I would love to see a psychological study on people's obsession with trophies. It baffles me that people would skip a great game because the trophies are dull to get, I'm definitely in the camp of you play games to have fun, not to check off none essential goals a developer has set. At the end of the day trophies/achievements mean nothing and if you don't want to do them then don't.
My thought is that, as they are releasing this to make money, they won't offer it as a free update. After all you can pick up the base game used for £10 now pretty easily, so I fully expect this to be a paid update. It's not like it would be a shock given how they chose to monetise this game from release rather than release a complete game for that full price charge.
Dunno why people keep linking these outages to Destiny, beyond a check to make sure you are paying for plus, PSN does nothing. The game itself uses Bungie's servers for a few things and peer to peer connections for the majority of the game (must resist the temptation to say Sony are charging you for an unneeded layer of DRM that can keep you out of a game you would otherwise be able to play without issue...)
@FaultyDroid While I'm not an advocate for the number of people who treat a scoring scale as only having its two extremes, I do believe that if a game releases as a buggy mess it is fair game for heavy criticism. I don't know at what point it became an acceptable practice to release now, fix later, but the system invites low scores and deservedly so. There is also no guarantee of a fix either as many games out there can attest to and the people who don't pay full price to have the privilege to beta test it on launch day usually get the game much cheaper in a more stable state later. Anyway, that is a bit off track from the topic, but a review should be based on what is sold, not what it might be in the future.
Not seen anything like this mentioned, but perhaps have a "new this month" demo section which allows anyone who has released a game that month to also release a demo alongside their game. Most big companies don't release demos (they don't even release finished products if we're fair) so this would be a great way to spotlight new indies that the devs actually put work into. It'd sort of be like the demo discs/tapes we used to get years ago.
Beyond that using things like youtube and social media is far more likely to generate sales than the store front. For the record the method used by Steam doesn't work, so I'd say going that route is pointless. Hype is a far more powerful tool than a suggestion from someone trying to sell you something after all.
For me open world and sandbox became advertising buzz words to tick off the checklist a long time ago. While they generally still get a positive response, I generally think of the games mainly being huge spaces devoid of anything interesting to do.
If you think about it logically you'll probably realise the best bits in these games is the main story missions and the reason for that is they are highly scripted and designed to be tackled in a mostly linear manner. Think about that, the best parts of an open world game are the bits that ignore the main selling point.
There is a definite expectation these days for a game to last at least over 20 hours, with higher numbers being better. This isn't solely a problem in open world games though and I think there could be just as interesting article on that fact. Take something like Nioh, the game is great for a good while, but repitition sets in long before the end with enemies and areas repeated far too many times. Then take Ratchet and Clank which constantly throws new stuff at you for its sub 10 hour duration, but is fun through out. Out of the two I know which one left a better final impression with me.
Hopefully it is a sign people are starting to realise that it is not a good idea to buy things blindly or preorder now they've been bitten by doing it so many times. I somehow doubt it though...
@Bonito Wow, after four days to think about my post that is what you take from it? You do know you can take the general meaning or idea behind a statement/poem/story etc and apply it elsewhere if it makes sense without having direct links to its original source material don't you? I mean I even explained exactly how I was linking it to what you said in case any one was silly enough to think somehow I was making a comparison to said source material which is in no place mentioned by me (and that alone to me is sad that I have to go to that length to point out something obvious in the hopes of avoiding posts like this).
So, with that said, I'm a bit confused how you could make that comparison and take only that from what I said. Well, that is, unless someone wanted to somehow try to paint in a negative light a logical argument against a game they liked and justify their own apathy towards practices that are anti-consumer within said game. You wouldn't do that though would you?
I do honestly look forward to the day they patch in something that alters your experience of the game for the sake of making more money. This is not out of malice, it's just so you understand how it is for others who do find the current system that way and perhaps teach you a little empathy for others' problems, as well as the reason people like me are taking this issue so seriously (that relates back to the poem, but I won't mention that in case you decide to misunderstand the point again).
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
While you may be happy with the current situation as it doesn't impact on the game for you, try to understand it does impact others who enjoy the cosmetic side of the game. Also try to see that eventually microtransactions will impact on aspects of games you do enjoy. By ignoring them now you are leaving them to creep into every aspect of gaming.
Beyond that it is worth voicing distaste at the practice of loot crates/boxes as they are morally corrupt and akin to gambling. The amount of systems to create additional profit from games at the expense of user experience now is getting silly and throughout the time they've built up I constantly see people justifying them as something that has no impact on them.
When they added microtransactions to Destiny I was done with it and it was pretty obvious the trend would continue, but be slightly worse with this game. The list of games I would have bought, but didn't because of this practice is steadily growing. They are something that has no justification in existing in full priced games other than greed and the sad fact is that they are defended by fans of whatever game they are in with the same inane and poorly thought out arguments of why they are OK to exist.
EA Access should be allowed on Playstation, it adds value to the system for consumers to have the choice to use the service or not. If in some way EA abuse the system once they get the go ahead, all it requires is for a chunk of people to boycott the service and the company to set things right. Of course, that requires willpower which is something I see the majority of people lacking these days, but given all the other horrible practices that have invaded gaming over the past decade I doubt EA can do much to further harm the consumer's experience.
It looks to me like Sony are more worried about the impact allowing the service will have on its profits than any thoughts of protecting its user base. On both PC and Xbox there seems to be no indication of these services getting out of hand, plus we are always being told the future will more likely be streaming of games from a service rather than what we have now.
I am somewhat curious though how many people here were against Sony curating the store to keep what amounted to asset flip games off it, but think they should not allow EA Access?
I enjoyed the story to this one, but the entire TTG adventure system is becoming tired at this point as people are cottoning on to the fact it is just a few meaningless choices stuck together with QTEs as the entire game system. Dragon's Lair got slated in reviews for doing this in the 80s (although I accept it was more of a game of luck than a story), and other games manage to put across strong stories while still having fun gameplay, so I kind of have to lean towards the lack of innovation harming the game(s) now.
It would have been a horrible (read morally reprehensible) decision if the game had been cancelled mid-season though (and leaving it open for a sequel knowing that ship had sailed was a pretty bad call too). Despite things like this (and, for instance, the Arkham Knjight Season pass) it is still shocking how many people pre-order games.
