@RadioHedgeFund Well that still a quite limited selection of games, and most of the retro classics that many people care about is instead being remastered or remade so that you will have to buy the game all over again.
If they made sure that all PS1 games that you bought from the PS Store back in the PSP era was still available for download on the PS5 then I could maybe begin to see you point, but this is really not the case.
If I bought Final Fantasy VIII on the PS3 or the PSP then I can't just download it on the PS5, I have to buy the remastered version for 20USD or something. Or I have to subscribe to PlayStation Plus Extra and pay monthly.
@themightyant I never said in any of the previous rants here that I think action vs turn based is the problem.
I made a point that it's the combination of multiple things, especially the way they write the story, the character developments and character relationships as well as art direction and music direction that defines the identity and feel of the game.
And I feel that these things are more important than turn based vs action based combat. I also think that it still needs to be an RPG in its core. And Final Fantasy XVI is barely an RPG.
The level of options to develop your character in this game is extremely limited. The equipment system is tragically shallow with almost no strategising needed. And it almost doesn't matter what skills in the skill tree you choose to focus on.
Im many ways the game does not feel like even an actionRPG because it has such a shallow growth system and the game holds you hand all the way.
It's more about timing and dodging at the right moment.
Even if Mario and Zelda has changes over the years, the core gameplay and identity is still there and intact in every single title, with a few black sheets (Zelda 2 and Super Mario 2, which was before these franchises really had developed their identity)
Breath of the Wild is different, but you can still tell that the core gameplay is there, it's still a Zelda game.
I said many times now that I am not against change and innovation, but it should be done carefully not to mess up the vision of the franchise and the identity too much.
And I feel like everything since Final Fantasy XII has been lacking in terms of that true Final Fantasy magic and feel.
I think a Final Fantasy with action based combat could still capture the essence of a Final Fantasy game for sure.
Kingdom Hearts does a better job at delivering a Final Fantasy like experience than Final Fantasy XII. And that's partly because they managed to nail the writing and character development.
They also usually had better character growth systems (Slightly) that Final Fantasy XVI.
@themightyant I played through the entire game of Mario Wonder. Sure there's some nice little changes and gimmicks, but the core identity of a Mario game is still there.
And I agree that some changes are definitely needed sometimes to make things feel fresh. All Final Fantasy games changed things around to make things feel fresh, the difference is that back in the the golden era they knew where to draw the line.
Usually they focused on telling a new story and made some changes to how character growth and the technical aspect of the RPG worked, but generally all the Final Fantasy games had that Final Fantasy essence.
There's a reason why Mario is still about fun surprising run and jump platforming, because that's what Mario is about, that's the identity of Mario. Nintendo will never do a hyper realistic Super Mario FPS game, because that wouldn't be Mario.
Only time they would ever do something different like that would be as a spin off.
The Final Fantasy franchise used to be the same, just look at Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy Adventure (Turned into the Seiken Densetsu series), Final Fantasy Legend (Turned into the SaGa Series), The chocobo games, Dissidia, Ehrgeiz and the list goes on. All Final Fantasy spin off titles... Why? Because they were deemed too different from the mainline Final Fantasy franchise.
Like I said, I am not saying that Final Fantasy can't change or innovate, I am saying that they should be careful and respectful to the original vision not to implement changes that drastically alters the identity of the franchise.
Final Fantasy has not always been groundbreaking, not at all. Has it always been held in a high regard for its excellent stories, and high quality? Yes absolutely!
But to me groundbreaking is doing something so new and fresh that it alters the industry forever. Moment's like that are actually sort of rare for the Final Fantasy franchise. Just look at Final Fantasy 5 for example, the greatest thing about that game was the job system, and that job system was lifted straight out of Final Fantasy 3 and enhanced. The Job system in Final Fantasy 3 was based on the idea of jobs from Final Fantasy 1 with the twist that you could change jobs and it also added more jobs.
Final Fantasy 1 might have been groundbreaking was it not for the fact that dragon quest and many other RPG games was already released.
Did the Final Fantasy franchise do things their own way? Yes absolutely, and there were certainly new innovations with each game. But nothing that altered the core appeal and identity of the franchise.
People who are Dragon Ball fans usually enjoy this anime because of multiple things coming together into a sort of harmony. They love the characters, the art style, the deep lore, the over the top fights and transformations and the world building.
And even though Dragon Ball, Dragon Balls Z and Dragon Ball Super are all making some changes, it still has that Dragon Ball magic in all of them.
The same thing goes with Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon and Final Fantasy.
But since each Final Fantasy game is its own self-contained story with it's own unique characters, it's even more important that they nail the "feel" and essence of the franchise. Because without that, there's no identity there anymore. Just throwing in some Chocobos, Crystals and a Marlboro is not enough to call is a day
@themightyant "I'm absolutely don't think they should keep doing the same thing for decade after decade, they have to keep evolving the game and formula." & "but going back and rehashing what made a game great 25 years ago isn't going to be ground breaking today"
Here's the thing that a lot of people fail to understand, you don't need to make something new and groundbreaking to win game of the year.
Look at Dragon Quest XI, it's considered by many to be the best game in the franchise or one of the top games, and it has barely changed since Dragon Quest 3.
Look at Super Mario Wonder, It's a classic 2D Mario game, there's nothing groundbreaking about it, they added some clever features but it mainly plays like any other 2D Mario game. And people love it!
I don't think Final Fantasy has to try to be ground breaking. I think Final Fantasy has to try being Final Fantasy. But that does not mean that they can't improve graphics or innovate in terms of story and gameplay. It means trying to preserve the identity of the franchise artistically and practically.
@themightyant It's not that something needed to change. They started messing with the formula that made Final Fantasy work with the release of Final Fantasy XII already. They been constantly changing Final Fantasy since FFXII.
And I do not just mean small changes in the growth system. (We always had those) I am talking the complete experience, different directors and composers with each game and none of the seems to even try to recreate the Sakaguchi magic.
The problem is that they never went back to the formula that made Final Fantasy so amazing, with each new release they just strayed further and further away from the identity of the franchise.
Like someone else here said "Don't fix something that isn't broken"
And that's exactly what they have done, tried to fix Final Fantasy even though it never needed to be fixed, Up until Final Fantasy XII the franchise was massively successful and most people agree that the era from Final Fantasy VI - X was the golden era, this is the era they should aim to understand and take most of their inspiration from, rather than turning the franchise into a western action game.
Hironobu Sakaguchi was tired of Square only doing action games and games that Square's management thought was popular. And he said something in the lines of: "I am not great at making action games, I think I am better at telling a story". There was more to it than that, he also loved D&D and stuff.
But the entire move towards turning Final Fantasy into a western action game totally goes against the purpose of the franchise's existence. It's a shame, and disrespectful towards Hironobu Sakaguchi I feel.
His vision was that Final Fantasy would be an RPG in a world dominated by action games. Final Fantasy is like Anakin Skywalker..
