB.jpg
And the Vita has always had games btw. I think I've played it much more than 3DS. In fact, I remember the huge droughts in the 3DS its first year, it was a dust-collector. (Yay Steel Diver and Pilotwings and those were €40 games lol). The Vita had actual great launch games, probably one of the best launch line-ups in recent history. (Uncharted Golden Abyss, Super Stardust: Delta, Wipeout 2048, Everybody's Golf, Rayman Origins, Escape Plan, Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour, Tales of Space: Mutant Blobs Attack to name a few. And all of those were great games)
Still baffles me how the PSVita got its misconcepted reputation of "no games" with a fantastic launch line-up like that that make the 3DS launch line-up like a complete joke (no offense to the 3DS, it's a great handheld and has amazing Nintendo games now, but you can't deny that its launch line-up was really bad) and a few amazing post-launch games too like Gravity Rush and later LittleBigPlanet Vita.
Re: Sony Wants to Keep Your PS4 Controller's Light Turned On
An option to turn it off, couldn't hurt..
And it seems like everyone has already forgotten it's the lightbar was mainly conceived for tracking by the camera and to measure the distance between the TV & the player adding a very useful metric to motion-control-based games on top of the sixaxis. And it could also be used for splitscreen, to split the screen occordingly the players' positions.
So it's definitely useful imo, but there definitely should be an option to turn if off.
Re: Soapbox: Sony Is Depriving Players of the Optimal PS Vita Experience
@AVahne
I was referring to Nintendo first-party games.
Re: Soapbox: Sony Is Depriving Players of the Optimal PS Vita Experience
@RyoHazuki
I'm talking about games that you can only buy digitally.
This: 32 MB - Terraria
35 MB - Mutant Mudds
37 MB - Fruit Ninja
37 MB - Furmins
38 MB - Jetpack Joyride
51 MB - escapeVektor
65 MB - Retro City Rampage
82 MB - Plants Vs Zombies
112 MB - Spelunky
116 MB - Alien Breed
131 MB - Limbo
164 MB - Dragon Fantasy Book I
164 MB - Eufloria HD
168 MB - PixelJunk Monsters Ultimate HD
176 MB - Stealth Inc: A Clone In the Dark
186 MB - Quell Memento
189 MB - Dragon Fantasy Book II
192 MB - Velocity Ultra
216 MB - Super Stardust Delta
228 MB - Men's Room Mayhem
242 MB - CastleStorm
260 MB - Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack!!!
301 MB - flOw
301 MB - Thomas Was Alone
333 MB - Machinarium
341 MB - Big Sky Infinity
394 MB - Guacamelee
404 MB - Flower
420 MB - Hotline Miami
502 MB - BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
522 MB - Rocketbirds - Hardboiled Chicken
526 MB - Pinball Heroes Complete
587 MB - Puddle
605 MB - Pure Chess
661 MB - When Vikings Attack
672 MB - Sine Mora
708 MB - Motorstorm RC
764 MB - Frobisher Says!
909 MB - Kickbeat
952 MB - Stick It To the Man
1118 MB - Pinball Arcade
1169 MB - Sound Shapes
1226 MB - Jet Set Radio HD
1334 MB - Zen Pinball 2
1400 MB - Rainbow Moon
1495 MB - Stranger's Wrath
2311 MB - Escape Plan
PSM:
7424KB - Super Crate Box
24 MB - Forevolution
28 MB - rymdkapsel
65 MB - Rock Boshers DX
72 MB - Life of Pixel
86 MB - Bike Rider DX
149 MB - Aqua Kitty
172 MB - Tokyo Jungle Mobile
See you don't NEED big memory cards. A 16GB only costs €29 and you could easily fit a bunch of digital-download only games on it. Getting retail games or buying retail games digitally and sacrificing storage is a trade-off anyone must make for any system. Okay, on the PSVita the issue is bigger I agree because the storage is more expensive for €/GB, but the games are not expensive at all in comparison to its competitor (3DS), so you end up saving money on the games. As I've said the 3DS has been the much more expensive system (and that for a system that in my opinion has been somewhat disappointing, but luckily there are some great games. The screen is crappy and has low-pixel density, it is not as comfortable to hold as PSVita, the hardware & design & software is much better on PSVita imo) for me and it always baffles why everyone always focus on the memory cards and ignores the rest. I don't want to say the 3DS is a bad system, it's good in its own right, but I simply prefer the PSVita and I think it's a much better value, even with the memory cards. Not to mention most PSVita bundles come with a 8GB or 16GB memory card and are only €199 or something (+ with games). 3DS XL is €199, doesn't come with a charger and comes with a 4GB SD Card which is less than the PSVita's and doesn't come with a game. And that's a system that has lower specs, a crappy screen, more bare-bones software etc. Again, I don't want to bash the 3DS, there are some great comes there which makes it worth it (on PSVita there are great games too btw, they are simply more underappreciated for some reason ), but what I'm saying is that the value proposition is just better on PSVita and people always act like the memory prices are a disaster and makes it too expensive etc, but that's not true imo.