One last thing, I think that episodic games like this shouldn't be reviewed until they are finished. My reasoning behind this is that the scores make little sense when taken as a slice of the story, quite often I see an episode being praised for the exciting situations it sets up and then the next month the following episode get a lukewarm score because those situation didn't really amount to much. The problem is that previous episode is as much to blame for setting up paths that lead nowhere and it becomes as incohesive as reviewing a book chapter by chapter. The story segments are too short to be reviewed on their own merits and I'd much prefer some sort of editorial on the episode than a full scored review and then a full season review at the end which can talk about how the story does (and doesn't) work throughout the ~10 hour playthrough. Anyway, went off subject a bit there so sorry for that and I'll get my hat
I stopped paying for plus when they tied online to the service. I wish more people would vote with their wallets when they don't like what a business does and realise if enough people did, decisions like this would quickly be reversed when they ate into profits. The funny thing is that most people laughed at the Xbox gamers last gen for paying for online, but now they argue how it is unrealistic to not have to pay for online play.
@pr0d1gy1980 The thing is that is terrible customer service from Sony, banning people for an issue they know about which isn't the person's fault is reprehensible. Having to add extra money to your account on top of what Sony will no doubt claim back from your Paypal account in the coming days would be referred to as a scam in other quarters.
As someone else mentioned, Sony have a history with being very anti-consumer when it comes to a person's account with them, there was the whole issue with fraudulent purchases made on a person's account causing Sony to ban the account if the person claimed the money back. Given Sony themselves were hacked, giving away a lot of people's personal information including credit cards in the past, you would think they'd be more understanding about these situations. It does highlight how frail digital ownership laws are though and why a lot of people are very reluctant to move to a digital future.
When you first brought up curation I was on the side of there should be some amount of it despite the overwhelming majority seemingly thinking curation was a four letter word. Now you are still against it, but seem to want it for some titles? You have the choice in this debate of either letting everything through, or having some sort of curation process in place. I guess it is good that games like this put into light the other side of the argument that so few people seemed to grasp in the original article which, let's be honest, was more of an attack on the idea than a debate on it.
I'm thinking the main people in favour of the idea of curation were those who also play games on PC, having the floodgates open to anything is one of the worse things about Steam - try looking at new releases without being swamped by utter trash. Being exposed to this situation is a lot different from theorizing over it. Games with multiple easy achievement are also the newest way for shoddy developers to make money on Steam with some games giving literally 1000s of achievements for doing nothing and this idea already invading Sony's store is a bad sign of things to come.
On the plus point it does do more to help point out why I've been saying trophies/achievements are pretty meaningless when you get down to it
For me the momentum of the first half of the year has slowed somewhat, so I'm not really anticipating much at this point. That's OK for me though as it'll give me time to finish P5 (getting there after 120 hours so far) and start Nioh which has been patiently sitting in my collection for a couple of months now. With games like Nier and Horizon out there too for me still to play there'll have to be something good coming to stop me playing them first.
Undertale is a great little game that people should give time to though, but I've played it on PC already so little point me getting it again.
@JoeBlogs Just drop the word free and the headline still works and is snappier as it is shorter. Same for every large, bold sub-header too. I would argue that, even on the subconscious level, the word free has positive connotations to make a service that is far less than it used to be sound better than it is.
It is hard to say what this will be worth without actually seeing it in the wild. I'm going to assume you are also paying for all the additional voice acting, including reworking the story for if you play through as a Necromancer. There will also be all the armour and weapons designed for the class as well. Given when it was announced this has been in development for about a year which seems normal for Blizzard who have built a reputation for polishing their games as much as possible. I'll wait and see what the community reaction is before damning the price on this one.
As someone who couldn't give two figs about someone's sexual/gender orientation I always wonder what it really means to a company to sponsor something like this, other than a bit of positive press. Personally I'd prefer them to put the money in to charitable causes that actually help people in serious need, this has the same impact on me as someone sponsoring a football cup...
@adf86 I very much doubt the people who buy only a few games each year would buy Finch, it is a niche 90 minute collection of short stories. So it wouldn't be in those people's top 10s as they didn't play it. For most other people it is a well made curiousity that they'll mostly enjoy for its short run time (let's be honest though, not all the stories in it are hits), maybe discuss for a bit on a forum and then move on from. I think it's hard for the people who love these games to realise that most people who buy games want an actual game and not just a story you have limited control over.
I fully stand by my top 10 comment, even among the people who actually play lots of games and are active in the gaming community. In context though it was to highlight the absurdity that these vignettes are put forward as GotY contenders.
I think sometimes the press needs to step back and look at the bigger picture. There is a general love from the press over so called walking simulators, but it seems a lot less like they are the darling of the general populace and I doubt they do more than passable sales from a business point of view. Taking Edith Finch, it was an interesting enough project, but most people interested could happily watch the youtube playthrough of it without losing much enjoyment.
Much like with the film industry, you will get the critics raving over an arthouse film, but the general populace not giving such projects a second thought, or outright dismissing them. I don't see Sony integral to releasing them either and wouldn't be surprised if Sony has stepped away from those games due to market saturation being much greater than when Journey and Unfinished Swan released, they are no longer a unique selling point.
One last thing, Edith Finch being considered as the best game of the year so far surely shows a gulf between people writing articles like this and most gamers. I'm not saying the game is bad, far from it, but it is unlikely it would reach most people's top 10 for the year if we're honest.
I'm for curation and for early access, which may sound counter-intuitive, but it really isn't. Early access, when it is done correctly, is a great thing - it allows a company to release a game without constraints of larger software houses which likely would not have gotten past a financial meeting elsewhere. The problem is obviously when you get people who cheat the system to make a quick profit and run off, but that also happens with full releases too. Early access is the reason why Minecraft exists as well as one of my current favourite games, Factorio.
I think the best solution would be to create an area of the store that is dedicated to early access titles so they don't clutter up anywhere else and can be ignored by those who aren't interested. I'd also like for Sony to allow people to write proper reviews on games if they wish which would help with any issues in both early access and the current glut of shovelware that is seeing a store release.
I think it would also be an idea to have an extra section for indie releases if Sony keep allowing anything to be released on its store. In the new section any new release that isn't curated would be put, but then any game that pays a small fee to be curated by Sony could be put on the main store if it passes. As the games' publishers are paying for this service it wouldn't cost Sony any more money and it should create a better shopping experience for its customers.
I don't really understand why anyone would be in favour of no refund policy, yet 10% of the votes are for this. I think the potential problems are being blown out of proportion, after all Steam is fine and offers a reasonable refund policy.
It all kind of reminds me of the problems with DRM in the past decade, it was invasive and often problematic on the PC for those purchasing the game, yet those who waited a few days for a cracked version of the game had no such problems. Why should the honest people pay for how the dishonest ones act? Personally I'm more likely to spend money at a business that respcts me.