“You were the Chosen One. It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them. Bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness." - OBI-WAN KENOBI
Then the music, while there are som nice songs in all Final Fantasy games including the new games, they can't even begin to compete with Uematsu's music. I guess that's why Final Fantasy XVI opted to borrow a lot from Nobou Uematsu. But even so it kind of fails, because it just doesn't have the magic. Many times during the game I got the Witcher 3 vibes from the soundtrack rather than Final Fantasy vibes. It felt sort of generic.
The older games had incredibly strong themes that were very memorable and invoked unique feelings. And that's really the keyword "unique".
Just take Aerith theme as an example, it's hard to put it into words but invokes a lot of bittersweet emotions while also feeling somewhat hopeful and pure.. all while being very memorable and simple sounding.
One of the best reoccurring themes in Final Fantasy XVI is the Rosaria theme, however to me it's kinda boring in comparison.
Now I am not saying that I hate Final Fantasy XVI, in fact I am half way through the Final Fantasy difficulty on new game+ and I do enjoy it quite a bit. But for completely other reasons than I enjoy most Final Fantasy games.
I do not play Final Fantasy XVI to quell my thirst for Final Fantasy because it's simply not that game, I play Final Fantasy XVI when I want to play a decent Final Fantasy themed action adventure game.
Because it feels like a different kind of game that tries too hard to convince me that it's a final fantasy game by throwing moogles, chocobos, crystals and other final fantasy related things at me without understanding how to recreate the magic.
I don't know maybe one they can figure it out.
And I truly believe that they are shooting themselves in the foot in the long run by trying to appeal to a mainstream western market. If they just had the courage to try and go all out in making a more traditional Final Fantasy that has a higher focus on character, unique story and less focus on being a western style action game then I think they could actually do something truly great. And while I would love to see a return to ATB systems I would be ok with action based combat if they can just do the rest right.
Congratulations if you read my entire rant, you deserve a gold star
Yes, the Final Fantasy franchise definitely altered me as a person.
Especially Final Fantasy VI-X. The magic is just not there anymore.
The stories back then had a lot of heart, something that I feel is missing from the last games (Including Final Fantasy XVI)
Back then you could say that this FEELS like a Final Fantasy game. Not because it was turn based, not because it had great graphics and not because there was moogles and chocobos.
There was probably a combination of the art style, the Uematsu music and the world building as well as story telling.
The world building was way more varied and did not hold your hand as much as these days, there wasn't always a marker showing you where you are supposed to go and you where able to talk with all NPC's so a big part of the game was relying on you to explore and talk with NPC's who would give you bits of information about the world, or something random like what their favourite food is. That made the world feel more alive.
Sometimes you would talk with a random NPC and that would trigger some side quest, but there was no marker on the map showing you that this NPC will initiate a side quest.
You felt like you stumbled upon it or were rewarded for exploring.
And speaking about side quests they were way more varied and lengthy, usually there weren't as many, but the ones that were there was usually very time consuming but extremely rewarding in the end.
When it came to story telling I feel like the older games were more intimate and had heavier focus on the characters and their relationships.
Sure you could argue that Noctis or Clive also had relationships, but I feel like they didn't evolve much. I don't think there was any interesting development in the relationship with Clive and Jill or even Clive and his brother Joshua. Within the first hour of the game you could tell yes Jill and Clive are definitely in love and there's really no lead up to that.
While Final Fantasy VIII for example have the main character Squall gradually growing from being antisocial, selfish and rude into opening up more to people, becoming a leader and learning to love and need another person. And also his relationship with the other characters and their relationships with each other were evolving. And I really think that sort of focus on character relationships are sorely lacking in the later games.
@RamboMike I don't think so, most people considering to buy something don't go to check sales reports to get the information on the item. This is more for investors I think and over all transparency.
To sell units they usually rely on their marketing team, social media and influencers to spread the word. We had all of that and it was pretty clear that they don't market this as a console.
Perhaps I misread the article.. I don't know, English is not my native language.
But to me it sounds like the PS Portal will be categorised as a game console on a sales report only. And that's could be because Sony is interested in turning the Portal into a streaming console that could be used on its own to stream from Sony's dedicated streaming servers at some point and not only the PS5.
If that's the case then I could understand that they want to track it as such from the start.
It would then become similar to a handheld google stadia like device that can also stream from your PS5, and at that point they might wan't to market it as a streaming console.
But these are just my wild speculations. I am likely completely wrong.
@RadioHedgeFund Sure, but every second generation or so you have to buy it all over again.. The PS1 library for PSP and PS3 is not compatible with PS4 and PS5. And the PS5 is only properly backwards compatible with the PS4 the rest of the games runs on an individual basis using different emulators or streaming. And if you have to keep rebuying a game over and over to keep playing it an the latest system then that totally breaks your argument..
I bought FFX for PS2, PSVita, PS3 and even PS4 AAAND Nintendo Switch lol 5 times just on the playstation side. And I don't even get to transfer my save data, (Well I guess I could between PS3 and PSVita) but still!
@NinjaNicky Who are allowed to complain about the prices then I wonder? No-one?
I am going to complain as much as I want, as is my right as a paying customer.
My point is not that that it's all too expensive and that I can't afford games, My point is that it makes no sense whatsoever that the digital version is priced the same or higher than the physical version.
And so far in this whole long list of comments I have not seen anyone being able to give a decent explanation to why that is. What is the justification? what extra do we get with the digital version? There's nothing..
You can't sell it on the aftermarket, you can't lend it to a friend, it has no physical case, it doesn't come with a physical manual, it wasn't shipped halfway across the globe, it wasn't manufactured, it's gone when Sony decide to close their servers. It's simply a downloaded copy of some data files on a server..
So please give me a decent justification for why digital cost the same or more than physical. If you manage to do that then I will shut up afterwards and not complain more about it.
But I am not ok with the answer "Because people keep buying digital at that price", this is exactly the thing I have a problem with.
And I am not ok with: "well don't buy the games then, simple" I am sick tired of that underhanded argument.
I have always had a Playstation at home ever since the first one, I even upgraded to the PS4 Pro and then PS5, I am locked into certain playstation franchises. I have been giving Sony Playstation my money since 1996 or 1997, I feel like I should have the right to speak my mind on this.
@naruball You replied to me and I answered. You are talking about issues that do not concern me, issues that pretty much only concern the game-shops and the people who work there.
We used to have multiple different game-shops in Sweden and I am not going to lie, I enjoyed them, however we don't have them anymore, but that did not stop anyone from buying physical games.
So from a consumer perspective it's pretty much a non issue.
Am I supposed to feel sorry about the game shops if they can't sell as many games as they want? Is that it? I do not feel sorry for businesses, if their strategy is not working anymore then they need to change it or pull out. And that not my problem to sort out..
This is a problem for the people running and working at a game shop to figure out. I can get physical games regardless what they do..