Re: Soapbox: Sony Is Depriving Players of the Optimal PS Vita Experience
I think the PSVita memory cards issue is way overblown. People who complain should own a 3DS and then they'll realize that the PSVita is actually the less expensive machine even with the memory cards. And that's because Nintendo's eShop prices are ridiculous, they WILL NEVER discount their prices and you'll end up having to spend much much more on 3DS games, on Nintendo games at least, than you would on PSVita, regardless of the game's quality. (Not to mention they are shipping 3DS XL in an uncomplete package since the adapter is not even included.... (!) ) Because crappy games like Steel Diver are still full priced, meanwhile on PSVita you can get Tearaway for €25 or something, Killzone Mercenary for €20 or something I think and a lot of PSP for €5 or €8. Meanwhile Nintendo's virtual console titles are priced at €5.. More than 20 years old games..
On PSVita if you buy the system + a memory card + 10 great games it is WAY LESS expensive than on 3DS + 10 great games. And let's say we are only counting retail games.
And I don't think the memory cards are really a huge issue as everyone makes it out to be. Most digital-download only games (so games only available on the PSN Store and not retail) only take up between 50MB and 500MB. You can buy a 16GB memory card for €29 or something and have at least 32 digital games stored on the device and you could get the bigger games on a physical PSVita card.
Re: Beyond: Two Souls Leads an Extraordinary Life Over One Million Times
Still need to play this game.
Glad to see it has reached 1 million sales.
Re: Wait, Japan Almost Got the PlayStation 4 First?
Well there were no Japanese games ready.
Plus the competition is not as strong in Japan, so they definitely should have priotiized the western markets. They made the right (and obvious) choice.
Re: Activision Won't Make a Crash Bandicoot Game, So This Fan One Will Have to Do
@JaredJ
Universal Interactive was acquired by Vivendi Games. And Vivendi Games merged with Activision.
SCE never owned the Crash Bandicoot IP, it was Universal Interactive's IP and it was just a publishing deal with SCE.
Re: Live: Watch Sony's CES 2014 Press Conference Right Here
@RyoHazuki @get2sammyb
Well it's simply a matter of covering as much of the market as possible, the low-end, mid-range and high-end. When you have a small marketshare in the smartphone market it's best thing to do because you have the higher chance of people picking one Xperia smartphone by offering a lot of options. Manufacturers like Sony, LG, htc (any manufacturer that isn't Samsung or Apple) can't afford to simply make 'one or two amazing phones' a year, it would be extremely risky. The best thing to do is try do cover differnt ends of the market.
Comparing it to Apple is silly, anything with the Apple logo sells, Apple is already the giant in the smartphone and tablet market, they aren't struggling to gain a significant marketshare so they can allow themselves to stick with their iPhone updates.
I think it's also how Samsung got their huge marketshare making thousands and thousands different models (much much more than Sony) and slapping 'Galaxy' on every Android device.
I mean covering the other ends of the market doesn't have to come at the expense of sacrificing the higher end of the market.. And when you're already struggling for the third place in the smartphone market with LG, htc etc, why would you shoot yourself in the foot by only making a few high-end models?
And usually promoting their flagship models like Xperia Z, Xperia Z1 is usually what they do on top of offering all the other mid-range models.
And I think the Xperia phones are great, actually.
Re: Live: Watch Sony's CES 2014 Press Conference Right Here
I doubt we'll see Playstation stuff.
Re: The PS4 Controller's Light Bar Will Help You Sneak About in Thief
A bit gimmicky, but there's nothing wrong with if it's not intrusive.
It could be a neat little addition.
Re: Rumour: DriveClub Will Be Revving Its Engines on February 28th
^ But keep in mind the PS+ Edition obviously doesn't have all the content.
Re: Talking Point: Is PlayStation Plus Helping or Hindering the PS Vita?
Edit: I read the article now.
But I think PS+ for PSVita wasn't a good idea (from Sony's standpoint), for gamers it's absolutely fantastic and they should be grateful about that.
Even if it might lure in PS3 PS+ subscribers in buying a PSVita it will still not be viable for Sony, since the PSVita is sellling either with very little profit or with loss and the PS3 PS+ gamers are probably only buying a PSVita to get the PSVita PS+ games.
The PSVita's games library is simply (and that would count for any handheld's library) not big enough for a service as PS+. Not enough 3rd party support for PS+.
I think they'll have to announce they'll discontinue PS+ on PSVita soon. Maybe they could let some players keep some PS+ games as a compensation or something.