I'm always for something that is pro-consumer and think that any negatives of this could be negated by people being more willing to try out games they may not have risked money on otherwise.
As an aside, what is the law on refunds if you buy a game, but don't agree to the EULA? You have to get the game home (assuming you are buying it as a physical product) and open it before being asked to agree to the contract, but assuming you refuse it it should mean you are entitled to a refund.
I'm still waiting for Microsoft to show us the power of the cloud..
@BAMozzy I don't think you can dismiss the damage Microsoft did to the brand so easily and reversing its stance was only a partial solution to its problems. If we take just the months where it hadn't fully reversed its stance you can see that long term damage is done in sales as a lot of people tend to go where their friends are, so that early loss of sales alone was always going to have a knock on effect.
While Microsoft did eventually backtrack on previous bad decisions within a year, the community didn't just forget because of that, over a year later it was still a point of contention for many people and a common topic that Microsoft were anti-consumer. Anyone who remembers the removal of kinect should also remember the 6+ months we were told how integral kinect was to the experience and it couldn't be removed, which was an example of how badly the company dealt with its community and did long term damage to itself. With better decisions early on I think this generation would be much closer than it is.
I don't think Sony will be overly bothered by the Scorpio, they'll watch how it does since that makes sense, but I doubt they'll change direction based on its release. It might make Microsoft realise that hardware alone will not sell a system though.
@Number09 This has already been tried with things like the steam machine, it doesn't work. In part it is because a keyboard/mouse combo is ideal for a lot PC games, but not for using in your living room.
Games are a bit of a strange entity in the entertainment industry, try putting a run through of a film up on youtube and see if it stays up there. I think in story heavy games the lines blur somewhat between what is fair use and what is copyright, if you're interested in the story, but not in playing the game then it could be argued that youtube may cost sales of games.
Of course there is nothing stopping someone talking about the story on somewhere like youtube without using footage and the cut off date given for footage should be fine for any review using footage, so this measure isn't quite the same as what Nintendo does in my eyes. I guess I have mixed feelngs about this ban, but it isn't that big a deal to me either since I play my first run blind anyway and forums/guides will fill me in on what I've missed once I've finished it.
Great to see this being so well received, I look forward to filling my calendar with this game
@ShogunRok How's the voice acting in this game? And does the combat differ much from earlier games (particularly P4 and P3), it sounds roughly the same apart from more stylish animations?
@Deadlyblack I assume it is something to do with giving power back to the person - if you suffer with something it implies you have no power or choice about it, but if you cope with it you are actively showing that you can deal with it. Or something like that, I'm with you though, suffer is a good enough way to describe it and I never feel I'm doing the person or myself a disservice by using the word.
@JoeBlogs My girlfriend works and has worked in some more public roles and enjoys telling me about some of the changes made in the name of political correctness. So this is why I know that you shouldn't refer to someone as an asthma sufferer (or a diabetic or anything like that) as it apparently associates them directly with the condition. Instead you should say the person copes with asthma (or diabetes or whatever) to remove a direct connection or some such nonsense. Also suffer is too negative so that needed to be changed to copes.
While I agree that terms that have solely become known for their negative meanings should generally not be used, going to the other extreme of preemptively making words and phrases wrong to say is, in itself, wrong and self defeating.
Going back to my girlfriend, in one job she had they were asked to make lists of all names they could think of for man and woman. After they had they went through them and people had to say if a term was offensive to them. Apparently Lady fell into the offensive category as it is indicative of class when you go back to its roots. The point is sometimes you have to draw a line between people being oversensitive and something genuinely being offensive.
@JoeBlogs I remember this too and often the word was shortened to 'spaz' (hope that's ok in the context), but the point is children will always do this for anything that falls outside the normal spectrum (and by normal I mean the mode average spectrum where the local populace falls - and this is why I don't like the pcness of things when I have to justify everything I say). The name of the charity didn't change until much later when the populace went from thinking it is just children being children to it being a moral outrage (I swear most people have a general disconnect from reality).
The point is that changing a word or altering a sentence is relatively pointless, those of us who are generally adult enough to handle the fact that some of the population can be heartless at times are just ambivalent about the change and those who have a genuine problem with whatever the word was to do with will still have that chip on their shoulder. I mean, I'm not supposed to say my friend is an asthma sufferer any more and instead say my friend copes with asthma because someone decided the former term is offensive...
No idea who this person is or what they did, but I do think this whole political correctness thing has gone too far. I literally don't know any more how I am supposed to refer to groups of people because someone has decided a word that was fine to use a decade ago is now insulting. I think the problem these people don't see with the idea of changing the word will change the connotation is that the same people who used the old word negatively will do the same with the new one.
The other problem is that, once you've grown up and aren't a child any more, you tend to use the words without any of the negatives entering your mind, but by making people have to think about using the correct word or even the way the word sits in a sentence makes you have to think about the negative implications which seems counter productive.
If you want a rough idea what I'm on about then take the fact that about 20 years ago there was a charity shop called the Spastic Society. However, despite being a medical term that described a condition, the word spastic was decided to be a bad word so a charity that helped people had to change its name so as not to be seen as negative/discriminating against the people it helped.
I seem to remember people used to go out of their way to make the main character as ugly as possible for a laugh so I think some people will be happy about this...
Personally I'm more interested if the game/story is any good. If it is I can forgive a bit of poor design in the graphics department.
I went to your sister site, Nintendolife, the other day and laughed when I saw they were reviewing Othello. I now think they got the better end of the deal...
It's a good year so far, but way too early to even start considering it for the best year ever. I don't think games release at the rate they used to to compete with some of those earlier years, there was much more room for bad games to be released and still have a lot of amazing titles come out. Lower budgets also meant companies were much more likely to risk releasing new ideas in their games which, when it worked, led to some gems. Still, if good games continue to be released at this rate i'll be a happy gamer.
@Dodoo We will never be given all the facts, parties attract voters through sugar coating everything, as putting forward the negatives is sure to see them lose popularity. Even if we were told everything, I doubt many people would even bother to take notice given the general apathy of the public when it comes to anything 'boring'. We live in a culture where the tabloid media rules and it seems to be where the average person gets their political ideologies from.