So when your kid has been asking for a specific game for Christmas for months, you will just tell him: Sorry kid, I could afford but I didn't like their scummy pricing practices, but hey I got you this game that was on sale..
I bet he remembers that Christmas for years to come...
Also what if it's a game from a franchise that I have been following since I was a toddler in the early 90s, it's these situations where I know that I am being overcharged, I don't like it, but gosh dang it I am going to get that game anyway.
Although I probably skip the Deluxe edition with the digital OST and digital Artwork and some in game weapon skins (that I probably only check out once and then delete to free up space on the hard drive)
That is totally not worth the price in the slightest.
All of them have been overcharging for digital purchases for years and not only that, they have kept increasing the prices and introduced new ways for you to give them money with micro transactions, DLC's, subscriptions, season passes, loot boxes. The gaming market is doing their very best to squeeze as much money as they can out of you.
And we should celebrate that someone is on the side of the consumer and tries to make a difference with things that are simply not fair.
@ecurb7 Even if that's the case there has to be other fees that you will bypass with a digital version, shipping for example. and even if I end up seeing only a 5-10% price cut on digital games compared to physical that will make me happy.
@ecurb7 So if it's physical Sony takes 5% and if it's digital Sony takes 30%, yeah that seems fair for receiving less. And this is exactly my point, you just helped strenghten it. Thank you
So if the next Final Fantasy is 75.99 USD both Digital and Physical please explain to me why that is.
Because included in those 75.99USD for the physical is 25% markup and 5% manufacturing (If we go by your numbers)
That's 30% in total that you completely bypass when buying the game digitally.
Those 30% are completely justified for physical, but how are those 30% justified for digital?
@ecurb7 Yes but they need to profit from selling games they don't stand there selling the games for the same amount that they bought the games.
So that is what I am talking about, Why do you need to pay for both reseller profit and manufacturing when there's no reseller involved and no manufacturing involved for digital copies.
I hope that one day, we'll see something different that is not Uncharted or The Last of Us from Naughty Dog, As much as I love these games, it's been nothing but these games since 2007
@Th3solution So your angle is that you value physical games because you are a collector and you are afraid that lowering the price of digital titles will create less demand for physical games which could lead to Sony deciding to focus mainly on digital.
Or at least that's what it sounds like to me.
And yes that is certainly a valid worry that you have.
But just because you value physical titles does not mean that overpriced digital titles are justified.
"the justice / court system is a branch of government"
Sure, but the problem you are painting doesn't sound like a legal issue or something to resolve in a court room.
More like a redistribution of tax money and stuff. But I keep forgetting that you're not much of a welfare country over there.
@ecurb7 So explain to me in that case how GameStop make money and how they manage to produce physical games almost for free (at least that is what is sounds like you are saying)
@ecurb7 I am willing to bet that just the Plus subscriptions alone generate way more money than the cost associated with keeping the store and their servers up and running
Also, Imagine that you ordered a Big Mac menu to your home, there's the delivery fee there and you accept that because it makes sense and it's worth it for you.
Then the next time you actually visit Mac Donald's and it turns out that the price for a Big Mac menu there is the same as if it had the delivery fee included.
Do you think that would be ok practice and make sense?
That's kind of how I feel about paying the same for digital vs physical.
All I wan't is the pricing to be fair and make sense and not feel like I am being screwed over for buying a digital game.
@Th3solution You don't think that poor people wish they could afford video games? I've seen documentaries where in Africa someone in a slum village gets a used PS2 and the entire village comes to their home to play.
Just because you are poor doesn't mean that you can't have the desire to have entertainment in your life.
Sony reducing prices might not immediately mean that the poor people in Africa will be able to buy a PS5 and games for it.
But it certainly does not hurt the consumers, and sorting out unfair practices will not hurt the consumer, Sony might feel a bit butt-hurt but they can afford it.
Yeah the court's have many important missions and some might arguably be more important than this.
But the majority of their cases is not when you look at how many people it concerns.
There has been over 40 million PS5's sold that's probably close to 40 million households (give or take) with many of them housing multiple people.
So this concerns a lot of people.
And hey, I do not think we're talking about a huge pricecut, But I do think it's only fair that digital games are less expensive than physical.
But do you think it's fine to pay too much just because you can afford it?
Wouldn't you rather see fair prices and save some money on your purchases?
@GADG3Tx87 And you are probably absolutely right. I have no experience with Xbox, but I know this to be the case with Nintendo.
And it's only fair that everyone should be held accountable.
But would you rather no-one did anything?
Depending on how this one turns out you can bet that Nintendo will be next. But I suspect that Nintendo have an even sharper legal team. And so starting with Sony will actually be helpful in building a strong case against Nintendo I think
@GADG3Tx87 You mean that you think Alex Neill should have taken on Nintendo and Xbox at the same time as well?
Well that would have been appreciated, However one at the time is probably more realistic given how expensive something like this can be, and also how demanding I imagine an ordeal like this could be. She probably has a better chance winning if she limit her focus to one case at a time lol
I for one am happy that someone is doing something.
And if she win then I am sure we see Nintendo up next
1. Sony isn't forcing anyone to buy their games at all, but that does not excuse unfair prices and unfair business practices.
yes I think it's unfair that a digital copy cost the same or more than a physical since a digital does not cost them as much to get into the hands of customers.
2. Tell that to the people with digital only consoles and/or people who lives in limited spaces and don't want a shelf full of games.
3. There is no way that they can't update the terms for selling games via the PS Store just as they can update user agreements.
4. It doesn't make theft ok just because your neighbour is a thief.
5. Discounts does not justify digital physical vs digital prices being the same for new games, although it's appreciated.
@RudeAnimat0r Not in Sweden at least. Everything is getting more expensive but salaries widely stays the same. More and more people struggle financially.
@NinjaNicky Oh so now you can't have an opinion if you bought the hardware? Thx..
I think I am especially permitted to have an opinion if I actually have some hands-on experience, heck I would even say that I feel obligated to speak my mind
And if someone who doesn't own the console speaks about this, what then? Then you hear people call them Nintendo fanboys or trolls or something.
It's almost as if people feel personally insulted hearing any criticism towards Sony..
@RudeAnimat0r Inflation is everywhere I think right now, we have it in Sweden as well. Even just seeing the price of a flipping tomato is enough to ruin your day sometimes..
@popey1980 Well, not everyone want a huge physical collection to take up space in their home, or moving parts that are the first things to break in the console.
For the more minimalist people like me I like having all my games stored inside the console and the added assurance that I won't have to depend on a laser head to last for the lifetime of the console..
However, I find it ridiculous that you pay the same price for digital as physical. Physical copies cost money to manufacture and they are sold for a price that allows the reseller to make a profit. With a digital purchase directly from Sony you should be able to bypass these things...
Why should I pay for nonexistent manufacturing and retail store profits? It doesn't make sense...
And if you argue that I am not paying for these things with a digital version of the game. Then that means that Sony priced the digital version of the game higher than the physical. And why would the digital version be more expensive? It's just a copy of some files...