It really sucks because the PSVita is simply fantastic. And it's a lot of bang for your buck too. It costs only like €199 + 8GB card + a game now in my country. In comparison the 3DS XL costs €199 bare-bones (but with a 4GB memory card too) and it doesn't even come with a charger. Not to bash the 3DS or something; I think that's a great handheld too with fantastic games, but on the side of the hardware and design, the PSVita is simply better and seems like a better deal. Games library are both very good now, PSVita's library is just underrated and many people forget 3DS had a 1-year headstart to build up its games library.
Despite its low marketshare, I hope PSVita still stays a viable platform for mid-tier games and indie games and finds some boost with the Remote Play functionality.
Very sad to see PSVita and its gems like Tearaway not selling well, despite being top-tier quality stuff. Tough industry. Creative games like Tearaway and new IP's should be rewarded and not punished.. No wonder most big companies prefer to stick in their comfort zone with all those tedious sequels etc.
I think it's obvious Sony won't develop/publish any more AAA or A PSVita games and - I might be too empathic or something but whatever - it's hard to blame then when you see Tearaway only selling 14K...
Sony needed the support of the big publishers, but they have sadly moved on to mobile/tablet games. Imagine if they could have secured a GTA V-spin-off or prologue launching on PSVita before the main GTA V. Nintendo has the benefit of having the holy trinity of video games' most iconic franchises with Mario, Zelda and Pokémon and can always maintain confidence in its system-selling power.
Re: Live: Watch the Spike VGX Awards 2013 Right Here
So glad Sony didn't waste any new announcement for this abomination called 'VGX'.
It would have had a reversed effect lol. Keep those new announcements for real events.
Re: Don't Worry, It's Just the First Titanfall That's Not Coming to PS4
I think money hats for big 3rd party games are a waste of money. And moneyhats for exclusive DLC are also a waste of money. Especially if Titanfall 2 is coming to PS4, then it was just free marketing for the franchise for Respawn/EA lol. And if they moneyhat Titanfall 2 again, Microsoft will have wasted even more money compared to simply purchasing the IP.
Re: Still Desperate to Play The Last Guardian? Fumito Ueda's Terribly Sorry
Take all your time to make an eventually good game, or a masterpiece.
If it really didn't work they would already have cancelled it.
Re: Don't Worry, Sony Hasn't Forgotten About Tearaway Entirely
This game really looks amazing. It utilizes the PSVita features in a neat way too, it screams creativity and a unique, colourful artstlye. Gameplay looks fun and great too.
If I would be getting a PSVita, I'll defeinitely get this game. And something says I must support this kind of creative and non-comfort-zone new IP's.
It sucks it might get overshadowed by the next-gen consoles hype and that it won't sell gangbuster numbers.
Re: How Does the PS4 Deal with Those Massive Mandatory Installs?
I would have liked the auto-delete function for when the HDD is full.
That way, you'll never have to deal with storage management, because it will simply always re-install when the HDD is full. And since it always seamlessly installs on the background while playing, it's still convenient.
It would be nice if we would have the option to enable the auto-delete for when the HDD is full. The only downside, is that when it's full you're going to have to deal with longer initial load times when you switch games.
Re: Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag's PS4 Exclusive DLC Will Sail to Other Shores
Why does everyone call this DLC when it's bonus content that comes with the disc at no extra charge? DLC stands for downloadable.
Anyway I'm a bit indifferent about this, but to be honest I think timed exclusive bonus content / DLC is not really necessary, it doesn't really serve much prupose I think, especially if it comes at a high price for the platform holder.
Would this DLC be paid on other platforms after those 6 months of expired btw?
Re: Rumour: Is Sony Trying to Lure Wii U Buyers Towards PS4 and Vita?
Sounds like bull to be honest. I mean it's hard to verify those things, but I would only trust reputated, non-biased sources. Consider me skeptical.
Re: Game of the Month: August 2013 - Rayman Legends
In other news the PSVita version of Rayman Legends is getting the invasion levels with a free patch. (So basically full version + 5 exclusive levels and for a cheaper price, and it's portable of course)
http://blog.ubi.com/rayman-legends-out-now/
Re: Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime Not Very Impressed with the PS4's Launch Lineup
That's one of the most stupid statement I've ever read...
I'm baffled at how stupid people have managed to get such a position... (Is he really that naive?)
What the hell do you think makes all your 'exeperiences' possible? Right, it's the technology that lays the foundation, you fool.
Woohoo you've got cloud technology for a lacklustre streaming thing that is not even available in Europe.
Take a look at the Wii U LAUNCH line-up.
Now take a look at the PS4 LAUNCH line-up.
And now Wii U looks pathetic, yes you have some decent games coming now, but it took you a few years...
The only thing worth a "meh" is Wii U right now (and 2DS).