The point still stands that the Conservatives were voted in on the back of offering a vote on the EU. Even if the Cons didn't think it would go that way, anyone at this point who didn't want to leave the EU should have been focusing their attention on that part of their campaign and highlighting the problems (to be fair Labour did, but Miliband never had the strength of character to get the point across). For me, democratically the vote was the right thing to do based on this. I would, however, say that it was somewhat disgusting that Cameron was so sure remain wouldn't lose the vote that he had no plan in place for if it did happen and, given that the pre-vote polls were so close, it showed him as the arrogant man he is. Still not as bad as Blair though
Oh, and Until Dawn was fun, but it is not chaos theory, as much as they'd like it to be, it is just a game with branching narrative.
@Dodoo Can you honestly say how your vote will turn out when you vote for a party? You can't, you can only hope that the reasons you voted for a given party are addressed and they don't screw you over with other changes. The fact is the brexit vote is a direct consequence of voting for Conservatives so, by cause and effect, using that logic you should not be allowed to vote a party into power.
The truth is that no one can accurately predict what something like brexit will do, not us, not the people in power, but likewise no one can't predict whether it will end up being better or worse than voting remain. If you've ever studied chaos theory to even a basic level you'll know that the smallest change in a system can hugely affect its direction and the more moving parts the harder it becomes to predict long term impact. Whilst we might like to think we, or our leaders, are in someway in control, the truth is any decision, no matter how small, can have a huge impact on our economy, law or pretty much any other aspect of our lives. The only reason people single out brexit as a vote we shouldn't have had is because they were in the remain camp.
While this isn't a good thing, I'd really question whether this is down to brexit, or it is just being used as a scape goat. The article mirrors my first thoughts, the UK game industry was in a bad state long before the vote and we've seen many big companies close or leave. Not having tax breaks is a far bigger reason we see this behaviour than anything else political.
@Dodoo We live in a democracy, calling for the people to not be given a vote on a big issue that has been in the public's eye for years and was part of the party in power's election campaign seems somewhat anti-democratic to me.
Wouldn't be wholly surprised if this eventually went free to play, the microtransaction store is already there to support it and it fits the mediocre reception pattern that often leads to this model in games structured this way.
I wonder if any other devs are looking at this to see how to get an early access game onto a system that doesn't allow early access?
@BowTiesAreCool To be fair, if any game is priced at the AAA range then they are fair game for not living up to that pricing. There are a load of games similar to this that cost a fraction of the price and still supported, yet are better. Even without that, the fact that the studio went quiet for three months as soon as people found out the product they got wasn't that close to the product advertised, instead of engaging with their customers means a lot of the hate they get is deserved.
Didn't they say from the start the combat system will be more akin to FFXV than FFVII or did I just dream/assume that? To be honest, despite loving FFVII, I am really not hyped for this remake as I feel they can only soil the game's name and not improve upon it. I'd be happy to be proven wrong however.
As with any console, I'll give it time to build up a library of quality games. The PS4 itself is only just hitting that point where it is getting a steady stream of class exclusives. Having Nintendo's home and handheld library in one place though is going to mean I will almost certainly pick the system up at some point. Also the ability to play the game anywhere is huge for me (most people seem to only think of the mobility aspect as useful when you're out and about, but it is a really useful thing to be able to play and not tie up the TV and be in the same room as your significant other, for instance). I was pretty disappointed with how spotty the streaming on the PS4 to Vita was in the end, but this should do it right. I guess I see this as more of a successor to the 3DS than the Wii U thinking about it.
I read the title a couple of hours ago and have only just stopped laughing. On topic I don't think procedural generation is that innovative, games have been doing it for decades now and the rest of the game was more a poorman's mix of a few other games that came before it.
@BAMozzy Personally I'd rather nail my balls to a plank of wood with a rusty nail than play the latest Duke Nukem, but you're entitled to your opinions. Except that you seem to fail to notice you are effectively calling people children for enjoying Tearaway which is where people's issue lies with what is being said. Calling it a kiddies game does a disservice to your side of the debate and is a mindset that I see relatively often, just because a game is child friendly doesn't mean it can only be enjoyed by youngsters as most of Nintendo's first party titles will attest to.
As we've all experienced, most 18 rated online games are filled with screaming teenagers too, and I'd guess a large market share of the sales of those titles like CoD and Battlefield go to that demographic, which shows an age rating on a product will not always represent the people who buy/play the game. If you prefer dire shooters to colourful platformers, that is OK. If your argument is a dire 18 rated game is better than a kiddies game then it is less so.
Comments 304
Re: Final Fantasy IX's PS4 Platinum Trophy Is Damn Near Impossible
I would love to see a psychological study on people's obsession with trophies. It baffles me that people would skip a great game because the trophies are dull to get, I'm definitely in the camp of you play games to have fun, not to check off none essential goals a developer has set. At the end of the day trophies/achievements mean nothing and if you don't want to do them then don't.
Re: Rumour: Street Fighter V Arcade Edition Launches on PS4 in Early 2018
My thought is that, as they are releasing this to make money, they won't offer it as a free update. After all you can pick up the base game used for £10 now pretty easily, so I fully expect this to be a paid update. It's not like it would be a shock given how they chose to monetise this game from release rather than release a complete game for that full price charge.
Re: PSN Down as Reports Come Flooding In
Dunno why people keep linking these outages to Destiny, beyond a check to make sure you are paying for plus, PSN does nothing. The game itself uses Bungie's servers for a few things and peer to peer connections for the majority of the game (must resist the temptation to say Sony are charging you for an unneeded layer of DRM that can keep you out of a game you would otherwise be able to play without issue...)
Re: Feature: The PlayStation Store's Content Problem
@FaultyDroid While I'm not an advocate for the number of people who treat a scoring scale as only having its two extremes, I do believe that if a game releases as a buggy mess it is fair game for heavy criticism. I don't know at what point it became an acceptable practice to release now, fix later, but the system invites low scores and deservedly so. There is also no guarantee of a fix either as many games out there can attest to and the people who don't pay full price to have the privilege to beta test it on launch day usually get the game much cheaper in a more stable state later. Anyway, that is a bit off track from the topic, but a review should be based on what is sold, not what it might be in the future.
Re: Feature: The PlayStation Store's Content Problem
Not seen anything like this mentioned, but perhaps have a "new this month" demo section which allows anyone who has released a game that month to also release a demo alongside their game. Most big companies don't release demos (they don't even release finished products if we're fair) so this would be a great way to spotlight new indies that the devs actually put work into. It'd sort of be like the demo discs/tapes we used to get years ago.
Beyond that using things like youtube and social media is far more likely to generate sales than the store front. For the record the method used by Steam doesn't work, so I'd say going that route is pointless. Hype is a far more powerful tool than a suggestion from someone trying to sell you something after all.