@TrickyDicky99 There you go then, so boo the flippin hoo... I know the function of any company is to grow and make as much money as possible.
But you know, they are a massively successful company, they are the market leader, they can afford doing the right thing even if it means lowering their revenue a bit.
In the end they probably get the money back anyway, with more affordable prices comes more sold games.
it's not like a small discount on digital games will break their business...
@TrickyDicky99 imagine how much money 5% is for a moment. Even on just one game..
I will make you an example that will open your eyes.
Spiderman Miles Morales had sold over 6.5 million units by July 2021, The current price of that game is about 30.56 USD (Converted from my currency) And this is a heavily discounted price.
But still, let's imagine that they get 5% of that. That's 9.9million USD if my calculations are correct.
And that's using the current discounted price rather than including the full price when the game was new, it's also only 5% which was the lowest rate you said. And the number of sold units was from 2021 so you can bet your grandmother that the number of games sold will be far greater.
Now.. That's only one game.. Imagine what happens when you have that sort of revenue coming from a LOT of games as well as subscriptions.
@naruball I don't care, I guess they have to go out of business or find other ways to make money then.
More focus on merch, and aftermarket, retro and whatever perhaps?
In the country where I reside most if not all classic game stores are gone already, physical games are found at more general electronics and hardware stores as well as toy stores and some super markets. These places are not 100% relying on the video game business so they do not have the same worries
But yeah it's really not my issue as a customer to solve the problem for the game shops, they have been a dying breed for many years now. And more general stores will just have to buy less physical games so that they can be assured that they can sell them all or most of them. (Which takes some adjusting but it will be fine)
Perhaps if the game companies brought back physical games with proper manuals that gave them some extra value then they could bring up the demand again.
But I don't see why I should worry about the game shops going out of business if they are not really required when physical games can be found at other places.
It's pretty much only the brand new games that make my wallet hurt but the frequent discounts and PS plus subscription sort of makes up for it. At least for me..
But yeah I don't think digital should cost the same as physical even for new games. It surely cost them less money to deliver a digital download than the manifacturing of a physical copy of the game. And they should promote digital copies rather than physical as per the current environment issues we have with plastics.
As a company this is the kind of stuff they should do to follow with the times I think.
It's too bad that they didn't build in a solution similar to the one in the WiiU for streaming games into the PS5.
The WiiU streamed directly to the gamepad without going through the router and had dedicated hardware for that purpose. That's why the WiiU had super stable and reliable streaming.
Playstation on the other hand have a more generic solution that goes through the router whether you use wireless or lan. this makes it less reliable as the router is dealing with all your other networking as the same time.
I have a pretty decent TP-Link Wifi6 router and even at full signal strength I sometimes get stutter and warnings about poor network.
And that is using an M1 MacBook Air on wifi and the PS5 connected to the router via LAN.
If I connect the MacBook Air to LAN then it's almost flawless.
But the Playstation Portal does not have an ethernet port as far as I am aware.
I am curious if the Playstation Portal will do a better job at streaming over wifi.
Does anyone know why they removed Final Fantasy XIII from their streaming service (years ago before the PS5 was a thing) and still have not added it back.
I feel like the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy would make a great addition to PS plus (even if it's streaming only)
@danzoEX Not quite true, the controllers operate over bluetooth so the consoles have bluetooth built in. this it why you can sync the controllers to other bluetooth devices.
Read my previous post for why we have the adapters.
@Drago201 The Playstation audio headsets are not operating over bluetooth. Instead they are using 2.4 GHz lossless wireless.
This is more similar to radio in terms of functionality and is not built directly into the PS5 and PS4.
The reason it's not bluetooth is probably mainly because bluetooth is SLOW. Even the latest versions of Bluetooth is slow in terms of latency.
Bluetooth is fine for video and music as these can be synced to compensate for the latency. (this is why you never notice lag or latency issues using bluetooth on your phone when watching video or music, the sync happens automatically in the background) However you can't do that with games without inventing a Time Machine that can peak into the future as you're gaming, we're simply not there yet (and we probably will never be)
Instead Sony went with a faster technology to greatly reduce latency, hence the adapter.
The less audio latency you have the better.
If you shoot a gun in the game, you want to hear the shot as close to immediately as possible right. If the sound of the gun is delayed even by half a second you will notice it and it could start throwing you off and take away the immersion.
This is where Bluetooth truly sucks.
However it's not the only reason, this 2.4 GHz wireless technology is lossless, meaning better audio quality.
Bluetooth on the other hand compress the audio to reduce the data it has to send to fit into the limited bandwidth and still be able to send enough data for buffering. on top of that the audio source might already be compressed. Lossy compression degrades audio quality. It's gotten better over the years, but bluetooth is still not recommended for a truly audiophile experience.
Some people might not be bothered with the audio latency of bluetooth but it often depends on the person and the type of game. It's like you may not be bothered with 30fps in a turn based RPG or a RTS game, but you would be bothered playing at 30 fps in a first person shooter.
So why don't all devices use this 2.4 GHz technology if it's so great?
Well unfortunately this 2.4 GHz tech is very sensitive to interference and obstructions. It works best in a room where the emitter and receiver has free line of sight.
It would not work well at all outdoors around other people using the same type of headset.
Comments 247
Re: Mini Review: Final Fantasy XVI: Echoes of the Fallen (PS5) - A Short But Explosive Dungeon Run
@ShogunRok if you played all the way to the end of Final Fantasy XVI I do not think you will forget the combat and have to relearn it.
hey there's the thing, it's inexpensive, fun, challenging (at least for me) and grant's you nice gear as well as expands the level cap by 5 levels.
I don get why people complain about the length of this DLC, it's not supposed to be this massive expansion, and hey, we'll get more later on as well.
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@RadioHedgeFund Well that still a quite limited selection of games, and most of the retro classics that many people care about is instead being remastered or remade so that you will have to buy the game all over again.
If they made sure that all PS1 games that you bought from the PS Store back in the PSP era was still available for download on the PS5 then I could maybe begin to see you point, but this is really not the case.
If I bought Final Fantasy VIII on the PS3 or the PSP then I can't just download it on the PS5, I have to buy the remastered version for 20USD or something. Or I have to subscribe to PlayStation Plus Extra and pay monthly.
Re: How the PS1's Amazing JRPGs Shaped My Life
@themightyant I never said in any of the previous rants here that I think action vs turn based is the problem.
I made a point that it's the combination of multiple things, especially the way they write the story, the character developments and character relationships as well as art direction and music direction that defines the identity and feel of the game.
And I feel that these things are more important than turn based vs action based combat. I also think that it still needs to be an RPG in its core. And Final Fantasy XVI is barely an RPG.
The level of options to develop your character in this game is extremely limited. The equipment system is tragically shallow with almost no strategising needed. And it almost doesn't matter what skills in the skill tree you choose to focus on.
Im many ways the game does not feel like even an actionRPG because it has such a shallow growth system and the game holds you hand all the way.
It's more about timing and dodging at the right moment.
Even if Mario and Zelda has changes over the years, the core gameplay and identity is still there and intact in every single title, with a few black sheets (Zelda 2 and Super Mario 2, which was before these franchises really had developed their identity)
Breath of the Wild is different, but you can still tell that the core gameplay is there, it's still a Zelda game.
I said many times now that I am not against change and innovation, but it should be done carefully not to mess up the vision of the franchise and the identity too much.
And I feel like everything since Final Fantasy XII has been lacking in terms of that true Final Fantasy magic and feel.
I think a Final Fantasy with action based combat could still capture the essence of a Final Fantasy game for sure.
Kingdom Hearts does a better job at delivering a Final Fantasy like experience than Final Fantasy XII. And that's partly because they managed to nail the writing and character development.
They also usually had better character growth systems (Slightly) that Final Fantasy XVI.
Re: How the PS1's Amazing JRPGs Shaped My Life
@themightyant I played through the entire game of Mario Wonder. Sure there's some nice little changes and gimmicks, but the core identity of a Mario game is still there.
And I agree that some changes are definitely needed sometimes to make things feel fresh. All Final Fantasy games changed things around to make things feel fresh, the difference is that back in the the golden era they knew where to draw the line.
Usually they focused on telling a new story and made some changes to how character growth and the technical aspect of the RPG worked, but generally all the Final Fantasy games had that Final Fantasy essence.
There's a reason why Mario is still about fun surprising run and jump platforming, because that's what Mario is about, that's the identity of Mario. Nintendo will never do a hyper realistic Super Mario FPS game, because that wouldn't be Mario.
Only time they would ever do something different like that would be as a spin off.
The Final Fantasy franchise used to be the same, just look at Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy Adventure (Turned into the Seiken Densetsu series), Final Fantasy Legend (Turned into the SaGa Series), The chocobo games, Dissidia, Ehrgeiz and the list goes on. All Final Fantasy spin off titles... Why? Because they were deemed too different from the mainline Final Fantasy franchise.
Like I said, I am not saying that Final Fantasy can't change or innovate, I am saying that they should be careful and respectful to the original vision not to implement changes that drastically alters the identity of the franchise.
Final Fantasy has not always been groundbreaking, not at all.
Has it always been held in a high regard for its excellent stories, and high quality? Yes absolutely!
But to me groundbreaking is doing something so new and fresh that it alters the industry forever. Moment's like that are actually sort of rare for the Final Fantasy franchise. Just look at Final Fantasy 5 for example, the greatest thing about that game was the job system, and that job system was lifted straight out of Final Fantasy 3 and enhanced. The Job system in Final Fantasy 3 was based on the idea of jobs from Final Fantasy 1 with the twist that you could change jobs and it also added more jobs.
Final Fantasy 1 might have been groundbreaking was it not for the fact that dragon quest and many other RPG games was already released.
Did the Final Fantasy franchise do things their own way? Yes absolutely, and there were certainly new innovations with each game. But nothing that altered the core appeal and identity of the franchise.
People who are Dragon Ball fans usually enjoy this anime because of multiple things coming together into a sort of harmony. They love the characters, the art style, the deep lore, the over the top fights and transformations and the world building.
And even though Dragon Ball, Dragon Balls Z and Dragon Ball Super are all making some changes, it still has that Dragon Ball magic in all of them.
The same thing goes with Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon and Final Fantasy.
But since each Final Fantasy game is its own self-contained story with it's own unique characters, it's even more important that they nail the "feel" and essence of the franchise.
Because without that, there's no identity there anymore.
Just throwing in some Chocobos, Crystals and a Marlboro is not enough to call is a day
Re: How the PS1's Amazing JRPGs Shaped My Life
@themightyant "I'm absolutely don't think they should keep doing the same thing for decade after decade, they have to keep evolving the game and formula." & "but going back and rehashing what made a game great 25 years ago isn't going to be ground breaking today"
Here's the thing that a lot of people fail to understand, you don't need to make something new and groundbreaking to win game of the year.
Look at Dragon Quest XI, it's considered by many to be the best game in the franchise or one of the top games, and it has barely changed since Dragon Quest 3.
Look at Super Mario Wonder, It's a classic 2D Mario game, there's nothing groundbreaking about it, they added some clever features but it mainly plays like any other 2D Mario game.
And people love it!
I don't think Final Fantasy has to try to be ground breaking.
I think Final Fantasy has to try being Final Fantasy.
But that does not mean that they can't improve graphics or innovate in terms of story and gameplay.
It means trying to preserve the identity of the franchise artistically and practically.
Re: How the PS1's Amazing JRPGs Shaped My Life
@themightyant It's not that something needed to change.
They started messing with the formula that made Final Fantasy work with the release of Final Fantasy XII already. They been constantly changing Final Fantasy since FFXII.
And I do not just mean small changes in the growth system. (We always had those)
I am talking the complete experience, different directors and composers with each game and none of the seems to even try to recreate the Sakaguchi magic.
The problem is that they never went back to the formula that made Final Fantasy so amazing, with each new release they just strayed further and further away from the identity of the franchise.
Like someone else here said "Don't fix something that isn't broken"
And that's exactly what they have done, tried to fix Final Fantasy even though it never needed to be fixed, Up until Final Fantasy XII the franchise was massively successful and most people agree that the era from Final Fantasy VI - X was the golden era, this is the era they should aim to understand and take most of their inspiration from, rather than turning the franchise into a western action game.
Hironobu Sakaguchi was tired of Square only doing action games and games that Square's management thought was popular. And he said something in the lines of: "I am not great at making action games, I think I am better at telling a story".
There was more to it than that, he also loved D&D and stuff.
But the entire move towards turning Final Fantasy into a western action game totally goes against the purpose of the franchise's existence. It's a shame, and disrespectful towards Hironobu Sakaguchi I feel.
His vision was that Final Fantasy would be an RPG in a world dominated by action games. Final Fantasy is like Anakin Skywalker..
“You were the Chosen One. It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them. Bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness." - OBI-WAN KENOBI
:D:D
Re: How the PS1's Amazing JRPGs Shaped My Life
Rant part 2:
Then the music, while there are som nice songs in all Final Fantasy games including the new games, they can't even begin to compete with Uematsu's music. I guess that's why Final Fantasy XVI opted to borrow a lot from Nobou Uematsu.
But even so it kind of fails, because it just doesn't have the magic. Many times during the game I got the Witcher 3 vibes from the soundtrack rather than Final Fantasy vibes.
It felt sort of generic.
The older games had incredibly strong themes that were very memorable and invoked unique feelings.
And that's really the keyword "unique".
Just take Aerith theme as an example, it's hard to put it into words but invokes a lot of bittersweet emotions while also feeling somewhat hopeful and pure.. all while being very memorable and simple sounding.