Re: Soapbox: Open World OCD - How Too Much Content Can Ruin a Game
For me open world and sandbox became advertising buzz words to tick off the checklist a long time ago. While they generally still get a positive response, I generally think of the games mainly being huge spaces devoid of anything interesting to do.
If you think about it logically you'll probably realise the best bits in these games is the main story missions and the reason for that is they are highly scripted and designed to be tackled in a mostly linear manner. Think about that, the best parts of an open world game are the bits that ignore the main selling point.
There is a definite expectation these days for a game to last at least over 20 hours, with higher numbers being better. This isn't solely a problem in open world games though and I think there could be just as interesting article on that fact. Take something like Nioh, the game is great for a good while, but repitition sets in long before the end with enemies and areas repeated far too many times. Then take Ratchet and Clank which constantly throws new stuff at you for its sub 10 hour duration, but is fun through out. Out of the two I know which one left a better final impression with me.
Re: UK Sales Charts: Destiny 2 Down Dramatically Compared to First Game
Hopefully it is a sign people are starting to realise that it is not a good idea to buy things blindly or preorder now they've been bitten by doing it so many times. I somehow doubt it though...
Re: Hands On: Destiny 2 Is Destiny's Superb Gunplay Encased in a Much Better Game
@Bonito Wow, after four days to think about my post that is what you take from it? You do know you can take the general meaning or idea behind a statement/poem/story etc and apply it elsewhere if it makes sense without having direct links to its original source material don't you? I mean I even explained exactly how I was linking it to what you said in case any one was silly enough to think somehow I was making a comparison to said source material which is in no place mentioned by me (and that alone to me is sad that I have to go to that length to point out something obvious in the hopes of avoiding posts like this).
So, with that said, I'm a bit confused how you could make that comparison and take only that from what I said. Well, that is, unless someone wanted to somehow try to paint in a negative light a logical argument against a game they liked and justify their own apathy towards practices that are anti-consumer within said game. You wouldn't do that though would you?
I do honestly look forward to the day they patch in something that alters your experience of the game for the sake of making more money. This is not out of malice, it's just so you understand how it is for others who do find the current system that way and perhaps teach you a little empathy for others' problems, as well as the reason people like me are taking this issue so seriously (that relates back to the poem, but I won't mention that in case you decide to misunderstand the point again).
Re: Hands On: Destiny 2 Is Destiny's Superb Gunplay Encased in a Much Better Game
@Bonito A poem comes to mind:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
While you may be happy with the current situation as it doesn't impact on the game for you, try to understand it does impact others who enjoy the cosmetic side of the game. Also try to see that eventually microtransactions will impact on aspects of games you do enjoy. By ignoring them now you are leaving them to creep into every aspect of gaming.
Beyond that it is worth voicing distaste at the practice of loot crates/boxes as they are morally corrupt and akin to gambling. The amount of systems to create additional profit from games at the expense of user experience now is getting silly and throughout the time they've built up I constantly see people justifying them as something that has no impact on them.
Re: Hands On: Destiny 2 Is Destiny's Superb Gunplay Encased in a Much Better Game
When they added microtransactions to Destiny I was done with it and it was pretty obvious the trend would continue, but be slightly worse with this game. The list of games I would have bought, but didn't because of this practice is steadily growing. They are something that has no justification in existing in full priced games other than greed and the sad fact is that they are defended by fans of whatever game they are in with the same inane and poorly thought out arguments of why they are OK to exist.
Re: Poll: Should Sony Allow EA Access on PS4?
EA Access should be allowed on Playstation, it adds value to the system for consumers to have the choice to use the service or not. If in some way EA abuse the system once they get the go ahead, all it requires is for a chunk of people to boycott the service and the company to set things right. Of course, that requires willpower which is something I see the majority of people lacking these days, but given all the other horrible practices that have invaded gaming over the past decade I doubt EA can do much to further harm the consumer's experience.
It looks to me like Sony are more worried about the impact allowing the service will have on its profits than any thoughts of protecting its user base. On both PC and Xbox there seems to be no indication of these services getting out of hand, plus we are always being told the future will more likely be streaming of games from a service rather than what we have now.
I am somewhat curious though how many people here were against Sony curating the store to keep what amounted to asset flip games off it, but think they should not allow EA Access?
Re: Tales from the Borderlands Didn't Sell Well at All
I enjoyed the story to this one, but the entire TTG adventure system is becoming tired at this point as people are cottoning on to the fact it is just a few meaningless choices stuck together with QTEs as the entire game system. Dragon's Lair got slated in reviews for doing this in the 80s (although I accept it was more of a game of luck than a story), and other games manage to put across strong stories while still having fun gameplay, so I kind of have to lean towards the lack of innovation harming the game(s) now.
It would have been a horrible (read morally reprehensible) decision if the game had been cancelled mid-season though (and leaving it open for a sequel knowing that ship had sailed was a pretty bad call too). Despite things like this (and, for instance, the Arkham Knjight Season pass) it is still shocking how many people pre-order games.
One last thing, I think that episodic games like this shouldn't be reviewed until they are finished. My reasoning behind this is that the scores make little sense when taken as a slice of the story, quite often I see an episode being praised for the exciting situations it sets up and then the next month the following episode get a lukewarm score because those situation didn't really amount to much. The problem is that previous episode is as much to blame for setting up paths that lead nowhere and it becomes as incohesive as reviewing a book chapter by chapter. The story segments are too short to be reviewed on their own merits and I'd much prefer some sort of editorial on the episode than a full scored review and then a full season review at the end which can talk about how the story does (and doesn't) work throughout the ~10 hour playthrough. Anyway, went off subject a bit there so sorry for that and I'll get my hat
Re: PS4 Firmware Update 4.73 Is Available to Download Now
@FullbringIchigo So what you're saying is 'Have you tried switching it off and back on again'? Do you work in IT?
Re: Soapbox: PlayStation Plus Price Hike - Is It Justified?
I stopped paying for plus when they tied online to the service. I wish more people would vote with their wallets when they don't like what a business does and realise if enough people did, decisions like this would quickly be reversed when they ate into profits. The funny thing is that most people laughed at the Xbox gamers last gen for paying for online, but now they argue how it is unrealistic to not have to pay for online play.
Re: PSN Accounts Struck by Mass PayPal Chargeback
@pr0d1gy1980 The thing is that is terrible customer service from Sony, banning people for an issue they know about which isn't the person's fault is reprehensible. Having to add extra money to your account on top of what Sony will no doubt claim back from your Paypal account in the coming days would be referred to as a scam in other quarters.