One of the best reoccurring themes in Final Fantasy XVI is the Rosaria theme, however to me it's kinda boring in comparison.
Now I am not saying that I hate Final Fantasy XVI, in fact I am half way through the Final Fantasy difficulty on new game+ and I do enjoy it quite a bit. But for completely other reasons than I enjoy most Final Fantasy games.
I do not play Final Fantasy XVI to quell my thirst for Final Fantasy because it's simply not that game, I play Final Fantasy XVI when I want to play a decent Final Fantasy themed action adventure game.
Because it feels like a different kind of game that tries too hard to convince me that it's a final fantasy game by throwing moogles, chocobos, crystals and other final fantasy related things at me without understanding how to recreate the magic.
I don't know maybe one they can figure it out.
And I truly believe that they are shooting themselves in the foot in the long run by trying to appeal to a mainstream western market. If they just had the courage to try and go all out in making a more traditional Final Fantasy that has a higher focus on character, unique story and less focus on being a western style action game then I think they could actually do something truly great. And while I would love to see a return to ATB systems I would be ok with action based combat if they can just do the rest right.
Congratulations if you read my entire rant, you deserve a gold star
Re: How the PS1's Amazing JRPGs Shaped My Life
Rant part 1:
Yes, the Final Fantasy franchise definitely altered me as a person.
Especially Final Fantasy VI-X. The magic is just not there anymore.
The stories back then had a lot of heart, something that I feel is missing from the last games (Including Final Fantasy XVI)
Back then you could say that this FEELS like a Final Fantasy game. Not because it was turn based, not because it had great graphics and not because there was moogles and chocobos.
There was probably a combination of the art style, the Uematsu music and the world building as well as story telling.
The world building was way more varied and did not hold your hand as much as these days, there wasn't always a marker showing you where you are supposed to go and you where able to talk with all NPC's so a big part of the game was relying on you to explore and talk with NPC's who would give you bits of information about the world, or something random like what their favourite food is. That made the world feel more alive.
Sometimes you would talk with a random NPC and that would trigger some side quest, but there was no marker on the map showing you that this NPC will initiate a side quest.
You felt like you stumbled upon it or were rewarded for exploring.
And speaking about side quests they were way more varied and lengthy, usually there weren't as many, but the ones that were there was usually very time consuming but extremely rewarding in the end.
When it came to story telling I feel like the older games were more intimate and had heavier focus on the characters and their relationships.
Sure you could argue that Noctis or Clive also had relationships, but I feel like they didn't evolve much. I don't think there was any interesting development in the relationship with Clive and Jill or even Clive and his brother Joshua. Within the first hour of the game you could tell yes Jill and Clive are definitely in love and there's really no lead up to that.
While Final Fantasy VIII for example have the main character Squall gradually growing from being antisocial, selfish and rude into opening up more to people, becoming a leader and learning to love and need another person. And also his relationship with the other characters and their relationships with each other were evolving. And I really think that sort of focus on character relationships are sorely lacking in the later games.
Re: PS Portal Will Be Tracked As a Console by USA Data Firm Circana
@RamboMike I don't think so, most people considering to buy something don't go to check sales reports to get the information on the item. This is more for investors I think and over all transparency.
To sell units they usually rely on their marketing team, social media and influencers to spread the word. We had all of that and it was pretty clear that they don't market this as a console.
Perhaps I misread the article.. I don't know, English is not my native language.
But to me it sounds like the PS Portal will be categorised as a game console on a sales report only. And that's could be because Sony is interested in turning the Portal into a streaming console that could be used on its own to stream from Sony's dedicated streaming servers at some point and not only the PS5.
If that's the case then I could understand that they want to track it as such from the start.
It would then become similar to a handheld google stadia like device that can also stream from your PS5, and at that point they might wan't to market it as a streaming console.
But these are just my wild speculations. I am likely completely wrong.
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@RadioHedgeFund This might be the case for some games, but certainly not all.
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@RadioHedgeFund Sure, but every second generation or so you have to buy it all over again.. The PS1 library for PSP and PS3 is not compatible with PS4 and PS5. And the PS5 is only properly backwards compatible with the PS4 the rest of the games runs on an individual basis using different emulators or streaming. And if you have to keep rebuying a game over and over to keep playing it an the latest system then that totally breaks your argument..
I bought FFX for PS2, PSVita, PS3 and even PS4 AAAND Nintendo Switch lol 5 times just on the playstation side. And I don't even get to transfer my save data, (Well I guess I could between PS3 and PSVita) but still!
Re: PS Portal Will Be Tracked As a Console by USA Data Firm Circana
Interesting, then there's maybe a chance that Sony has further plans for it.
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@NinjaNicky Who are allowed to complain about the prices then I wonder? No-one?
I am going to complain as much as I want, as is my right as a paying customer.
My point is not that that it's all too expensive and that I can't afford games,
My point is that it makes no sense whatsoever that the digital version is priced the same or higher than the physical version.
And so far in this whole long list of comments I have not seen anyone being able to give a decent explanation to why that is.
What is the justification? what extra do we get with the digital version?
There's nothing..
You can't sell it on the aftermarket, you can't lend it to a friend, it has no physical case, it doesn't come with a physical manual, it wasn't shipped halfway across the globe, it wasn't manufactured, it's gone when Sony decide to close their servers. It's simply a downloaded copy of some data files on a server..
So please give me a decent justification for why digital cost the same or more than physical. If you manage to do that then I will shut up afterwards and not complain more about it.
But I am not ok with the answer "Because people keep buying digital at that price", this is exactly the thing I have a problem with.
And I am not ok with: "well don't buy the games then, simple" I am sick tired of that underhanded argument.
I have always had a Playstation at home ever since the first one, I even upgraded to the PS4 Pro and then PS5, I am locked into certain playstation franchises. I have been giving Sony Playstation my money since 1996 or 1997, I feel like I should have the right to speak my mind on this.
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@naruball You replied to me and I answered.
You are talking about issues that do not concern me, issues that pretty much only concern the game-shops and the people who work there.
We used to have multiple different game-shops in Sweden and I am not going to lie, I enjoyed them, however we don't have them anymore, but that did not stop anyone from buying physical games.
So from a consumer perspective it's pretty much a non issue.
Am I supposed to feel sorry about the game shops if they can't sell as many games as they want? Is that it?
I do not feel sorry for businesses, if their strategy is not working anymore then they need to change it or pull out.
And that not my problem to sort out..
This is a problem for the people running and working at a game shop to figure out. I can get physical games regardless what they do..
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@TrickyDicky99 well maybe if they also raised the salaries to reflect the inflation. Everything cost more but we barely see any raises.
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@NinjaNicky
So when your kid has been asking for a specific game for Christmas for months, you will just tell him: Sorry kid, I could afford but I didn't like their scummy pricing practices, but hey I got you this game that was on sale..
I bet he remembers that Christmas for years to come...
Also what if it's a game from a franchise that I have been following since I was a toddler in the early 90s, it's these situations where I know that I am being overcharged, I don't like it, but gosh dang it I am going to get that game anyway.
Although I probably skip the Deluxe edition with the digital OST and digital Artwork and some in game weapon skins (that I probably only check out once and then delete to free up space on the hard drive)
That is totally not worth the price in the slightest.
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@bluesylvanite who cares who is sued first...
All of them have been overcharging for digital purchases for years and not only that, they have kept increasing the prices and introduced new ways for you to give them money with micro transactions, DLC's, subscriptions, season passes, loot boxes.
The gaming market is doing their very best to squeeze as much money as they can out of you.
And we should celebrate that someone is on the side of the consumer and tries to make a difference with things that are simply not fair.
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@ecurb7 Even if that's the case there has to be other fees that you will bypass with a digital version, shipping for example. and even if I end up seeing only a 5-10% price cut on digital games compared to physical that will make me happy.
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@ecurb7 So if it's physical Sony takes 5% and if it's digital Sony takes 30%, yeah that seems fair for receiving less.
And this is exactly my point, you just helped strenghten it.
Thank you
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@ecurb7 so those 25%, who is paying that?
So if the next Final Fantasy is 75.99 USD both Digital and Physical please explain to me why that is.
Because included in those 75.99USD for the physical is 25% markup and 5% manufacturing (If we go by your numbers)
That's 30% in total that you completely bypass when buying the game digitally.
Those 30% are completely justified for physical, but how are those 30% justified for digital?
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@ecurb7 but then you have the reseller who needs to earn a profit on selling the game as well..
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@NinjaNicky Yeah I can definitely star complaining about gas prices if I learn that I am being overcharged.
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@ecurb7 Yes but they need to profit from selling games they don't stand there selling the games for the same amount that they bought the games.
So that is what I am talking about, Why do you need to pay for both reseller profit and manufacturing when there's no reseller involved and no manufacturing involved for digital copies.
Re: Don't Fret, Physical Fans, The Last of Us 2 Remastered's WLF Edition Contains a Disc
I hope that one day, we'll see something different that is not Uncharted or The Last of Us from Naughty Dog, As much as I love these games, it's been nothing but these games since 2007
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@Th3solution So your angle is that you value physical games because you are a collector and you are afraid that lowering the price of digital titles will create less demand for physical games which could lead to Sony deciding to focus mainly on digital.
Or at least that's what it sounds like to me.
And yes that is certainly a valid worry that you have.
But just because you value physical titles does not mean that overpriced digital titles are justified.
"the justice / court system is a branch of government"
Sure, but the problem you are painting doesn't sound like a legal issue or something to resolve in a court room.
More like a redistribution of tax money and stuff. But I keep forgetting that you're not much of a welfare country over there.
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@ecurb7 So explain to me in that case how GameStop make money and how they manage to produce physical games almost for free (at least that is what is sounds like you are saying)
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@naruball So why should I care? I said that it's their problem to sort out how they make money and stay alive.
If I want to buy physical games, I can do so without dedicated game shops.
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@GADG3Tx87 Sounds like we are in agreement on some point then
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@Th3solution Well if they lower the prices then perhaps it will be easier for you to heat your home, buy insulin and also maybe afford a game.
I think this problem you are facing probably is something the government should take ownership of rather than a legal solution.
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@ecurb7 I am willing to bet that just the Plus subscriptions alone generate way more money than the cost associated with keeping the store and their servers up and running
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
Also, Imagine that you ordered a Big Mac menu to your home, there's the delivery fee there and you accept that because it makes sense and it's worth it for you.
Then the next time you actually visit Mac Donald's and it turns out that the price for a Big Mac menu there is the same as if it had the delivery fee included.
Do you think that would be ok practice and make sense?
That's kind of how I feel about paying the same for digital vs physical.
All I wan't is the pricing to be fair and make sense and not feel like I am being screwed over for buying a digital game.
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@Th3solution You don't think that poor people wish they could afford video games? I've seen documentaries where in Africa someone in a slum village gets a used PS2 and the entire village comes to their home to play.
Just because you are poor doesn't mean that you can't have the desire to have entertainment in your life.
Sony reducing prices might not immediately mean that the poor people in Africa will be able to buy a PS5 and games for it.
But it certainly does not hurt the consumers, and sorting out unfair practices will not hurt the consumer, Sony might feel a bit butt-hurt but they can afford it.
Yeah the court's have many important missions and some might arguably be more important than this.
But the majority of their cases is not when you look at how many people it concerns.
There has been over 40 million PS5's sold that's probably close to 40 million households (give or take) with many of them housing multiple people.
So this concerns a lot of people.
And hey, I do not think we're talking about a huge pricecut, But I do think it's only fair that digital games are less expensive than physical.
But do you think it's fine to pay too much just because you can afford it?
Wouldn't you rather see fair prices and save some money on your purchases?
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@GADG3Tx87 And you are probably absolutely right.
I have no experience with Xbox, but I know this to be the case with Nintendo.
And it's only fair that everyone should be held accountable.
But would you rather no-one did anything?
Depending on how this one turns out you can bet that Nintendo will be next. But I suspect that Nintendo have an even sharper legal team. And so starting with Sony will actually be helpful in building a strong case against Nintendo I think
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@GADG3Tx87 You mean that you think Alex Neill should have taken on Nintendo and Xbox at the same time as well?
Well that would have been appreciated, However one at the time is probably more realistic given how expensive something like this can be, and also how demanding I imagine an ordeal like this could be. She probably has a better chance winning if she limit her focus to one case at a time lol
I for one am happy that someone is doing something.
And if she win then I am sure we see Nintendo up next
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@Rob_230
1. Sony isn't forcing anyone to buy their games at all, but that does not excuse unfair prices and unfair business practices.
yes I think it's unfair that a digital copy cost the same or more than a physical since a digital does not cost them as much to get into the hands of customers.
2. Tell that to the people with digital only consoles and/or people who lives in limited spaces and don't want a shelf full of games.
3. There is no way that they can't update the terms for selling games via the PS Store just as they can update user agreements.
4. It doesn't make theft ok just because your neighbour is a thief.
5. Discounts does not justify digital physical vs digital prices being the same for new games, although it's appreciated.
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@RudeAnimat0r Not in Sweden at least. Everything is getting more expensive but salaries widely stays the same.
More and more people struggle financially.
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@NinjaNicky Oh so now you can't have an opinion if you bought the hardware? Thx..
I think I am especially permitted to have an opinion if I actually have some hands-on experience, heck I would even say that I feel obligated to speak my mind
And if someone who doesn't own the console speaks about this, what then? Then you hear people call them Nintendo fanboys or trolls or something.
It's almost as if people feel personally insulted hearing any criticism towards Sony..
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@RudeAnimat0r Inflation is everywhere I think right now, we have it in Sweden as well. Even just seeing the price of a flipping tomato is enough to ruin your day sometimes..