As someone else mentioned, Sony have a history with being very anti-consumer when it comes to a person's account with them, there was the whole issue with fraudulent purchases made on a person's account causing Sony to ban the account if the person claimed the money back. Given Sony themselves were hacked, giving away a lot of people's personal information including credit cards in the past, you would think they'd be more understanding about these situations. It does highlight how frail digital ownership laws are though and why a lot of people are very reluctant to move to a digital future.
Re: Weirdness: A PS4 Game Is Being Sold on the Premise That It's Super Easy to Platinum
When you first brought up curation I was on the side of there should be some amount of it despite the overwhelming majority seemingly thinking curation was a four letter word. Now you are still against it, but seem to want it for some titles? You have the choice in this debate of either letting everything through, or having some sort of curation process in place. I guess it is good that games like this put into light the other side of the argument that so few people seemed to grasp in the original article which, let's be honest, was more of an attack on the idea than a debate on it.
I'm thinking the main people in favour of the idea of curation were those who also play games on PC, having the floodgates open to anything is one of the worse things about Steam - try looking at new releases without being swamped by utter trash. Being exposed to this situation is a lot different from theorizing over it. Games with multiple easy achievement are also the newest way for shoddy developers to make money on Steam with some games giving literally 1000s of achievements for doing nothing and this idea already invading Sony's store is a bad sign of things to come.
On the plus point it does do more to help point out why I've been saying trophies/achievements are pretty meaningless when you get down to it
Re: Talking Point: What Are Your Most Anticipated Games for the Second Half of the Year?
For me the momentum of the first half of the year has slowed somewhat, so I'm not really anticipating much at this point. That's OK for me though as it'll give me time to finish P5 (getting there after 120 hours so far) and start Nioh which has been patiently sitting in my collection for a couple of months now. With games like Nier and Horizon out there too for me still to play there'll have to be something good coming to stop me playing them first.
Undertale is a great little game that people should give time to though, but I've played it on PC already so little point me getting it again.
Re: Talking Point: What Free July 2017 PlayStation Plus Games Do You Want?
@JoeBlogs Just drop the word free and the headline still works and is snappier as it is shorter. Same for every large, bold sub-header too. I would argue that, even on the subconscious level, the word free has positive connotations to make a service that is far less than it used to be sound better than it is.
Re: Talking Point: What Free July 2017 PlayStation Plus Games Do You Want?
Really pushing the word 'free' for a subscription service this month Sammy, is this an advertorial?
Re: Diablo III's Necromancer Pack Raises the Dead Later This Month, Costs $14.99
It is hard to say what this will be worth without actually seeing it in the wild. I'm going to assume you are also paying for all the additional voice acting, including reworking the story for if you play through as a Necromancer. There will also be all the armour and weapons designed for the class as well. Given when it was announced this has been in development for about a year which seems normal for Blizzard who have built a reputation for polishing their games as much as possible. I'll wait and see what the community reaction is before damning the price on this one.
Re: PlayStation UK to Sponsor London Pride 2017
As someone who couldn't give two figs about someone's sexual/gender orientation I always wonder what it really means to a company to sponsor something like this, other than a bit of positive press. Personally I'd prefer them to put the money in to charitable causes that actually help people in serious need, this has the same impact on me as someone sponsoring a football cup...
Re: Soapbox: Why Did Sony Ditch Two of the Best Games of the Year?
@adf86 I very much doubt the people who buy only a few games each year would buy Finch, it is a niche 90 minute collection of short stories. So it wouldn't be in those people's top 10s as they didn't play it. For most other people it is a well made curiousity that they'll mostly enjoy for its short run time (let's be honest though, not all the stories in it are hits), maybe discuss for a bit on a forum and then move on from. I think it's hard for the people who love these games to realise that most people who buy games want an actual game and not just a story you have limited control over.
I fully stand by my top 10 comment, even among the people who actually play lots of games and are active in the gaming community. In context though it was to highlight the absurdity that these vignettes are put forward as GotY contenders.
Re: Soapbox: Why Did Sony Ditch Two of the Best Games of the Year?
I think sometimes the press needs to step back and look at the bigger picture. There is a general love from the press over so called walking simulators, but it seems a lot less like they are the darling of the general populace and I doubt they do more than passable sales from a business point of view. Taking Edith Finch, it was an interesting enough project, but most people interested could happily watch the youtube playthrough of it without losing much enjoyment.
Much like with the film industry, you will get the critics raving over an arthouse film, but the general populace not giving such projects a second thought, or outright dismissing them. I don't see Sony integral to releasing them either and wouldn't be surprised if Sony has stepped away from those games due to market saturation being much greater than when Journey and Unfinished Swan released, they are no longer a unique selling point.
One last thing, Edith Finch being considered as the best game of the year so far surely shows a gulf between people writing articles like this and most gamers. I'm not saying the game is bad, far from it, but it is unlikely it would reach most people's top 10 for the year if we're honest.
Re: Poll: Should Sony Allow Early Access Games on PS4?
I'm for curation and for early access, which may sound counter-intuitive, but it really isn't. Early access, when it is done correctly, is a great thing - it allows a company to release a game without constraints of larger software houses which likely would not have gotten past a financial meeting elsewhere. The problem is obviously when you get people who cheat the system to make a quick profit and run off, but that also happens with full releases too. Early access is the reason why Minecraft exists as well as one of my current favourite games, Factorio.
I think the best solution would be to create an area of the store that is dedicated to early access titles so they don't clutter up anywhere else and can be ignored by those who aren't interested. I'd also like for Sony to allow people to write proper reviews on games if they wish which would help with any issues in both early access and the current glut of shovelware that is seeing a store release.
I think it would also be an idea to have an extra section for indie releases if Sony keep allowing anything to be released on its store. In the new section any new release that isn't curated would be put, but then any game that pays a small fee to be curated by Sony could be put on the main store if it passes. As the games' publishers are paying for this service it wouldn't cost Sony any more money and it should create a better shopping experience for its customers.
Re: Poll: Should Sony Be Looking to Add Refunds to PSN?
I don't really understand why anyone would be in favour of no refund policy, yet 10% of the votes are for this. I think the potential problems are being blown out of proportion, after all Steam is fine and offers a reasonable refund policy.
It all kind of reminds me of the problems with DRM in the past decade, it was invasive and often problematic on the PC for those purchasing the game, yet those who waited a few days for a cracked version of the game had no such problems. Why should the honest people pay for how the dishonest ones act? Personally I'm more likely to spend money at a business that respcts me.