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@Mephisto2869 if it's any comfort for you I will let you know that I am also against Nintendo's practices.
But to me it's not about "who is the worst".
It's about doing the right thing (which everyone apparently is struggling with)
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@popey1980 Well, not everyone want a huge physical collection to take up space in their home, or moving parts that are the first things to break in the console.
For the more minimalist people like me I like having all my games stored inside the console and the added assurance that I won't have to depend on a laser head to last for the lifetime of the console..
However, I find it ridiculous that you pay the same price for digital as physical. Physical copies cost money to manufacture and they are sold for a price that allows the reseller to make a profit. With a digital purchase directly from Sony you should be able to bypass these things...
Why should I pay for nonexistent manufacturing and retail store profits? It doesn't make sense...
And if you argue that I am not paying for these things with a digital version of the game. Then that means that Sony priced the digital version of the game higher than the physical. And why would the digital version be more expensive? It's just a copy of some files...
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@TrickyDicky99 There you go then, so boo the flippin hoo...
I know the function of any company is to grow and make as much money as possible.
But you know, they are a massively successful company, they are the market leader, they can afford doing the right thing even if it means lowering their revenue a bit.
In the end they probably get the money back anyway, with more affordable prices comes more sold games.
it's not like a small discount on digital games will break their business...
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@TrickyDicky99 imagine how much money 5% is for a moment.
Even on just one game..
I will make you an example that will open your eyes.
Spiderman Miles Morales had sold over 6.5 million units by July 2021, The current price of that game is about
30.56 USD (Converted from my currency) And this is a heavily discounted price.
But still, let's imagine that they get 5% of that.
That's 9.9million USD if my calculations are correct.
And that's using the current discounted price rather than including the full price when the game was new, it's also only 5% which was the lowest rate you said.
And the number of sold units was from 2021 so you can bet your grandmother that the number of games sold will be far greater.
Now.. That's only one game.. Imagine what happens when you have that sort of revenue coming from a LOT of games as well as subscriptions.
Yeah they ONLY get like 5-10% Lol
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@naruball I don't care, I guess they have to go out of business or find other ways to make money then.
More focus on merch, and aftermarket, retro and whatever perhaps?
In the country where I reside most if not all classic game stores are gone already, physical games are found at more general electronics and hardware stores as well as toy stores and some super markets. These places are not 100% relying on the video game business so they do not have the same worries
But yeah it's really not my issue as a customer to solve the problem for the game shops, they have been a dying breed for many years now. And more general stores will just have to buy less physical games so that they can be assured that they can sell them all or most of them. (Which takes some adjusting but it will be fine)
Perhaps if the game companies brought back physical games with proper manuals that gave them some extra value then they could bring up the demand again.
But I don't see why I should worry about the game shops going out of business if they are not really required when physical games can be found at other places.
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
@ecurb7 Still, give me a 5% discount then
Re: Court Rules £5 Billion Lawsuit Against Sony Can Go Ahead, Following Years of 'Excessive' PS Store Prices
It's pretty much only the brand new games that make my wallet hurt but the frequent discounts and PS plus subscription sort of makes up for it. At least for me..
But yeah I don't think digital should cost the same as physical even for new games. It surely cost them less money to deliver a digital download than the manifacturing of a physical copy of the game. And they should promote digital copies rather than physical as per the current environment issues we have with plastics.
As a company this is the kind of stuff they should do to follow with the times I think.
Re: Poll: Did You Buy a PS Portal?
It's too bad that they didn't build in a solution similar to the one in the WiiU for streaming games into the PS5.
The WiiU streamed directly to the gamepad without going through the router and had dedicated hardware for that purpose. That's why the WiiU had super stable and reliable streaming.
Playstation on the other hand have a more generic solution that goes through the router whether you use wireless or lan. this makes it less reliable as the router is dealing with all your other networking as the same time.
I have a pretty decent TP-Link Wifi6 router and even at full signal strength I sometimes get stutter and warnings about poor network.
And that is using an M1 MacBook Air on wifi and the PS5 connected to the router via LAN.
If I connect the MacBook Air to LAN then it's almost flawless.
But the Playstation Portal does not have an ethernet port as far as I am aware.
I am curious if the Playstation Portal will do a better job at streaming over wifi.
Re: More Classic PS Plus Premium Games Look to Have Leaked Early
Does anyone know why they removed Final Fantasy XIII from their streaming service (years ago before the PS5 was a thing) and still have not added it back.
I feel like the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy would make a great addition to PS plus (even if it's streaming only)
Re: Twitter Wants to Dramatically Improve PS5, PS4's Integration
@Cycologist Eh? Still didn't read the article huh?
It mentions X formally know as Twitter...
Re: PS5 Earbuds, Elite Wireless Headset Available for Pre-Order Now
@danzoEX Not quite true, the controllers operate over bluetooth so the consoles have bluetooth built in. this it why you can sync the controllers to other bluetooth devices.
Read my previous post for why we have the adapters.
Re: PS5 Earbuds, Elite Wireless Headset Available for Pre-Order Now
@Drago201 The Playstation audio headsets are not operating over bluetooth. Instead they are using 2.4 GHz lossless wireless.
This is more similar to radio in terms of functionality and is not built directly into the PS5 and PS4.
The reason it's not bluetooth is probably mainly because bluetooth is SLOW. Even the latest versions of Bluetooth is slow in terms of latency.
Bluetooth is fine for video and music as these can be synced to compensate for the latency. (this is why you never notice lag or latency issues using bluetooth on your phone when watching video or music, the sync happens automatically in the background) However you can't do that with games without inventing a Time Machine that can peak into the future as you're gaming, we're simply not there yet (and we probably will never be)
Instead Sony went with a faster technology to greatly reduce latency, hence the adapter.
The less audio latency you have the better.
If you shoot a gun in the game, you want to hear the shot as close to immediately as possible right. If the sound of the gun is delayed even by half a second you will notice it and it could start throwing you off and take away the immersion.
This is where Bluetooth truly sucks.
However it's not the only reason, this 2.4 GHz wireless technology is lossless, meaning better audio quality.
Bluetooth on the other hand compress the audio to reduce the data it has to send to fit into the limited bandwidth and still be able to send enough data for buffering. on top of that the audio source might already be compressed. Lossy compression degrades audio quality. It's gotten better over the years, but bluetooth is still not recommended for a truly audiophile experience.
Some people might not be bothered with the audio latency of bluetooth but it often depends on the person and the type of game. It's like you may not be bothered with 30fps in a turn based RPG or a RTS game, but you would be bothered playing at 30 fps in a first person shooter.
So why don't all devices use this 2.4 GHz technology if it's so great?
Well unfortunately this 2.4 GHz tech is very sensitive to interference and obstructions. It works best in a room where the emitter and receiver has free line of sight.
It would not work well at all outdoors around other people using the same type of headset.