Re: Poll: Should Sony Be Looking to Add Refunds to PSN?
I'm always for something that is pro-consumer and think that any negatives of this could be negated by people being more willing to try out games they may not have risked money on otherwise.
As an aside, what is the law on refunds if you buy a game, but don't agree to the EULA? You have to get the game home (assuming you are buying it as a physical product) and open it before being asked to agree to the contract, but assuming you refuse it it should mean you are entitled to a refund.
Re: Talking Point: Is It Time for Sony to Take PS4 Pro Seriously?
I'm still waiting for Microsoft to show us the power of the cloud..
@BAMozzy I don't think you can dismiss the damage Microsoft did to the brand so easily and reversing its stance was only a partial solution to its problems. If we take just the months where it hadn't fully reversed its stance you can see that long term damage is done in sales as a lot of people tend to go where their friends are, so that early loss of sales alone was always going to have a knock on effect.
While Microsoft did eventually backtrack on previous bad decisions within a year, the community didn't just forget because of that, over a year later it was still a point of contention for many people and a common topic that Microsoft were anti-consumer. Anyone who remembers the removal of kinect should also remember the 6+ months we were told how integral kinect was to the experience and it couldn't be removed, which was an example of how badly the company dealt with its community and did long term damage to itself. With better decisions early on I think this generation would be much closer than it is.
Re: Reaction: Will Sony Be Scared of the Xbox Scorpio?
I don't think Sony will be overly bothered by the Scorpio, they'll watch how it does since that makes sense, but I doubt they'll change direction based on its release. It might make Microsoft realise that hardware alone will not sell a system though.
@Number09 This has already been tried with things like the steam machine, it doesn't work. In part it is because a keyboard/mouse combo is ideal for a lot PC games, but not for using in your living room.
Re: Why Is Persona 5 Streaming and Sharing Banned?
Games are a bit of a strange entity in the entertainment industry, try putting a run through of a film up on youtube and see if it stays up there. I think in story heavy games the lines blur somewhat between what is fair use and what is copyright, if you're interested in the story, but not in playing the game then it could be argued that youtube may cost sales of games.
Of course there is nothing stopping someone talking about the story on somewhere like youtube without using footage and the cut off date given for footage should be fine for any review using footage, so this measure isn't quite the same as what Nintendo does in my eyes. I guess I have mixed feelngs about this ban, but it isn't that big a deal to me either since I play my first run blind anyway and forums/guides will fill me in on what I've missed once I've finished it.
Re: April's Free PlayStation Plus Games Are Out Now
I think the obligatory PS Plus post requires my obligatory response or it just wouldn't seem like a new month to me - they're still not free
Re: Review: Persona 5 (PS4)
@themcnoisy Hate to tell you this and I know it will devastate you, but, outside of 50s B movies, dinosaurs and cavemen never existed at the same time
Re: Review: Persona 5 (PS4)
Great to see this being so well received, I look forward to filling my calendar with this game
@ShogunRok How's the voice acting in this game? And does the combat differ much from earlier games (particularly P4 and P3), it sounds roughly the same apart from more stylish animations?
Re: JonTron's Yooka-Laylee Cameo to Be Patched Out by Playtonic
@Deadlyblack I assume it is something to do with giving power back to the person - if you suffer with something it implies you have no power or choice about it, but if you cope with it you are actively showing that you can deal with it. Or something like that, I'm with you though, suffer is a good enough way to describe it and I never feel I'm doing the person or myself a disservice by using the word.
Re: JonTron's Yooka-Laylee Cameo to Be Patched Out by Playtonic
@JoeBlogs My girlfriend works and has worked in some more public roles and enjoys telling me about some of the changes made in the name of political correctness. So this is why I know that you shouldn't refer to someone as an asthma sufferer (or a diabetic or anything like that) as it apparently associates them directly with the condition. Instead you should say the person copes with asthma (or diabetes or whatever) to remove a direct connection or some such nonsense. Also suffer is too negative so that needed to be changed to copes.
While I agree that terms that have solely become known for their negative meanings should generally not be used, going to the other extreme of preemptively making words and phrases wrong to say is, in itself, wrong and self defeating.
Going back to my girlfriend, in one job she had they were asked to make lists of all names they could think of for man and woman. After they had they went through them and people had to say if a term was offensive to them. Apparently Lady fell into the offensive category as it is indicative of class when you go back to its roots. The point is sometimes you have to draw a line between people being oversensitive and something genuinely being offensive.
Re: JonTron's Yooka-Laylee Cameo to Be Patched Out by Playtonic
@JoeBlogs I remember this too and often the word was shortened to 'spaz' (hope that's ok in the context), but the point is children will always do this for anything that falls outside the normal spectrum (and by normal I mean the mode average spectrum where the local populace falls - and this is why I don't like the pcness of things when I have to justify everything I say). The name of the charity didn't change until much later when the populace went from thinking it is just children being children to it being a moral outrage (I swear most people have a general disconnect from reality).
The point is that changing a word or altering a sentence is relatively pointless, those of us who are generally adult enough to handle the fact that some of the population can be heartless at times are just ambivalent about the change and those who have a genuine problem with whatever the word was to do with will still have that chip on their shoulder. I mean, I'm not supposed to say my friend is an asthma sufferer any more and instead say my friend copes with asthma because someone decided the former term is offensive...
Re: JonTron's Yooka-Laylee Cameo to Be Patched Out by Playtonic
No idea who this person is or what they did, but I do think this whole political correctness thing has gone too far. I literally don't know any more how I am supposed to refer to groups of people because someone has decided a word that was fine to use a decade ago is now insulting. I think the problem these people don't see with the idea of changing the word will change the connotation is that the same people who used the old word negatively will do the same with the new one.
The other problem is that, once you've grown up and aren't a child any more, you tend to use the words without any of the negatives entering your mind, but by making people have to think about using the correct word or even the way the word sits in a sentence makes you have to think about the negative implications which seems counter productive.
If you want a rough idea what I'm on about then take the fact that about 20 years ago there was a charity shop called the Spastic Society. However, despite being a medical term that described a condition, the word spastic was decided to be a bad word so a charity that helped people had to change its name so as not to be seen as negative/discriminating against the people it helped.
Anyway, rant over
Re: Poll: Has the Mass Effect: Andromeda Backlash Put You Off the Game?
I seem to remember people used to go out of their way to make the main character as ugly as possible for a laugh so I think some people will be happy about this...
Personally I'm more interested if the game/story is any good. If it is I can forgive a bit of poor design in the graphics department.
Re: Review: Clicker Heroes (PS4)
I went to your sister site, Nintendolife, the other day and laughed when I saw they were reviewing Othello. I now think they got the better end of the deal...
Re: You Can Spend Up to £80 on One Mass Effect: Andromeda Multiplayer Microtransaction
@johncalmc Exactly what I thought and why I clicked on the story to comment. This rubbish better not creep into the main game is all I can say.
Re: Talking Point: Could 2017 Be Gaming's Greatest Ever Year?
It's a good year so far, but way too early to even start considering it for the best year ever. I don't think games release at the rate they used to to compete with some of those earlier years, there was much more room for bad games to be released and still have a lot of amazing titles come out. Lower budgets also meant companies were much more likely to risk releasing new ideas in their games which, when it worked, led to some gems. Still, if good games continue to be released at this rate i'll be a happy gamer.
Re: 40% of UK's Game Industry Consider Relocation After Brexit
@Dodoo We will never be given all the facts, parties attract voters through sugar coating everything, as putting forward the negatives is sure to see them lose popularity. Even if we were told everything, I doubt many people would even bother to take notice given the general apathy of the public when it comes to anything 'boring'. We live in a culture where the tabloid media rules and it seems to be where the average person gets their political ideologies from.
The point still stands that the Conservatives were voted in on the back of offering a vote on the EU. Even if the Cons didn't think it would go that way, anyone at this point who didn't want to leave the EU should have been focusing their attention on that part of their campaign and highlighting the problems (to be fair Labour did, but Miliband never had the strength of character to get the point across). For me, democratically the vote was the right thing to do based on this. I would, however, say that it was somewhat disgusting that Cameron was so sure remain wouldn't lose the vote that he had no plan in place for if it did happen and, given that the pre-vote polls were so close, it showed him as the arrogant man he is. Still not as bad as Blair though
Oh, and Until Dawn was fun, but it is not chaos theory, as much as they'd like it to be, it is just a game with branching narrative.
Re: 40% of UK's Game Industry Consider Relocation After Brexit
@Dodoo Can you honestly say how your vote will turn out when you vote for a party? You can't, you can only hope that the reasons you voted for a given party are addressed and they don't screw you over with other changes. The fact is the brexit vote is a direct consequence of voting for Conservatives so, by cause and effect, using that logic you should not be allowed to vote a party into power.
The truth is that no one can accurately predict what something like brexit will do, not us, not the people in power, but likewise no one can't predict whether it will end up being better or worse than voting remain. If you've ever studied chaos theory to even a basic level you'll know that the smallest change in a system can hugely affect its direction and the more moving parts the harder it becomes to predict long term impact. Whilst we might like to think we, or our leaders, are in someway in control, the truth is any decision, no matter how small, can have a huge impact on our economy, law or pretty much any other aspect of our lives. The only reason people single out brexit as a vote we shouldn't have had is because they were in the remain camp.
Re: 40% of UK's Game Industry Consider Relocation After Brexit
While this isn't a good thing, I'd really question whether this is down to brexit, or it is just being used as a scape goat. The article mirrors my first thoughts, the UK game industry was in a bad state long before the vote and we've seen many big companies close or leave. Not having tax breaks is a far bigger reason we see this behaviour than anything else political.
@Dodoo We live in a democracy, calling for the people to not be given a vote on a big issue that has been in the public's eye for years and was part of the party in power's election campaign seems somewhat anti-democratic to me.
Re: Steep Will Slope onto the PlayStation Store for Free This Weekend
Wouldn't be wholly surprised if this eventually went free to play, the microtransaction store is already there to support it and it fits the mediocre reception pattern that often leads to this model in games structured this way.
Re: No Man's Sky Finds the Path to a Major PS4 Patch
I wonder if any other devs are looking at this to see how to get an early access game onto a system that doesn't allow early access?
@BowTiesAreCool To be fair, if any game is priced at the AAA range then they are fair game for not living up to that pricing. There are a load of games similar to this that cost a fraction of the price and still supported, yet are better. Even without that, the fact that the studio went quiet for three months as soon as people found out the product they got wasn't that close to the product advertised, instead of engaging with their customers means a lot of the hate they get is deserved.
Re: No, Final Fantasy VII Remake's Battles Aren't Turn Based
Didn't they say from the start the combat system will be more akin to FFXV than FFVII or did I just dream/assume that? To be honest, despite loving FFVII, I am really not hyped for this remake as I feel they can only soil the game's name and not improve upon it. I'd be happy to be proven wrong however.
Re: Poll: Will Your PS4 Gather Dust Now the Nintendo Switch Is Out?
As with any console, I'll give it time to build up a library of quality games. The PS4 itself is only just hitting that point where it is getting a steady stream of class exclusives. Having Nintendo's home and handheld library in one place though is going to mean I will almost certainly pick the system up at some point. Also the ability to play the game anywhere is huge for me (most people seem to only think of the mobility aspect as useful when you're out and about, but it is a really useful thing to be able to play and not tie up the TV and be in the same room as your significant other, for instance). I was pretty disappointed with how spotty the streaming on the PS4 to Vita was in the end, but this should do it right. I guess I see this as more of a successor to the 3DS than the Wii U thinking about it.
Re: No Man's Sky Controversially Wins Innovation Award at GDC 2017
I read the title a couple of hours ago and have only just stopped laughing. On topic I don't think procedural generation is that innovative, games have been doing it for decades now and the rest of the game was more a poorman's mix of a few other games that came before it.
Re: PlayStation Plus March Games Revealed
@PotatoTheG Vita version is better, but they are both worth playing and the PS4 game is different from the Vita version.
Re: PlayStation Plus March Games Revealed
@BAMozzy Personally I'd rather nail my balls to a plank of wood with a rusty nail than play the latest Duke Nukem, but you're entitled to your opinions. Except that you seem to fail to notice you are effectively calling people children for enjoying Tearaway which is where people's issue lies with what is being said. Calling it a kiddies game does a disservice to your side of the debate and is a mindset that I see relatively often, just because a game is child friendly doesn't mean it can only be enjoyed by youngsters as most of Nintendo's first party titles will attest to.
As we've all experienced, most 18 rated online games are filled with screaming teenagers too, and I'd guess a large market share of the sales of those titles like CoD and Battlefield go to that demographic, which shows an age rating on a product will not always represent the people who buy/play the game. If you prefer dire shooters to colourful platformers, that is OK. If your argument is a dire 18 rated game is better than a kiddies game then it is less so.